We are also changing how remote playback works for streaming personal media (that is, playback when not on the same local network as the server). The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature. This—alongside the new Plex Pass pricing—will help provide those resources. This change will apply to the future release of our new Plex experience for mobile and other platforms.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    391 month ago

    I’m surprised by the resistance to Jellyfin in this thread. If you are using Plex, you’re already savvy enough to use bittorrent and probably the *arrs. If you can configure that stuff, Jellyfin is absolutely something you can handle. If you like Docker, there’s good projects out there. If you’re like me and you don’t understand Docker, use Swizzin community edition. If you can install Ubuntu or Debian, and run the Swizzin script, you’re in business.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      4
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Me too. Docker isn’t hard if you use a compose file. It’s easy to read syntax.

      Linux server.io has great documentation for their images.

      I have Jellyfin and Plex running from the same virtual machine pointing at the same media. If it wasn’t for the one crappy TV I have in my house with no Jellyfin client, Plex would be gone.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -11 month ago

        Docker isn’t hard if you use a compose file. It’s easy to read syntax.

        This is giving me “yaml isn’t hard to use if you use a compose file!” It is, actually. It’s easy for you because you understand the technology. The vast majority of people do not.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 month ago

      The big thing for me with plex is user management. I am absolutely knowledgeable enough to set up jellyfin, but i dont want to deal with user management. Plex makes it easy, i tell them to make their own account and i just share my library. i dont have to reset passwords, they can do that themselves. However, it’s getting to the point where i will probably just switch to jellyfin and deal with it because of how bad plex is getting.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 month ago

        I’m only sharing access with a few friends and family, so I don’t find it cumbersome. Usually I make their account using the Jellyfin app on my phone. I do sympathize with not wanting to do support, which is the main reason I don’t even ask for help with the hosting costs. I don’t want to feel any obligation.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 month ago

        I just setup jellyfin and it totally is the same. Install. Point it to a media folder. Setup port forwarding.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 month ago

            But let’s be honest - it really is not complicated. That was a one minute configuration in my router.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            01 month ago

            That ease of outside LAN access poses a big risk tho. Plex can and eventually probably will share, be forced to share, get hacked etc Those cloud accounts imply the possibility of very detailed reports about who’s streaming what, when, where, from which source…

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      Before now I was on the sunk cost fallacy of not wanting to teach my extended family how to use Jellyfin instead of plex but after this I’m already mid-way through setting up a Jellyfin docker container on my server and I only found out an hour ago

    • Obinice
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      Alas my TV (LG WebOS 2) doesn’t have an application for Jellyfin, or I’d have switched years ago :-(

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 month ago

        Is there an emby app available or Kodi? The base of Jellyfin should work in either. Plug and play as far as I’m aware with maybe some issues for certain versions.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      Alright, so I have had Jellyfin installed for years now, but my primary issue is that most devices myself or my users use lack official, readily-available clients. For example, the Samsung TV app is a developer mode install. Last I looked, nobody has put a build into the store.

      I really want to use Jellyfin, but I feel like my users simply can’t. I’m interested in others’ experiences here that could help.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 month ago

          I give all my friends the choice between Plex and jellyfin (I run both containers side by side pointed to the same media folders) and they all invariably choose Plex. I think it has a lot to do with the jellyfin UI, and I think an overhaul like jellyfin-vue or something that looks like findroid needs to happen in order for jellyfin to really appeal to regular people.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -1
            edit-2
            1 month ago

            No idea what Flatpak is, much? Jellyfin is open-source. If your distro isn’t providing you a .deb or tarball to your liking, that’s not on the Jellyfin project.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              01 month ago

              Why would you ever bother to use either option when you can just access it via the WebUI on Firefox?

              • Synestine
                link
                fedilink
                English
                01 month ago

                Because that basically requires transcoding for modern codecs. H265? Transcode. Subtitles? Transcode. The JF client on the same hardware can usually direct play.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  11 month ago

                  Oh fair enough, I’d highly recommend enabling transcoding anyway it just eliminates all sorts of issues like this.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                0
                edit-2
                1 month ago

                Don’t ask me? I’ll ftp before I’ll WebUI like so, but for online viewing, I’ll take streaming please. My kids, wife, and mother-in-law find that a million times more convenient.

