Category: Entertainment

youtube

Error 403: Google change causes playback issues for third-party Youtube apps

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you use an app like SmartTube or NewPipe, you may have received error 403 messages when trying to play videos on YouTube recently.

This happened to me on two occasions in the past days. SmartTube was the app that I used on Amazon’s Fire TV Stick. I could browse YouTube and run searches, but any video that I tried to play returned a 403 error.

Note: An update fixed the issue on my end. Maybe this is also working on your end to get the issue resolved.

Whenever something like this happens, it is likely that Google-owned YouTube has made a change. Whether it is a deliberate change to torpedo adblockers or third-party YouTube apps, or something unintentional is not always clear right away.

This time, it appears, that Google seems to have made a change to block bots from accessing its videos. The information comes from the developer of NewPipe, who published details on Reddit.

Here is the summary:

  • YouTube has been testing an anti-bot check on streaming URLs from its HTML5 clients for at least a few weeks.
  • This added a new URL query parameter, which in turn caused invalid responses “after some time”.

The developer claims that the anti-bot check is “hard to implement” and that it “requires a full browser environment”.

Google furthermore has started to require the parameter on YouTube, which also resulted in 403 responses. Last but not least, Google rolled out a new JavaScript player, which turned out to be another cause for the experienced issue.

The developer’s analysis suggests that the changes that Google made this time may not have been aimed directly at users of third-party apps.

YouTube’s terms of service state that third-party apps may not block advertisement on the platform. It is likely that Google will continue its fight against content blocking and third-party apps that block ads. This time, it appears that it was likely just a side-effect.

The big question: if you could watch YouTube only with ads, would you? Would you pay for YouTube Premium to get rid of them?

Amazon displays more ads on its Fire TV platform

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

One of the things that I really, really dislike when it comes to watching media is ads. Unfortunately, it appears that the trend is more ads, not less.

This does not happen only in streaming. Microsoft, for example, is pushing ads like there is no tomorrow in Windows.

Streaming, however, seems to be inclined to become the new cable TV, the very thing it set out to replace when it started.

Now it is Amazon again that is pushing the boundaries on its Fire TV platform. After enabling full screen video ads on the platform some time ago, it is now rolling out screensaver ads.

Tip: you can block fullscreen video ads on Amazon Fire TV.

Amazon may display a screensaver after some time of inactivity on part of the user. The change runs a full-screen ad for 30 to 60 seconds before the screensaver is started.

Cord Cutter News reports that the change is rolling out to all recent Fire TV products. The ads show up after a certain amount of inactivity. Amazon shows a full screen video ad then that runs for up to a minute.

Cord Cutter News saw ads for AT&T and Easy Spirit footwear so far. This change appears limited to Fire TV devices in the United States for now. It is probably only a matter of time before it lands in other regions as well.

Closing Words

It will become harder and harder to find streaming TV sticks and devices that do not push advertisement to the screen. There is also a trend towards ad-powered plans. While these are optional for the most part right now, it is clear that the current trend is more ads and not less.

Netflix is cancelling Basic plan subscriptions and pressuring subscribers

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Netflix customers who still have a Basic subscription will soon receive word from the company about it. Basic is going away. Netflix began by pulling the plan from its website and apps.

New users could not sign-up anymore for the plan, but the company did not touch existing subscriptions.

Now, it is targeting these subscribers.

The message is clear: Basic is going away, and you have to subscribe to another plan if you want to continue watching content on Netflix.

Basic subscribers have three options basically:

  • Subscribe to the Standard plan. It is more expensive, at $15.49 compared to $9.99 in the United States, but it offers additional features as well. This includes watching Netflix on up to 2 supported devices at a time, Full HD resolution support, and an option to add one extra member.
  • Subscribe to Standard with ads. Much cheaper, at $6.99 in the United States. Downside is that it includes ads that you need to endure.
  • Do nothing and stop using Netflix.

Netflix’s shows cancellation message to Basic subscribers

The first batch of Basic plan subscribers appear to have received notifications by Netflix about the upcoming end of their plan.

The message is displayed in fullscreen on the device. It says:

Your last day to watch Netflix is “DATE”.

Choose a new plan to keep watching.

Your Basic plan has been discontinued, but you can easily switch to a new one. Plans start at “MONEY” with upgraded features.

Reports claim that Netflix won’t open anymore unless users select a new plan, even if the planned cancellation date is in the future.

Why is Netflix discontinuing the Basic plan? The most likely answer is money. Users who switch to Standard pay more directly. Netflix revealed some time ago that Standard with ads is generating more money than the Basic plan.

