Youtube TV in WMC ?

tonywagner

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#41

Post by tonywagner » Wed Nov 13, 2019 7:16 pm

If anyone is interested, here's a Reddit thread with some more detailed discussion about the user-agent workaround:

https://www.reddit.com/r/htpc/comments/ ... ternative/

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DavidinCT

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#42

Post by DavidinCT » Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:43 pm

tonywagner wrote: Wed Nov 13, 2019 7:16 pm If anyone is interested, here's a Reddit thread with some more detailed discussion about the user-agent workaround:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HTPC/comments/ ... ternative/
Thanks for the link (I live on Reddit)

Found in that thread....

Code: Select all

chrome.exe --start-fullscreen --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Web0S; Linux/SmartTV) AppleWebKit/538.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Large Screen Safari/538.2 LG Browser/7.00.00(LGE; 24LF4820-BU; 03.20.14; 1; DTV_W15L); webOS.TV-2015; LG NetCast.TV-2013 Compatible (LGE, 24LF4820-BU, wireless)" https://www.youtube.com/tv
On Windows 10, ran that command and bing it worked...(if it does not work on first go, clean up all temp/cookies then try again)

I'll test with changing my link in ReLanuch and moving my iCON...

AWESOME !
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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DavidinCT

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#43

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Nov 18, 2019 5:00 pm

DavidinCT wrote: Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:43 pm
tonywagner wrote: Wed Nov 13, 2019 7:16 pm If anyone is interested, here's a Reddit thread with some more detailed discussion about the user-agent workaround:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HTPC/comments/ ... ternative/
Thanks for the link (I live on Reddit)

Found in that thread....

Code: Select all

chrome.exe --start-fullscreen --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Web0S; Linux/SmartTV) AppleWebKit/538.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Large Screen Safari/538.2 LG Browser/7.00.00(LGE; 24LF4820-BU; 03.20.14; 1; DTV_W15L); webOS.TV-2015; LG NetCast.TV-2013 Compatible (LGE, 24LF4820-BU, wireless)" https://www.youtube.com/tv
On Windows 10, ran that command and bing it worked...(if it does not work on first go, clean up all temp/cookies then try again)

I'll test with changing my link in ReLanuch and moving my iCON...

AWESOME !
Tried this on my Windows 7 HTPC... and I just get a white screen...oh, well... back to the drawing board.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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aquadextrous

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#44

Post by aquadextrous » Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:27 am

I have managed to get this working (almost) perfectly using MCE Reset ToolBox (Other launchers may work, I have not tried with ReLaunch as it never seems to work properly for me.) I have had to create a batch file to make it work, then create an application in MCE RTB pointing to the batch file. When I first did this YouTube would load correctly but upon exiting when WMC loaded back up there would be an MCE Reset Toolbox error on screen and this error box would not be in focus for the remote meaning having to get the mouse to click it. Simply adding a kill (and also a delay as sometimes wmc would pop back up) to WMC in the batch file fixes this. WMC doesn't then automatically restart upon exiting YouTube so it requires pressing of the green button, but no more annoying errors on screen and reaching for the mouse so this works for me.



I hope this helps anyone struggling to get YouTube TV working on their WMC PC


Code: Select all

start C:\Progra~2\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --start-fullscreen --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (SMART-TV; Linux; Tizen 4.0.0.2) AppleWebkit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) SamsungBrowser/9.2 TV Safari/605.1.15" https://www.youtube.com/tv"
Sleep 5
TASKKILL /IM ehshell.exe/code]

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DavidinCT

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#45

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:14 pm

Ok, got it working today. I already had a non working link in WMC that defaulted to the main page. I used ReLaunch to create the link and used MCE Reset Toolbox to move it around.

This was taken from the Reddit link above but, copied in a order that would make it easier for people. This is assuming that you are using Chrome only for Youtube TV, like I am.

1. Open Chrome (manually from the start menu), Copy this link and install it:

Code: Select all

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher/dbclpoekepcmadpkeaelmhiheolhjflj?hl=en
2. Click on the NEW icon on the top right corner of Chrome and after it's open click the pencil icon.

3. This will give you a box to edit current user string, copy and paste the following info:

Code: Select all

Mozilla/5.0 (SMART-TV; Linux; Tizen 4.0.0.2) AppleWebkit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) SamsungBrowser/9.2 TV Safari/605.1.15
4. Close Chrome and open WMC and try it... BANG ! It works now !

optional: If you want to use Chrome for everything, While your in the menu after clicking the new icon, at the bottom it will say "all_urls", pull that out and copy/paste:

Code: Select all

youtube.com/tv#/
Now you can use YouTube in WMC again with out a 3rd party ad-don. This works great !
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

john9kover

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#46

Post by john9kover » Tue Dec 24, 2019 5:55 am

i must be missing a step somewhere davidinCT, chrome still redirects to the web page youtube not youtube.com/tv#/ . If I run chrome then goto youtube.com/tv#/ it works by itself. Not in WMC. aquadextrous bat works but not in WMC. So I must be missing something. I tried relaunch with youtube.com/tv#/ still no luck.....yet.