                Meanwhile, there’s a dude in these comments hating on the notion that Jellyfin’s app will download the Raw file for offline viewing purposes. Please, do not ask me to pretend to care what is going on in that person’s head. In my world, using VLC to play my files is a perk. Gimme that yummy 2x or slow-mo as I see fit, please.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  11 month ago

                  WebUI is streaming though on desktops though and I assume they’re also using iOS/Android/TV which all have clients, so I’m trying to get at the difference there.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 month ago

        I can speak from my experience with an Apple TV, the application “Infuse” works amazing with a jellyfin server. Though the application is essentially $1 month subscription, but works across all your apple devices, if you have any. I think it’s worth it.

        Additionally, the official app for Android TV worked pretty well when I last tried it on an Nvidia Shield

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        0
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        I had the same experience with my parents. They have a Samsung TV and the Jellyfin experience was awful.

        I ended up getting them a little N100 mini pc and installed Bazzite and the Jellyfin app from Flathub. You can configure it so it knows it’s on a TV, and responds to keyboard controls. I got them a remote from a company called Pepper Jobs that gives keyboard input and now they have a great experience with it. Even my mom, who’s a big technophobe, loves it.

        My dad also has an LG TV in his workshop that doesn’t have a working Jellyfin app (cause it’s ten years old), and he uses the Jellyfin app for his Xbox on that one.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          01 month ago

          So the flatpak version of Jellyfin works for you? I cant get it to play more then one thing. hitting the play button just does nothing.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -1
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Yeah.

        Jellyfin is spectacular for LAN usage on two computers. Once you start using devices (because, you know, that is what people tend to plug into their TVs…) or going on travel, it rapidly becomes apparent that it just isn’t a competitor.

        Hell, a quick google suggests jellyfin STILL doesn’t have caching of media for offline viewing. Plex’s works maybe 40% of the time but… 40% is still higher than 0%.

        I have a lifetime pass for Plex and encourage anyone who even kind of cares to get one next time it is on sale (or shortly before the scheduled price hike). I have tried Jellyfin a few times over the years and… it is basically exactly what I hate with FOSS “alternatives”. It isn’t an alternative in the slightest but people insist on talking it up because they want it to be and that just makes people less willing to try genuinely good alternatives.


        To put it bluntly, Plex is an “offline netflix” as it were. Jellyfin is a much better version of smbstation and all the other stuff we used to stream porn to our playstations back in the day.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          0
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          Huh? I used jellyfin just fine in the hospital on public WiFi on my ancient busted iPad air [some number].

          The only thing I did was install pivpn and upload my VPN profile file to Google drive so I can remote into my network. I legit never even had to set anything up it just worked, didn’t even need to know the IP of the server because my locally run DNS server (and failing that, the basic hostname based DNSMasq in the router) took care of everything.

          I don’t even have any reverse proxy or firewall because I still pretend to value my sanity and my time, nor did I expose it to the internet either, thanks to almighty NAT.

          Didn’t have to do any caching or anything crazy like that, no idea what you’re talking about, but I think there’s an option to download the files right through jellyfin.

          I watched star trek TAS while having fun with opioids and it was a great time.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -11 month ago

            That’s nice.

            That doesn’t work if you are on an airplane (unless you want to spend the entire flight downloading one episode). Or if you just don’t want to deal with hotel wifi. Or if you just don’t want to expose your internal home network at all.

            Which is the point and why this is one of those big features of plex that there are so many tickets and requests to get into jellyfin et al. Because yes, you can just copy files from your NAS to your phone’s internal storage (assuming you don’t care about transcoding and the like)… at which point there isn’t much use to a metadata oriented media server/service.

            Or you can just set up Plex to always download the next 10 episodes of whatever show you are watching when it has network access. I mean… that probably won’t work (see: 40%) but when it does, it is awesome. Which is the “it just works” functionality.

