AdGuardHome Can I block YouTube ads?

[Joshuajackson]

I get a lot of ads on YouTube on my smart tv based on Roku. Can I use this to block them?

 

[Tech9]

Unlikely. YouTube ads are served from streaming servers.

 

[Joshuajackson]

Yeah I figured that out. I was able to block ads with next dns, but it’s tricky and sometimes video won’t load and I can’t put in scripts or block specific IPs. Apparently it works or used to with pihole but I don’t know it’s all new to me

 

[Tech9]

It doesn't work with any DNS-based adblock solutions. The only one blocking effectively YouTube ads is uBlock Origin extension.

 

[Joshuajackson]

Why do people claim it works with pihole?

 

[Tech9]

It doesn't - can't block the streaming server. It will block the video stream as well. Google figured it out.

 

[mefistos]

Not really a solution for your ad-blocking issue, but you can use VPN to get Youtube Premium from India for about 1$ a month

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Not really a solution for your ad-blocking issue, but you can use VPN to get Youtube Premium from India for about 1$ a month

But then you windup making up for the difference in premium cost by paying for the VPN service.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

It doesn't work with any DNS-based adblock solutions. The only one blocking effectively YouTube ads is uBlock Origin extension.

Yep browser extension is truly the only solution, unless you want to pay for premium.

 

[mefistos]

But then you windup making up for the difference in premium cost by paying for the VPN service.

Not really if you use free VPN service. You just need it for the subscription payment and then you can delete the VPN. So it's literally win-win.

 

[Mazz]

I use a Google Chromecast with Smart Tube Next installed and no Ads. Roku is extremely limited, i help run one of the Largest Roku Groups on FB and people are starting to switch devices.

 

[cptnoblivious]

Why do people claim it works with pihole?

The top entry in the pihole FAQ is that you can NOT block youtube ads with pihole.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comments/frum61

 

[Joshuajackson]

The top entry in the pihole FAQ is that you can NOT block youtube ads with pihole.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comments/frum61

Linus tech tips covered this and tested it out if pihole blocks ads and indeed he got no ads using pihole on a pi

 

[BreakingDad]

Dumb question, why does ublock work and pihole/adguard etc doesn't?

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Dumb question, why does ublock work and pihole/adguard etc doesn't?

Ublock works merely as a browser filter. Where pihole/adguard blocks content by blocking domain addresses. Often the advertisements are done via the same domain as the video- a.k.a. block the domain ,you block the video as well.

 

[Tech9]

Dumb question, why does ublock work and pihole/adguard etc doesn't?

uBlock also doesn't break webpages. It removes the adds and rearranges the page so there is no blank areas.

 

[PeterR]

I use a Google Chromecast with Smart Tube Next installed and no Ads. Roku is extremely limited, i help run one of the Largest Roku Groups on FB and people are starting to switch devices.

Agreed running it on a ccwgtv & an onn 4k, removes all the google/youtube 'crap', don't know how long it can last.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

uBlock also doesn't break webpages. It removes the adds and rearranges the page so there is no blank areas.

Some dns solutions don't break webpages as well, but it depends on the DNS solution. That is the major difference with Ublock and DNS blocking solutions. Ublock can filter the content of a page that loads in the browser, while DNS blocking prevents the content from ever reaching the browser. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses. The main take away for this discussion is that DNS blocking is not viable for blocking youtube advertisements since the video content and advertisements are delivered via the same source. I think the confusion here has been created with the pihole/diversion experimental youtube block concept that relied on hostname trickery to convince the you-tube ad-stream that the advertisement had already been played by using a previous ad-stream IP address. While this works occasionally, it eventually leads to no longer being able to play youtube video streams thus requiring the method to be reset over a period of time. To be clear, this is not an actual solution for the problem.

 

[Tech9]

Some dns solutions don't break webpages as well

All I have tried leave blank spaces - Pi-hole, Diversion, AdGuard, pfBlockerNG. There is nothing to tell the browser to remove them. The most annoying thing is dead ad links in Google search. Some of them are actually very relevant to what was searched for. Another reason I prefer uBlock Origin is the easy on/off button and selective ad blocking per website. I can set and forget SNB Forums with adds to support the site and something else with no ads because I don't care what they want to show me. The whole procedure is one pointer movement and two klicks. No other solution is more convenient.

 

[Mazz]

Browser Wise, i use AdBlocker Ultimate, i see no ads on Youtube.