Plex is starting to enforce its new rules, which prevent users from remotely accessing a personal media server without a subscription fee.
If anyone needs it: jellyfin.org
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Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week - Ars Technica
Submitted 4 months ago by otters_raft@lemmy.ca [bot] to selfhosted@lemmy.world
Comments
sixty@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
menas@lemmy.wtf 4 months ago
Imagine, you software get massively used for piracy, and then you decide to ask for licence for the use of thir software, host on server you do not control. I suspect this will not be result they expected
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 months ago
can’t wait for this to start. then maybe I won’t have to hear about it from the jellyfin shills every week.
PhAzE@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
[deleted]JigglySackles@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Don’t worry, they’ll still let you know.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Imagine being so addicted to having every nanosecond of your waking life filled with noise and colors that this announcement means anything.
RoachFire@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
What does that even mean
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Seems pretty simple to parse, what is causing you an issue? What is not clear?
ftbd@feddit.org 4 months ago
Imagine hosting a software on your own hardware and still choosing the one that makes you dependent on the whims of a corporation lmao
nfreak@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
When I first set up my server this year it was a VERY easy decision between this and jellyfin. Why would I ever go with the corporate, closed source option?
delcaran@feddit.it 4 months ago
In my case, I was not able to make jellyfin work: transcoding issues, lagging, client disconnection or unresponsive… Plex worked flawlessly out of the box with the same hardware and the same library.
From time to time I try Jellyfin again, but things never change …
victorz@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Can I avoid updating to a version to avoid this enforcement?
Bosht@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I never shared my server anyway, but a lot of the other design decisions they’ve made over the last couple years drove me to Jellyfin. My issue though is I cannot figure out how to set it up properly like I had Plex setup with genres, sort by added to server, lists, etc. I can’t tell if I’m missing something obvious, or Jellyfin just lacks those features and I need to get a plugin or something. Anyway, sorry for the rant. Just hoping someone has experienced similar and might point me in the right direction.
JTode@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I display my movies and music in the order they were added by default, but I do recall a lot of historical problems with that functionality. It has not been a problem for me the last year or two, I would say, but I do remember it being a problem.
There’s still lots of room for improvement, to be damn sure. But can’t beat the feeling of freedom, you ask me.
Bosht@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m just thankful that the app doesn’t run like garbage due to all the bloat like Plex does. That and I really like the fact it auto checks for subtitle files and plays them. Overall I am glad I moved I just wish there were a couple more features.
kalpol@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Don’t know all the answers but the home screen has the “Recently Added” rows if you scroll down.
victorz@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I just wish Plex on my TV didn’t have this bug where it can’t play the correct audio track when Direct Play is enabled. So annoying.
Stillwater@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
I ultimately want to ditch Plex, but as an existing lifetime member, it currently handles everything so smoothly for my users that I don’t see enough benefits in switching. Particularly on the music streaming side (PlexAmp), I think the experience is the most polished one I’ve seen.
My hope is that by the time the lifetime Plex Pass experience has become enshittified, Jellyfin will be more ready than it is today, and I’ll make a switch then.
Joelk111@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I ran Jellyfin and plex for a while, using Jellyfin instead of plex at every oppurtunity. Then Jellyfin broke, I couldn’t figure out how to fix it in an evening, and I just went back to using Plex, which had continued working. It isn’t great, sure, but it’s fine. I think Jellyfin would need to be Immich levels of cool for me to switch.
tobz619@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m in the same boat, I have a Plex pass, I have my reverse proxy setup, Plex just works ™ and when it stops, Jellyfin is already installed and ready to go.
Scolding7300@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Are there legal ways today to have your own media server serving new TV shows? I see the point if you’re sailing the high seas, but curios if there’s other uses for one (for videos)
Saltarello@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I have a couple of USB Hauppauge TV receivers in our HTPC which I use with NextPVR. I cut the ads from the recordings then bang them into Jellyfin
Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Plex, Emby, and Jellyfin and all legal, and each have ways to serve liveTV alongside your own locally stored content, amd DCR that liveTV if you want. You’d just have to purchase a liveTV subscription from your local provider (or go the Pirate route ofc).
Scolding7300@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I forgot that live TV is a thing. I thought the primary use was to serve VOD
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Anybody still using Plex kind of deserves what they get at this point. They’ve been announcing these anti-consumer “features” for a while now.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The alternatives are not as easy use
de_lancre@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Two years ago, when I found out that you need damn subscription, to watch stuff with transcoding (I believe it was for transcoding per se, not for watching itself), I complained on reddit and a lot of people was disagree with me for harsh position.
They_got_what they_focking_deserve.png
Zanathos@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Welcoming the incoming dowvotes for correcting your comment just like the many similar comments and posts I’ve seen on Reddit, but this is purely a configuration issue.
