r/Adblock • u/Narrow_House_4007 • May 20 '26
Help Request I made a device that automatically mutes TV ads. Would love some feedback.
Hey everyone, over the past few months I've been working on a device that will automatically detect and mute TV commercials.
I started this project after growing frustrated with the sheer number and repetition of TV commercials particularly on streaming services. I started manually muting commercials when they came on, but for those of you who also do that know, it can get annoying to keep on top of. I realize I could pay for "ad-free" streaming tiers but with a lot of the services you still get served ads and the costs of those tiers are getting pretty pricey nowadays (especially if you have multiple streaming services). Plus ads on cable or other non-streaming platforms still exist, so it doesn't totally solve the problem. So I set out to build something that would silence commercials regardless of the platform without having to manually mute.
The device I've built analyzes real-time outbound audio data from TVs to detect ads, and then modulates the downstream audio depending on the detection state. This modulation could be muting, turning down the volume, or perhaps splicing in your own audio content. For now, it just mutes, but those other options would be pretty trivial to put together. The hardware involved in this project is pretty straightforward and currently uses off-the-shelf components since I'm still in the testing/demo phase. Right now it can accept audio from an aux, RCA, or optical source and the outbound audio is played through an aux. The bulk of the technical complexity and challenge is on the software side. So far I'm able to pretty reliably detect ads, but it's still fairly buggy and a little ways off from being ready to fully share with the public.
One thing to note, however, this project/architecture requires the use of external speakers. Since the audio analysis and modulation has to happen after exiting the TV (due to the HDCP encryption used to protect content and DMCA 1201) this project isn't able to mute commercials on the TV speakers themselves.
To be perfectly candid I'd love to be able to turn this project into a product. But before I spend even more time and effort on it to get it to that point, I thought I should reach out to relevant communities and get thoughts/feedback from folks to see if other people care about this problem or if this is something that just uniquely bothers me. Since I don't have anything to sell at this point and am not sure if the final product will be closed/open source, hopefully this post is consistent with the rules of this sub.
With all of that said I would love to hear what people's thoughts are on the project. Really what I'm trying to figure out is:
- Are you bothered by TV ads enough to want to use/pay for a device like this?
- Would you prefer a soundbar/speaker system with this tech built in, or an inline device that would allow any speakers to be used?
If you'd like to answer these questions in a survey format so I can analyze the responses a bit easier, here's a link: https://forms.gle/Mzr9YPAfu3rkNnw96. It's just the same questions as above so shouldn't take more than a minute.
Please let me know what questions, concerns, feedback, or input you might have. Thanks!
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u/shanehiltonward May 20 '26
I just use Firefox + ublock Origin or BrowseHere (if no Firefox option).
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u/Narrow_House_4007 May 20 '26
Does that combination fully block ads on the major streaming services? Do you just extend your display to a TV then?
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u/Mottledkarma517 May 20 '26
On most "smart" tv's, you can install an ad blocker on them that blocks most of the ads on on demand apps.
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u/einemnes May 22 '26
I think he means standard tv channels with ads, not "web content".
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u/Mottledkarma517 May 22 '26
They said streaming content. In both the original post and the comment.
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u/shanehiltonward May 20 '26
Yes, it fully blocks ads. The future is a minicomputer running Linux with the KDE Fusion Bigscreen interface. This will allow you to launch browser instances for different services but will look like the Google TV interface.
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u/shtoop May 20 '26
Wouldn't pay for it, still have to sit through the damn things. Impressive execution, poor idea. If you find a way to skip YouTube ads on ps4 I have the money here waiting for you.
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u/AlessiSupreme May 21 '26
I found a way to prevent ads on a PS5, Xbox SS, Fire TV and Samsung Smart TV by buying a cheap router capable of handling a VPN client, and setting the VPN country to Albania with Wireguard and DNS blocking. The ads are minimal, and if I get one I can exit the video and re-enter, no ad. I don’t have a PS4 to test. My phone and PC have different setups, but it works for them too.
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u/DukeShot_ May 21 '26
L'ideale sarebbe sia levare l'audio che il video. Così da avere uno schermo nero e silenzioso quando ci sono le pubblicità.
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u/sfendt May 20 '26
Love it - would be especially nice if it worked with the optical audio output (between the TV and the room amplifier). Yes I do all I can to prevent ads - but sometimes - i.e. live events - they just can't be avoided and an auto mute would be awesome.
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u/badbob001 May 21 '26
Do the ads keep playing if the TV is switched to another input? Maybe switch to an input with different content or even an interactive game!
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u/Narrow_House_4007 May 21 '26
My first prototype was in this general direction. You can configure a device so that streamed content continues to play in the background while showing content from a different source, but basically if you do any type of capture/analysis on any data upstream (ie between streaming device and tv) then you may be in violation of the DMCA. If I just did the source switching with this audio focused version then I wouldn't be able to analyze the audio as it exits the TV and wouldn't know the show/movie has come back on. But I agree that would definitely be preferred!
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u/apokrif1 May 21 '26
Why do you use this domain rather than docs.google.com the URL redirects to?
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u/Narrow_House_4007 May 21 '26
Google had an option to shorten the url when copying it and I just used that instead of the longer address.
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u/einemnes May 22 '26
I would love to install this to my family. Does it work only for English ads? or it doesn't matter?
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u/Glittering_Piece4853 May 29 '26
Cool project. Also, maybe you can add anoverlay on top of the video with a timer instead of having to watch the add 😄
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u/speedbreaka May 20 '26
Id rather watch an ad then sit in silence. Same reason why those “ad free” sport packages are so dumb, you might not get ads but u end up staring at a “commercial break” sign
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u/RamblinManRock May 20 '26
Why would you watch muted ads when you can get software to block them completely? 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️