Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week - Ars Technica
Plex is starting to enforce its new rules, which prevent users from remotely accessing a personal media server without a subscription fee.
If anyone needs it: jellyfin.org/
Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week
Roku users will be hit first.Scharon Harding (Ars Technica)
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roofuskit
in reply to Otter Raft • • •nixon
in reply to roofuskit • • •I believe if the server hosting the content has a plex pass then end users are allowed to stream from it without any additional subscription or membership. At least that is how it was several months ago when they announced this.
But you are right, even with the above being true, there will still be a non-insignificant portion of users paying to stream from servers.
Kairos
in reply to nixon • • •nixon
in reply to Kairos • • •When did/does the grandfathering period end?
I hadn’t heard that aspect of it before and would like to know more.
Thank you for the info!
Kairos
in reply to nixon • • •I don't know maybe 2023?
And the account had to have a Plex pass at the time.
nixon
in reply to Kairos • • •Ok, if you find any info on that please post it. I’m going to be on the look out for it and do the same if I find it.
I’ve had a plex pass since before 2023 so this doesn’t affect me either way.
But 2023 doesn’t sound right for when the grandfathering ended. I do not doubt that there is an end date for grandfathering but for that to have happened in 2023 sounds punitive towards their users and not a good long term strategy.
Sure, enshittification and all that. I don’t doubt greed is the motive but they had to have known by ending grandfathering 2 years before implementing a policy like this would stir a user revolt and strengthen their competition. Especially with all the increased enshittification they have pushed out over those 2 years.
JoeKrogan
in reply to Otter Raft • • •BedSharkPal
in reply to Otter Raft • • •like this
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roofuskit
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •Jellyfin is notoriously full of security holes. It's recommended to not expose it to the Internet. It's also easy easier on Plex, at least until this bullshit, to have a random non-techie family member sign in to your Plex server from anywhere. I never liked Plex and never got into it, but I see why people used to prefer it.
I think Emby is a good middle ground for people looking to jump ship from Plex. But I switched to jellyfin from my lifetime Emby sub because the plug-in community there feels dead and Emby development felt dead in the water.
tyler
in reply to roofuskit • • •like this
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roofuskit
in reply to tyler • • •It has several unsecured endpoints.
github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/i…
If you read the comments the devs know it's a serious issue but don't want to break backwards compatibility fixing them. Their solution for now is to warn people of the risks of exposing their instance to the Web. Which I don't think they're doing a great job of.
Collection of potential security issues in Jellyfin
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tyler
in reply to roofuskit • • •Aside from most of those being “potential issues”, which weren’t proven, the rest are GETs of things that do not need to be secret, things like album art and list of installed plugins. Besides the one plugin issue, which was an actual security issue, which was fixed over a year and a half ago. github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/p…
Contrast that with Plex which has numerous high severity CVEs that include things like remote code execution, directory traversal, and more.
Require elevation for plugin related endpoints by nielsvanvelzen · Pull Request #11436 · jellyfin/jellyfin
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MaggiWuerze
in reply to tyler • • •tyler
in reply to MaggiWuerze • • •fartsparkles
in reply to tyler • • •tyler
in reply to fartsparkles • • •fartsparkles
in reply to tyler • • •CVEs don’t get issued “resolved” statuses… They are either reserved, published, or rejected (technically NVD have a few extra for published). That’s just junk data in that tool you’re using. Use authoritative sources like cve.org or nvd.nist.gov.
You can see the CPEs on NVD and they’re old versions of Plex (and were old when the vulns were published).
richmondez
in reply to fartsparkles • • •Cocodapuf
in reply to tyler • • •Yeah, as you said, that's a pretty serious security issue. That's a data leak that explicitly lays out the shape of your attack surface. It tells the attacker exactly what additional software your server is running and if any of it includes known vulnerabilities, the attacker now knows how to gain access.
tyler
in reply to Cocodapuf • • •warm
in reply to roofuskit • • •MaggiWuerze
in reply to warm • • •kindred
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •I set up Plex on my mum's TV and she can just push play. The UI is intuitive (read: familiar) to her.
Jellyfin has a reputation for giving users more control and customizability, but the other side of that coin is that it's more "fiddly".
My users don't want to fiddle.
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tehmics
in reply to kindred • • •like this
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kindred
in reply to tehmics • • •I believe you. I feel that way about iTunes (trauma intensifies).
But Jellyfin doesn't have that reputation.
BaroqueInMind
in reply to kindred • • •like this
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kindred
in reply to BaroqueInMind • • •I am beginning to remember what made me think Jellyfin wasn't user friendly.
Maybe it wasn't the user interface after all.
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AtariDump
in reply to kindred • • •like this
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AtariDump
in reply to kindred • • •What it’s like in these threads:
sora.chatgpt.com/p/s_6929fca43…
kalpol
in reply to kindred • • •ripcord
in reply to tehmics • • •like this
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Chewy
in reply to ripcord • • •Yes, after I set up the server properly (reverse proxy). With this change the same setup on the server side is necessary for remote streaming with free Plex.
My mum puts in the domain, username and password and starts streaming.
AtariDump
in reply to Chewy • • •Guess what I didn’t have to setup with Plex or Emby.
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richmondez
in reply to AtariDump • • •AtariDump
in reply to richmondez • • •kernelle
in reply to tehmics • • •Come on, I love libre software as much as the next Lemming, but the Plex TV and mobile app is leagues ahead in terms of usability over jellyfin.
I still prefer jellyfin for many other reasons, but in terms of UX and UI for the average person it's an easy win for Plex
tehmics
in reply to kernelle • • •Dave
in reply to kindred • • •I set up Jellyfin on my mother-in-law's TV, it's just push play.
My mum has an Apple TV (the device, not the subscription) and on there she uses swiftfin. The only issue has been sound not working on certain audio tracks on certain movies, but in general it is easy for anyone.
