my lifetime pass for jellyfin cost me $0, pretty good value
I didn’t get into self-hosting until recently, and people recommended Jellyfin, so I don’t even know what I’m missing with Plex, if anything. It feels like Jellyfin does everything I need.
You’re missing getting to pay for it. Imagine how good it would feel to see $750 less in your bank account.
I mean Plex definitely has a value add. Around here people will scoff but Plex is far easier to work with for non technical users.
If you shared your library externally Plex was definitely easier it’s just that they have started to extract value from that which does suck.
Easier sure, but it comes at the expense of all traffic (even streaming to a device on your local network) going through their servers. If you have an internet outage or their servers go down, you can’t even stream media locally with Plex. No such issues with Jellyfin.
Edit: apparently my frustrations about this were based on something I set up incorrectly, so +1 point for Plex working locally without internet, -1 point for ease of use/setup if I had this wrong for years without knowing it or finding the fix on my own.
You can totally stream locally without internet, I’ve done it several times. I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that Plex doesn’t do direct streams, especially locally?
I got that idea from the times when I couldn’t stream to my TV in my home while my internet was down. Switched from Plex several years ago though
I like shitting on Plex but you absolutely can stream entirely locally without internet.
There is a server side setting you need to switch off. If I remember correctly it deals with the way you sign into plex.
I won’t doubt that. I’ve just had Plex for at least 6 years and never had the complete inability to stream directly when the internet is down. It has always fallen back to local streams in my experience (when I had Comcast, this was a frequent occurance and would have otherwise resulted in me returning to emby).
You’re not alone. The first time I lost access to my locally-stored content when my internet went out, I searched for a solution. There is, one, but it’s not obvious–or at least wasn’t back when I encountered this problem. I don’t know why it would be the default setup, I can’t think of a good reason, only nefarious ones. It’s one of the reasons I dumped Plex, in spite of having a life-time pass I paid $75 for, I stopped trusting them.
I tried to use it about 3 years ago on an apple tv. It tried finding the server on my LAN and never could do it reliably, so I found it more annoying.
With Jellyfin/Swiftfin I do have to punch in the hostname or IP, but it works fine for me and the people in the house. The only annoyance is getting signed out every few months, but I’m not sure of that’s a server or client issue on Apple TV and happens infrequently enough that I have not bothered to look up the reason.
Edit: should have said that I used to use Plex before ~2012-2018, and with more ease that after the updates that dumbed down the interface. Maybe its changed and better now, but no reason for me to care.
You got the arr stack up too? Feels like magic when it’s all setup
No, not yet. I took forever to manually rip what I have, which was a lot, and I’m still working my way through boxes of music (which I’m also hosting on Jellyfin). I’ll figure out that step next.
Ah fair, just take your time and feel free to ask
It does feel magical :D
I felt the same way with my Kodi installs, I had a pi in every room that used a shared library db so I could pause in one room and resume somewhere else, nfs shares for media, a config file and done.
I bought a lifetime Plex pass a decade or so ago and shifted everything except my music to Jellyfin about a year ago. Now I’m looking into dispatcharr to round everything out.
You’re missing the early days when plex lifetime pass was ~$50usd and jellyfin wasn’t a thing (that I know of). I believe Kodi was the only real competitor at the time, and it was much less friendly.
Plex has slowly moved in a less user friendly direction, but still meets my needs and I’ve easily gotten over $750 in value from the…almost 20 years, wow…I’ve been using it.
Apparently they are going to DOUBLE that amount every year! Outrageous!
Ha, I came here to make this joke.
Ok, you got dibs on this joke next time plex raises prices
Couldn’t pay me to use that software lol
Used Kodi and now using Jellyfin.
I thought the last couple moves were the nail in the coffin, but this might be it 🤣
Unless, like me, you got it for $49.
Still, jellyfin.
Exactly, got mine with an Nvidia shield purchase, still moved to Jellyfin like a year ago and never looked back
Was the conversion easy? Could you keep your watchlist and whatnot?
I have… a lot of data.
Um honestly I didn’t even try to port shit, I’ve only got about 12 TB of stuff anyways so it was easier to just start fresh
Lucky you. I’ve got almost 750Tb the transition might be rough.
750TB!!!??? Good lord, how much did your RAID array(s) cost?
Uhmmm so, yeah. It’s… a significant investment. Let’s say, I look for HDD sales constantly and I’m eating less these days to feed my habit.