Also, development and engineering has one less plan to worry about, which may streamline things further.

While Netflix may loose subscribers, it seems likely that a good percentage will switch to a different plan. Netflix will monitor the response in the countries that it launched the change in.

My advise continues to be the same: do some subscription hopping. Subscribe for one service for one or two months, then cancel and subscribe to another. This way, you do not really miss out on anything without breaking the bank. I expect the next round of price raises is not far away.

What about you? Do you have a Netflix or other streaming service subscription?

Netflix

Netflix considering free ad-driven plan in some countries

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Streaming, which once set out to replace classic TV, is slowly but steadily turning into the very thing it set out to replace.

Those who still do not believe it may have a change of heart when they hear this: Netflix is apparently considering launching a free plan in some countries.

The plan will be ad-powered, which means that users will see advertisement whenever they tune in.

Depending on the country, this plan is going to make the ad-powered plan even cheaper. It is unclear at this point whether it will replace the Standard with Ads plan that Netflix currently offers, or if subscribers will have to sit through more ads to make up for the difference, or get another disadvantage.

Netflix’s motivation behind this is to get more customers in countries with potential for that. This is also the reason why it won’t offer the free plan in the United States.

The company hopes that this new plan will fuel further growth, which will make shareholders happy. It also needs to push ads to reach critical mass.

Considering that Netflix is a first-mover, it is possible that the likes of Disney, Warner, or Paramount will also switch to offering a free ad-driven plan. They followed Netflix’s introduction of an ad-drive plan and its fight against password sharing already.

Classic TV is abysmal because of ads

I have to admit that I do not watch a lot of TV or streams. While I tune in to watch movies or shows, this usually happens using streaming services.

I suffer through the rare occasions when I watch classic TV. Maybe it is a game that is only shown there, or something else that is exclusive. The sheer number of ads makes my stomach turn.

Ads at streaming services, including YouTube, may add another dimension to the experience. Most add tracking, which means that you not only lose minutes of your life each hour media is consumed, you are also tracked while suffering.

There is a reason why I prefer buying movies or TV shows on disc when I like them. These do not have ads and I can watch them whenever I want, even when I sit in a cabin in a remote part of Canada.

Closing Words

It is almost certain that an upcoming free Netflix plan will attract lots of users. The exact nature of it is unknown at this point, and it remains to be seen how Netflix plans to release it in the markets it is aiming for.

It could be an interesting option for users who are interested in just a few shows. They could join up and watch these without paying anything. Well, other than with their data and time, that is.

What about you? Would you sign-up for a free Netflix plan, if it would become available in your country?

YouTube

Google announces new YouTube Premium features and hints at new plans

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

The official way to watch YouTube videos without advertisement is YouTube Premium. The subscription-based service costs $13.99 per month in the United States if you sign up for a regular plan. If you pay annually, that price drops to about $11.66 per month. Students get it for $7.99 and there is also a Family plan for $22.99.

Google has made an announcement on its official support website recently. The company listed new YouTube Premium features and also hinted at the introduction of new plans.

Here are the new features:

  • Jump Ahead feature on mobile to skip ahead. This is done with a double-tap and only available for Android at the time. Apple iOS support is coming “in the future” according to Google.
  • Shorts Picture-in-Picture to watch Shorts while using other apps. Android exclusive.
  • Smart Downloads to download “recommended Shorts automatically” to the device (experimental).
  • Redesigned Watch Patch (experimental).

Most of the features are limited to mobile devices. Furthermore, some of them, especially the redesigned watch patch, are almost universally disliked by the community.

Google hints at new YouTube plans

More interesting than these features is Google’s announcement that it plans to expand “existing offers to more regions” and introduce “new plans” in the future as well.

Could it be that Google finally realized that the price of a YouTube Premium subscription is high if it is just used to watch content without advertisement?

YouTube Premium Lite appears to be a thing still, albeit heavily limited. It dropped the price of a subscription to about $6, but did not remove all ads on YouTube and did not provide access to YouTube Music or downloads.

Closing Words

While there are ways to watch YouTube videos without ads, I have to admit that I would be fine with paying a monthly fee for that. YouTube’s current premium pricing is over my monthly limit though. I do not use the service enough to justify the expense.

If YouTube’s upcoming plan or plans become reality, and if they are below my personal limit, then I’d certainly consider subscribing. In case you are wondering, my limit is $5 per month, preferably less than that if paid yearly.

What about you? Would you pay for YouTube Premium?

