Surprisingly the latest Chromecast was more adblocking-friendly as it’s actually an Android TV and I could install smart tube on it, my old Chromecast couldn’t block YouTube ads
By default yeah there are plenty of ads, but it’s an Android device so you do have (limited) power to replace a lot of the ad-showing bits. It’s about simplicity though, if you want more control for less convenience then there are plenty of setups you could run on an RPi.
That’s a good thought to consider. I use Blokada on my Android and ublock or whatever on my laptop so haven’t needed to go that far before, but unlike those a TV would stay on the same network at all times. Though I wonder if it would leave a giant empty space for an ad placeholder, or conversely if the ad servers never change if I could do something with just my router. And then there’s tracking as well, but surely that’s just similarly dealt with by blocking traffic… one would think.
All this seems potentially like it would wear the device down much more quickly, if the chip is sending multiple requests per minute, and getting blocked continues to do so, forever. I wonder if the device then instead of lasting a decade would last only a year at that point? At that point it would be worth buying a different brand that offers a potentially different solution.
I dread my super old TV or Chromecast going dead - I don’t even know if any modern brands can be bought that haven’t been enshittified at this point!?
Surprisingly the latest Chromecast was more adblocking-friendly as it’s actually an Android TV and I could install smart tube on it, my old Chromecast couldn’t block YouTube ads
These days I was more worried about it injecting ads of its own. Plus surely it tracks everything that it can.
By default yeah there are plenty of ads, but it’s an Android device so you do have (limited) power to replace a lot of the ad-showing bits. It’s about simplicity though, if you want more control for less convenience then there are plenty of setups you could run on an RPi.
Thanks for the suggestion!:-)
You’re welcome, here is the post I made where it was recommended to me!
And… saved, thanks again!:-)
You can always buy a raspi and put PiHole on it to get rid of ads network wide. (And with PiVPN you can ensure that on your mobile and laptops)
you can also block ads directly on your router by setting up a DNS that filters them out, it works for me
That’s a good thought to consider. I use Blokada on my Android and ublock or whatever on my laptop so haven’t needed to go that far before, but unlike those a TV would stay on the same network at all times. Though I wonder if it would leave a giant empty space for an ad placeholder, or conversely if the ad servers never change if I could do something with just my router. And then there’s tracking as well, but surely that’s just similarly dealt with by blocking traffic… one would think.
All this seems potentially like it would wear the device down much more quickly, if the chip is sending multiple requests per minute, and getting blocked continues to do so, forever. I wonder if the device then instead of lasting a decade would last only a year at that point? At that point it would be worth buying a different brand that offers a potentially different solution.
So much to have to research and learn!