For the curious, I run on Synology hardware. Most of the drives are 20-24TB each.
I have their 12 bay sever with two 12 expansions (36 total) and then another 8 bay server with two 5 expansions.
I started with the 8, and when I quickly hit 18 total drives with redundancy… I realized this was going to be a lot more than I had initially planned for.
These are also direct disc rips. No downloads. That’s actual discs in hand, ripping, saving, typing. It’s mostly from my amazing city library, the local video store, borrowing, and then the rest are purchases.
And I’ll answer the next question, dual income no kids… and my partner shares my interest (or at least benefits!). They always know what to get me for a present.
Holy smokes that’s a lot of data
Holy shit! That’s downright impressive!
He must’ve downloaded all of One Piece
Sign up for trakt.tv. It will sync your watched statuses. i am sure that plex supports it, and i know for a fact that jellyfin does.
I think it is. A price hike this massive can only mean they‘re banking on panic buyers who think they can save hundreds of bucks if they buy it now. Meaning Plex probably knows it‘s over and they just want to make as much money as possible before filing bankruptcy or something. At least that‘s what it looks like to me.
I have to agree with this, I think they bet on more people subscribing as a result of their external connection subscription requirement, didn’t and are panicing because they don’t want to downscale enough to be able to be maintained.
the plex lifetime pass is a solid “stop beating him he’s already dead” scenario for me because I lost any interest in it like 4 price ups ago now.
It’s still hilarious to me that Plex, a project forked from the XBMC (now Kodi) free open-source app for organizing and playing one’s own entirely legally obtained video files, is a big streaming business thing that charges people money.
It’s like finding a tree in the forest that gives out infinite free apples, and then setting up an apple-selling table right next to it stocked with apples you obviously got from that tree.
I’ve never used any of the features they’ve added after they allowed me to host my library of ripped optical media ~2013-2014.
No… it’s like picking up those apples, shipping them across the country, and then charging customers a delivery fee. Which is perfectly reasonable because time and fuel cost money.
Plex helps you (and others) stream from your library pretty brainlessly. Sure there are other options, but all of them are more complicated.
This is it. People have always paid for convenience.
Just look at console vs PC gaming.
Steamdeck made Linux gaming mainstream because it’s brainless. Backed by proton.
But console has a vice grip on some communities / groups due to a long standing “plug and play” sales pitch. Now they’re stuck because “my friends are there.”
My brother-in-law is a sysadmin and stuck on Playstation due to his friends. Doesn’t even own a gaming PC because “he doesn’t have the time to tinker.”
Technically, it’s like facilitating the shipping of those apples, but leaving the customer to ship.
Plex server->client streams don’t go through Plex’s servers themselves, but directly from server to clients. P2P. AFAIK the only exception is when something goes wrong and it falls back to a Plex-hosted server as an intermediary, which should be rare.
That’s still a pretty useful service though. Getting P2P reliable and easy isn’t trivial, and is one reason why open source projects haven’t really supplanted it yet.
almost a fucking grand for a media server that you host yourself, and only really rely on their login servers for. Can anyone else say “enshittification”?
They provide the apps, metadata servers, and relay service. It’s a lifetime pass. IMO that’s worth the price it used to be, $70 or whatever. The new price is just absurd, they want you to pay periodically for life because people spend more that way.
Do they provide the metadata services though? Pretty sure that’s still handled by imdb and such
Been looking at jelly fin. I have a lifetime with Plex but it feels like they’re headed for bankruptcy anyway.
And seems the same. Only problem is that the docker server keeps crashing on my Synology unfortunately
They have a sorta proprietary metadata service that is presumably based on imdb, thetvdb, etc. but they also handle detection and collection of metadata regardless of where the information ultimately comes from. It’s nothing that Jellyfin doesn’t do though.
I’m sticking with Plex since I have the lifetime pass too, but the writing’s on the wall, I’m ready to switch to Jellyfin whenever Plex dies or ruins itself
That’s where I’m at. Ride my <$80 lifetime license till the wheels fall off and see where jellyfin is at that point.
Exactly my sentiment too. I already paid for it, may as well use it until they make some move that makes the jump to Jellyfin worth it. Not to mention Jellyfin is still fresh on the scene and I personally think it still needs a few more years to make a more seamless changeover from Plex for me and everyone else I’ve granted access to.
