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Comment by shultays | Hacker News Reader

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shultays·

Android has smarttube app which is even better (imho) compared to official youtube app, even if you pay for adfree

For starters, it supports sponsorblock which is even more adblocking. Secondly i think ux is miles better

You dont need root but you need to manually download and install it

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That's really nice, I need to save this for when I buy an android tv

Be warned, even if you can block ads in youtube apps, most TV brands (and Google) started putting ads in their home screen. Mine was alright for 2-3 years but early this year there was an update that started putting "Watch these cool stuff in Disney app" and it is not removable.

I rolled back the update for my home screen app, which works for now. I think you are able to use entirely different home screen apps but I didn't want to go that far yet. The moment I can't disable ads is the moment I will start using PI and using my TV as a dumb screen

On Android TVs, you can install launchers to replace the absolute dogshit launcher that Google has pushed with the latest big updates, thankfully.

I never connect my TVs to the internet because you can't trust the manufacturers to keep them up to date and secure. And they might install more ads as part of a system "update".

Security? Are they not behind a firewall? What security vector are exposed plugging them into the internet? I don't see Samsung and co letting their telemetry domains lapse. Privacy and annoying updates are something totally different though.

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