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DavidinCT

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#47

Post by DavidinCT » Fri Dec 27, 2019 4:23 am

john9kover wrote: Tue Dec 24, 2019 5:55 am i must be missing a step somewhere davidinCT, chrome still redirects to the web page youtube not youtube.com/tv#/ . If I run chrome then goto youtube.com/tv#/ it works by itself. Not in WMC. aquadextrous bat works but not in WMC. So I must be missing something. I tried relaunch with youtube.com/tv#/ still no luck.....yet.
Did you install the plugin on Chome and follow the directions above ?
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

prsa01

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#48

Post by prsa01 » Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:16 pm

DavidinCT wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 4:23 am
john9kover wrote: Tue Dec 24, 2019 5:55 am i must be missing a step somewhere davidinCT, chrome still redirects to the web page youtube not youtube.com/tv#/ . If I run chrome then goto youtube.com/tv#/ it works by itself. Not in WMC. aquadextrous bat works but not in WMC. So I must be missing something. I tried relaunch with youtube.com/tv#/ still no luck.....yet.
In limited testing so far, from someone who hasn't ever messed with this stuff before so has no idea what he is doing ;-)

With both the bat file and chrome tweaks/app I seem to get different results based on whether an instance of Chrome is open/minimized or not (expected results if not). Not sure how one is supposed to close the youtubetv/Chrome instance opened by the bat file. Esc and remote keys didn't get me to a spot I could close it (outside wmc).

How does one edit an app entry point after it has been created? Change elements, icon, etc?

Still testing, thanks much!

Did you install the plugin on Chome and follow the directions above ?
The part that isn't obvious to us newbs is you start with "already had a link in media center ..."

john9kover

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#49

Post by john9kover » Sun Dec 29, 2019 3:28 am

Sorry, been a few months since I gave up on WMC with youtube and just bought a $40 android box for youtube. Figure I check back here and see if anyone made progress.

Yes I did install the plugin. That part works on chrome outside of WMC. I tried using relaunch and tried with mcrtb and both open chrome to a white screen.

Oh, and for the record, the android box works....but....Windows media center still rules!!!

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#50

Post by DavidinCT » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:38 pm

john9kover wrote: Tue Dec 24, 2019 5:55 am i must be missing a step somewhere davidinCT, chrome still redirects to the web page youtube not youtube.com/tv#/ . If I run chrome then goto youtube.com/tv#/ it works by itself. Not in WMC. aquadextrous bat works but not in WMC. So I must be missing something. I tried relaunch with youtube.com/tv#/ still no luck.....yet.
It was working for me, now it stopped. If I use youtube.com/tv#/ running from WMC, it goes to youtube desktop mode. If I manually put in youtube.com/tv#/, it works as it should. Trying to add it via putting it as the home page (does not work).

I take back my last statement, it's not working even with the Reddit post above, at least for me.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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#51

Post by john9kover » Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:46 pm

ok my final attempt at this. I have been using an android tv box for youtube, using smart youtube for ad free. It works, but it is NOT WMC. I prefer WMC. So far the only thing that works (outside of WMC) is the above bat script. however, it works with chrome without adblocker plugins. If chrome has adblocking plugins, the bat script just does a blank screen, at least for me. YMMV. But I think I am done with WMC, been using the adroid tv box for a while now for youtube. I use emby for everything else.

Still NOT using windows 10, never will, windows 7 all the way. I am starting to learn linux because of windows 10. My desktop will always have windows 7 and recently my laptop has linux mint.

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aquadextrous

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#52

Post by aquadextrous » Fri Feb 07, 2020 10:43 pm

I'm running mine slightly differently - Using Edge (chromium) to create an 'app' for youtube.com/tv and the chrome youtube TV extension in edge to do all the magic to fool youtube into thinking it's not a browser. The bat file now points to the Edge youtube 'app' and i find that it runs fine every time (sometimes chrome would not process the extension quick enough to make the TV part work, but edge seems to do this 100% - only downside is that i havent yet worked out a way of starting it completely full screen (F11) but as a work around i have added an F11 command to my Harmony Remote. I still have the issue of having to Kill WMC and re-start it manually as MCE-RTB wants to re-start it straight away and i cant get Relaunch to work at all.

Maybe someone with a bit more magical skills than me can come up with a better solution using the Edge Apps feature?!