The docker implementation on synology is pretty bad. I ran my setup on there for about a year before I got fed up. Ended up picking up a mini-pc and installing unraid on it, which has a much better way to run and manage docker containers. Only downside is having two machines now with the storage pool over the network. A bit more complications rather than direct attached storage.
Why was it bad with Docker?
I run docker with about 10 services on a DS923+ with no issues.
I think software subscriptions are a scam, but I don’t mind buying a perpetual license that is only good up to a certain version with additional fees for newer versions. It’s also fair to charge a recurring fee for something that has recurring hosting costs like a VPN, cloud storage, etc.
If they weren’t such dipshits, the “lifetime pass” should have been a perpetual license you can keep using as long as you want, but charge an optional fee for newer versions if you want to upgrade and get more features. They should also have offered a hosted service to make your instance available to others and charge a monthly fee for that. I think people would’ve been fine with all that.
Well I don’t like seeing well reasoned, thoughtful comments in my hate thread. We are supposed to be kicking them while they’re down! Not pointing out how a small change would ameliorate the issue and fix everything!
Nothing can ameliorate the ineptitude of
Principal SkinnerPlex.
I’ve always thought the licensing for Jetbrains IDEs is a pretty fair way of licensing software. If you stop subscribing you still get access to the last version of the software you paid for but you don’t get new versions anymore. And if you stay subscribed you get a loyalty discount after your first and second years. So it provides an incentive to stay subscribed long term but if you do leave you still get access perpetually to the last version you bought
I think thats really fair too. I might adopt that for my startup.
I use a package at work that lets you update within the major version. So you won’t get the bells and whistles of the new one, but you’ll get security updates and big fixes for 2 years or so. After that, you’re using a mature and polished product that you can ride another 10 years if you want.
My software for work operates this way. You buy a license, it just works. They add new features, and you pay to upgrade. They never add features that break it. It seems like a reasonable model.
Wow… Rough! I get they’ve “added value” over time, but they’ve also enshittified it too…
If only Jellyfin were simpler to setup for the masses…
If only Jellyfin were simpler yo setup for the masses…
This.
I got in on Plex Pass at $150 so it’s a no-brainer to keep it up for my friends and family who are less tech inclined, but I’m running it concurrently with Jellyfin on my server.
Wait. Jellyfin’s client isn’t any harder to set up than Plex…
It very much is on some TVs. While there are apps in the corresponding store for Roku, WebOS, Android TV, and Xbox, that still leaves out Playstation and Samsung for instance. Samsung has more than 50% marketshare of premium TVs.
While you can install an app by jumping through hoops, it’s not an easy one click install which is what average users need. You can install a Jellyfin server by clicking next a bunch of times. You can get your media there by dragging and dropping it into the media folder. You can install the TV app on most TVs just as easily, but for Samsung you need to do all sorts of extra steps.
A quick Google does give step by step instructions on reddit for instance… but it requires users to download a specific version of Tizen Studio with the CLI (which most people are scared of, they need a GUI to use their devices). They need to connect to their TV remotely via that tool. They need to generate and install security certificates. They need to get specific versions of the Tizen Jellyfin app, that aren’t managed by the Jellyfin team, from a random Github. Then rename those files to extract them, inject their certificate, rebuild the package, and send it to the TV remotely… all in the CLI.
That is WAYYYYYY too complicated for the average person. Even with the step by step instructions, people skip steps and skim things without even thinking about it. Most people can barely click next a bunch of times to install things without messing it up somehow. Anyone who’s ever worked support can tell you that. My parents and probably half my friends would NEVER be able to follow those instructions without messing it up to connect to my server. And that even assumes they have a PC to run the software in the first place, many people no longer have a PC, they just have their phone and maybe a tablet.
On the other hand, Plex has an app in the Tizen store. Emby, which Jellyfin was forked from, also has a Tizen app in the store. Those people can just go and click install and they’re done.
Jellyfin has actually been on the Tizen store since February
It’s in the list on samsungs website
Your information is outdated.
Ah yes, by… 3 months. After over a decade of no support.
Not in my experience, but I keep my Plex up for my brother. I shifted away personally a year or so ago because I couldn’t watch at work anymore (despite self hosting, login still requires a connection to Plex… Which is blocked at work). With Jellyfin, I can just auth against my Authentik server.
But how do you encrypt remote streams? That’s the issue with JF, outside the home there’s no streaming encryption, so what’s to stop you from DMCA notices? For some family, were running a Wireguard VPN through Ubiquiti but nobody else can with ease. At least not that I’m aware of.