Both are very familiar interfaces for anyone used to playing something from a streaming service.
matchbook1498
in reply to Dave • • •downmix to stereosomewhere in the client playback settingslike this
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Dave
in reply to matchbook1498 • • •matchbook1498
in reply to Dave • • •That will be transcoding so from the server side make sure it's enabled and working. Then you can limit the bitrate (per-user, or globally)
This way the client will stream the content and not direct play it.
Hopefully this fixes the issue with audio.
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Dave
in reply to matchbook1498 • • •Fluffy Kitty Cat
in reply to kindred • • •SreudianFlip
in reply to Fluffy Kitty Cat • • •Idiomatic usage of ‘intuitive’ regarding interfaces breaks down into
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kindred
in reply to SreudianFlip • • •Yep. What's considered intuitive UI changes depending on what you're used to.
It's why Google fought so hard to put Chromebooks in American classrooms.
IdleSheep
in reply to kindred • • •This is legit the opposite of my experience. I am a relatively tech savvy user, I like to fiddle with all the settings and an ugly UI doesn't inherently deter me as long as the experience is good, so when I first installed jellyfin I was ready to have a clunky experience fighting the UI.
Despite that, I was legitimately surprised at how Jellyfin was far less confusing for me to use out of the box than plex ever was. I found Plex's UI very confusing to navigate on my TV and my family did not like using it either. I remember especially hating all the extra categories and freemium content plex added that I wasn't interested in viewing but couldn't remove (or at least did not find a way to remove). In Jellyfin all of my content is just there and very easily categorized and there's no superfluous elements in the UI, just my stuff that I want to watch.
I remember plex also gave me more trouble during installation than jellyfin did. I actually found jellyfin very pleasant and intuitive to setup. Plex sent me down a Google rabbit hole to diagnose why it wouldn't boot at all.
It was genuinely such an awful experience as a first-time user that it made me wonder why anyone would use plex.
ccunning
in reply to IdleSheep • • •Not doubting your experience at all. For all I know it’s a new option; I just discovered it, but for the other folks like me still stuck with Plex, most (all?) of this can be disabled in the Online Media Sources setting on the server (yeah - I know 🙄)…
theskyisfalling
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •Because I don't have to learn about things like proxies to try and open the service up outside my network in a secure manner or try to explain to family they need to run tailscale at the same time and then inevitably have to provide tech support for another aspect of "why is this not working?"
I just check allow remote access and it just works and I can go about my day doing things I enjoy more because fucking about with Linux and providing tech support are pretty low on that list for me 😀
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neon_nova
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •theskyisfalling
in reply to neon_nova • • •Because it does it for me? In Plex I just tick one box in settings to allow remote connections and then choose which libraries to share to which users and bam they can access all that content just by downloading the Plex app and logging in on their end.
No fucking about.
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neon_nova
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •Doesn’t Jellyfin operate the same way?
I’m not sure there is any difference.
cmnybo
in reply to neon_nova • • •sucius
in reply to cmnybo • • •theskyisfalling
in reply to neon_nova • • •No, not at all. Jellyfin you'd have to setup a proxy or some kind of VPN like tailscale for the remote client to be able to access the media. I started to try and figure it all out when I first set up my server but as I have said in another reply j dont really care to waste the time learning how to do it in a secure manner and minimise the friction on my other users so I dont know the ins and outs but jellyfin you absolutely can't just tick a box and share a library.
Also jellyfin meta data analysis was shit compared to Plex and so I'd have to spend even more time actually managing the server that I dont have to do with Plex.
Darkassassin07
in reply to neon_nova • • •Plex has an automatic proxy service hosted by their public servers. If you haven't or can't configure port forwarding correctly, plex will route the connection through their own servers.
The problem is, that also means Plex co has total control over your server and the data sent between it and clients if they so choose. Anything from quietly logging the data sent back and fourth, to controlling who can connect and what they can do while they are.
Jellyfin has to be correctly exposed to the internet via port forwarding or tools like tailscale/a vpn; but it's entirely your server under your control. You have ultimate control over how your server can be accessed, but that also means you're responsible for actually setting that up.
neon_nova
in reply to Darkassassin07 • • •Cocodapuf
in reply to neon_nova • • •AlternatePersonMan
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •like this
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Darkassassin07
in reply to AlternatePersonMan • • •Sounds like you're behind cgNAT, which essentially means there's another router owned by your ISP that's between yours and the open internet, which also requires port forwarding, but your ISP will never do that for you.
It complicates things, but the solution(s) are tools like tailscale, cloudflare Tunnels, or to rent a VPS just to host a proxy/vpn.
Plex solves this by using their own public servers as a proxy for you, but this is part of how they have control over your users/server/data, such as blocking remote streaming... That makes more than a few people uncomfortable.
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theskyisfalling
in reply to Darkassassin07 • • •Yeh these are things I realise and I know there are solutions. The way Plex does it isnt ideal but also it works for me and my current knowledge level.
Maybe in the future as I learn more I can move on but right now it works for me and I dont have the time or motivation to put into learning everything else I need right now, as with everyone else in the world right now there is a lot of other shit going on that it just isnt high on my priority list unfortunately.
I'm still in my first year of self hosting personally and as well as being a Linux newbie I have learnt a lot and it has been a steep learning curve with everything.
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Darkassassin07
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •I only bring it up because you explicitly said you have no idea why it doesn't work.
Take things at a comfortable pace; there's no sense overwhelming yourself. Then you just forget what you've done and end up lost in your own maze.
I started with Plex myself, almost 10 years ago. Moved to Emby, where I learned about buying a domain, setting up ssl through a reverse proxy, and just continued to explore from there. Today I run ~26 containers/projects across three systems and I'm always keeping my eye out for interesting new things.
Best of luck with your journey m8.
