ThirdTube 3DS

ThirdTube
General
Author	windows-server-2003
Type	Media Players
Version	0.5.4
License	GPL-3.0
Last Updated	2024/03/08
Links
Download
Website
Source

ThirdTube is a work-in-progress homebrew YouTube client for the New Nintendo 3DS. The project is inspired by NewPipe, it accesses the mobile version of YouTube, parses the important part of the downloaded html and plays the stream using the fast decoder taken from Video player for 3DS by Core-2-Extreme.

It does not run any javascripts or render html/css, so it’s significantly faster than YouTube on the browser. The name is derived from the fact that it is the third YouTube client on 3DS, following the official YouTube app (discontinued) and the new 3DS browser.

Note: This application is still in the alpha stage, you may encounter crashes and other bugs. If you find one of those, it would be helpful to open an issue on the GitHub repository. Currently version 0.5.4 of the application is not working (due to changes from Google).

Features

• Video Playback up to 360p.
• 480p might be possible and could be considered in the future development.
• Livestreams and premiere videos support.
• Searching.
• Video suggestion.
• Comments.
• Captions.
• Local watch history and channel subscription.
• No ads. It's more like "ads are not implemented" rather than "ad-blocking functionality".

Installation

Available in 3DSX and CIA formats.

• CIA - Install the .cia with the CIA manager of your choice.
• 3DSX - Use the .3dsx with the Homebrew Launcher.

Require a 3DS (including 2DS) with Luma3DS installed and DSP dump.

You can update the app from Settings > Update. If you see a message saying the app is up-to-date, try restarting the app.

Controls

B - Go back to the previous scene

Circle Pad Up/Down - Scroll

L/R - Switch between tabs

Select+Start - Blackout the bottom screen

In video player:

Left/Right - 10s seek

For Debug:

Select+X - Toggle debug log

Select+Y - Toggle memory usage monitor

Select+R+A - Toggle FPS monitor

Screenshots

Media

How to watch Youtube on 3DS with ThirdTube (蓮。村長 / RYuta)

Compatibility

New 3DS (including a New 2DS) - at least 8.1.0-0 is needed (not tested on minimum system version).

Changelog

v0.5.4 2024/03/08

• Fixed channel page not loading.
• Fixed like count not showing up on video page.
• Replaced Home with Trending, since YouTube started to require tracking data(and at least one search/video watching with the tracking id) for Home.

v0.5.3 2023/03/03

• This is a minor release fixing the broken video playback.

v0.5.2 2023/01/03

• Fixed random crashes soon after opening the app(only on .cia).
• Fixed search function broken.
• Fixed channel page failing to load additional videos.
• Fixed some subscribed channels disappearing(sorry for those who lost their subscription).
• Subscription and history files are now resistant to corruption.

v0.5.1 2022/11/13

• Added configuration for C-pad scrolling speed.
• Added mention of luma's new function of dumping DSP firmware when it'is not found.
• Added coloring in the debug log.
• Fixed channel page not loading videos.
• Fixed subscriber count text of the uploader on video pages.
• Fixed a bug in linebreak drawing which caused the DSP firmware error to be truncated.
• Improved performance of text drawing.
• Improved error message on network failure.
• Improved stability on network failure.
• Refactored several files.

v0.5.0 2022/05/25

Changes to existing features:

• Debug log keycombo is now SELECT + X instead of SELECT only.
• Subscription menu has been integrated into the Home page.
• Network framework option deleted(now libcurl is always used).
• Removed dislike counter from the app as YouTube no longer shows it.

Performance:

• HTTP/2 multiplexing support (subscription feed loading is now super fast).
• Use HTTP content encoding(brotli) (3x faster page loading in some cases).
• Use YouTube json endpoints(faster) instead of html page.
• Use icons that are smaller but still clear enough for 3DS.
• Faster YouTube parser.
• Faster characters drawing.
• Use rapidjson instead of json11.

Bugfixes/Improvements:

• Fixed high memory consumption after continuously playing a long video.
• Fixed watch history and channel subscription disappear when one of the items contains certain characters(such as double quotes).
• Fixed audio only mode getting enabled when it shouldn't.
• Fixed the unnecessary icon reloading in the subscription menu.
• Fixed some crashes.
• General error handling improvements.

