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diff --git a/_assets/liferea-youtube.png b/_assets/liferea-youtube.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..220e199 --- /dev/null +++ b/_assets/liferea-youtube.png Binary files differdiff --git a/blog/threa.md b/blog/threa.md index ce773ef..38b1e8c 100644 --- a/blog/threa.md +++ b/blog/threa.md @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ +++ rss = "Raku's concision demonstrated in form of a tutorial" date = Date(2021, 7, 3) -tags = ["fun", "recipe"] +tags = ["fun", "recipe", "clipboard"] +++ # Writing a Clipboard Manager diff --git a/blog/youtu.md b/blog/youtu.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13245bb --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/youtu.md @@ -0,0 +1,225 @@ ++++ +rss = "Do you know de wey? Lemme show you de wey!" +date = Date(2024, 1, 17) +tags = ["fun", "recipe", "net", "nix", "clipboard"] ++++ + +# Best Ways to Watch YouTube Videos + +In today's episode of [guides nobody asked for and likely having +been covered by someone more qualified][idgaf], lemme show you +the **correct** ways to view videos hosted on YouTube and other +hostile, tracker-riddled hellscapes. Whilst I despise Google's +mass surveillance practices, it stores a large proportion +of culturally significant videos and clips that would be difficult +to mirror to user-respecting services due to copyright. Hell, even YouTube +doesn't have the right to distribute many of them in the first place. + +Because of YouTube's circumvention of advertisement blockers, +the ad-blocking arm race finally caught mainstream media attention +and tis kool to talk about that now. Hence I'm happy to jump +on the bandwagon, albeit a wee bit late, but this ain't just that. +I feed you poison—over 4% of the pages linked from my site +are on YouTube—so the least I can do is sell you my cures. + +## Using a Real Media Player + +The most popular solutions are either to use for a good blocker +on a browser with (supposedly) long-term support for [Manifest V2] +like [uBlock Origin] on Firefox, or use alternative front-ends +such as [Invidious] or [Piped]. Although uBlock Origin is essential +for a pleasant experience on the modern interwebs and alternative frontends +offers the best UX for browsing videos, in-browser and service-specific +media players are inferior anyway when compared to programs properly designed +for a decent playback experience. + +My favorite has been [mpv] for as long as I can remember, +as it makes it easy to adjust video brightness/contrast/etc., +playback speed, subtitle size and placements, and to overamplify +quiet audios. Out of the box, it integrates with [yt-dlp], +a time shifter with support for [most online media services][supported]. +Just drop the URL into an mpv window and [boom], it werks! + +Either [drag-and-drop] or invoking `mpv $url` is quite convenient, +but not that close to following an anchor, is it? You'd need +to first open mpv or a program launcher (or a terminal emulator), +then drag the URL there, or perhaps copy and paste it for the latter cases. +What if you [gotta go fast], aye? As a [hedgehog-maxxer] meself, +of course I can do better, and here's how. + +## With a Browser Add-on + +While drafting this article, I noticed that the _ff2mpv_ extension I was using +had technically been [non-free][pacifist] for a while. Although I understand +and respect the author's noble intention against violence, I believe +discrimination never ends up helping those oppressed due to the power imbalance +for the exclusion false-positives to be worth it. + +For this reason, I switched to [Open in mpv] and recommend it instead. +The usage is practically the same: open context menu at the video URL +and select **Open this link in mpv**. The internal mechanism +is a bit different though, and because it influences the installation process, +I will try to briefly explain [how it works]. + +The way _Open in mpv_ works is a bit convoluted. First, it wraps +the specified URL in a `mpv` scheme. The new URL starts with `mpv://` +is then passed back to Firefox, which must have been configured to open it +in the native program `open-in-mpv`. This program parses the URL +into the equivalent mpv command and execute it. If you are not on NixOS, +see the [extension's README] to set it up yourself. + +Otherwise, it can be declared in [configuration.nix(5)] as follows. +The declarations should be self-explanatory after referencing +Firefox's documentation for [policies.json]. If you have trouble finding +an extension's ID and download URL, search for it in [Mozzarella]. + +```nix +{ pkgs, ... }: +{ + programs.firefox = { + enable = true; + policies = { + ExtensionSettings."{d66c8515-1e0d-408f-82ee-2682f2362726}" = { + default_area = "menupanel"; + installation_mode = "normal_installed"; + install_url = + "https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox" + + "/downloads/latest/iina-open-in-mpv/latest.xpi"; + }; + Handlers.scheme.mpv = { + action = "useHelperApp"; + ask = false; + handlers = [ { + name = "open-in-mpv"; + path = "${pkgs.open-in-mpv}/bin/open-in-mpv"; + } ]; + }; + }; + }; +} +``` + +Even though Mozzarella is supposed to only show libre add-ons, be aware +that the metadata it crawls from addons.mozzila.org might not always +be [correct][ff2mpv]. Ideally, browser extensions should be packaged +in the distribution's repository, but packaging discipline is not exactly +NixOS's strong suit. I will probably post an update on how to declare +policies.json in Guix once I figure that out. + +## From a Feed Reader + +Now we can properly watch videos while browsing the web, +but subscribing to YouTube channels on its web interface +would require creating an account and subjecting one's self +to more surveillance. Fortunately, at the time of writing, +YouTube still provide Atom [feeds] for syndication. +Funny enough, they are advertised