Fluffy Kitty Cat
in reply to Darkassassin07 • • •dan
in reply to Fluffy Kitty Cat • • •hperrin
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •like this
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theskyisfalling
in reply to hperrin • • •Typical condescending reply that I expect, yes it is a "skill issue" and I don't really give a fuck. We don't all have the same skills or the same levels of interest in acquiring those skills, some of us just want a solution that works easily for their skill level.
It is your kind of attitude as well that puts more people off learning these things because without a real interest in learning these things those kinds of hostilities just put people off of wanting to participate in those circles.
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hperrin
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •Yes. You could learn everything you need to know by watching a 20 minute YouTube video, but you’d rather use a paid product instead. That’s, like, the definition of a skill issue. The issue isn’t that the software is hard to use, it’s that you refuse to learn how to use it.
And that’s not the fault of Jellyfin, because the “ease of use” of Plex is because it’s a paid product. They can afford to run servers to make everything work for you without having to put in any effort to learn. You’re using their servers to make it easy for you, and you’re paying to do it.
It’s fine if you don’t want to learn to set up a service, but it does make me wonder why you’re commenting on a self hosting community. It seems to me like you’re not interested in self hosting. (Not trying to assume, but what you said is not what I would associate with someone who likes to self host.)
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theskyisfalling
in reply to hperrin • • •Except that just isn't true unless you have prior knowledge of lots of other things. As with a lot of documentation within this space it all presumes prior knowledge of different things.
Most things you read or watch will start with just do x but if you don't already even know how to do x then you have to go down a further rabbit hole to find out how to do that. Everything you try and do is a series of these things so your 20 minute YouTube video turns into hours of trying to learn other things to tie in with it.
On top of that I dont understand the underlying security implications behind opening my network up to the outside world, it is all well and good following some 20 minute video but without understanding the underlying implications of what you are doing how can you really fully trust that information because I dont understand everything behind it?
Again, I never said it wasnt a skill issue, I literally agreed with you that it was....
Also why can I not comment and participate in a self hosting community just because I dont do things exactly the way YOU want me to does that mean I automatically can't participate?
It is your kind of hostile and condescending attitude along with documentation that assumes too much prior knowledge that makes both the self hosting and Linux communities really unwelcoming to people that are looking to even dip a toe into them. This all or nothing attitude where only your method of doing things is acceptable and anything else is seen as fair game for mockery and condescension.
I'm new to the space and maybe in the future as I learn more about it I can move on to other things as I gain the knowledge I need but people like you, whose attitude is just fucking shitty are really off putting in these spaces. Everyone needs to learn and the culture of condescension and mockery towards new users by a large majority of the existing user base doesn't make more people want to join in and learn.
Cheers for adding absolutely nothing to the conversation though and further putting me off wanting to learn any more or continue to interact with the communities though. You're really helping push adoption of things like this.
hperrin
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •Again, you just sound like you’re not interested in self hosting. I wasn’t even that condescending to you, but you took it that way. You said you don’t want to learn how to self host in a community about self hosting. Like, imagine if someone went into a community about bicycling and was like, “Well, I don’t want to ride bikes, but I like motorcycles because I don’t have to pedal.” You should expect a certain level of disregard in a community if you’re going into that community saying you’re unwilling to learn the basics of what that community is about.
If you’re not interested in self hosting, I’m not saying you’re not welcome here, because a. you are and b. I don’t moderate this community anyway, but I genuinely wonder why you’re here. You did say you might be interested in the future, so…
This is a genuine offer: if you want to learn how to self host, I will get on a video call with you and teach you how to set up some services on your home network and open them up in a secure way. I write and run my own servers, and have for well over a decade, so I am qualified to teach you what you need to know, if you want to learn.
theskyisfalling
in reply to hperrin • • •Yeh that is fair enough, maybe I worded it wrong in the first place as it is more that right now I dont have the time or motivation to do the learning due to everything else going on in life and I do conceded that I did jump first to condescension but that was based more on a lot of previous interactions I have had within the broader Linux community so I apologise if that was not your intention but "sounds like a skill issue" is a usual dismissive response that is often meant to be condescending.
I have put a lot of time in the last year into learning Linux to get to a place where I have proxmox running as well as a NAS and that was all from a place of zero prior knowledge and that was a steep learning curve and I think I am some what jaded from that experience going forward too due to some interactions and how not easy to follow documentation is for someone entirely new to the space.
I do appreciate the offer and maybe in the future I could take you up on the offer when I have more time and mental capacity to put back into furthering my learning within this space. Apologies for jumping straight to an assumption of your position based on previous interactions if that wasnt your intention, it just came across as such.
hperrin
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •Thank you for being understanding. I shouldn’t have stated it as bluntly as I did either, so I think you were justified in taking it as condescending, and I’m glad we’re seeing each other’s view more clearly now. I think it’s awesome you’re getting into Linux, and even if you don’t ultimately do it, even considering self hosting is awesome. Getting Proxmox and your own NAS up and running is awesome too, btw. Something you should be proud of. I do want Linux and self hosting to be a welcoming space, so I’m going to try in the future to be more welcoming.
When you’re ready, you can email me at hperrin-friends@port87.com about my offer. The offer stands any time you feel ready to dive in. 😀
theskyisfalling
in reply to hperrin • • •I appreciate it a lot and have saved this comment for the future!
I'm glad we can come around to an understanding too, to sort of illustrate why I reacted as such this comment from this thread kind of epitomises what it can be like trying to get into the Linux space and learn as a complete newbie sometimes and it is very fucking tiring. I realise not everyone is like that and there are plenty of people that provide a lot of help but it is also very tiring and off putting when you are new to a space and you are met with attitudes like this.
Have a good day 😁
chonkyninja
2025-11-28 07:03:35
chonkyninja
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •theskyisfalling
in reply to chonkyninja • • •Cocodapuf
in reply to chonkyninja • • •Do you know how to rebuild your car's engine?
Do you know how to remediate black mold spreading on the walls of a houseboat?
