Viewing my YouTube subscribed sites on my PC ( Windows 10 &
Firefox) my subscribed sites are listed in alphabetical order.

However, I watch a lot on my smart TV (Samsung UE43KU6000 TV.)
Here, until recently, the list order was much the same, except
the few most recently added were also duplicated at the top of
the list.

Now, the order appears random. I can't see any correlation to
name, date subscribed, date posted, viewing frequency...

My Humax Aura 2TB also allows me to use Youtube, and appears to
behave identically to the TV.

I am not aware of making any changes myself, and can't find any
obvious way to influence things.

Am I missing something, or is this simply something I am stuck
with?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
chris@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.

In comp.misc Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:
>
> Am I missing something, or is this simply something I am stuck
> with?

You are likely stuck with it, given that a "smart tv" controls you,
rather than the other way around.

Consider downloading the items you want to watch from youtube
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and then setting up a playback
system for the downloads. Then you will be in control of every aspect
of the display and playback of the downloaded files.

In uk.d-i-y Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
> In comp.misc Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:
> >
> > Am I missing something, or is this simply something I am stuck
> > with?
>
> You are likely stuck with it, given that a "smart tv" controls you,
> rather than the other way around.
>
> Consider downloading the items you want to watch from youtube
> (https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and then setting up a playback
> system for the downloads. Then you will be in control of every aspect
> of the display and playback of the downloaded files.

There are also alternative apps like 'SmartTube' for Android TV, although it
depends on your TV/box as to whether it'll let you install them. They also
block ads and sponsored segments.

https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube

(can't speak of what it does for subscriptions though)

Theo

On 19 Dec 2024 at 22:01:13 GMT, Theo wrote:

> In uk.d-i-y Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>> In comp.misc Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>> Am I missing something, or is this simply something I am stuck
>>> with?
>>
>> You are likely stuck with it, given that a "smart tv" controls you,
>> rather than the other way around.
>>
>> Consider downloading the items you want to watch from youtube
>> (https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and then setting up a playback
>> system for the downloads. Then you will be in control of every aspect
>> of the display and playback of the downloaded files.
>
> There are also alternative apps like 'SmartTube' for Android TV, although it
> depends on your TV/box as to whether it'll let you install them. They also
> block ads and sponsored segments.
>
> https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube
>
> (can't speak of what it does for subscriptions though)
>

Thanks for that - never knew it was a thing. Just 'rooted' my 2018 LG TV and
it seems to have worked - at least, the ad-free Youtube app works. I used:

https://cani.rootmy.tv

to check for WebOS TVs. Very neat installer - just load an mp3 file using the
TV's music player. Quite a lot of small print and warnings, so caveat emptor
etc.

--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

On Thu, 19 Dec 2024, Rich wrote:

> In comp.misc Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Am I missing something, or is this simply something I am stuck
>> with?
>
> You are likely stuck with it, given that a "smart tv" controls you,
> rather than the other way around.
>
> Consider downloading the items you want to watch from youtube
> (https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and then setting up a playback
> system for the downloads. Then you will be in control of every aspect
> of the display and playback of the downloaded files.
>

Pro tip! If you want to liberate yourself from your smart-TV, go and get
yourself a Radxa Zero and run Kodi on it.

That way you can turn off all the smarts on the TV, and just view the
stuff you want to view through the Radxa single board computer.

In uk.d-i-y D <nospam@example.net> wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, 19 Dec 2024, Rich wrote:
>
> > In comp.misc Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:
> >>
> >> Am I missing something, or is this simply something I am stuck
> >> with?
> >
> > You are likely stuck with it, given that a "smart tv" controls you,
> > rather than the other way around.
> >
> > Consider downloading the items you want to watch from youtube
> > (https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and then setting up a playback
> > system for the downloads. Then you will be in control of every aspect
> > of the display and playback of the downloaded files.
> >
>
> Pro tip! If you want to liberate yourself from your smart-TV, go and get
> yourself a Radxa Zero and run Kodi on it.
>
> That way you can turn off all the smarts on the TV, and just view the
> stuff you want to view through the Radxa single board computer.

....until you want to watch Netflix, iPlayer, ITVX, Disney+ or whatever. Then
you'll find there's either no streaming app or the streaming app won't run
because you aren't running their DRM on 'certified' hardware.