            Which gets back to the issue where, because it is FOSS, it is the greatest thing ever and anyone asking for anything else is wrong and stupid. Which is a shame because if the Jellyfin devs could actually get the “download the next N episodes” functionality to reliably work (even at 80-90%) it would be a killer app. And, for what it is worth, I have liked the devs a lot when I interacted with them in the past. But the users and evangelists are just… what we can see in this thread.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              11 month ago

              You can just download the episodes though? Like right in Jellyfin:

              Because yes, you can just copy files from your NAS to your phone’s internal storage (assuming you don’t care about transcoding and the like)… at which point there isn’t much use to a metadata oriented media server/service.

              No you do not need to do any of that.

              Or you can just set up Plex to always download the next 10 episodes of whatever show you are watching when it has network access. I mean… that probably won’t work (see: 40%) but when it does, it is awesome. Which is the “it just works” functionality.

              You can download in Jellyfin also, like in the screenshot above.

              anyone asking for anything else is wrong and stupid.

              I mean, you are asking for things that are already in the app, you tell me if that’s stupid or not. I’m just trying to help.

              I’d never call anyone even trying to use these self-hosted alternatives stupid.

              Jellyfin devs could actually get the “download the next N episodes” functionality to reliably work (even at 80-90%) it would be a killer app

              Is there some reason you can’t do this manually? I actually can’t think of any app with this feature, not even Netflix way back not Spotify.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          01 month ago

          Jellyfin allows you to download whatever you want to your local device. But in a world of streaming, it seems to be a much smaller usecase. I take my tablet camping with me all the time, download some shows via Jellyfin and watch via Jellyfin. Maybe you’re using the term “caching” differently from the use case, but if local files is what you’re after, it absolutely does it. Just click download in a couple of different locations.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            0
            edit-2
            1 month ago

            Did they? Or is that still the old hack of “just download the raw file. Your tablet is just a computer”?

            Because I didn’t see it advertised on the main web page and a quick google got me to https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin/discussions/364 which is open and abandoned tickets for the ios apps.


            https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-offline-downloads?pid=16373#pid16373 suggests it is also in the same boat for android. You can find workarounds but they aren’t using jellyfin.

            Which is “fine”. I watched WAY too many movies over the years with VLC on a laptop. But… why are we using a shim to treat a library as a streaming service in that case? Which gets back to Jellyfin just not actually being a Plex alternative for the majority of users.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              -11 month ago

              Oh no! Please GOD, anything but tHe rAw fIlE!!

              Seriously though, wtf did I just read? That can’t possibly be your real stance, can it?

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                01 month ago

                Half of my collection is DTS HD MA or TrueHD and many have HDR. Offline caching with transcoding is an essential feature if we want jellyfin to pull ahead. Berating people who are pointing out areas of improvement is not a winning strategy.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  -11 month ago

                  I run ffmpeg on my phone. Alternately, I could shrink the file on my server and then download it without much trouble. You’re in a vanishingly small subset of users who know enough to care about file-size and know what can be done about it, but can’t be bothered to do it themselves.

              • MrSpArkle
                link
                fedilink
                English
                01 month ago

                This is a huge problem. The blueray remux might be 80 gigs. Most children’s devices will already be filled with other crap.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  -11 month ago

                  I run ffmpeg on my phone. Alternately, I could shrink the file on my server and then download it without much trouble. You’re in a vanishingly small subset of users who know enough to care about file-size and know what can be done about it, but can’t be bothered to do it themselves.

                  I was avoiding suggesting getting more storage, but it sounds like in your case, keeping a 720p x265 version of each file(~1gb per movie) on-hand would cost you nothing.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      01 month ago

      I’ve been testing out jellyfin for the last couple months but it doesn’t really fill the void of this specific feature that’s being locked behind a pay wall. If anyone has good recommendations for securely and reliably hosting jellyfin behind SSL and auth with email password resets where I don’t have to worry about it as much as Plex.