Do you know how to compile Linux to run on some custom arm hardware?
Do you know how to repair or rebuild a crumbling stone retaining wall?
There's a good chance you may not know how to accomplish all of those tasks. There's also a very good chance you may not care about knowing how to accomplish all of those tasks, as some of them may not be relevant to you. This is ok.
Finally, I know you're posting on the Internet, but you don't have to be an asshole, that's a choice.
AtariDump
in reply to hperrin • • •Fluffy Kitty Cat
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •chonkyninja
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •dan
in reply to chonkyninja • • •fartsparkles
in reply to chonkyninja • • •You’re going to need to back up your claim otherwise you might as well be lying as there’s no CVE like this I can find nor any public disclosure.
Plex have a bug bounty program and a responsive security team too.
Post your security report.
richmondez
in reply to theskyisfalling • • •Fredselfish
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •ThePowerOfGeek
in reply to Fredselfish • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to ThePowerOfGeek • • •Fredselfish
in reply to ThePowerOfGeek • • •like this
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rdri
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •Using jellyfin on Chromecast. For the past 3 weeks I'm stuck not being able to use it because some update broke subtitles support for external players. App became useless, I can't downgrade it, and the bug is still not fixed.
Not going to use Plex, just my 2 cents.
shishka_b0b
in reply to rdri • • •rdri
in reply to shishka_b0b • • •Regression -> after update from 0.18.8 to 0.19.2, external subtitles not showing on external player on firetv
raphamotta (GitHub)ccunning
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •StrawberryPigtails
in reply to ccunning • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to ccunning • • •SendMePhotos
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •Cocodapuf
in reply to SendMePhotos • • •This is a big part of the problem. You can use Plex on PlayStation, xbox, Roku, apple tv, iPhone, android, etc...
The apps are ubiquitous, the coverage is complete. In just about any situation, Plex is a workable option.
ripcord
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to ripcord • • •ccunning
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to ccunning • • •Evotech
in reply to ccunning • • •Looks fine to me, I replaced plex like 3-4 months ago
Jellyfin / jellyseer + arr
Fluffy Kitty Cat
in reply to ccunning • • •webghost0101
in reply to ccunning • • •There are custom themes out there that change the interface.
Right click -> identify-> Title name, has yet to fail me.
Its been a long time since i used plex so I can’t say how much “easier” its over there but compared to the days before streaming this little upfront work takes less time then going to a physical store to rent.
Maintenance takes no work and it cant be enshitificated (someone will just port it)
Chewy
in reply to ccunning • • •Fluffy Kitty Cat
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •Avid Amoeba
in reply to Fluffy Kitty Cat • • •amateurcrastinator
in reply to Fluffy Kitty Cat • • •Farid
in reply to amateurcrastinator • • •Currently my biggest complain with Jellyfin and the reason I can't switch to it completely is the bad subtitle support. There's a bunch of clients and some subtitles work on one, but not the other and vise versa. It's annoying to jump clients depending on what you watch. Sometimes subtitles just don't want to load by default and you have turn them on for each episode.
And even though I have Bazaar, sometimes I still need to download subtitles, and Plex has that built-in.
Either way, I already have lifetime subscription, there's no point in switching. At this point I'll only switch if JF becomes better or Plex becomes worse.
sonofearth
in reply to Farid • • •Both will happen.
Besides.
For me it has worked everywhere. All of my media is in .mkv so it already contains the subtitles. It works in all browsers clients, Desktop clients, TV and Mobile clients. Works in VLC and MPV as well on desktop, TV and Mobile. Works with Kodi as well. Works on same network (via both host IP and reverse proxy) as well as remotely via Pangolin.
So you can try putting everything in one MKV Container or maybe change the subtitle formats (if that's a thing).
Farid
in reply to sonofearth • • •🤞. Hopefully it's just JF getting better, of course, but that last app redesign on Plex was really rough. I had to downgrade the app to make it work well again.
Of course I can put extra work into formatting my subtitles to make them work everywhere. Sometimes they are embedded, sometimes they are an .srt file next to the video file. And I don't want to spend time normalizing all of them. It already just works all the time on Plex, so I'll simply wait until JF fixes the support.
punkibas
in reply to Farid • • •GitHub - damontecres/Wholphin: An OSS Android TV client for Jellyfin
GitHubFarid
in reply to punkibas • • •Thank you for your suggestion. That seems like a very nice JF client, but unfortunately it's Android-only, and we do most of our watching on iPads.
I will definitely try it on my Android TV though.
Chewy
in reply to Farid • • •I don't think Jellyfins focus is currently to support irregular naming schemes. Naming media correctly with a proper scheme is the way to go.
Just so you know I wouldn't hold my breath.
Farid
in reply to Chewy • • •Avid Amoeba
in reply to Farid • • •That's odd because the clients are just web apps I think. That should work without crashing on a stable OS. I use them on Android mobile and Android TV with extensive subtitle usage and haven't seen instability.
A funny thing I noticed is that the client distributed in F-Droid is extremely old even though it says it's updated recently.
Farid
in reply to Avid Amoeba • • •ethicallysliced
in reply to Farid • • •horse
in reply to amateurcrastinator • • •Working "watched" labels on the Apple TV client would be nice. Not having those is a deal breaker for me considering 99% of my use case is streaming media to my Apple TV over LAN.
I have Jellyfin running along side Plex in case I want to do remote streaming, but I never use it and generally just copy the files for what I want to watch to my laptop if I'm going to be watching something away from home. Or I can just VPN in to my home network.
richmondez
in reply to Fluffy Kitty Cat • • •Fluffy Kitty Cat
in reply to richmondez • • •dan
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •Pechente
in reply to dan • • •dan
in reply to Pechente • • •Unfortunately it looks like that one is for Apple devices, whereas I use Linux on desktop and Android on mobile.