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#53

Post by DavidinCT » Wed Apr 15, 2020 4:15 pm

Is there any other option to get Youtube TV working in WMC ?

I started a whole new build based on 8.1 and would like to see this working now..
-Dave
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Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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DavidinCT

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#54

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:34 pm

aquadextrous wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2020 10:43 pm I'm running mine slightly differently - Using Edge (chromium) to create an 'app' for youtube.com/tv and the chrome youtube TV extension in edge to do all the magic to fool youtube into thinking it's not a browser. The bat file now points to the Edge youtube 'app' and i find that it runs fine every time (sometimes chrome would not process the extension quick enough to make the TV part work, but edge seems to do this 100% - only downside is that i havent yet worked out a way of starting it completely full screen (F11) but as a work around i have added an F11 command to my Harmony Remote. I still have the issue of having to Kill WMC and re-start it manually as MCE-RTB wants to re-start it straight away and i cant get Relaunch to work at all.

Maybe someone with a bit more magical skills than me can come up with a better solution using the Edge Apps feature?!
Is this what your talking about ?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... knbohhjpge

This was very interesting. This worked for me and I got Youtube TV working in the browser..

There is a older program called ReLaunch, so it would create YouTube TV for Chrome, so for a test, I installed Chrome, and installed this plugin, and when I opened Chrome youtube TV came up fine, so I added it to WMC using Chrome from ReLaunch, and when I run it, it goes right to the full screen youtube, not youtube tv...

Something else is going on here. The nice thing about ReLaunch, is you can set "the green button" to exit Chrome and return to WMC, so it's like you never left...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

jachin99

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#55

Post by jachin99 » Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:52 pm

It sounds like chrome isn't loading plugins when it is opened via relaunch. I would try launching chrome from the command line and see if that also doesn't work. If it doesn't then maybe there is a command line switch to ensure chrome launches with all of its extensions. Just a though.

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aquadextrous

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#56

Post by aquadextrous » Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:26 pm

DavidinCT wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:34 pm
aquadextrous wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2020 10:43 pm I'm running mine slightly differently - Using Edge (chromium) to create an 'app' for youtube.com/tv and the chrome youtube TV extension in edge to do all the magic to fool youtube into thinking it's not a browser. The bat file now points to the Edge youtube 'app' and i find that it runs fine every time (sometimes chrome would not process the extension quick enough to make the TV part work, but edge seems to do this 100% - only downside is that i havent yet worked out a way of starting it completely full screen (F11) but as a work around i have added an F11 command to my Harmony Remote. I still have the issue of having to Kill WMC and re-start it manually as MCE-RTB wants to re-start it straight away and i cant get Relaunch to work at all.

Maybe someone with a bit more magical skills than me can come up with a better solution using the Edge Apps feature?!
Is this what your talking about ?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... knbohhjpge

This was very interesting. This worked for me and I got Youtube TV working in the browser..

There is a older program called ReLaunch, so it would create YouTube TV for Chrome, so for a test, I installed Chrome, and installed this plugin, and when I opened Chrome youtube TV came up fine, so I added it to WMC using Chrome from ReLaunch, and when I run it, it goes right to the full screen youtube, not youtube tv...

Something else is going on here. The nice thing about ReLaunch, is you can set "the green button" to exit Chrome and return to WMC, so it's like you never left...
Yeah that's the extension. I didnt get any issues with it not loading correctly, but i was using the extension in (new) Edge and not chrome, so not sure if that made a difference - I created a BAT file that killed the WMC process and loaded the link to the Edge Youtube web app, added this to Relaunch and this worked fine for me. Unfortunately i removed the extension as it started causing adverts and random webpages about cats to pop up while browsing, so im no longer using it this way. Decided it was easier to just cast any youtube directly from my phone to the TV.

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#57

Post by DavidinCT » Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:06 pm

aquadextrous wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:26 pm
DavidinCT wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:34 pm
aquadextrous wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2020 10:43 pm I'm running mine slightly differently - Using Edge (chromium) to create an 'app' for youtube.com/tv and the chrome youtube TV extension in edge to do all the magic to fool youtube into thinking it's not a browser. The bat file now points to the Edge youtube 'app' and i find that it runs fine every time (sometimes chrome would not process the extension quick enough to make the TV part work, but edge seems to do this 100% - only downside is that i havent yet worked out a way of starting it completely full screen (F11) but as a work around i have added an F11 command to my Harmony Remote. I still have the issue of having to Kill WMC and re-start it manually as MCE-RTB wants to re-start it straight away and i cant get Relaunch to work at all.

Maybe someone with a bit more magical skills than me can come up with a better solution using the Edge Apps feature?!
Is this what your talking about ?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... knbohhjpge

This was very interesting. This worked for me and I got Youtube TV working in the browser..

