mpv[1] can utilize youtube-dl[2] in the background for playback, so that is on-the-fly downloaded video, with no ads, played as it was local video, hw acceleration and all.
I will have to check this out when I get the chance. I was deeply saddened when YouTube killed their "Feather beta" feature which presented a super-minimal version of the site with the intention of reducing load times on slower internet connections.
I wouldn't have thought a minimal interface is required for YouTube.
If your internet connection is too slow to handle a more detailed interface, how on earth is it going to cope with doing something like streaming video and sound?
I think the idea is barely. Thus the adverts and extra load hurt the experience too much. Consider that it might take some time to load the video, now add in the advert on top of that and it might no longer be worth it.
I wonder if YT will begin inserting ads directly into the video file server side. If you download the file to watch elsewhere, you get the whole package. Viewers can skip the ads manually, or wait for someone to write a program to detect scene changes and hope to skip the ads automatically. Then we're back to the TIVO model.
I doubt they will do this because they serve custom ads to each user, and to split and merge video files is considerably less efficient than just loading different files.
I know ffmpeg can do that, i've never tried just using cat.
An additional reason for not serving ads in the video file is that their ad clients probably want to know if someone watched it or not. By loading ad as a file associated with the ad client it's easy to verify that someone watched the ad and didn't just click out after 1s, etc.
Not sure why you're being downvoted when that's entirely true; knowing what audience has actually engaged with your ad can be just as (if not moreso) valuable as an engagement in the first place.
Speaking for myself: It's not the bandwidth, it's the slow, laggy, intrusive interface that causes me problems. I can play videos just fine, but videos and a mountain of bad JS can make any of my computers crawl. Additionally, it just looks terrible. I'm here to watch a video, not look at videos that you incorrectly seem to think I'd be interested in.
Looks like it's got some bugs preventing it from working.
You're loading the videos over HTTP while hosting your site on HTTPS which will result in the iframe being blocked. This is a security issue anyway and should be corrected.
Also looks like you're using localStorage and sessionStorage without checking to see if they're available.
hi @TrueDuality.
I updated the code over the last hour - so probably those were the bugs.
yes - currently it's hosted over http (github-pages) - however - it functions correctly without it.
regarding localStorage - currently, I assume modern browsers are used - it works on Chrome (desktop - Mac, Windows / android).
Thanks for the feedback.
I don't know if it too much to ask but Last.fm integration beyond just scrobbling can be nice. I have used an app belonging to Windows store which used to fetch full discography of searched artist from somewhere and show best YouTube video song next to every track.
One question: Are there benefits of signing in beside being able to save playlist?
Slightly offtopic. Is there a way to watch youtube videos across different devices while preserving video location?
Use case: start watching conference videos or lectures on my phone, then move to the laptop then continue on the tablet, then back to the computer. Similarly to the way iBooks transparently preserves and syncs reading position across devices.
Hmm.. I must be doing something wrong then. Logged in on my Chrome on Mac, watched a video, paused it. Closed tab, reloaded tab. The video plays from the beginning. Opened the same video on my iPhone, official youtube app. Plays from the beginning as well.
I guess I need to investigate this further. I didn't realize official google apps support this functionality because it's never worked for me. Thanks for mentioning it.
I sure am. In fact, I just logged in from a completely clean browser (Safari, that I dont use on this machine, so no adblock or third party scripts). When looking at a thumbnail of a previously viewed video I see the "progress bar" that indicates where I left off, but clicking on it, doesn't resume the video. It starts it from the beginning.
Whether it actually wants to work or not is another thing. Video place-saving seems to only work on longer videos - I think the shortest video I've seen that's saved my position was about 16 minutes long - and even then it can still just not work, just like how youtube constantly forgets my "watched" videos.
Hm, since usage of playlists is available now through Google Account login and with G+ removed, is this somehow different in their API for 3rd party apps ?
If it is basically youtube but you just remove ads, I tend to think they will react. But I admit this is a feeling more than a sure fact. I can't remember the name of the app that worked on top of a Google Api that was stopped in few hours...
[1]: https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv
[2]: https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/