There's some, but I haven't seen any that have the main features Plex and Plexamp have:
And probably other things I'm forgetting.
dustyData
in reply to dan • • •Navidrome for service. Dsub2000 on android and feishin on desktop.
There, all your needs covered.
As a plus, dsub also does podcasts and audio books.
Son_of_Macha
in reply to dan • • •Chewy
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •Damarus
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •criticon
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •Ricaz
in reply to criticon • • •like this
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Scrollone
in reply to criticon • • •like this
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sucius
in reply to criticon • • •DancingTable
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •Skip intro on Apple TV not working on Jellyfin is probably the #1 reason I do not use it.
When tvOS 26.2 comes out I will tentatively test Jellyfin + Infuse, but until then, Jellyfin is a non-starter for me.
But I use Emby over Plex so still not using Plex.
AtariDump
in reply to DancingTable • • •PhAzE
in reply to BedSharkPal • • •hperrin
in reply to Otter Raft • • •like this
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KyuubiNoKitsune
in reply to hperrin • • •Unfortunately this idea that open source is free is a bit toxic in a way. It's definitely not free to make, it takes years of dev time, and sure, those people often do it without any compensation. And therein lies the problem. People here bitching about jellyfin not doing x or y, but doing nothing to support full time development of it's creation, then shitting on the devs for not having a perfect product, leads to good devs leaving OSS behind.
Edit: I'll also say, I get the issues that come with proprietary software in the modern age, especially anything online, but there's almost this push towards not paying for software. Because some software is free and open source, paying for closed source software makes you a rube or something.
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hperrin
in reply to KyuubiNoKitsune • • •Yeah, I am one of those open source devs who doesn’t get paid for it. But I can’t really say it’s the fault of normal users. They’re just people trying to get by. The fault really lies in corporations using open source without supporting it. Some corporations do give back and support communities, but a lot just take and don’t give anything back.
Personally, most of what I write for my company, SciActive, is open source. The only thing I don’t release is my actual product (Port87), but everything I’ve built in order to build it (the ORM, Nymph.js, the UI library, Svelte Material UI, the WebDAV server, Nephele) are all open source.
I do get users shitting on these projects sometimes, but the majority of communications I get are respectful and gracious. It does sour the experience when someone acts rudely, but I try to not let them get under my skin. Some devs have trouble not being bothered by it, and for them, the rude users and lack of compensation are so much worse.
What keeps me writing open source though is that I just genuinely have a passion for writing code. I recently built a full text search engine into Nymph, and the whole process was so much fun. I think that’s what powers open source, genuine passion for what we build.
(There’s one project that gets shit on a lot more than my others, QuickDAV, which I’ve never really understood. A lot of people say they’d rather use SyncThing, which is fine, but they have different use cases, so it just baffles me. It’s like someone looking at Inkscape and saying they’d rather use GIMP.)
Nymph
NymphHeyJoe
in reply to Otter Raft • • •Years ago I decided to go with Emby over Plex only because at the time plex didnt support kodi integration and I enjoyed using that at the time for my front-end user experience. Within 6 months they started supporting it and I was upset since I did want to go with plex. Lately I feel like I made the perfect decision. It's gotta be close to 10 years now and I paid one $100 lifetime fee for Emby and still use it everyday along with some family and friends I gave access to. Also gotta remember I dont believe jellyfin was even an option at that time. I tried it not to long ago and although it was fine, I actually think I liked emby a little more.
As for the remote access, how do they block it? Do they not allow you to setup your own remote connection that does not involve plex? Thats how I do it, I do not use emby connect to make it easier to go through them I just setup my own domain, use ddns, and configure the ports I want exposed and thats it. If plex doesnt allow that then thats already crazy, if they do and even thats now blocked then thats even crazier.
Emby may be simpler, and i heard about plex having a music AI feature that I was actually jealous of, but overall it just works and not paying anything in forever will always be my preferred method over awful monthly subscriptions anyday.
Darkassassin07
in reply to HeyJoe • • •Plex centralizes authentication at plex.tv
When a user wants to connect to a 'private' plex server, they must first sign into their plex.tv account, which then provides the auth token needed to login to the users server (even if both the client and server are on the same lan)
With this system, Plex can monitor and control every single connection to every plex server; limiting access to whatever they want. Even your own local content.
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HeyJoe
in reply to Darkassassin07 • • •like this
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Darkassassin07
in reply to HeyJoe • • •Emby has what they call 'Emby Connect' which is entirely optional and is basically a glorified DNS service.
It doesn't proxy connections, it just passes on the hostname to the client. The server is still required to setup port forwarding or other routing like tailscale or a proxy on a vps.
Emby Connect will let you sign into your local server using your emby.media credentials, but unlike Plex it's completely optional and only works once explicitly linked to the local user of an Emby server.
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kalpol
in reply to Darkassassin07 • • •Know_not_Scotty_does
in reply to HeyJoe • • •I bought the Emby lifetime license about 2 years ago when the plex remote streaming stuff first started getting talked about. It coincided with my server refresh so it ended up working out. I have been really happy with Emby so far.
One thing to note is that music streaming on remote devices is WAY better on plex, Emby behaves more like a mapped network drive running over the internet to a local music player that then forgets your position on pause or when you move away from the remote app/device whereas Plex is actually functional as a modern music player. I keep a local copy of my music library on my phone anyways and okay through Gonemad so it is a non-issue for me but Emby should work better than it does in that case.
Plex also allows/provides "live" tv (with ads) which can be nice if you are into that, and there is the "free" streaming library too which Emby doesn't offer. I'll keep plex around for those features but non-of my stuff is/will be hosted on Plex.
HeyJoe
in reply to Know_not_Scotty_does • • •Yeah, as a big music fan I have always been disappointed in Embys music functionality. I followed the discussions around this on there site and I was a bit disappointed by the response. They were getting the same feedback around how bad it is and it should be revamped or even have a dedicated app just for music and they just dismissed it basically saying we'll it can be something we may do later on but dont hold your breath and that they believe it works fine the way it is and dont agree it will help.