      I use jellyfin locally but for a handful of remote clients I have I may well block off their access they’re not going to be able to figure out my hand spun services and wall of text.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        0
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Forget the Auth, use VPN profiles as access controls. Give them to trusted folks and you’re gold.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          01 month ago

          Dumb question but should there be VPNs operating on both ends, server and client? Or just the client because I’m guessing the server might change the connection address.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 month ago

            A VPN Server on the server or home network (look into PiVPN for instance), and a VPN Client on clients (look at openvpn for instance).

            Good luck and let me know if you have any further questions - I’m more than happy to answer!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -11 month ago

      Jellyfin depends on proprietary Microsoft .NET, even on Linux.

      It’s still better than Plex and Emby, which are fully proprietary, and have no source code. But I will stick with sshfs with kodi, and nginx plus mpv for now.

  • Phoenixz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    161 month ago

    Hellooooo jellyfin!

    Only use open source software

    • lillo
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31 month ago

      Jellyfin + Tailscale, the perfect combination.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      They do not have chromecast support. (Atleat the last time i checked) Thats a deal breaker for me, would love to use it.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 month ago

        I run Jellyfin on Chromecast with Google TV every day, it works super well.

        Unless you mean casting from your phone, then I don’t know.

      • Phoenixz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        128 days ago

        … I’m using Chromecast and Google TV, though Chromecast isn’t very good, really, and Google TV stared showing commercials every now and then since a while ago, so that too will be on its way out.

        But yeah, they’re supported

      • dantheclamman
        link
        fedilink
        English
        01 month ago

        IIRC it has it. Not if you’re behind VPN or a tunnel. Only over HTTPS.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31 month ago

      tailscale changed the computing experience for me in everything I do. Amazing networking solution. I also use zerotier but find myself on tailscale more due to how many devices they offer.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 month ago

      How do you set up HTTPS? I would like to encrypt the communication between my tailscale devices and my homeserver. Is it just a matter of using Let’s Encrypt with Nginx?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      This might be a dumb question, but could I access my Jellyfin through an external VPN like Proton?

      I have it set up in my raspberry to download Linux ISOs and run Jellyfin

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        3
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Not in the way you’re probably thinking, no. The VPN (like Proton) will be isolating devices from each other. This is by design, so you don’t end up in situations like different customers seeing each other on the network.

        Your router might be able to act as a VPN host. This would allow you to connect to your home network from anywhere, and use it just like you would use a service like Proton. And if your home network is set to allow devices to see each other, then you could see your Jellyfin server. See if your router can run Tailscale or can act as a WireGuard (or OpenVPN) host. Tailscale will be the most straightforward approach, but not everything can run it. Worst case scenario, you could just run Tailscale directly on your Jellyfin server.

        The big issue with requiring a VPN is that it makes remote access on some devices difficult or damned near impossible. For instance, good luck getting a smart TV to run Tailscale. Tailscale will be fine for things like phones, laptops, or tablets. But if you have a smart TV you want to remote view things on, you may need to consider a reverse proxy instead. And a reverse proxy is such a rabbit hole that it would deserve its own post.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          21 month ago

          good luck getting a smart TV to run Tailscale

          My mom uses this approach to access my media files. It’s a Sony Android TV and works pretty good actually

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          1
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          I see thank you.

          But if I want to keep my Proton VPN connection active, I don’t think what you’re describing is doable.

          That would mean being connected to two vpns at once wouldn’t it?

          EDIT : i get it now, if I configure it on the router, I won’t have to connect to two vpns on the same device

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 month ago

          Worst case scenario, you could just run Tailscale directly on your Jellyfin server.

          Why is that the worst case it’s goes literally like this: install on your server, install on the other decide (phone, laptop), connect to the same account and BOOM works

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 month ago

            Because running it on your router gives you access to the entire network of devices, not just the Jellyfin server.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        01 month ago

        If you mean that you are using Proton VPN on your Raspberry Pi to mask your downloading traffic, then no that same VPN will not help you access services like Jellyfin on your home network while you are remote.

        Instead you’ll want to use something like Tailscale (or Wireguard). You run it as a service on your home network and it then becomes your own VPN that you (or others) can use to connect to your home network when you are remote.

