Comment on Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week - Ars Technica
BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Why would anyone use Plex over jellyfin anyway? The writing was on the wall years ago.
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 :)
Same. For whatever reason Jellyfin just does not want to work outside of my network. I have fiddled with port numbers, settings, and everything else. I have no idea why it won’t work.
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.
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.
The way networking has developed is honestly embarrassing. We shouldn’t have to have cgNAT or any of the other problems that come with how we’ve broken the end to end principle, and it’s made us reliant on centralized Services when there’s absolutely no technical reason why that ever had to be the case
Should I begin telling you about the wonderful man in the middle attack that I reported to Plex over 3 years ago and how it’s still not fixed? Anyone can setup a plex instance and use that very instance to request an ssl certificate on behalf of any other plex instance, and then setup shop and gain complete access to your machine.
Do you have a CVE for this?
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.
Sounds like a skill issue.
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.
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.
Quick question, do you know how to wipe your own ass?
What?! Why don’t you have to do those things with Plex?
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.
Doesn’t Jellyfin operate the same way?
I’m not sure there is any difference.
I can’t wait till meshvpn technology becomes so common that we forget what life is like without it. Tailscale is awesome but it is just the beginning
Why bother self hosting at all then? Paying somone else to do it for you and the deal constantly getting altered is pretty what you signed up for.
I’m ready to replace plex but unless something major has changed in the last several months I simply can’t understand how people feel jellyfin is a comparable solution to plex. I couldn’t even get past the user interface and it falling flat on its face with media recognition.
Jellyfin is the solution if you have a media file on your computer and you want to stream it to your TV in a different room and Bare Bones works fine. It serves my use cases for a lot of things pretty well, but for hardcore self-hosted streaming Plex still has more features and polish
Might want to take another look at Jellyfin. My experience has been that as long as the video file s are at least somewhat reasonably named and organized, Jellyfin has no problems identifying a file and looking up its metadata.
I dunno what you were doing wrong, but Jellyfin is a strong alternative to Plex that has feature parity. The only reason to use Plex over Jellyfin is if you want the streaming channels Plex has. Especially since many of the features Plex has are locked behind a paywall, whereas on Jellyfin they are free.
I use consoles because I have kids. Ps5 doesn’t have jellyfin but does have plex in its store.
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.
What about remote streaming, to other users…?
what about it? anyone who hosts a Jellyfin server probably already has a reverse proxy set up. if not, then that is another 2min setup required, if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Looks fine to me, I replaced plex like 3-4 months ago
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.
You need to properly name your media with a proper scheme (include tmdbid/imdbid).
Plex is more polished, jellyfin is basically functional but we use Plex in our household because we watch movies all the time. I have my own personal jellyfin server on an old computer
How much more polish you need to watch a movie? Jellyfin has everything you need. I keep seeing these discussions and for the life of me I cannot figure out what is missing from jellyfin that people use Plex after all they have been doing for years
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 is JF becomes better or Plex becomes worse.
JF becomes better or Plex becomes worse
Both will happen.
Besides.
some subtitles work on one, but not the other and vise versa
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).
Yeah, I would love to use Jellyfin over Plex but the ability to reliably select subtitles on Apple TV is crucial. I can’t do this currently.
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.
I switched from a heavily used Plex server with about 10 users to Jellyfin with the samw usage patterns abour half a year ago. So far it’s been pretty smooth sailing. A better world is possible!
I don’t think it is that is more polished, it’s just you pay for them to do the stuff you need to do yourself with reverse proxying, opening ports, securing stuff. This is only an issue if you are sharing outside your network of course.
This is why mesh vpn technology is so exciting, all of the nonsense that we’ve developed to cope with broken Network standards that develops because ipv4 didn’t have enough addresses to accommodate the end-to-end principle just melts away. Tailscale works wonders for me, And the technology is only going to get better from there
Jellyfin is notoriously full of security holes. It’s recommended to no 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.
Please do explain or link sources to what you think are “security holes”.
It has several unsecured endpoints.
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/pull/11436
Contrast that with Plex which has numerous high severity CVEs that include things like remote code execution, directory traversal, and more.
Isn't that the point of major version upgrades? To make breaking changes?
Plex still has the most fully-featured music streaming app (Plexamp)
There are plenty of good Jellyfin players too. I‘m currently using Discrete and I‘m quite happy with it.
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.
Navidrome for service. Dsub2000 on android and feishin on desktop.
There, all your needs covered.
Also Audiobook apps don’t really exist for Jellyfin.
Yes. There’s Audiobook shelf for Audio books.
Can I install/use jellyfin directly on my tv? That’s the only think keeping me on pkex (I haven’t tried jellyfin but I’m open to other options)
It depends on the TV. They have official clients for Android TV, webOS and some more.
Depends on the TV. They have an official app on Android TVs, but I still happily use Chromecast for everything
I have a kinda old but still working great 4k TV that is not supported so I use a fire tv dongle. No complaints so far. The same for other family members who have Android tv and webos
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.
I haven’t had any problems with subtitles. You mind linking the issue report you’re referring to?
Works great to me, I pay nothing, why would I change that?
I am buying a old computer to setup a jellyfin server. It looks simple enough for me.
Setting up Jellyfin as a local media server is very simple. Setting it up with easy access for remote friends and family is a hassle.
it’s not a hassle. just add a reverse proxy and you’re set. the setup for that takes less time than setting up Jellyfin.
Well I just want it for myself. I have no immediate plans on sharing.
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.
Shout to another Emby user!
Because its more polished, has more options, and can be remotely shared with a simple account login and no configuration required. To name a few.
kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
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.
tehmics@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That’s the opposite of my experience. Jellyfin just works and immediately exposes the content we’re looking for, plex tries overloading you with bullshit and burying your actual content
kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I believe you. I feel that way about iTunes (trauma intensifies).
But Jellyfin doesn’t have that reputation.
BaroqueInMind@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Are you seriously telling us you reading from three reddit threads from almost a decade ago and consider that “reputation “?
sj_zero 5 days ago
That's been my experience too.
Plex came with my nas, and we never used it because it it was really fiddly and wanted to show everything except my content.
By contrast, my jellyfin is linked up with the jellyfin for android tv app on the big screen tv, and if nobody told you it wasn't a regular streaming service you'd probably never know because it's so straightforward. My wife is not techy at all -- she still daily drives her Android phone from 7 years ago because she doesn't want to change to her new one from 2 years ago -- but she can pick up the remote and play a movie at any time.
I use it every night on my phone to play videos that help me get to sleep, and the app works well.
ripcord@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
For remote streaming to, say, your mum’s house? (Or a friend, etc)?
Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
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.
kernelle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
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@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You must be having a wildly different experience than me then, because I don’t even understand how you can make that claim
Dave@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
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@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Not sure about swiftfin but try the option
downmix to stereosomewhere in the client playback settingsDave@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
Thanks, I didn’t manage to find many options in swiftfin, you don’t know if I can enforce it for a user from the server side?
IdleSheep@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
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. In Jellyfin all the content is just there and very easily categorized.
It made me wonder why anyone would use plex.
ccunning@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
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 🙄)…
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I never really understood intuitive as a description for user interfaces. I remember back when opinion articles on Tech news websites would use that term to mean it “looks and functions exactly like Windows XP”
SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Idiomatic usage breaks down into ‘familiar’, so, confusing intuition with knowledge, or ‘discoverable’, which is more accurate and describes things like icons and tooltips and menus, where the rules of usage become more or less apparent with exploration and logic.
kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
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.