I have a headless raspberry PI 4 8GB connected to my TV setup with Kodi and the Jellyfin add-on. Now I would like to have a convenient option to watch Youtube in a privacy-friendly way on the TV.

The experience should be similar to Freetube: creating playlists, search videos, follow subscribed channels. I don’t mind running it either directly on the PI or install it on my server.

Thanks for any recommendations of what you folks use!

      • SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zoneEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        I actually wonder sometimes how it’s survived this long.

        There are … alternative methods. Fiddly, you have to roll your own, added frustration… but it could be done. Though I hope I never have to.

        OTOH, it’s a bit like hydra - cut one head off, three more appear. Until google fully locks down YouTube (and they might), there will always be wiggle room.

        Honestly, I think they know that if they get too annoying, everyone will go elsewhere, so they are boiling the frog slowly. I’d bet Smarttube, Revanced, PipePipe etc are the Zion to YouTube’s Matrix - allowed to exist as a pressure release valves.

        • SpatchyIsOnline@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          6 days ago

          I actually wonder sometimes how it’s survived this long

          So I’ve been involved with the repo a little (just some basic issue triage and documentation stuff) and all I can say is that Yuliskov has made that project his life’s work. If anything happens to him, we’re all screwed!

    • scrooge101@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      3·
      7 days ago

      I have an LG with WebOS which is also not connected to the internet. So that’s unfortunately not an option.

        • Samiaouuuu@jlai.luEnglish
          2·
          7 days ago

          He wants privacy from YouTube, pretty sure that he doesn’t want Walmart to steal his data either

      • uuj8za@piefed.socialEnglish
        3·
        7 days ago

        I also have an LG TV. I bought an external Android TV box (Nvidia Shield) and now primarily use that as the interface.

  • nibbler@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    91·
    7 days ago

    I run ytdl-sub in my jellyfin. Totally does not fit your bill, but its awesome if you just want to follow a few channels :)

  • SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zoneEnglish
    6·
    7 days ago

    Well, the clear answer is Smart tube…but I think you might be talking about downloading and integrating into your media stack?

    If so…doesn’t Jellyfin have a plugin for TubeArchivist?

  • Treczoks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    If you have a RPi, install Mozillla Firefox, and Ublock. The only way to watch YT without going nuts.

    • justme@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      5 days ago

      the problem here is the control with tv remote, but afair there is an Firefox again that can fix this

  • Björn@swg-empire.deEnglish
    5·
    7 days ago

    Been a while since I did this. But isn’t there a YouTube plugin for Kodi anymore? Back then I would send videos from my phone to Kodi using Yatse.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      5·
      7 days ago

      Yes, there is a YouTube addon for Kodi. I came here to recommend.

      It’s not perfect for sure. There are some things that are annoying or difficult. I get the feeling that the developer is constantly playing cat and mouse with YouTube. But overall it blocks ads and plays my videos so I use it every day. I’m watching right now…

  • just_an_average_joe@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    You could try this setup. Create a seperate network for TV with no internet (you might need a seperate rj45 connector on PI), then run microsocks proxy on pi (microsocks is super lightweight, and this will be using your other rj45 or wifi with internet), next install smarttube on TV and add your local proxy. You will need to create an exception in your firewall to allow connections to microsocks and block everything.

    This way, nothing on your TV should have internet access other than any app you add that can accept a proxy.

    If you don’t care about your TV spying on you, skip all this and just install smarttube on TV and use it.

    Note: I just realized pi already has a wifi and an ethernet connection so you won’t need to buy another usb-to-rj45, so use one interface for no-internet-except-microsocks network, and use the other for normal one.

  • Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyzBEnglish
    2·
    5 days ago

    Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:

    Fewer Letters More Letters
    Plex Brand of media server package
    RPi Raspberry Pi brand of SBC
    SBC Single-Board Computer

    2 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 4 acronyms.

    [Thread #82 for this comm, first seen 19th Aug 2026, 23:30] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

  • LiveLM@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    A bit ridiculous, but maybe the SmartTube app via Waydroid?

    Not sure if that would operate well on a 4GB Pi.
    I suspect you’ll either need to keep the Android System always running in the background and sacrifice some of your RAM or go through a slow cold-boot every time you want to watch YouTube.

    That being said, privacy friendly? Eh? I guess more than the official App but I don’t think they’re explicitly doing anything for Privacy since their focus is making sure the app keeps working amidst YouTube’s constant changes.

    There’s some browser extensions that let you run the YouTube Smart TV UI on your browser but not really private. You get uBlock at best.

    The most private option would be a front-end like Invidious, but it currently doesn’t have Keyboard Navigation, so possibly hard to navigate with a Remote Control, you’d need a mouse or similar device.
    There’s a feature request for it but devs haven’t gotten around it yet.

    Maybe you could try to bodge it with a userscript? Idk.

    • cardfire@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      6 days ago

      I don’t know if it’s feasible or not, but I was going to recommend the same thing, trying to get smarttube over Waydroid, as the most comfortable big screen, remote controlled experience that is privacy first, allows channel subscriptions, and integrates SponsorBlock right out of the box.