This is why I always use `mpv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...` instead of clicking on Youtube links. It bypasses all the Javascript and plays the raw video stream. (youtube-dl needs to be installed.)

See also the awesome youtube-dl script: https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/ - especially useful for videos you plan to watch more than once. It also handles far more than just youtube, despite the name.

And for even more video services with an emphasis on live and one-time streams, see http://docs.livestreamer.io/

Livestreamer is discontinued. I suggest people try https://github.com/streamlink/streamlink

Does youtube-dl get the ad-free videos for YouTube Red subscribers?

I have never seen any ad on youtube; are they really integrated into the video itself ? from the fact that I never saw any either in the browser (with ublock origin) or through youtube-dl, I kinda just assumed they were distinct videos played by the JS player beforehand - and thus easy to bypass - and not an integral part of the main video file.

Anyway, to answer your question: youtube-dl can perform the page fetching and the download in the context of an authenticated user (for example for age-limited videos), so I assume that any advantages associated with a youtube account would most likely work with it.

I think in at least some cases they are integrated, because I use ublock origin as well and I did see at least some ads before I got YouTube Red. I could be wrong but that's my impression.

Hmm, you could well be right and I simply didn't watch the right videos.

It just doesn't download the ad at all. You can specifically tell it to try to download the ad, but just don't do that and you get ad-free, no matter if you have YouTube Red or not.

That's your ad-blocker. YouTube has started pausing playback for the 12-30 seconds while the ad plays (even if blocked), so you see a black screen.

So THATS why all videos appear to freeze up for me? Been driving me crazy trying to figure out why.

I had the same problem...Luckily it's easy to fix. Disable your ad blocker and refresh your video with ads until you get the one that is a survey. Once you finish the survey you can enable your ad blocker and things will be normal again.

Since my reason for running a blocker is to prevent an ad-delivered malware infection -- I think I'll stick with the black screens, as annoying as they are.

Playback is okay. Its the homepage and subscription pages that are freezing up.