youtube-webos

An upgraded fork of webosbrew's youtube-webos with extended features and fixes.

Added Features

• Full support for webOS 3, 4, 5, 6, 22, 23, 24, and 25 (2016 and newer LG TVs) (webOS 1 and 2 currently not supported)

• Enhanced AdBlock Engine: New schema-based filtering system (cleaner Home, Search, and Shorts)

• Filter out QR code + Shop button overlays during video playback

• Enhanced Menu UI + Themes

• Auto Login - bypasses account selection screen

• Force Max Quality

• Hide Endcards

• Shortcuts - Programmable 0-9 key shortcuts during video playback

• Guest Mode: Hides annoying "Sign in" prompts

• SponsorBlock: Highlight feature added -- All segment types added (Hook, Tangents, muted segments) -- Color selector for all segments -- Segment UI list replicating desktop segment list -- Jump to highlight segment with blue button on LG remote -- Per-segment options including auto skip, manual skip, show in progress bar, and disabled -- Skip Segments Once option

• Toggle display on/off with red button on LG remote for OLED TVs + persistent keepalive

• Return YouTube Dislike - added to description tab in video

• Display Time in UI: Smart clock that hides during fullscreen and when description panel is open

• YouTube app fixes - Full video description panel hack to restore visual elements and enable full navigation

• Customizable YouTube UI fixes such as multiline titles and video shelf opacity for better visibility

• Bug fixes, UI fixes

Improvements

• Rewritten codebase optimized for performance and efficiency to support LG TV hardware

Review changes made since 0.3.8 here

Features

• Advertisements blocking
• SponsorBlock integration
• Autostart

Note: Configuration screen can be opened by pressing 🟩 GREEN button on the remote.

Pre-requisites

• Official YouTube app needs to be uninstalled before installation.

Installation

• Use webOS Homebrew Channel - app is available via repo link: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NicholasBly/youtube-webos/main/repo.json
• Use Device Manager app - see Releases for a prebuilt .ipk binary file. A webOS22+ .ipk is available for users on 2022+ TVs, supporting webOS22-25. These are lighter, more optimized builds for newer hardware, without translation layers needed for older TVs.
• Use webOS TV CLI tools - ares-install youtube...ipk (For more information on configuring the webOS CLI tools, see below)

Configuration

Configuration screen can be opened by pressing 🟩 GREEN button on the remote. Black screen / OLED mode can be toggled by pressing 🟥 RED button on the remote.

Autostart

In order to autostart an application the following command needs to be executed via SSH or Telnet:

luna-send-pub -n 1 'luna://com.webos.service.eim/addDevice' '{"appId":"youtube.leanback.v4","pigImage":"","mvpdIcon":""}'

This will make "YouTube AdFree" display as an eligible input application (next to HDMI/Live TV, etc...), and, if it was the last selected input, it will be automatically launched when turning on the TV.

This will also greatly increase startup performance, since it will be runnning constantly in the background, at the cost of increased idle memory usage. (so far, relatively unnoticable in normal usage)

In order to disable autostart run this:

luna-send-pub -n 1 'luna://com.webos.service.eim/deleteDevice' '{"appId":"youtube.leanback.v4"}'

Building

• Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/NicholasBly/youtube-webos.git

• Enter the folder and build the App, this will generate a *.ipk file.

cd youtube-webos

# Install dependencies (need to do this only when updating local repository / package.json is changed)
npm install

npm run build && npm run package

Development TV setup

These instructions use the webOS CLI tools. See https://webostv.developer.lge.com/develop/tools/cli-introduction for more information.

Configuring webOS CLI tools with Developer Mode App

This is partially based on https://webostv.developer.lge.com/develop/getting-started/developer-mode-app.

• Install Developer Mode app from Content Store
• Enable Developer Mode
• Enable key server and download TV's private key: http://TV_IP:9991/webos_rsa
  The key must be saved under ~/.ssh (or %USERPROFILE%\.ssh on Windows)
• Configure the device using ares-setup-device (-a may need to be replaced with -m if device named webos is already configured)
  • PASSPHRASE is the 6-character passphrase printed on screen in developer mode app
  • privatekey path is relative to ${HOME}/.ssh (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.ssh)

ares-setup-device -a webos -i "username=prisoner" -i "privatekey=webos_rsa" -i "passphrase=PASSPHRASE" -i "host=TV_IP" -i "port=9922"

Configuring webOS CLI tools with Homebrew Channel / root

• Enable SSH in Homebrew Channel app
• Generate SSH key on developer machine (ssh-keygen -t rsa)
• Copy the private key (id_rsa) to the ~/.ssh directory (or %USERPROFILE%\.ssh on Windows) on the local computer
• Append the public key (id_rsa.pub) to the /home/root/.ssh/authorized_keys file on the TV
• Configure the device using ares-setup-device (-a may need to be replaced with -m if device named webos is already configured)
  • privatekey path is relative to ${HOME}/.ssh (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.ssh)

ares-setup-device -a webos -i "username=root" -i "privatekey=id_rsa" -i "passphrase=SSH_KEY_PASSPHRASE" -i "host=TV_IP" -i "port=22"

Installation

npm run deploy

Launching

• The app will be available in the TV's app list. You can also launch it using the webOS CLI tools.

npm run launch

To jump immediately into some specific video use:

npm run launch -- -p '{"contentTarget":"v=F8PGWLvn1mQ"}'