Posted by kilroy123 2 days ago
So I made this to recreate Cable TV for YouTube. I made it so it runs in the browser. Quickly import your subscriptions in the browser via a bookmarklet. No accounts, no sign-ins. Just quickly import your data locally.
Also, mpv supports lua scripts for a variety of actions on YouTube (or other streaming) videos, such as showing you YouTube's recommended videos in the video player, clipping and downloading videos, sponsorblock and submitting sponsorblock segments, and so on.
I've been doing this for almost a decade, and I do recommend it. In my experience, just importing my YouTube subscriptions into a feed reader was a positive experience. I've had a daily digest of mostly interesting videos and rarely (if ever) the urge to browse YouTube.
But with YouTube's recommendation algorithm out of the picture, it does mean that you'll have to find some other way of discovering new channels.
Did it in ~300 lines of node.js, was trying to learn how to use JS for server stuff, seemed like a good idea at the time. It still works 5 years later, but it stands as a reminder to me to never use async/await.
What issues did you face with async/await?
As it is, I can do that somewhat manually and it makes for a nice interface where I'm sure what the kids are watching.
I’ve noticed a major market shift recently where people are becoming paralyzed by the "firehose" of content. Information scarcity used to reward knowledge acquisition, but we now live in an era of information abundance, which requires better pattern recognition and synthesis.
In my own work building AI systems, I always say that leverage is a function of your skill multiplied by your clarity. Most "brain rot" happens because we outsource our clarity to an algorithm that is engineered to keep us emotionally volatile and stagnant. By returning to human curation, you’re providing the kind of focus that actually recharges a person rather than numbing them out.
I’m also a huge fan of the "no accounts" approach. I talk a lot about data privacy and the importance of keeping your personal "mental OS" protected—keeping data local is the ultimate firewall against being treated like training data for a system you didn't opt into.
I often tell founders to "launch faster" and "keep it stupidly simple" for V1. This nails the core "aha moment" without unnecessary complexity. Curation is a massive, underserved opportunity right now. Great work shipping this.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41247023
I like that this one adds a classic blue cable guide though.
Which has folks from The History channel, Pawn Stars, etc
Actually I really wish this had existed while my father was still alive! Toward the end of his life, he had developed pretty debilitating Alzheimers, but he still liked to watch TV. The problem was, modern TVs were way too complex for him to use. My mom had to come in the room and put on DVDs for him pretty much all day. I'm sure he could have figured out how to channel surf by himself if that had been an option.