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Pi-Hole or something else for network ad blocking? (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by plenipotentprotogod@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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I've been aware of pi-hole for a while now, but never bothered with it because I do most web browsing on a laptop where browser extensions like uBlock origin are good enough. However, with multiple streaming services starting to insert adds into my paid subscriptions, I'm looking to upgrade to a network blocker that will also cover the apps on my smart TV.

I run most of my self hosted services on a proxmox server, so I'd like something that'll run as an LXC container or a VM. I'm also vaguely aware that various competing applications have come out since pi-hole first gained popularity. Is pi-hole still the best thing going, or are there better options?

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[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 14 points 10 months ago

Pi-hole is great, but unfortunately ads in YouTube or other streaming services is not one of the things it blocks.

[-] dontblink@feddit.it 1 points 10 months ago

I wonder why we don't have AI browser extensions that can recognise and obscure possible ads / unwanted content yet

[-] WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Because the AI isn't needed, and would be computationally expensive.

Extensions like ublock origin and sponsorblock work just fine.

[-] HerzogVonWiesel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

Simple: That would be the opposite of making money for companies

[-] dan@upvote.au 1 points 10 months ago

PiHole and similar services just use DNS blocking, which only works if the ads are served via a third-party ad server. Sites with their own ad inventory (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc) can't be blocked this way since they can just serve the ads from the same domain as their regular content.

[-] HexagonSun@sh.itjust.works 0 points 10 months ago

Glad I read this - all my other devices block ads perfectly well already, but was wondering if I could block YouTube ads on my Apple TV... I guess not!

[-] mgrimace@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

If you’re comfortable self hosting you can use isponsorblocktv to block ads/sponsorship on YouTube on AppleTv and various smart TVs. I use this + Pi-Hole https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV

[-] greyskies@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Not sure of any downside yet but setting your country to Albania via vpn removes all YouTube ads on Apple TV. Was just informed of this yesterday and as mentioned there may be reasons to not do this.

this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024

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