This is why it's better to control your software. Firms change over time and your interests are likely to diverge from theirs. This is _especially_ true when we're talking about media-related software which is always contentious in terms of copyright.
Jellyfin isn't as feature-rich or polished as Plex, but I rest assured knowing that I'm the one who controls my installation.
What's a good setup to run jellyfin on. I currently run it on a Linux desktop. I tried running it on a raspberry pi, but it felt like it was struggling. Did I expect too much?
I have 3 paid subscription services (Disney+, Prime and Netflix).
But most of the time we just use Jellyfin. It's just better UX, even if it lacks polish. Stuff is in predictable places, in one app. I don't need to scroll past 2 full screens of generated lists with suggested content to get to my personal hand made watch list.
I'm fully ready to drop subscription streaming and go back to buying DVD or Bluray box sets to rip at this point.
I started on plex too. Started switching around '21 and now I'm only on Jellyfin.
It stinks when a good piece of software goes bad, but if it does I start moving away. The thing that started me moving away was the first time my internet went out and I couldn't access my media stored in my living room because I couldn't reach Plex's login server.
I'm curious how you would define "polish" here: do you mean spending time on fixing current features as opposed to adding new ones? If so, I can see the argument there: a lot of software tends to prioritize new features over long-term stability.
On the other hand, I've had a fairly good experience with Jellyfin -- it's mostly been a set-and-forget solution.
Whatever's going on at Plex HQ is very weird. I've used it for years and when I first set it up, it WAS software I controlled (or so I thought). I mean it was open source, you installed it locally, and there was no such thing as a Plex account or paid services at the time. Eventually they added the account, the upsells and the nags and scary messages which all led you towards getting an account, but I avoided doing so until last year.
When I finally relented and registered an account all kinds of bugs cropped up, like my local media started streaming through their server and became unplayable as a result. There was no clear way to reverse it. Around the same time their Android app started requiring a Plex account to function (not sure if that was just an update they pushed, or some flag that got flipped by me using an account once).
I think I ultimately just nuked my Plex install, reinstalled, and never attempted to log into a Plex account again. I live in perpetual certainty now that one day an auto-update will make Plex simply melt down and stop working one way or another for me. It's not really a big deal, I will just have to set up Jellyfin and live with it when that day arrives because it can't possibly be worse than this experience, right? Needless to say I will never give Plex Inc. a single penny after watching this enshittification.
Unfortunately I've had nothing but headaches with Jellyfin's media streamer. I'm doing a local Jellyfin to their AppleTV client, and it is just glitchy as heck.
Plex is almost as good as Netflix's player, meaning completely reliable. Jellyfin's server maybe good, but their clients leave a lot to be desired.
The main problem with Jellyfin is that there isn't much money to pay for development. Open Source is great, but developing a half dozen or more clients to unfun work.
Use Infuse instead of the Jellyfin client that way you avoid having to transcode media. I'm running jellyfin on a raspberry pi and I have no problems whatsoever.
VLC player paired with a network share does pretty much everything I need to watch local media. I have a Jellyfin instance, and I do like it, but I often find myself falling back to VLC for one reason or another.
That's true. Years back, you could cast to Fire TV from the android VLC app. But I recall it not working very well, and I think support for Chrome Cast was entirely removed at some point? I don't know, I completely gave up on the Fire TV sticks. Calling them "weaker" is even being charitable, with all the issues I constantly ran into.
I keep both Plex and Jellyfin installed on my server with the same media. Plex is easier to navigate for my family than Jellyfin (specifically their respective Roku apps). But the way that Plex is pushing their monetization with ads and now rentals, and now shenanigans like this, I feel it's time to fully migrate to Jellyfin. I should learn Roku development so I can contribute to their app...
Yeah, like the sibling comment said, I meant ads for Plex's own services. Whenever they rollout these new "features" I see them on my home screen or in the navigation and have to turn it off. I'm more frustrated in how aggressive they are in pushing these new avenues of revenue; I just want to watch my own media and nothing else.
Really? You've never seen an ad on Plex? All the ads for their new features? All the ads for the latest ad-supported movie or "channel" they're carrying that they keep trying to find new ways to slip into your pins and/or home page? Do you think they added the Discover page out of the goodness of their heart?
Plex certainly doesn't have ads for your local content. It does provide its own streaming service, and Plex has gotten much more aggressive with features like that, but you can pretty easily disable all of it via the UI.
Plex today feels like Plex in 2015 if you spend a few minutes tweaking. I agree the situation is not great, but it seems that this happens with most software owned by a for-profit company.
The linked thread is such a good example of why I quit reddit, the discourse is often so frustratingly stupid, there are always contrarians acting like "they shouldn't ban you for X"="they can't ban you for X", and then there's the unnecessary whining about upvotes and downvotes.
