cross-posted from: https://poptalk.scrubbles.tech/post/2333639
I was just forwarded this someone in my household who watches our server. That's it folks. I've been a hold out for a long time, but this is honestly it.
They want me to pay to stream content that I bought from my hardware transcoded also on my hardware.
I'll say it. As of today, I say Plex is dead. Luckily I've been setting up Jellyfin, I guess it's time to make it production ready.
Edit: I have a Plex Pass. More comments saying “Just buy a plex pass” are seriously not getting it. I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.
And for the thousandth person who wants to say the same things to me:
- YES I know I'm unaffected as a Plex Pass owner.
- My users were immediately angry at it, which made me angry. Our users don't understand what plex pass is, and they shouldn't have to, that's why I had it. The fact that they were pinged even though it should have kept working is horribly sloppy
- Plex is still removing functionality. I don't care that "People should pay their fair share". If Plex wants to put every new feature behind a paywall, that's completely okay. They are removing functionality.
- "But they have cloud costs". Remote streaming is negligible to them. It's a dynamic DNS service. Plex client logs in, asks where server is, plex cloud responds with the IP and port of where server is located. That's it.
- "Good luck finding another remote streaming" - Again, Plex just opens up an IP and port. Jellyfin also just opens up an IP and port (Hold on jellyfin folks I know, security, that's a separate conversation). All "remote streaming" is is their dynamic dns. Literal pennies to them. Know what actually is costing them money? Hosting all of that ad-supported "free" content that they're probably losing money on.
In short, I don't care how you justify it. Plex is doing something shitty. They're removing functionality that has been free for years. I'm not responding to any more of your comments repeating the same arguments over and over.
This will affect any server that does not already have a Plex Pass/ Lifetime Plex Pass. If your server does not have one, your remote users will have to pay. The service Plex provides is still worth it though, it largely just works on dozens of platforms and that shit isn't free to make.
Sharing a Jellyfin server with others remotely is still a lot more complicated than it needs to be to compete (no, it's not as simple as opening a port, and if you think so then you're either lucky or you aren't sharing with lots of folks). I run both and I would never try to share Jellyfin with non-technical people. Honestly, I wish Jellyfin would start offering an optional paid relay service to fund their development. They could use the revenue to improve their app ecosystem and still produce mostly open-source software. Homeassistant does this with Nabu Casa and it's great!
That being said, the new Plex Android app kinda sucks ass. If there was anything that would make me switch it wouldn't be having to pay for software, or services it'd be a garbage experience on my most common platform.
Huh? I share my Jellyfin instance to people that are as tech savvy as a Neanderthal and besides some rare hickups everything works acceptably.
All I can say is that is not at all like my experience with Jellyfin. Every person I've ever shared it with wanted to go back to Plex. Most complaints had to do with the jankiness of the various apps. Lots of issues with the UIs acting funny, a few connection drops, and some settings not getting respected. I do also recall an episode of Severance that would not stream in the correct color space in Jellyfin but worked perfectly in Plex.
Well, my users never used Plex before (me neither), maybe that helped to keep the expectations in check.
Jellyfin takes more work, but can be a "simple" end user experience if you set it up for them.
Use a reverse proxy to get a letsenceypt cert for your jellyfin server. SWAG, Caddy, lots of options. Then setup a free tailscale account and add your jellyfin server to your tailnet. Install the jellyfin and tailscale apps on the user android tv/apple tv/computer, then enroll the devices in your tailnet.
They will have always on, ssl secured, vpn protected media sharing for free.
Yeah, I'm not interested in setting all that up and maintaining it for every user I share with. For myself, this is exactly how I access Jellyfin remotely, but I am not explaining to my remote family members how to set up a VPN on their TV.
1000%, and those who’ve drank the Jellyfin Flavor Aid just don’t understand.
I'm not a diehard fan of plex or anything, but I would never be able to get my mother in law to properly set up any type of VPN. None of my users are technically inclined. Until Jellyfin has a different solution, I will unfortunately be sticking with Plex.
The lift here is that you setup the end users client. If they aren't local, buy one and ship it. Since it will be on your always on tailscale vpn, you can then interact with it remotely if needed.
Android tvs can be had for $35, Raspi 5 are around the same range, with apple tvs about $130. Have people pony up the cash and mail one of what they want out to them.
That may be too much to ask if you share to a lot of casual friends/family, but its been a successful answer for me.
If it was just my parents and I using it, that'd be fine, but it's not. In my experience, nothing is quite as simple as "always on", and if something breaks, even unrelated to tailscale or anything I set up, I'll be to blame even when it wasn't my fault.
It just wouldn't work for my users, unfortunately, and I don't want to be responsible for endpoints on networks that someone else owns. I'm not denying that it's possible or that it works for some people.
That's the real benefit of a solution like Plex - it makes it so I only have to manage my own network, and if I want to invite someone new, I just ask them for the email attached to their Plex account, and I'm done.
I also am curious where you're finding rpi's for $35.
I can't remember what I did, but I had it so the user just had to know the ip address and the port. Enter that into the jellyfin app on a tv and they could hook up pretty easily. That was with a reverse proxy I believe but I'm not really great with the setup, just followed a tutorial.