Bad news for YouTube Premium users who subscribed abroad

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

YouTube users who do not want to be pestered by ads on the platform have several options. The only official option is a YouTube Premium subscription, which is completely ad-free according to Google.

Problem is, you pay a premium depending on where you live. If you live in the United States, you pay $14 a month for YouTube Premium. This does get you access to YouTube Music, but not everyone needs that.

Look abroad, and you may notice that subscriptions are considerably cheaper in some regions. Users from India, for example, pay less than $16 per year for YouTube Premium.

It should be clear that Google is taking into account wealth differences when selecting prices for YouTube Premium. The per-capita income in India has been $2,050 as of 2023, which is considerably less than the United States 2023 per-capita income of $71,000.

YouTube users finding a loophole

Some YouTube users discovered that they can sign-up for YouTube Premium in a different country. This required the use of a VPN to get to the sign-up page of that country.

Sign-ups worked and users could access YouTube and YouTube Music ad-free afterwards.

Google did receive some money from these users, which some felt was still better than getting nothing. The use of adblockers prevents advertisement as well, and solutions do exist for all major platforms, including desktop PCs, mobile devices, and TVs.

Google fighting back

Reports suggest that Google is now cancelling YouTube Premium subscriptions for some subscribers.

No official confirmation: Google has not confirmed the crackdown officially.

The company told Techcrunch that it has systems in place that detect when a user’s country of origin and the YouTube Premium sign-up country are different.

Customers are asked to update their billing information in this case, according to Google.

Users claim that Google is cancelling their subscriptions outright. Some claimed that they were able to sign-up again using a VPN, but this is unconfirmed.

Closing Words

Google is already playing cat and mouse with adblocking users. It tests and implements changes to get adblocking users to stop using their content blocking extensions on YouTube or signing up for YouTube Premium. Adblockers do get updated quickly and the game begins anew.

It is possible that this is now extended to YouTube Premium subscriptions. Google cancels the subscription and users sign-up again using the same or a different account, in the same or a different region.

Some may also switch to using adblockers instead.

How much is YouTube without ads worth to you? That is a question that every user has to answer individually.

VLC Media Player 3.0.21

VLC Media Player 3.0.21 launches with AMD improvements

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

VideoLAN has released a new version of its cross-platform open source VLC Media Player application. VLC Media Player 3.0.21 is already available on the official distribution server. No official announcement at this point, but this is only a matter of time.

The new version of VLC Media Player comes with a number of improvements and fixes. Notable is improved support for devices with AMD hardware.

The release notes state the following in this regard:

  • Super Resolution scaling with AMD GPUs
  • New AMD VQ Enhancer filter

Super Resolution scaling is an upscaling technology that aims to improve the visual quality and sharpness of videos. It works best on low-quality videos and videos that are badly compressed.

The upscaling feature was available only for NVIDIA and Intel GPUs in previous versions of VLC Media Player. This changes with the new release and levels the playing field in this regard.

As far as other features are concerned, the following ones stick out:

  • The D3D11 HDR option can also turn on/off HDR for all sources regardless of the display
  • Improve subtitles rendering on Apple platforms of notably Asian languages by correcting font fallback lookups
  • Add D3D11 option to use NVIDIA TrueHDR to generate HDR from SDR sources
  • Improve Opus ambisonic support
  • Add support for HTTP content range handling according to RFC 9110

The new release includes a few fixes and updates to libraries next to that:

  • Fix some ASS subtitle rendering issues
  • Fix Opus in MP4 behaviour
  • Fix VAAPI hw decoding with some drivers
  • Fix some HLS Adaptive Streaming not working in audio-only mode
  • Fix regression on macOS causing crashes when using audio devices
  • Fix exposed UPnP directory URL schemes to be compliant with RFC 3986
  • Fix various warnings, leaks and potential crashes
  • Fix security integer overflow in MMS module

You can check out the full release notes here.

Which media player do you use primarily and why?

Cobalt.tools Download Videos

This online video downloader is fast, customizable, and ad-free

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

While I still swear on Internet Download Manager for all my downloading needs, many users may need such tools only occasionally or do not want to pay for a service. If you need to download a video every now and then, then you may prefer a fast solution that does not need to be installed.

Cobalt.tools is such a tool. Yes, there are numerous video downloaders out there, but hear me out.

Cobalt is an ad-free, tracking-free solution that has a minimalistic design. It worked with every video service I threw at it. Probably won’t work with DRM-videos, but that is a limitation for all video downloaders.