on the channel pages as RSS: + +```html +<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" + href="https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=…"> +``` + +The referenced feed employ [Media RSS] to communicate the video URL. +This extension is widely supported by feed readers, as well +as the previously mentioned feed-discovery mechanism. I use [Liferea], +which allows me to directly paste the YouTube channel's URL +(`https://www.youtube.com/@…`) and displays each video's description, +thumbnail and enclosed media, e.g. + + + +For each MIME type to, enclosures can be configured to be opened +by a user-preferred program. In this case, I set `mpv --ytdl-format=b` +for `application/x-shockwave-flash` (a reminiscence of a time +when browsers needed [Flash] to play to play videos and animations) +for the _second_ best quality to save some bandwidth. YouTube encodes +the highest resolution video separate from the audio, so the best combined +format `b` is one level lower than yt-dlp's default best video +and best audio together. + +## Via Clipboard Integration + +People also share videos with me via instant messaging. +I find it cumbersome to open the URL in the browser then redirect it +to the media player, so the clipboard is used as the bridge instead. +To do this, I simply create a key binding to the command below. +On [Wayland], replace `xclip` with something equivalent. + +```sh +mpv --ytdl-format=b "$(xclip -out -selection clipboard)" +``` + +## Musing + +There, I shared how I do it so [you can too]! If they seem +needlessly complex, you share my disappointment on the UX evolution +of the mainstream web. I dream of a more semantic web, not necessarily +web 3.0, but perhaps just a more explicitly typed web, where e.g. +a YouTube URL for embedding would be a `video/webm` instead of a `text/html`. + +If `mailto` URIs can open our email client, and social media pages +can bug us to open the post in their own app, why can't we have +interoperable media handling? Maybe we should, but I'm not sure we can. +[Greed] stands in our way. Providers force us to use their proprietary +[malware] to consume their service. [DRM] has become the foundation +of media distribution. Grassroots movements like [Framasoft] might never +reach mainstream status. + +I don't mean to tell you to give up however, just to direct your energy +to where it matters. Spend less on developing [alternative front-ends] +than on ethical replacements, bridges and inviting people over. +We need more [videos], more [music], more [podcasts], more [knowledge] +better [instant][xmpp] [messaging][matrix], better [search engines], +better [translations], better [home] [automation][platypush], and whatnot. +Against all odds, maybe things will finally start to improve +even for those outside of our bubble. [Perchance.] + +[idgaf]: https://www.alexmolas.com/2023/07/15/nobody-cares-about-your-blog.html +[Manifest V2]: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/338#issuecomment-1332300191 +[uBlock Origin]: https://ublockorigin.com +[Invidious]: https://invidious.io +[Piped]: https://github.com/TeamPiped/Piped +[mpv]: https://mpv.io +[yt-dlp]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp +[supported]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/supportedsites.md +[boom]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FNzL5nW_u4 +[drag-and-drop]: https://uno.starshard.studio/notes/9nmgldtdgghu8m2n +[gotta go fast]: https://ziglang.org/perf +[hedgehog-maxxer]: https://video.hardlimit.com/c/morbiwars + +[pacifist]: https://github.com/woodruffw/ff2mpv/commit/2397193b36e6.patch +[Open in mpv]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/iina-open-in-mpv +[how it works]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fl2sMV7Hcc +[extension's README]: https://github.com/Baldomo/open-in-mpv/raw/master/README.md +[configuration.nix(5)]: https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/options#opt-programs.firefox.policies +[policies.json]: https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates +[Mozzarella]: https://gnuzilla.gnu.org/mozzarella +[ff2mpv]: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/68361 + +[feeds]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_feed +[Media RSS]: https://www.rssboard.org/media-rss +[Liferea]: https://lzone.de/liferea +[MIME]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME +[Flash]: https://ruffle.rs + +[Wayland]: https://wayland.social/@compositor/110768798303454842 + +[sandboxing]: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/docs/design/sandbox.md +[you can too]: /blog/youtu +[Greed]: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/youtube-is-showing-ads-on-non-monetized-channels/388674 +[malware]: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai +[DRM]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org +[Framasoft]: https://framasoft.org +[alternative front-ends]: https://sr.ht/~benbusby/farside +[videos]: https://sepiasearch.org +[music]: https://www.funkwhale.audio +[podcasts]: https://castopod.org +[knowledge]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access +[xmpp]: https://xmpp.org +[matrix]: https://matrix.org +[search engines]: https://seirdy.one/posts/2021/03/10/search-engines-with-own-indexes +[translations]: https://browser.mt +[home]: https://www.home-assistant.io +[platypush]: https://platypush.tech +[Perchance.]: https://fe.disroot.org/@mcsinyx/posts/ALaW77HgCSPq4pLxpo diff --git a/config.md b/config.md index 78c633b..3b57a33 100644 --- a/config.md +++ b/config.md @@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ author = "Nguyễn Gia Phong" website_title = "Web logs of McSinyx" website_description = "Random write-ups packed with pop culture references" -copyright = "🄯 2019–2023 " * author +copyright = "🄯 2019–2024 " * author website_url = "https://cnx.gdn" date_format = "yyyy-mm-dd" mintoclevel = 2 |