Luckily I really didnt care to use it for music anyway. I already had a Subsonic (now Navidrome) server for that. It would have been nice for a few things, but ultimately it was fine. The cool part is the android app Symfonium is the best music app I have ever used and it connects to all the servers to pull data. I obviously still use navidrome, but I could just pull from emby as well with it.
SayCyberOnceMore
in reply to Otter Raft • • •Longterm MythTv user here, watching the discussions
🍿
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aesthelete
in reply to Otter Raft • • •like this
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scholar
in reply to aesthelete • • •like this
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filister
in reply to scholar • • •Same. That's for me a red flag that a company took the enshittification path and things will get progressively worse.
Plus I would rather support an open source project that benefits the whole community than a greedy company who is trying to milk their customers.
istdaslol
in reply to Otter Raft • • •like this
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shameless
in reply to istdaslol • • •like this
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littleomid
in reply to Otter Raft • • •like this
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Jeremyward
in reply to littleomid • • •like this
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littleomid
in reply to Jeremyward • • •ripcord
in reply to littleomid • • •like this
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mybuttnolie
in reply to ripcord • • •ripcord
in reply to mybuttnolie • • •Lol
Edit: honestly, I could start itemizing why this person's response is terrible, but all it feels like it deserves is "lol".
mybuttnolie
in reply to ripcord • • •Son_of_Macha
in reply to mybuttnolie • • •like this
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mybuttnolie
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •Chewy
in reply to mybuttnolie • • •Roku is also a thing in Europe.
Though I also gave up trying to set up Tailscale for people and just exposed Jellyfin (behind a reverse proxy).
AtariDump
in reply to Chewy • • •Chewy
in reply to AtariDump • • •Now you do have to, unless you pay for Plex and its convenience.
Infernal_pizza
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •dustyData
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •lepinkainen
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •AtariDump
in reply to lepinkainen • • •lepinkainen
in reply to AtariDump • • •Scrollone
in reply to ripcord • • •discomatic
in reply to ripcord • • •fluffy
in reply to littleomid • • •Probably not the only one, but configuring your server for outside access is way easier with Plex.
Since I mainly use these services for streaming my music collection (long time cd collector), I declare that Plexamp is simply superior to jellyfin. It is really awesome and feature-rich and jellyfin does not even come close to Plexamp regarding music in my opinion.
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VonReposti
in reply to fluffy • • •AtariDump
in reply to VonReposti • • •Yes, and it’s nowhere close to PlexAmp. Have you ever used PlexAmp?
VonReposti
in reply to AtariDump • • •AtariDump
in reply to VonReposti • • •fluffy
in reply to VonReposti • • •tym
in reply to littleomid • • •ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє
in reply to Otter Raft • • •like this
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Evil_Incarnate
in reply to ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє • • •like this
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Damarus
in reply to ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє • • •lepinkainen
in reply to ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє • • •I paid 79€ almost a decade ago. I got more than my moneys worth. Even the current lifetime (on sale) is less than a year of Netflix. More expensive than piracy + Jellyfin ofc if that’s your benchmark 😀
I have a Jellyfin instance running anyway, I’ll switch to that if Plex enshittifies.
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CeeBee_Eh
in reply to lepinkainen • • •Anyone want to break the news?
Stillwater
in reply to CeeBee_Eh • • •lepinkainen
in reply to CeeBee_Eh • • •Which part has enshittified?
The only change I can see that when I scroll down on my Plex front page, there’s a bunch of stuff that’s not on my NAS. Some of them actually interesting, like this full ass category of old school kungfu movies:
kalpol
in reply to lepinkainen • • •Egonallanon
in reply to ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє • • •Kushan
in reply to ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє • • •This is a "slippery slope' argument and thus a fallacy.
Let users decide how they want to run their own stuff. Right now if you have Plex pass this isn't an issue. If it becomes an issue, then you're in the exact same position you'd be in today if you decided to move away from Plex now.
I moved away from Plex years ago, but I don't blame users for sticking with it, it still has a lot of advantages over jellyfin.
EDIT: Y'all are trippin' over yourselves to complain about what other people choose to deploy on their own hardware.
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ShortN0te
in reply to Kushan • • •I disagree. Right now you got time to do the research, plan the move and test it out with a demo setup. You do not know if you got the time if Plex decides to screw their lifetime users.
Yes this is hypothetical.
moseschrute
in reply to ShortN0te • • •like this
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lando55
in reply to moseschrute • • •kalpol
in reply to lando55 • • •Kushan
in reply to ShortN0te • • •festus
in reply to Kushan • • •ShortN0te
in reply to Kushan • • •No, you have not understood anything. Assuming Jellyfin would go closed source, (ignoring the GPL license and so on) you would not notice anything.
Your server and service would be unchanged by this.
Emby is the best example, the community will fork it and you server lives on. Even if not, then the server and software is still yours.
pageflight
in reply to ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє • • •yeehaw
in reply to ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє • • •Destide
in reply to Otter Raft • • •Now with the state on reverse proxies and tailscale tunnels we happily ditched it.
GreenKnight23
in reply to Destide • • •Destide
in reply to GreenKnight23 • • •like this
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GreenKnight23
in reply to Destide • • •I'm almost certain you changed your comment.
however, I fail to see the relevancy of proxies and tunnels to the content of the original post.
Destide
in reply to GreenKnight23 • • •piyuv
in reply to Otter Raft • • •like this
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Chewy
in reply to piyuv • • •Jellyfin does not host anything. With this change free Plex users behind a reverse proxy (or VPN) and Jellyfin users behind a reverse proxy (or VPN) work the same for remote access.
The only difference is that Plex no longer provides expensive services for free, while Jellyfin never provided them.
