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The only responsible way to let kids use YouTube is through some kind of alternative front end, because YouTube won’t provide the simple control mechanism of an

The only responsible way to let kids use YouTube is through some kind of alternative front end, because YouTube won’t provide the simple control mechanism of an allowed channel/playlist/videos list. Be nice if they’d fix that before blocking off the only OK ways to use the thing. (Nobody else does either, can’t even have an allowed-apps list on Apple TV, it’s all-or-nothing with totally useless rating restrictions instead, this is the main thing parents need and nobody wants to provide it)

pwillia7 3y ago
I think NVIDIA shield android TV has more options for parental controls, but I don't use them so can't say for sure.
- vundercind 3y ago
  Yeah, had one but it was glitchy/crashy and several codec combos for Jellyfin were messed up (supported by hardware, but buggy) so I ended up back with Apple, which is how things usually go. A quick search reads like you need third party launchers to block/allow specific apps, anyway. Seems like asking for even more jankiness, but at least it’s an option.
em-bee 3y ago
which app are you using now? is there any that support such a list? i could see a possibility to add such a feature to eg freetube
- vundercind 3y ago
  Some yt-dlp script with tons of features that adds full metadata and is smart enough not to re-download things. Have its output in Jellyfin, displaying as year-season-names tv shows, a show per channel or playlist. I would love an allowlist proxy-site (like invidious) that I could redirect most YouTube requests in my house to, but I’ve not seen any that support that.
  - slenk 3y ago
    I would check out https://tubearchivist.com/ https://tubearchivist.com/
  - loughnane 3y ago
    I do exactly this, here's my script. each text file is just a list of URLs. get () { FILENAME="%(uploader)s/%(title)s/%(title)s (%(upload_date)s).%(ext)s" yt-dlp \ --restrict-filenames \ --no-check-certificate \ --verbose \ --download-archive "/volume1/Media/youtube/archive.log" \ -i \ --write-thumbnail \ --convert-thumbnails jpg \ --force-ipv4 \ --add-metadata \ --write-auto-sub \ --sub-lang en \ --write-sub \ -f "best[height<=1080]" \ --merge-output-format mkv \ -o "/volume1/Media/$1/$FILENAME" \ -v \ --batch-file "/volume1/Media/youtube/$2" } get "youtube/_Singles" "unique.txt" get "youtube/_politics" "politics.txt" get "youtube/_music_videos" "music.txt" get "youtube/channels" "channels.txt" get "youtube/channels" "playlists.txt" exit 0
dhdhfbfjofgh 3y ago
What are you talking about? This is a standard feature of the YouTube Kids apps. My child can only watch videos that I’ve allow-listed individually or by channel. I have a menu option in the main YouTube app to add videos as I browse. It works well.
lern_too_spel 3y ago
That alternative frontend is the YouTube Kids app. It has exactly the functionality you want. I agree that no other video apps provide this functionality, but no other video apps have very many videos that I would show a kid anyway, so it doesn't make sense for them to implement.
- vundercind 3y ago
  Oh, I’d seen the YouTube kids accounts and assumed it was like that (80% as much awful spammy shit as adult-YouTube, 5% as much good content—totally worthless) so hadn’t looked at it.
slenk 3y ago
I would check out https://tubearchivist.com/ https://tubearchivist.com/

pwillia7 3y ago

I think NVIDIA shield android TV has more options for parental controls, but I don't use them so can't say for sure.

vundercind 3y ago
Yeah, had one but it was glitchy/crashy and several codec combos for Jellyfin were messed up (supported by hardware, but buggy) so I ended up back with Apple, which is how things usually go. A quick search reads like you need third party launchers to block/allow specific apps, anyway. Seems like asking for even more jankiness, but at least it’s an option.

em-bee 3y ago

which app are you using now? is there any that support such a list? i could see a possibility to add such a feature to eg freetube

vundercind 3y ago
Some yt-dlp script with tons of features that adds full metadata and is smart enough not to re-download things. Have its output in Jellyfin, displaying as year-season-names tv shows, a show per channel or playlist. I would love an allowlist proxy-site (like invidious) that I could redirect most YouTube requests in my house to, but I’ve not seen any that support that.
- slenk 3y ago
  I would check out https://tubearchivist.com/ https://tubearchivist.com/
- loughnane 3y ago
  I do exactly this, here's my script. each text file is just a list of URLs. get () { FILENAME="%(uploader)s/%(title)s/%(title)s (%(upload_date)s).%(ext)s" yt-dlp \ --restrict-filenames \ --no-check-certificate \ --verbose \ --download-archive "/volume1/Media/youtube/archive.log" \ -i \ --write-thumbnail \ --convert-thumbnails jpg \ --force-ipv4 \ --add-metadata \ --write-auto-sub \ --sub-lang en \ --write-sub \ -f "best[height<=1080]" \ --merge-output-format mkv \ -o "/volume1/Media/$1/$FILENAME" \ -v \ --batch-file "/volume1/Media/youtube/$2" } get "youtube/_Singles" "unique.txt" get "youtube/_politics" "politics.txt" get "youtube/_music_videos" "music.txt" get "youtube/channels" "channels.txt" get "youtube/channels" "playlists.txt" exit 0

dhdhfbfjofgh 3y ago

What are you talking about? This is a standard feature of the YouTube Kids apps. My child can only watch videos that I’ve allow-listed individually or by channel. I have a menu option in the main YouTube app to add videos as I browse. It works well.

lern_too_spel 3y ago

That alternative frontend is the YouTube Kids app. It has exactly the functionality you want. I agree that no other video apps provide this functionality, but no other video apps have very many videos that I would show a kid anyway, so it doesn't make sense for them to implement.

vundercind 3y ago
Oh, I’d seen the YouTube kids accounts and assumed it was like that (80% as much awful spammy shit as adult-YouTube, 5% as much good content—totally worthless) so hadn’t looked at it.

slenk 3y ago

I would check out https://tubearchivist.com/ https://tubearchivist.com/