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Mystlord
United States10264 Posts
So in IRC today, zulunation asked how to block livestream ads. Well, there are several ways to do it, of which I'll outline two.
Cut down version for those that only want the method and could care less about the technical. It's at the end of the post in spoilers.
Method 1 - Firefox and Adblock
Yes, Firefox has it's own ad killing extension in it's already large add on database. It's called Adblock, and it's awesome. Find it on the Mozilla Add-Ons page (If you use Firefox, you should know the link  ). You can block basically any image, server, whatever. This means that you can even block the big TL banner at the top or the random "Project Wonderful" ads that pop up around Teamliquid, but since it's TL, and I think I'll get banned and this post locked if I give specific instructions on how to do it, I'll choose another ad server... So let's do Google Ads!
How would you do this you ask? You just right click on the image in question, and select, Adblock: Block Image. You'll see a selection box come up, and you'll want to select (if you want to block everything related to the specific webserver), the "Look for Pattern" http://www.(Name of Webserver here).com/*. And there you go. Any image can now be blocked. For specific images, you should choose a more specific filter.
Now how does this apply for livestream you may ask? Well, although livestream ads are not images by themselves, livestream instead ports the ad server's stuff to your computer. With Adblock, you can choose to block the ad server themselves, thus save yourself the waiting time. First subscribe to a blocking list (EasyList is good enough for me), and check a livestream page to see if your ads are gone. If they are, great, but sometimes Adblock doesn't catch them all, so here's how you catch those others.
1. Go to any livestream page with a player (kentor's, mine, ret's, nongmin's, whatever).
2.Now in the status bar at the top, you should see this red stop sign with the letters AB or ABP on it. Click that button while on the livestream page, and you'll see a list of blockable items pop up.
3. Find the ad server that you want to block, and add it to your filter list. Search specifically for scripts/object subrequest under the "type" column, and block it if it isn't part of livestream's player script. Search for obviously suspicious URLs first, then move to more tame URLs if those don't work. You'll find it eventually through trial and error.
Then, every single time you move to a page that requests ads from those two servers, the ads shouldn't appear anymore. You might find that when you tune in, the video cuts out for a few seconds, but don't panic because that's just the livestream server trying to show ads and failing (I think).
That's how Adblock works. Now for those that don't want to use Firefox or are unable to use it (for whatever reason lol), there's another method.
Method 2 - Editing the Hosts File
This method is very similar to how Adblock works, but it works differently. If you want a cut down version, the hosts file is basically like an I.P Address Book. When your computer tries to contact a previously unknown server, it first searches the hosts file for a IP address to send/receive the information to. Obviously this can be tweaked for great results.
So first off, here's how to find your hosts file:
Windows 2000: C:\WinNT\system32\drivers\etc\
Windows XP and Vista: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
FreeBSD / Linux / Mac OS X / Unixish operating systems: /etc/hosts
Ok, so now for the magic. 127.0.0.1 is a special IP address that ALWAYS points to your computer. So after you edit your Hosts file, what your computer will end up doing is it tries to send/receive information from your own computer. Since it can't find anything, it'll end up showing a blank where the image should be. In any case, a step by step walk through to blocking ads through the Hosts file...
1. Open your Hosts file using Notepad. You'll see a bunch of lines starting with #. That basically means that the line is a comment and doesn't do anything other than enlighten you. Ignore those.
2. Scroll down past the commented lines and input:
127.0.0.1 adserver.adtechus.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
Mod edit: Fixed bad instructions
3. Save the file and close it.
That should be it. Enjoy your ad free livestream viewing!
+ Show Spoiler [Cut down Version] +Method 1 - Firefox/Adblock1. Download Mozilla Firefox and Adblock and subscribe to EasyList. 2. Go a livestream page and check to see if the ads are gone. If yes, great. If no, follow the next steps. 3. Go to any livestream page with a player (kentor's, mine, ret's, nongmin's, whatever). 4.Now in the status bar at the top, you should see this red stop sign with the letters AB or ABP on it. Click that button while on the livestream page, and you'll see a list of blockable items pop up. 5. Find the ad server that you want to block, and add it to your filter list. For google ads and adserver ads (the two most common that I see, if they're not the only ones), you want to search up these two domains: http://adserver.adtechus.com/*http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/*Method 2 - Hosts File Editing1. Find your hosts file: Windows 2000: C:\WinNT\system32\drivers\etc\ Windows XP and Vista: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc FreeBSD / Linux / Mac OS X / Unixish operating systems: /etc/hosts 2. Open your Hosts file using Notepad. You'll see a bunch of lines starting with #. That basically means that the line is a comment and doesn't do anything other than enlighten you. Ignore those. 3. Scroll down past the commented lines and input: 127.0.0.1 adserver.adtechus.com 127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com Mod edit: Fixed bad instructions4. Save the file and close it.
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5394 Posts
Wow that's a lot of words! Here is a slimmed-down version for XP and Vista people:
1. Go to start > RUN
2. Type notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
3. Add the lines:
127.0.0.1 adserver.adtechus.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
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aers
United States1210 Posts
Should be the same on Win7, just put the notepad line into the search bar if you don't have Start>Run enabled 
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I have Adblock Plus. So good.
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thanks, this helped a lot!
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On September 10 2009 08:35 pheer wrote:
Wow that's a lot of words! Here is a slimmed-down version for XP and Vista people:
1. Go to start > RUN
2. Type notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
3. Add the lines:
127.0.0.1 adserver.adtechus.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
<3
Thanks much.