Plex is such a weird project though, they should've been able to see that they'd have to start clamping down on the sharing as they went in the direction of being a more typical streaming service. I wonder, did they think that their users would just accept that? or did they figure that they could pull in more typical users fast enough to sustain themselves?
My personal Plex server is just single user and I only connect to it from my own desktop, phone, tablet or laptop, so I'm not too worried. I wouldn't mind using jellyfin for video, but for music I haven't really come across a player comparable to plexamp. The AI driven "DJ" options are a very nice idea.
If you look at the thread, there’s at least one person who claims to not be taking money for their Plex server that was confronted with a screenshot of them selling access to their Plex server.
Stop selling stuff you don’t have the right to sell, and no one will bat an eye at you.
Use Emby, it's much more focused on accessing your own files, while Plex has shifted towards ad supported movies which are accessible in a million other ways. I assume that's why they are cancelling users who actually use their own stuff.
Maybe? But I will still have my media and will see what is the best alternative if that happens. Maybe my WD NAS software will also go to seed and I will have to roll my own NAS. But what do I gain by giving up on the best experience now out of fear that this experience might degrade later? It's not like watching movies takes a huge learning curve. In the meantime, there are some incentives for Emby to keep their users happy and recommending their stuff, like I just did. If they don't, it's their loss.
Readit News
Jellyfin isn't as feature-rich or polished as Plex, but I rest assured knowing that I'm the one who controls my installation.
No unnecessary online accounts, just "my" media on my server.
But most of the time we just use Jellyfin. It's just better UX, even if it lacks polish. Stuff is in predictable places, in one app. I don't need to scroll past 2 full screens of generated lists with suggested content to get to my personal hand made watch list.
I'm fully ready to drop subscription streaming and go back to buying DVD or Bluray box sets to rip at this point.
Agreed, but I think I signed up back in 2013 or so, when there were few (or zero? can't remember) alternatives.
It stinks when a good piece of software goes bad, but if it does I start moving away. The thing that started me moving away was the first time my internet went out and I couldn't access my media stored in my living room because I couldn't reach Plex's login server.
On the other hand, I've had a fairly good experience with Jellyfin -- it's mostly been a set-and-forget solution.
When I finally relented and registered an account all kinds of bugs cropped up, like my local media started streaming through their server and became unplayable as a result. There was no clear way to reverse it. Around the same time their Android app started requiring a Plex account to function (not sure if that was just an update they pushed, or some flag that got flipped by me using an account once).
I think I ultimately just nuked my Plex install, reinstalled, and never attempted to log into a Plex account again. I live in perpetual certainty now that one day an auto-update will make Plex simply melt down and stop working one way or another for me. It's not really a big deal, I will just have to set up Jellyfin and live with it when that day arrives because it can't possibly be worse than this experience, right? Needless to say I will never give Plex Inc. a single penny after watching this enshittification.
I thought there was a way to disable this, but the docs don't mention it: https://support.plex.tv/articles/216766168-accessing-a-serve...
Plex is almost as good as Netflix's player, meaning completely reliable. Jellyfin's server maybe good, but their clients leave a lot to be desired.
The main problem with Jellyfin is that there isn't much money to pay for development. Open Source is great, but developing a half dozen or more clients to unfun work.
It might work better on other platforms, I hope.
I have my own Jellyfin server with pirated content for myself and mother, but I don't feel good charging money for "stolen" things.
Stealing to eat is one thing, stealing bread to sell for profit is different.
But I won’t profit from piracy. I rather be a customer in a fair market.
People are going to the effort of downloading content, self hosting it, and then watching ads?
Stallman protect us what
Plex today feels like Plex in 2015 if you spend a few minutes tweaking. I agree the situation is not great, but it seems that this happens with most software owned by a for-profit company.
Plex is such a weird project though, they should've been able to see that they'd have to start clamping down on the sharing as they went in the direction of being a more typical streaming service. I wonder, did they think that their users would just accept that? or did they figure that they could pull in more typical users fast enough to sustain themselves?
My personal Plex server is just single user and I only connect to it from my own desktop, phone, tablet or laptop, so I'm not too worried. I wouldn't mind using jellyfin for video, but for music I haven't really come across a player comparable to plexamp. The AI driven "DJ" options are a very nice idea.
Stop selling stuff you don’t have the right to sell, and no one will bat an eye at you.
https://old.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/1b07kvc/accounts_gett...
Enshitificaion comes for everyone. At least that has been our experience with ZIRP, now that it’s paused we’ll see.
But in the case of sharing media with strict copywrite, it might be better to host your own.
[1]: https://www.plex.tv/plexamp/
Prior to this, take some time to tag your files with Musicbrainz Picard.
Plex, the company.