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piyuv
in reply to Chewy • • •like this
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Brewchin
in reply to piyuv • • •I used to use Plex and when I discovered there was paid remote streaming function - that goes through their servers - my reactions were "Haha, no"* and checking whether my existing WireGuard setup would do it instead.
Whaddya know, remote streaming using Plex and PlexAmp at no cost.
*Not because I begrudge them recouping costs, but because it's designed that way to justify charging for it, gives them whatever information they want from my viewing, and it's not self-hosting if there's any third party cloud/account component to it.
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Son_of_Macha
in reply to Otter Raft • • •Scrollone
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •Why not? It depends on your situation, but if you have a static IP or a dyndns service, you can just open a port to your Jellyfin and reach it from anywhere.
You can also stick a reverse proxy in front of it, if you want to feel safer.
RandomLegend [He/Him]
in reply to Scrollone • • •like this
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Scrollone
in reply to RandomLegend [He/Him] • • •like this
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Wispy2891
in reply to Scrollone • • •Pfifel
in reply to Scrollone • • •LievitoPadre
in reply to Pfifel • • •Have a server advertising the routes with tailscale and in your tv when you configure the connection select that server as gateway and that's it.
Scrollone
in reply to LievitoPadre • • •Egonallanon
in reply to Scrollone • • •like this
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Scrollone
in reply to Egonallanon • • •like this
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Chewy
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •"Good luck setting up remote streaming with free Plex."
Yes, Jellyfin does not forward ports for you. Same as free Plex. With this change both are the same difficulty to set up for free, the only difference is with Plex there's a shortcut: Buy Plex.
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horse
in reply to Chewy • • •~~I don't think simply forwarding the port actually works with free Plex anymore. I think if the server has a different public IP from the client it asks you to pay, even if you're connecting to the server over LAN.~~
Edit: That doesn't appear to be true. I'm not entirely sure how Plex is checking whether you're trying to stream remotely. In my case at least it works if I connect to my server using the LAN IP, but not if I use DNS (even though it resolves to the same IP). Maybe I'm missing something to allow it to work using the hostname.
Chewy
in reply to horse • • •horse
in reply to Chewy • • •Domi
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •Grass
in reply to Son_of_Macha • • •puppinstuff
in reply to Otter Raft • • •Domi
in reply to puppinstuff • • •I can't speak for client capabilities on Apple devices, but what's your server hardware? CPU or GPU transcoding?
I have an AMD GPU in my server and have no issues transcoding AV1 and H265 for my lesser capable clients.
You can also setup Jellyfin in parallel to Plex and give it a whirl.
TeddE
in reply to Domi • • •Usually. When Plex leaked that they were selling user data, I was running Plex server on an Nvidia Shield, a unique build of Plex that ran as a core service of the Android device. There ain't no Jellyfin analogue of that monstrosity.
puppinstuff
in reply to Domi • • •Pissio
in reply to puppinstuff • • •WhyAUsername_1
in reply to Pissio • • •I love it and use it on my Apple Devices, but just wanted to have this as an FYI.
commanderschlepper
in reply to WhyAUsername_1 • • •I'm moving to jellyfin because of my customzation obsession after using Plex for YEARS (bought lifetime as a kid in college), but I'm still going to donate to the Jellyfin team if I love the software they made. I'm so new to self hosting and it's awesome how much free stuff is out there, but how do they maintain it for free?
Is the argument that we shouldn't have to pay money to use software or that Plex / software is changing things after taking money? This is the one area that confuses me the most. Free as a selling point but like, are we just not supposed to send money or am I dumb for doing so?
WhyAUsername_1
in reply to commanderschlepper • • •I think, I was trying to make a point that Infuse is a third party application that is not free to use (unlike jellyfin).
Routhinator
in reply to puppinstuff • • •like this
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ragebutt
in reply to Routhinator • • •Just as long as you’re fine with your media server absolutely eating power all the time
Stop encoding in av1 and get a low power older intel chip around 10th gen or so with quick sync. Unless you have like 5+ users watching 4k media at the same time this will handle transcoding absolutely fine while using far less power than a dedicated gpu
Routhinator
in reply to ragebutt • • •I don't encode in AV1, I use HEVC. But while your argument is not unreasonable, it misses the component of file size and amount of disk space required.
HEVC (x265) takes half the space of x264. While it does require a more modern GPU, it can be run on lower powered Intel CPUs with an integrated GPU just fine, so long as the CPU is new enough. Though it can only handle 2-3 streams on a CPU like the Intel chips in a ZimaBoard. So you need to choose wisely.
mriormro
in reply to Routhinator • • •ragebutt
in reply to Routhinator • • •Person you responded to said av1, I didn’t mean to imply you did. HEVC is good balance and quicksync will handle it as you’ve said. 10th gen stuff will handle 4-5 at the expense of more power (but less than like a typical gpu build).
Last statement you made is critical - usage dictates build
CeeBee_Eh
in reply to Routhinator • • •In some scenarios, it can. Generally I'd say it's about a 20-30% reduction in size.
Drun
in reply to puppinstuff • • •If you’re ok with Plex, then you’ll be ok with Jellyfin
And we also have metadata manager, so you don’t have to rename your TV show files every time!
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Mobile
in reply to puppinstuff • • •2FortGaming
in reply to Otter Raft • • •electric_nan
in reply to 2FortGaming • • •NathanUp
in reply to 2FortGaming • • •Destide
in reply to 2FortGaming • • •Debian and Ubuntu have the most docs and guides
If you know what you're doing nixos or ucore would be pretty unbreakable
Paid for product I love Unraid
Trash guides is pretty good for getting started trash-guides.info/
TRaSH Guides
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dirt_character
in reply to 2FortGaming • • •pageflight
in reply to 2FortGaming • • •bitjunkie
in reply to Otter Raft • • •buttnugget
in reply to bitjunkie • • •sixty
in reply to buttnugget • • •buttnugget
in reply to sixty • • •neclimdul
in reply to bitjunkie • • •I kind of understand why someone would honestly. Jellyfin subtitles are still a hot mess for a lot of formats unfortunately. Also, while plex has tried really hard to ruin their UI, I've still had more trouble explaining where to find things in Jellyfin. And if you're sharing your collection with friends or family members there's a lot more technical stuff involved.