Internals:

• Updated stb_image to v2.27.
• Updated libcurl to 7.82.0.

v0.4.1 2022/02/01

• The only change from the last release is the fix for the parse issue.

v0.4.0 2021/11/28

• Separated the video player and the video page.
• This means you can now browse other videos while continuously playing one video.
• It also means that a video doesn't automatically play upon loading if another video is playing, so you have to press the "Play" button in the "General" tab.
• Added support for community posts in the channel page.
• Animated images are currently not supported.
• Added preamp, speed and pitch manipulators in the "Playback" tab.
• Added playlist tab in the channel page.
• The 3DS now doesn't go into sleep mode so that the app can continue the playback.
• While the lid is closed, you can still listen to the audio through the headphone plug but not from the speaker because there seems to be no way to prevent it from being disabled.
• Introduced thumb up/down icon to indicate like/dislike in the video page.
• Added like counters on comments and replies.
• Improved network performance when libcurl is chosen as the network framework and a redirect occurs on a video/audio stream.
• Improved the behavior when one of the subscribed channels changes its icon.
• Improved the performance and memory usage of the subscribed channels scene.
• Improved the behavior of option selector when you grab it and scroll.
• Made it to retry when a minor network error occurs.
• Fixed random crashes when trying to play a video.
• Tips: it had the possibility of crashing after loading 17th video counting from the startup of the app.
• Fixed crashes when exiting the app while loading something (video page, comments continuation, etc.).
• Fixed the throttling by YouTube which came back due to a change in one of their javascripts.
• Fixed long loading and possible crashes when trying to seek near the end of the video.
• Fixed terrible audio for some video (#53).
• Fixed memory leaks when video loading fails.
• Implemented a workaround for #47 (240p or below fails to load for some videos).

v0.3.0 2021/10/12

• Added support for playlists.
  • Now playlists appear both in search results and suggestions.
• Added local watch history (see hamburger menu -> History).
  • You can disable history recording/clear history in settings.
• Added local subscription and ability to load recent videos from the subscribed channels (see hamburger menu -> Subscription).
• Added Control tab in the video player.
• Added video quality selector and audio-only mode selector in Control tab.
  • These options will save data usage and make the playback smooth when using a slow connection.
• Added yet another network framework : libcurl (it should be more stable?).
• Added the button to directly input URL, next to the search box..
• Added seeking by 10 seconds by pressing the arrow button left/right.
• Added scrolling by using the d-pad up/down.
• Added video pages caching.
• Added the reason when a video is unplayable (e.g. private, removed, copyright takedown).
• Added video duration overlay text in the video list of a channel.
• Improved performance when opening the software keyboard.
• Improved the behavior when reaching the end of the video.
• Improved the behavior of the progress bar when seeking.
• Improved stability.
• Reorganized the settings menu.
• Removed Advanced tab.
  • Debug info can still be seen in Control tab if enabled in settings.
  • The texture filter toggle button has been moved to settings with the name "Linear video filter".
  • The reload button has been moved to Control tab.
• Fixed showing "Settings" in the hamburger menu when you are already opening settings.
• Fixed httpcContext resource leaking when redirection occurs, which caused the app to stop working.
• Fixed broken playback when playing videos with non-standard heights.

Release notes.

Credits

• Core 2 Extreme - For Video player for 3DS which this app is based on. Needless to say, the video playback functionality is essential for this app, and it would not have been possible to develop this software without him spending his time optimizing the code sometimes even with assembly and looking into HW decoding on the new 3DS.
• dixy52-beep - For in-app textures.
• PokéTube - For the icon and the banner.
• The contributors of youtube-dl - As a reference about YouTube webpage parsing. It was especially helpful for the deobfuscation of ciphered signatures.
• The contributors of pytube - As a reference about YouTube webpage parsing. Thanks to its strict dependency-free policy, making it possible to port some of the code without difficulty.

External links

• GitHub - https://github.com/windows-server-2003/ThirdTube
• GBAtemp - https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-thirdtube-a-homebrew-youtube-client-for-the-new-3ds.591696
• Discord - https://discord.gg/CVcThBCQJM