There is a older program called ReLaunch, so it would create YouTube TV for Chrome, so for a test, I installed Chrome, and installed this plugin, and when I opened Chrome youtube TV came up fine, so I added it to WMC using Chrome from ReLaunch, and when I run it, it goes right to the full screen youtube, not youtube tv...

Something else is going on here. The nice thing about ReLaunch, is you can set "the green button" to exit Chrome and return to WMC, so it's like you never left...
Yeah that's the extension. I didnt get any issues with it not loading correctly, but i was using the extension in (new) Edge and not chrome, so not sure if that made a difference - I created a BAT file that killed the WMC process and loaded the link to the Edge Youtube web app, added this to Relaunch and this worked fine for me. Unfortunately i removed the extension as it started causing adverts and random webpages about cats to pop up while browsing, so im no longer using it this way. Decided it was easier to just cast any youtube directly from my phone to the TV.
An IT tip with Chrome. When you start getting those ads that pop up near the clock, you clicked on something that caused it. When a page has a pop up that says " do you want to receive notifications from this site ?" you hit YES one or more times.

The EASIST way to deal with this is go into Settings keep going to the bottom, Advanced options and at the bottom Reset Chrome (this just clears all the crap out, and keeps your faves etc), It should be the same in "Chrome" Edge...

This will stop this...

This will happen in Edge or any other "modern" browser...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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aquadextrous

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#58

Post by aquadextrous » Fri Apr 24, 2020 3:07 pm

DavidinCT wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:06 pm
aquadextrous wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:26 pm
DavidinCT wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:34 pm

Is this what your talking about ?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... knbohhjpge

This was very interesting. This worked for me and I got Youtube TV working in the browser..

There is a older program called ReLaunch, so it would create YouTube TV for Chrome, so for a test, I installed Chrome, and installed this plugin, and when I opened Chrome youtube TV came up fine, so I added it to WMC using Chrome from ReLaunch, and when I run it, it goes right to the full screen youtube, not youtube tv...

Something else is going on here. The nice thing about ReLaunch, is you can set "the green button" to exit Chrome and return to WMC, so it's like you never left...
Yeah that's the extension. I didnt get any issues with it not loading correctly, but i was using the extension in (new) Edge and not chrome, so not sure if that made a difference - I created a BAT file that killed the WMC process and loaded the link to the Edge Youtube web app, added this to Relaunch and this worked fine for me. Unfortunately i removed the extension as it started causing adverts and random webpages about cats to pop up while browsing, so im no longer using it this way. Decided it was easier to just cast any youtube directly from my phone to the TV.
An IT tip with Chrome. When you start getting those ads that pop up near the clock, you clicked on something that caused it. When a page has a pop up that says " do you want to receive notifications from this site ?" you hit YES one or more times.

The EASIST way to deal with this is go into Settings keep going to the bottom, Advanced options and at the bottom Reset Chrome (this just clears all the crap out, and keeps your faves etc), It should be the same in "Chrome" Edge...

This will stop this...

This will happen in Edge or any other "modern" browser...
I've set Edge to block all notification requests from sites and there are none set to give any, so it wasn't this unfortunately. This was actual webpages popping up being caused by the addon. Quite a few people have commented in the reviews on the extension page (they do give tips to edit the extension to stop them, but I decided to just remove the extension as its just as easy to cast phone to tv)- This is how i found what was causing it, was so glad when i uninstalled it and the random webpages opening stopped. I do like cats but having kitties dot com pop up several times a day was infuriating!!! :crazy:

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#59

Post by DavidinCT » Fri May 01, 2020 1:54 pm

aquadextrous wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 3:07 pm I've set Edge to block all notification requests from sites and there are none set to give any, so it wasn't this unfortunately. This was actual webpages popping up being caused by the addon. Quite a few people have commented in the reviews on the extension page (they do give tips to edit the extension to stop them, but I decided to just remove the extension as its just as easy to cast phone to tv)- This is how i found what was causing it, was so glad when i uninstalled it and the random webpages opening stopped. I do like cats but having kitties dot com pop up several times a day was infuriating!!! :crazy:
How did you have your batch file setup to use with ReLaunch ? Just wondering.

I could just use Chrome, and there is ways to lock it down, so other websites dont pop up, and I even have a copy of the MVP hosts file (google it), and it will not let a single ad show on sites (it's actually amazing on some sites).

I really want to have a solid YouTube experience back on WMC and I took a look at the Kodi version and it's not the same thing, so forget that one..
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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#60

Post by DavidinCT » Mon May 11, 2020 4:20 pm

Any other options to get Youtube TV working in Media Center ? If you have it working, what are you doing ?
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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