Although there are approved Android TV boxes, and they're an option if you
need more control / less spying than your smart TV.

Theo

Theo wrote:

> nospam@example.net wrote:
>
>> get yourself a Radxa Zero and run Kodi on it.
>> That way you can turn off all the smarts on the TV, and just view the
>> stuff you want to view through the Radxa single board computer.
>
> ...until you want to watch Netflix, iPlayer, ITVX, Disney+ or whatever. Then
> you'll find there's either no streaming app or the streaming app won't run
> because you aren't running their DRM on 'certified' hardware.
Don't know if they've b0rked it in new and innovative ways, but I did
have Kodi (or maybe it was still XBMC at the time) running with the
widevine plugin extracted from the Chrome installer, running on a Pi3
.... obviously it did require a Netflix account, which I stopped paying
for after a year.

On Fri, 20 Dec 2024, Theo wrote:

> In uk.d-i-y D <nospam@example.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 19 Dec 2024, Rich wrote:
>>
>>> In comp.misc Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Am I missing something, or is this simply something I am stuck
>>>> with?
>>>
>>> You are likely stuck with it, given that a "smart tv" controls you,
>>> rather than the other way around.
>>>
>>> Consider downloading the items you want to watch from youtube
>>> (https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and then setting up a playback
>>> system for the downloads. Then you will be in control of every aspect
>>> of the display and playback of the downloaded files.
>>>
>>
>> Pro tip! If you want to liberate yourself from your smart-TV, go and get
>> yourself a Radxa Zero and run Kodi on it.
>>
>> That way you can turn off all the smarts on the TV, and just view the
>> stuff you want to view through the Radxa single board computer.
>
> ...until you want to watch Netflix, iPlayer, ITVX, Disney+ or whatever. Then
> you'll find there's either no streaming app or the streaming app won't run
> because you aren't running their DRM on 'certified' hardware.

This is not so interesting. All the content of the above exists on torrent
sites, for free.

> Although there are approved Android TV boxes, and they're an option if you
> need more control / less spying than your smart TV.

This is also a possibility.

> Theo
>

On Fri, 20 Dec 2024, Andy Burns wrote:

> Theo wrote:
>
>> nospam@example.net wrote:
>>
>>> get yourself a Radxa Zero and run Kodi on it.
>>> That way you can turn off all the smarts on the TV, and just view the
>>> stuff you want to view through the Radxa single board computer.
>>
>> ...until you want to watch Netflix, iPlayer, ITVX, Disney+ or whatever.
>> Then
>> you'll find there's either no streaming app or the streaming app won't run
>> because you aren't running their DRM on 'certified' hardware.
> Don't know if they've b0rked it in new and innovative ways, but I did have
> Kodi (or maybe it was still XBMC at the time) running with the widevine
> plugin extracted from the Chrome installer, running on a Pi3 ... obviously it
> did require a Netflix account, which I stopped paying for after a year.
>

Actually... I think I installed a youtube plugin and it worked. But that
was for the wife, but she never used it in the end.

What I usually do, is to download documentaries off youtube with yt-dlp
and ship them to the NAS, there they are picked up by the kodi
automatically if they are well known.

Works lile a charm and all commercials are removed as well.

On 19/12/2024 17:22, Chris J Dixon wrote:
> Viewing my YouTube subscribed sites on my PC ( Windows 10 &
> Firefox) my subscribed sites are listed in alphabetical order.
>
> However, I watch a lot on my smart TV (Samsung UE43KU6000 TV.)
> Here, until recently, the list order was much the same, except
> the few most recently added were also duplicated at the top of
> the list.
>
> Now, the order appears random. I can't see any correlation to
> name, date subscribed, date posted, viewing frequency...
>

They are messing with it, "to see what folks like"

I'd guess, the randomness either gives you the opportunity to catch up
with a channel that you previously missed - or it gives channels with
names further down the alphabet a subscriber lookin'.

You can sort the list order on a phone, and view the selected channel on
a linked TV.

Or if your TV does voice commands, ask it for the channel name.

If you've got a good memory of those.

I've got 331 ;-)

--
Adrian C