        You could run Wireguard on the same RaspberryPi that you use for downloading but I would recommend against it assuming that you’re running Proton VPN right on the host itself (and not inside a container).

  • @[email protected]
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    English
    151 month ago

    I’ve said it for years that Plex is shit because of their license and the fact that you have no control everyone said no it’s fine it’s my media fucking look at it now

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      61 month ago

      Yeah exactly. I tried to set it up once, installed it on a NAS box, and it starts talking about me making a cloud account. Why do I need a cloud account to log into my own hardware on my own network?

      I do not want the cloud
      I do not need the cloud
      I will say it very loud
      No cloud, no cloud, no cloud.

      But apparently it’s set up so the only way to log into your own locally hosted software on your own locally hosted hardware is with an external cloud account.

      To that I said no thank you and uninstalled it.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    141 month ago

    I keep a Jellyfin instance running as a hedge. Here’s the thing with Plex (and actually a lot of companies set up similarly): those “lifetime” memberships are a trap. Think about it: Plex gets your money ONCE but they have ongoing expenses. Sooner or later, they’ll have spent every single cent made by a lifetime membership unless they either get more folks OR squeeze everyone a bit more.

    Once they started adding their own shows and making strange UI decisions, I could sense the end was coming. A move like this brings it up fast. Jellyfin is not nearly as good as Plex in a lot of ways, but it’s really Open Source.

    Anyway, a lot of rambling, but in short: when there is a “lifetime” subscription, watch out!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      51 month ago

      Yes, it’s one thing to offer a lifetime subscription early on to get a large cash infusion and reward early adopters, but it’s a big red flag if they don’t get rid of the lifetime subscription eventually. What will happen is one by one, the people that use the service the most will switch to lifetime and your cash flow will dwindle. Eventually the only people left on the month to month are the casual users who don’t use it very often and will leave as soon as a price increase happens.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 month ago

        I don’t think they necessarily have to get rid of it, it’s just that you can’t support a company ALONE from a one time infusion.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        This is my exact concern.

        If I pay for the lifetime pass now, what’s to stop them from restricting even more features behind new types of subscriptions and paywalls. “We’re adding back the ‘Watch Together’ feature but it requires a Platinum Plex subscription and will not be a part of Plex Lifetime Pass users.”

        Seems kind of inevitable honestly.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    101 month ago

    I used to use Plex, then one day my internet was down and since Plex couldn’t phone home, it wouldn’t let me log in to watch media ON MY LAN.

    So yeah it’s inherently broken. That’s before you even consider the licensing.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 month ago

      i’m not sure why it would do this, i’ve never had any issues with watching plex while the internet is down (in fact that was one of my original uses for it, to have movies and tv in a building without internet). I don’t have it turned on but I do know you can go into server settings -> network and set a list of IPs/subnets that can access without any authorization at all. That lets you use plex without even having a plex account afaik.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 month ago

      Ease of setup was how I just got one techie friend and two non-techie gamer friends to set up Plex servers and we had libraries shared to each other within 15-30 minutes. I don’t want to think about explaining VPNs and SSL to them for the alternatives.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    51 month ago

    They seem to be getting a lot of hate for this, but Plex is not FOSS… They have the roots but they currently have like 100 paid employees and are trying to make a business out of it. They have to do something to make money to pay people every month. My $75 10 years ago isn’t going to do much for that… The fact that they’ve made it this far without folding is impressive.

    • SayCyberOnceMore
      link
      fedilink
      English
      41 month ago

      Yep, it’s something that more people need to consider to keep their free (as in the source code is not a prisoner) software going

      It looks like jellyfin costs ~$500/MONTH just for their hosting fees: https://opencollective.com/jellyfin

      If everyone using jellyfin contributed $1/month, I bet that would be covered

      (No, I’m not affiliated with them)

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    41 month ago

    Judging by the rest of the thread I’m going to get downvoted for this, but what the hell:

    I’m sure I’ll switch to Jellyfin eventually but I tried it out a few weeks ago to see what all the hype was about and it just… wasn’t great. It was difficult to setup, with way too many overly-complicated settings, and then it refused to play one of the two test files I tried. Like it or not there’s a reason that Plex is the dominant player in the game, and a large part of that reason is that it verges on plug-and-play for simplicity of both setup and use.