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Roffles
Pitcairn19291 Posts
Not gonna lie, but this is ridiculously awesome. No more waiting 30 seconds for stupid annoying ads that can't be muted.
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Awesome Myst, I hate damn livestream ads >_<, especially during an SC game; you can't see the mini-map sometimes.
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Thanks man, ABP is really awesome.
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Thing is though, ABP completely stops the downloads from the ad site. This may seem excellent on first glance, but free services like livestream often rely on these ads in order for them to be profitable. Without the download from the ad site though, a hit isn't recorded by the advertiser. If enough people do this (like the entire teamliquid audience for example), advertisers will see a large drop off in hits, leading to them stopping advertising and perhaps, ultimately, the removal of the service.
Thats the doomsday senario. Best case senario is that the livestream providers see some drop in revenue due to the advertisers not willing to pay as much, though this too could have some follow on effects, like them having to decrease their bandwidith and so forth.
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Osaka27157 Posts
On September 10 2009 09:08 Alethios wrote:
Thing is though, ABP completely stops the downloads from the ad site. This may seem excellent on first glance, but free services like livestream often rely on these ads in order for them to be profitable. Without the download from the ad site though, a hit isn't recorded by the advertiser. If enough people do this (like the entire teamliquid audience for example), advertisers will see a large drop off in hits, leading to them stopping advertising and perhaps, ultimately, the removal of the service.
Thats the doomsday senario. Best case senario is that the livestream providers see some drop in revenue due to the advertisers not willing to pay as much, though this too could have some follow on effects, like them having to decrease their bandwidith and so forth.
Definitely something to think about.
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On September 10 2009 08:35 pheer wrote:
Wow that's a lot of words! Here is a slimmed-down version for XP and Vista people:
1. Go to start > RUN
2. Type notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
3. Add the lines:
127.0.0.1 adserver.adtechus.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
Where's the RUN button? ><
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On September 10 2009 09:13 Avidkeystamper wrote:Show nested quote +On September 10 2009 08:35 pheer wrote:
Wow that's a lot of words! Here is a slimmed-down version for XP and Vista people:
1. Go to start > RUN
2. Type notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
3. Add the lines:
127.0.0.1 adserver.adtechus.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com Where's the RUN button? ><
Under the windows search if you type in run it should come up as one of the few choices.
At least it did for me anyway.
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Thanks, the Windows Logo + R also works.
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Mystlord
United States10264 Posts
On September 10 2009 09:08 Alethios wrote:
Thing is though, ABP completely stops the downloads from the ad site. This may seem excellent on first glance, but free services like livestream often rely on these ads in order for them to be profitable. Without the download from the ad site though, a hit isn't recorded by the advertiser. If enough people do this (like the entire teamliquid audience for example), advertisers will see a large drop off in hits, leading to them stopping advertising and perhaps, ultimately, the removal of the service.
Thats the doomsday senario. Best case senario is that the livestream providers see some drop in revenue due to the advertisers not willing to pay as much, though this too could have some follow on effects, like them having to decrease their bandwidith and so forth.
I highly doubt that SC is a big blip on their radar. I considered this before, but I decided to post this because I highly doubt that any SC viewers will click on their ads. Secondly, the cost by impression (basically how much you earn every time you see an ad), is extremely small. The SC community as a whole is not their biggest concern. And frankly, they wouldn't risk removing this service because of a small subsection of their market.
Edit: As for those who can't find the run button, in Windows Vista and possibly 7 (I haven't used it), the run button is removed and the search function when you open up the start menu takes over that functionality.
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Aren't there 4 sc channels that regularly make the top 10 for livestream? I honestly think this could make a (negative) difference - in the past, quite a few bandwith intensive sites started up and shut down because they couldn't make enough money to support their costs.
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On September 10 2009 09:10 Manifesto7 wrote:Show nested quote +On September 10 2009 09:08 Alethios wrote:
Thing is though, ABP completely stops the downloads from the ad site. This may seem excellent on first glance, but free services like livestream often rely on these ads in order for them to be profitable. Without the download from the ad site though, a hit isn't recorded by the advertiser. If enough people do this (like the entire teamliquid audience for example), advertisers will see a large drop off in hits, leading to them stopping advertising and perhaps, ultimately, the removal of the service.
Thats the doomsday senario. Best case senario is that the livestream providers see some drop in revenue due to the advertisers not willing to pay as much, though this too could have some follow on effects, like them having to decrease their bandwidith and so forth. Definitely something to think about.
Agreed, I have adblock plus and I wondered how livestream stayed profitable enough to stay alive since videos take a lot of bandwidth and I didn't realize that livestream.com showed ads. I'm definitely going to let it through my adblock plus because I can definitely let them brainwash me for 30 seconds in exchange for some high quality streams.
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Mystlord
United States10264 Posts
It's your choice to use this or not. I'll just give you a little perspective on this...
Top 9 channels of Livestream total combined minutes of viewing = ~524 million minutes.
SC footprint on Livestream = ~20 million minutes.
We're about 3.8% of the top 9 Livestream channels. I haven't even added in the 69ish channels before the first SC related channel (kentor's orangetv). There's also the rest of the channels in livestream to account for.
Relatively speaking, the SC footprint is really, really small.
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EPT
