12mo ago

Alternative YouTube clients having issues loading videos

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.

66 comments

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.
- 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.
  
  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.
- Well at least Peertube is already using torrents
  
  Just a similar tech. Few years ago they transitioned to something else for peer to peer load balancing.

The same is happening with NewPipe.
- Dang... yep, experiencing the same... Finally. It had lasted for so long...
  
  they're working on a fix. don't order a coffin just yet.

Yeah, my kid got to see a bunch of ads today.
- sounds horrible, yesterday I couldn't watch a video on Tubular so I just didn't watch it.
  
  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.

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.
- freetube has an android app as well. it's in beta but it's been working pretty well for me.
  it's worth giving a shot.
- I am yet to find an alternative for AndroidTV.
  
  If you have iOS and airplay support you can use safari to airplay YouTube to the TV. I use the 1blocker and sponsorblock extension for safari.
  
  Have you tried SmartTube? I'd say that's what most people use on Android TV to get rid of ads.
  https://smarttubeapp.github.io/
- Had some issues with Free tube last couple days. Free tube came out with an update, 0.21.1 and fixed the loading issue, at least for me
  
  Yeah was happy to see it solved in only a day.

NewPipe developers are aware of the problem and are working on a fix.

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.
- This is a regular occurence. Google breaks the newpipe extractor > Devs take 2-3 days > Its fixed and working > repeat every few weeks/months
- 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.

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.
- 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.
  
  Clever engineers.
- 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.

The moment they cut the cord on SmartTube (Android TV), I'll block youtube on my local DNS. Fuck them!

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.

Invidious is working fine, as of now.

SmartTube is back up this morning after an update.

Does someone know why Grayjay still works perfectly?
- They updated the YT plugin which doesn't require a full apk update, only a plugin update.

Tubular and NewPipe both barely working all day for me. Maybe 1 out of 10 vids loads. Downloading fails too.
- i recommend the freetube android beta. its working well for me at the moment.
- 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.

Piped/LibreTube seem to be dying now as well
- Just keep changing instances until you find one that works
  
  Works for me too, try instance pipedapi.adminforge.de
  
  No what I meant is instances were disappearing from the list and there were only 2 left. Now there are more again.

PipePipe works with V3.5.0

Is revanced still working?
- Yes. Although I noticed strange behavior for playlists, almost each second song triggers the nagging 'Playback paused, click to continue' for some reason, it could be related.

Btw, i never saw server side appps. Is it limited for now?

NewPipe and FreeTube didn't work for me yesterday or today but Grayjay is still working
- not for me im getting 403 errors

pipe-viewer 0.5.1 with yt-dlp 2024.03.10 still working flawlessly on my end. Maybe I shouldn't be saying that because Google will come for that next :(

Tubular is also broken for me. Had to switch to RVX YT.

Who is "we"?
I can't feel it on libretube
- probably a lot of people that aren't you. but I'm glad you felt the need to rush in to state that you are not being affected.
  thank goodness you aren't. i was really worried there.
  
  Hm. But are "we" worried?
- Generally, changes on platforms like YouTube are always gradually rolled out.
- Libretube works for me, but not Tubular.
  
  Libretube not working for me.

USE GRAYJAY
- NO

66 comments