cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/14909762

It seems YT started another attempt at blocking alternative clients. They changed something in their API and both SmartTube and Tubular (NewPipe fork) are completely broken. Apparently it started happening this past week, but we personally just felt it today.

Edit: SmartTube already has an update but still not working for 4K videos it seems. Tubular still not working but it might be due to the upstream (NewPipe) is still working on a fix.

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
    231·
    4 months ago

    I’ve been trying for a while now to integrate torrents properly into lemmy, just need more time for testing and demonstration. Torrents really are the only way forward for video content, youtube will just keep getting worse and worse.

    • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      That’s an interesting concept. Thought how will it work for mobile users? Uploading there is often costly, both in the limited data plan and battery life.

      • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
        1·
        4 months ago

        Like most torrents currently… most seeders have lots of HD space and network bandwidth, and are happy to share to the occasional leech as long as the torrents stay alive.

        Also there are some mobile clients like libretorrent that can be set to turn on only when plugged in.

        • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
          2·
          4 months ago

          Ok, but… hmm. Do you have statistics on the share between desktop and mobile users? Maybe I’m wrong, but I think most browse lemmy from a phone. Most torrents work fine because most torrenters do that on a PC, but relatively very few on a phone. I’m honestly interested if you have some info on that.

          In any case, I hope it works out because I would love if it would. Thanks for your work!

    • whoareu@lemmy.ca
      241·
      4 months ago

      sounds horrible, yesterday I couldn’t watch a video on Tubular so I just didn’t watch it.

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
        3·
        4 months ago

        Me, today. But with newpipe. YouTube isn’t a necessity. It’s an entertainment. The moment it becomes too annoying to use, is the moment we stop using it. That’s how entertainment products work… or should work.

          • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
            1·
            4 months ago

            Those are entertainment. Entertainment doesn’t have to be strictly mind numbing. Maybe they fall more under edutainment?

            • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
              2·
              4 months ago

              Not sure about that. I’m not watching repair videos out of boredom, but only when I need to get something fixed.

              • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
                1·
                4 months ago

                Of course. Same here. But those videos would work on any network, not just Google’s. The reasons they’re there are plenty, and I won’t pretend to know them all. However yt started as an entertainment space, and shifted into other spaces. What I’m proposing, is that we can have those spaces elsewhere, but we need to start somewhere. The easiest way to get people to start doing something, is by making it entertaining.

  • stardust@lemmy.caEnglish
    17·
    4 months ago

    Freetube on desktop has been working somewhat being able to switch to invidious. But for Android I’ve fallen back to Firefox + Ublock Origin + Sponsorblock.

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
    12·
    4 months ago

    Will this be how I’ll finally be able to ditch the last Google service I’m still using? That would be a win for me.

    • Jeena@piefed.jeena.net
      3·
      4 months ago

      Interesting that right now on the same home network all the same apps still work on my phone but not on the Chromecast anymore (I watch mostly on TV.

  • plactagonic@sopuli.xyz
    131·
    4 months ago

    My working theory is that it has something do with YT trying to add ads directly in to the stream. This messes up timestamps and other metadata about the video and these clients don’t know how to deal with it yet.

    • treasure@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      8·
      4 months ago

      In the case of Tubular (a NewPipe fork), the issue is getting code 403 (Forbidden), which prevents playing the video. It occurred sporadically while playing videos for some time but could always be fixed with a restart. Now this occurs at the very start while trying to play a video for all people at the same time. I’m strongly suspecting that this is a move aimed specifically at 3rd party players.

    • stardust@lemmy.caEnglish
      31·
      4 months ago

      If that does happen and adblocker doesn’t work one work around that works for twitch will probably be vpn to a country where ads aren’t shown.

  • UKFilmNerd@feddit.ukEnglish
    6·
    4 months ago

    I don’t understand it, but going through various githubs, the problem has been discovered. Here it is:

    YouTube changed their code to make it more difficult to extract the throttling parameter decryption function.

    There was some coding demonstrating the problem but it was way over my head. Hopefully fixes are coming soon as the issue was marked as urgent. It looks like they know what needs changing.

    • Nima@leminal.spaceEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      i recommend the freetube android beta. its working well for me at the moment.

    • 299792458ms@lemmy.zip
      1·
      4 months ago

      I find it useful changing instances in invidious, there is usually at least one up and running. You could use Clipious or Materialious apps on Android for easy access. Btw I once had Tubular, Newpipe, Libretube(piped.video) and Clipious installed all at the same time because of the same issues with Youtube attacking privacy front ends.