Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026
PhAzE@lemmy.ca 1 day agoYes, because the core mechanics of their platform is media metadata management and streaming. As long as those work, and my users don’t have to pay anything (because I have a plex pass lifetime already), then it has no effect on me or my users.
All that extra stuff can just be turned off.
King_Bob_IV@startrek.website 1 day ago
They are pushing to make users pay as well
PhAzE@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Not quite. Only if users want to stream from a server that doesn’t have a plex pass, in which case the user needs a plex watch pass.
If you (the server owner) has plex pass, all users (even free accounts) can stream from your without a pass.
If you (the server owner) does not have plex pass, then the users need a plex watch pass to stream from you.
Essentially, they’re making sure one side or the other has paid but free to free is being stopped.
MBech@feddit.dk 1 day ago
And lets be real here for a second. It costs actual money to develop and update Plex. All these people being butthurt about no longer being able to watch everything for free are entitled as fuck. It’s okay to pay developers for their time and expertise. A carpenter expects you to pay them. A painter also expects you to pay them. A software engineer expects to be paid for their work, and they won’t if people use their software for free. If you don’t want to pay for it, download your own shit, and if you’re hosting for a lot of users, tell all the users to download their own shit.
PhAzE@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Yep. But it gets called enshitification, yet the platform still scrapes Metadata reliably, still streams to any client reliably, and is still easy to share with friends and family wothout having to manage ip addresses or ddns. To me, the ‘enshitifcation’ people are complaining about is literally not wanting to support devs for a product that does what you need, well.
King_Bob_IV@startrek.website 1 day ago
gizmodo.com/plex-is-going-to-make-you-pay-for-its…
From what I have been reading they are planning to charge all users who are streaming remotely… Even if the host is paying.
“If you want to watch you library away from home you’ll have to pay. It also affects anyone you share your home library with. They will have to pay if they are not Plex Pass subscribers themselves. Plex will offer a Remote Watch Pass tier for $2/month or $20/year.”
Now, I am not saying this is by any means a big amount of money or making a judgment call about the reasonableness of them charging for what services… But it definitely seems like they want to ensure they are getting cash from everyone who ever touches Plex. Again, $2 a month is very little, but that’s on top of the charges for the host
PhAzE@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Here’s a link directly from plex website.
Specifically, this bolded section:
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR CURRENT PLEX PASS HOLDERS:
For users who have an active Plex Pass subscription, remote playback will continue to be available to you without interruption from any Plex Media Server, after these changes go into effect. When running your own Plex Media Server as a subscriber, other users to whom you have granted access can also stream from the server (whether local or remote), without ANY additional charge—not even a mobile activation fee.