Best solution is probably what those commercial pirates do -buy a bunch of cheap android boxes and pre-configure with your choice of client and VPN, then hand those out. Something goes wrong, they bring it back.
That’s… Actually not a bad idea 🤔
Nobody is going to deep inspect your home packets.
There’s a big difference between running a piracy home server between you and your friends and downloading torrents where you announce to everybody that you have that particular file.
So you just run a bunch of insecure connections to your home network?
Yes. What’s the problem of that? It’s just HTTP instead of HTTPS. And it’s just movies, not private data that I’m afraida a man-in-the-middle attack could spy on the other end.
I don’t know why you have trouble with this. Everything runs through the same SSL protected connection. Router -> Nginx Proxy Manager w/ TLS -> Jellyfin.
Just use a reverse proxy. Everything goes over https.
The reason Jellyfin is harder to set up is because they don’t run TURN servers. Those cost a lot of money, hence why Plex keeps raising their prices. I wouldn’t be surprised if Plex’ “lifetime” subscriptions didn’t last for much longer.
That being said, Jellyfin is fairly easy to set up. You just have to watch some tutorials.
I’m waiting for plex to announce that lifetime subscriptions don’t cover certain features like secure connect, and that those features will require an addon if enabled. The writing is on the wall.
Does that affect me if I already use my own reverse proxy or Cloudflared? I think not.
At that point, if you have your own reverse proxy, just use Jellyfin.
I would… If I didn’t have my Plex pass lifetime subscription since 2020, and several friends using it with my Arr and Decypharr setup.
I had zip experience self hosting home lab or with linux. I messed around in ubuntu for a couple weeks then just ran the commands on the jellyfin documentation for setup.
It mostly just worked. Web ui started right up and i loaded my library. So glad i never touched plex.
Jellyfin Lifetime Pass continues to be better value.
I heard their quadrupling their lifetime membership.
Oh bugger, I might actually have to start still paying nothing
This is almost certainly a ploy to get an influx of buyers before the cutoff of July.
They want to round up all the people that they think were considering a lifetime pass, but were holding out.
I guarantee you when July comes they’re going to reduce the cost to somewhere less than $750 and much closer to the current price due to “we listen to our customers” when really it was the plan all along.
They’re using the Decoy Effect and FOMO.
Or maybe they want monthly/annual/whatever subscribers, not lifetime, and so they’re making the lifetime pass prohibitively expensive. I have a lifetime pass I purchased a few years ago but after running Jellyfin alongside Plex for a few months, I don’t think I could recommend Plex to anyone who simply wants to host their own media.
Jellyfin: free Cloudflared: free
Jellyfin behind Cloudflared is probably the best move ATM.
It’s not specifically against TOS, they do provide you some modest protection against infiltration.
combine that with running it from a container with RO access to your media and you have a damn nice home solution.
While Cloudflare tunnels do work, streaming Jellyfin through them is technically against their TOS and they could shut you down for doing so. Instead, I recommend setting up Pangolin with a cheap VPS. Although, it will cost ~$5 a month or so.
You don’t have to use a tunnel, for example I use a reverse proxy to a domain I own, and set a cache rule so cloudflare doesn’t get mad.
I really need to take a weekend to learn Jellyfin and set it up in my environment.
Duckdns is free too
I have a static IP (didn’t particularly want it but my ISP required it for port forwarding for some reason). I’m not currently hosting anything, at least not anything externally accessible, but when I did I had a tiny AWS instance configured as a reverse proxy to a separate reverse proxy VM in my house. It worked for me and if anything I hosted ever got compromised it escaped my notice.
However, I think the advantage of using something like Cloudflare rather than the way I did it (and as it sounds like you might) is threat mitigation. Especially stuff like DDoS protection.
Turns out, lifetime is difficult to budget for
It would be fine if Plex wasn’t hooked on VC capital and needed to make the line go up constantly. Most self-hosters like me have zero interest in what they are funding with subscriptions.
To be clear, you still need your own HW and electricity, right?
As if there weren’t enough reasons to use jellyfin already.
I saw this email and it just read as a desperate cash grab for a company that doesnt plan to be around in 3 more years. Pathetic.
I paid… $74.99 for a lifetime plex sub in 2014. Is this the same service?
No it’s worse. Old accounts are grandfathered in to downloads when a library is shared with another user. Otherwise the library recipient needs a plex pass too.