To use it, you simply paste the video URL into the form on the website. Hit the >> button and you get the download dialog of your browser. It does not get simpler than that.

The default configuration is set to auto. This means that Cobalt determines what to download and the quality of the download.

Cobalt Settings

A click on settings shows a number of preferences. Here you can make changes to video, audio, and other settings.

  • Video — Change the preferred quality between 8k+ and 144p
  • YouTube Codec — Switch from h264 to av1 or vp9.
  • Twitter — Convert Gifs to .gif.
  • Audio — change format from mp3 to ogg, wav, opus, or “best”.
  • Mute Audio — remove audio from videos.
  • Use browser language — so that YouTube dubbed audio tracks provide the correct audio track.
  • Appearance — light and dark mode supported.
  • File name style — classic, basic, pretty, and nerdy (pick pretty).

Closing Words

Cobalt.tools is an excellent video downloader. It is easy to use and privacy friendly. You can customize it, if you want, but this is optional.

While it is not best-suited for mass download sessions, it may work for that as well, albeit a little bit less comfortably. Its strength is its simplicity. Paste, click go, and save. It does not get simpler than that.

Which video downloader do you use, if any? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Amazon Prime Video Ad Free

Expect more Prime Video ads soon, including ads when you press pause

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Amazon is reportedly integrating three new ad formats into Prime Video that advertisers may run. Among them video pause ads, something that Google has also been experimenting with on YouTube.

Prime Video used to be advertisement free. This changed in early 2024 when Amazon launched ads for all Prime customers on its platform. Customers who do not want to experience ads while watching videos can pay Amazon extra, about $3 per month, to get rid of most ads.

Amazon’s integration of ads on Prime Video differed from that of its competitors. Netflix, Disney+, and most streaming services that integrated ads on their platforms have done so using extra plans.

Netflix customers, for example, can subscribe for $6.99 in the United States to access content with advertisement. The companies did not add ads to existing plans, however.

Amazon’s new ad formats

Amazon pushed ads to all existing subscribers. Soon, those who did not cancel their subscriptions or pay extra, may experience additional ad formats on the platform.

All three are displayed either when the viewer pauses playback or during commercial breaks.

The first displays advertisement when a user pauses video playback. Translucent graphics are displayed on the screen that display text and images, and also contain options to add items to the Amazon cart or to learn more.

Amazon calls the second new ad format trivia ads. These display information about a brand to the viewer, again with options to shop products or learn more about a product. Variety reports that this format may also be linked to rewards, which customers may get when they complete purchases.

The final ad format offers a carousel type of display. Advertisers may show multiple items to the viewer. These can be explored on Amazon’s site and also purchased.

Closing Words

Streaming video started out as an alternative to cable tv. In recent time, it is turning more into the products that it set out to replace. Ads and regular price jumps are just two changes that affect millions of subscribers around the world.

You may want to check out how you, as a customer, could react to this changing landscape.

What about you? Do you subscribe to streaming services?

Stepify: gives summaries of YouTube videos

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Stepify is a new online service that uses AI to create summaries of YouTube videos. The core idea behind the service is to create step-by-step instructions of tutorial or lecture videos. While that may be the intended use, it works with other types of videos as well:

  • Top list videos: say, the top 50 music videos of the 90s, top 100 Sony PlayStation games of all time, or the top action movies of 2024.
  • Hands-on videos, such as cooking videos or repair videos.
  • News videos: get summaries of news videos. This works for financial reports and other types of reports as well.

How Stepify works

Stepify YouTube video summary

Stepify is simple to use. Just open the website of the service and paste a video URL into the field. It takes just a brief moment to get a summary of it.

The layout of the summary resembles a step-by-step guide, even if it is not one. This is not much a problem, as you can easily ignore the structure and extract the information that you want from the summary.

Several tests went surprisingly well. When tasked to create a summary of a top 25 Sega Saturn games video, Stepify did return all 25 mentioned titles.

Not only that, it also revealed why each game has been picked by the creator of the video.

Tests with other top lists and tutorial videos worked really well.

Some tests returned less useful information. When tasked to summarize financial videos, Stepify did return core information, but not all relevant information.

While that may still be okay for a first overview, considering that you get it in a matter of seconds, it is necessary to look up additional information for the full picture.

The developer explains on Hacker News that Stepify gets the transcript from an API and passes it on to GPT.

Closing Words

Stepify is an interesting service. It is free to use and works fast, even for longer videos. While it is still necessary to verify the returned information, it may help users get a quick overview of the content of videos.

It may also be useful to users who prefer text-based information over video.