How to Identify and Block URL of Advertising Site in Smart TVs; for example, Xiaomi TV

17 March 2018

Introduction

Many smart TVs and some Apps for TV have lots of disturbing full screen advertisements that will force viewers to take few seconds to watch them.  The worse kind is when the advertisement use some unsupported video or image files that could freeze up the TV;  for example,  Xiaomi TV,  requiring a reset of the TV.   This article will describe an easy way where one can identify and get rid of these unwanted advertisement.

 

What you will need?

1. A router that has web browsing history or logging capability;
2. Plenty of patient

Note:  This works only for those ASUS or routers that has web history function

Which Router To Use?

Most routers have  web browsing history or logging capability;  for example,  ASUS router has a web browsing history in the “Adaptive QoS” section

Netgear,  in their “log” section,  TP-Link in the System Tool.

Consult the user manual of one’s router or google  to find out how to access the web browser history or logging location in the router.

This article will take ASUS router as an example.

Step by Step Procedure

1. Log into the router by typing the home URL address of the router in any browser;  for example  192.168.1.1 and one will go to the above home page;

2. Click “Adaptive QoS” and select “Web History” tab and one will reach the main page of web history or log.  Click the on-off button to turn on  the “Web History” function.  If the page is not empty;  click “Clear” to wipe the page;

3. Now go and turn on the TV or device and select the page or app where one has found the unwanted advertisement.  Observe and note down the names of the advertisement.  In this example,   the  advertisement was from “iqiyi” about their latest TV shows;

4. Come back to the “Web History” page,  one should find out there will be some loggings;  if not,  click “refresh” button or turn to other pages and come back to the “Web History” tab.  Once there is a list,  look for the name of the TV or device.  In this example,  the device is  Xiaomi TV.  the client's name was “Beijing Xiaomi Electronic Co” as shown;

5. Click the  “All Client” drop down box and select “Beijing Xiaomi Electronic Co”,  the following page will appear.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Find the URL address with “iqiyi” and the URL is “m.iqiyi.com”;

7. Now block the URL using the “Fire Wall” function as described here.  Note that as “iqiyi.com” also offers other TV programs,  do not just use “iqiyi.com” to block the URL as it will block all the URLs that have “iqiyi.com” in it;

8. After having blocked the URL,  test the TV to check if the advertisement  is gone;  if not,  repeat step 7 using other URL address having “iqiyi.com” for example.

What are the Alternatives?

There are a few other alternatives like using special ad block DNS addresses. This might work for some but not all the advertisement.  Also,  there may be  some security problem plus it may not filter all the correct advertisement. 

Other Articles About Xiaomi TV or Box 

Can be found here

Tinyurl : https://tinyurl.com/yaeyrb39

Google :  https://tinyurl.com/y87fu36m

Reference:

1.  How To Skip Advertisement in Xiaomi TV/Box