So I can see why the balance might still tip toward paying plex still for some people.
Luckily I bought a lifetime license ages ago before the first price hike so this doesn't affect me yet. So I'm just riding out the decline, running them in parallel until plex completely breaks. slowly transitioning the family as they get annoyed with broken features. Plexamp is quickly taking care of that 😅
De Lancre
in reply to bitjunkie • • •Two years ago, when I found out that you need damn subscription, to watch YOUR stuff with transcoding on your device in local network, from your local server - I complained on reddit and a lot of people was disagree with me for harsh position.
They_got_what they_focking_deserve.png
eah
in reply to De Lancre • • •Buckshot
in reply to eah • • •Years ago now, they pushed an offer for lifetime subscription onto my server. I clicked it, went through to their website and bought it, paid, the subscription activated and worked.
The next day they emailed to say actually i wasn't eligible for the offer, they cancelled it and refunded me and said it would actually cost $30 more.
I installed Jellyfin that same day, it was pretty buggy back then but was definitely the right decision.
sunbeam60
in reply to eah • • •They deliver a working piece of software to you. They employ people to maintain it and add new features. They ask a price for this work.
How is this rent seeking?
Zanathos
in reply to De Lancre • • •Welcoming the incoming dowvotes for correcting your comment just like the many similar comments and posts I've seen on Reddit, but this is purely a configuration issue.
Transcoding on local network is allowed without a subscription. If you are running your own DNS server (like pihole or unbound) you need to configure an internal "plex.direct" record. You also need to uncheck an option to "treat your WAN IP as internal" option which corrects double NAT issues.
I have yet to see a need to move away from Plex. I paid for the cheap lifetime sub over a decade ago at this point and everyone I invite to my server has no complaints and has not had to pay Plex a dime. I don't use their plex.tv proxy, I direct connect to my own IP and leave their remote proxy option off in the server and everything works great.
I will check out Jellyfin at some point if Plex makes things more difficult in time, but for now these articles are literally just rage bait in the homelab ecosystem. They enacted this back in April of 2025 already!
kalpol
in reply to Zanathos • • •PhAzE
in reply to De Lancre • • •Squizzy
in reply to bitjunkie • • •Scolding7300
in reply to Otter Raft • • •Darkassassin07
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •Scolding7300
in reply to Darkassassin07 • • •Saltarello
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •Stillwater
in reply to Otter Raft • • •I ultimately want to ditch Plex, but as an existing lifetime member, it currently handles everything so smoothly for my users that I don't see enough benefits in switching. Particularly on the music streaming side (PlexAmp), I think the experience is the most polished one I've seen.
My hope is that by the time the lifetime Plex Pass experience has become enshittified, Jellyfin will be more ready than it is today, and I'll make a switch then.
Joelk111
in reply to Stillwater • • •tobz619
in reply to Joelk111 • • •Victor
in reply to Otter Raft • • •Bosht
in reply to Otter Raft • • •kalpol
in reply to Bosht • • •PhAzE
in reply to kalpol • • •JTode
in reply to Bosht • • •I display my movies and music in the order they were added by default, but I do recall a lot of historical problems with that functionality. It has not been a problem for me the last year or two, I would say, but I do remember it being a problem.
There's still lots of room for improvement, to be damn sure. But can't beat the feeling of freedom, you ask me.
Bosht
in reply to JTode • • •Victor
in reply to Otter Raft • • •ftbd
in reply to Otter Raft • • •nfreak
in reply to ftbd • • •delcaran
in reply to nfreak • • •In my case, I was not able to make jellyfin work: transcoding issues, lagging, client disconnection or unresponsive... Plex worked flawlessly out of the box with the same hardware and the same library.
From time to time I try Jellyfin again, but things never change ..
JTode
in reply to delcaran • • •delcaran
in reply to JTode • • •Thank you, but it won't be necessary. I think my issues are hardware -related, or simply my NAS is under too much load from other applications 😅
Other than that I should try with the Chromecast as you suggested, maybe the problem was the shitty client application...
If I don't succeed I'm still good with Plex, and I have a raspberry hanging around for an emergency Kodi.
PhAzE
in reply to ftbd • • •*only for external streaming.
You can cut it off from the internet and stream in your house locally for free still.
End from any external streaming perspective, they are hosting a repository with your connection and port info, so your external friends can connect without you needing to manually configure or update their settings when you make a local change. Plus they are hosting stream relays for those that are unable to make a direct connection. To me, seems fair they'd ask for payment for that service.
HugeNerd
in reply to Otter Raft • • •RoachFire
in reply to HugeNerd • • •HugeNerd
in reply to RoachFire • • •RoachFire
in reply to HugeNerd • • •HugeNerd
in reply to RoachFire • • •RoachFire
in reply to HugeNerd • • •HugeNerd
in reply to RoachFire • • •Sorry, I didn't read your reply, I was streaming every movie, album, book, and magazine in existence to every location in the universe at all times. Even when I blink I have 16K screens inside my eyelids.
This is normal behavior in 2025. If you cut off my terabit stream, I will writhe on the ground and scream.
I am not in any way addicted to digital hoarding or continuously upgrading systems that have already exceeded the capacity of any normal person to watch a movie since 20 years.
GreenKnight23
in reply to Otter Raft • • •PhAzE
in reply to GreenKnight23 • • •JigglySackles
in reply to PhAzE • • •menas
in reply to Otter Raft • • •I suspect this will not be result they expected
sixty
in reply to Otter Raft • • •JTode
in reply to Otter Raft • • •GreenKnight23
in reply to JTode • • •