    Yes, it sucks that they’re removing remote streaming for free users, but I imagine there’s a significant chunk of users who don’t know or care how to properly open their server up to the world and are relying on the Plex proxies for their streams (which happens entirely in the background), and those aren’t going to be cheap to run. Maybe putting them behind a paywall will provide the resources to make them faster.

    I did buy a lifetime pass last time they announced a price hike; it’s honestly paid for itself many times over, and I’ve been encouraging other users I know to do the same before this next one, because yes, it is a significant hike this time around. That said, while I wouldn’t pay monthly for it, I do still feel like the lifetime pass is tremendous value for such a polished product. It’s a shame they’ve had to do it at all, but I don’t begrudge them for it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31 month ago

      It was difficult to setup

      I’m not really sure here - I just did the setup and you literally paste one command into your terminal. There you’ll find the Jellyfin IP and port, visit it in a browser and you’ll get a simple wizard which guides you into setting up your libraries. Which also is not complicated, you just select a folder where your stuff is?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        31 month ago

        Libraries were simple enough, sure, but have you delved into the full settings? Trying to figure out the correct settings for QuickSync hardware acceleration was a mission in and of itself and there’s very little guidance on what any of the options mean or do. I don’t have the container running right now or I’d provide examples, but In Plex it’s a single checkbox.

        I’m sure Jellyfin will get there and it’s a cool project, but it’s fairly obvious that it’s written by hobbyists, for hobbyists. Meanwhile Plex excels at just working straight out of the box.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          21 month ago

          As a Jellyfin-fanboy: you are right. Plex is easier to deal with out of the box.
          Anything else would not make any sense for a paid service.

          I’d say though, if you dedicate the time to set it up correctly, it is an equally good solution and it’s free.
          If time is a factor in your life, then there is no shame in paying for something that just works. It’s why I have a Synology NAS and not a self-built Unraid or OMV server.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      I have a lifetime Plex account but have not used it in two years. I use Jellyfin. Obviously opinions vary.

      At home, I have FireTV and Roku devices. I stream remotely to iPhones and tablets using Twingate.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      That’s how I’m feeling about all these “TImE FoR evErYoNE tO swITCh To JElLyfiN” comments. You mean the program that also doesn’t support this functionality out of the box?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -31 month ago

      This is what people don’t realize. If you want something good, you have to pay people for their time and talent. Free products that are free because of ideology are just exploitation with extra steps.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        That’s a good reason for people to take the money they would have spent buying a proprietary solution and instead donate that money to an open source project. For me it’s not always about the cost, but what I get out of it. I’d rather the money go to the community and better it.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          21 month ago

          The problem is people don’t put their money where their mouth is. Even less in the scale needed to produce a product of the quality te average person expects. You see this again and again. It’s very nice to think it works, but it doesn’t. A random guy saying “actchually I donated 1 Monero” doesn’t mean a project is financially sustainable.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    41 month ago

    Wireguard so you are always seen as being on the local network. This bit of assholery is easily defeated.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    31 month ago

    I already pay for plex pass but I’m going to start looking into jelly fin out of principle. I will not support the enshitification of a service I use and this is how it starts. Soon they will have tiered subscriptions and then the cheap one will be taken away and the cheapest paid one will be stuffed with ads then all tiers will be stuffed with ads then they will jack up prices again or charge more for sharing with family or block it all together to force your family to get their own sub and the circle of enshitification will be complete.

    • Cynster
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      I run both on the same media sources. Works great. Some movies even seem to buffer quicker via Jellyfin than Plex

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 month ago

        Good to know. Being able to run both at the same time will probably help ease the transition.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          21 month ago

          I main Jellyfin now. I still have Plex for one device that has no Jellyfin client available. But indeed they run side by side sharing the same media.

          Worth doing as Plex will keep getting shitter