Transcoding on local network is allowed without a subscription. If you are running your own DNS server (like pihole or unbound) you need to configure an internal “plex.direct” record. You also need to uncheck an option to “treat your WAN IP as internal” option which corrects double NAT issues.
I have yet to see a need to move away from Plex. I paid for the cheap lifetime sub over a decade ago at this point and everyone I invite has no complaints and has not had to pay Plex a dime. I will check out Jellyfin at some point if Plex makes things more difficult in time, but for now these articles are literally just rage bait in the homelab ecosystem. They enacted this back in April of 2025 already!
eah@programming.dev 4 months ago
Pure rent seeking. It’s not the only example. So many products have artificial defects deliberately added by the manufacturer so that they can then charge you to disable the defect.
neclimdul@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I kind of understand why someone would honestly. Jellyfin subtitles are still a hot mess for a lot of formats unfortunately. Also, while plex has tried really hard to ruin their UI, I’ve still had more trouble explaining where to find things in Jellyfin. And if you’re sharing your collection with friends or family members there’s a lot more technical stuff involved.
So I can see why the balance might still tip toward paying plex still for some people.
Luckily I bought a lifetime license ages ago before the first price hike so this doesn’t affect me yet. So I’m just riding out the decline, running them in parallel until plex completely breaks. slowly transitioning the family as they get annoyed with broken features. Plexamp is quickly taking care of that 😅
buttnugget@lemmy.world 4 months ago
People don’t deserve to be mistreated but it is surprising that folks haven’t abandoned it if they’re so actively anti consumer.
sixty@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Agree to disagree. When they actively and willingly go for the product that’s screwing them over.
2FortGaming@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Any recommendations for Linux distros for a Jellyfin server?
pageflight@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I just downloaded the .deb (unless it was an AppImage) and it ran without further tweaking.
dirt_character@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I have my jellyfin container running in podman on Alpine Linux.
sirico@feddit.uk 4 months ago
Debian and Ubuntu have the most docs and guides If you know what you’re doing nixos or ucore would be pretty unbreakable Paid for product I love Unraid
Trash guides is pretty good for getting started trash-guides.info
NathanUp@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
Yunohost
electric_nan@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
I set mine up with Debian and Swizzin community edition.
puppinstuff@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Jellyfin users, how is the transcoding situation? I have a mix of AV1 and H265 and I need to get smooth playback to my living room Apple TV for families’ sake.
Mobile@leminal.space 4 months ago
Running Jellyfin off of a Dell Optiplex 3060 and encoding all of my media in AV1. I’m able to stream my movies just fine via the Apple TV.
Drun@lemmy.world 4 months ago
If you’re ok with Plex, then you’ll be ok with Jellyfin
And we also have metadata manager, so you don’t have to rename your TV show files every time!
Routhinator@startrek.website 4 months ago
All dependent on the hardware you run the server on. Give it a good GPU and you’re off to the races
ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
Just as long as you’re fine with your media server absolutely eating power all the time
Stop encoding in av1 and get a low power older intel chip around 10th gen or so with quick sync. Unless you have like 5+ users watching 4k media at the same time this will handle transcoding absolutely fine while using far less power than a dedicated gpu
Pissio@feddit.it 4 months ago
Infuse player with jellyfin or direct nfs/samba if in same network
WhyAUsername_1@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Infuse is not free. I love it and use it on my Apple Devices, but just wanted to have this as an FYI.
domi@lemmy.secnd.me 4 months ago
I can’t speak for client capabilities on Apple devices, but what’s your server hardware? CPU or GPU transcoding?
I have an AMD GPU in my server and have no issues transcoding AV1 and H265 for my lesser capable clients.
You can also setup Jellyfin in parallel to Plex and give it a whirl.
puppinstuff@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
I have my library serving from an old work M1 Max MacBook because it has a lot of GPU oomph. GPU transcoding is available when needed.
TeddE@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You can also setup Jellyfin in parallel to Plex and give it a whirl.
Usually. When Plex leaked that they were selling user data, I was running Plex server on an Nvidia Shield, a unique build of Plex that ran as a core service of the Android device. There ain’t no Jellyfin analogue of that monstrosity.
Son_of_Macha@lemmy.cafe 4 months ago
Good luck setting up remote streaming with Jellyfin.
Grass@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Already did ages ago
domi@lemmy.secnd.me 4 months ago
Sir, this is a /c/selfhosted.
Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
“Good luck setting up remote streaming with free Plex.”
Yes, Jellyfin does not forward ports for you. Same as free Plex. With this change both are the same difficulty to set up for free, the only difference is with Plex there’s a shortcut: Buy Plex.
horse@feddit.org 4 months ago
I don’t think simply forwarding the port actually works with free Plex anymore. I think if the server has a different public IP from the client it asks you to pay, even if you’re connecting to the server over LAN.
Scrollone@feddit.it 4 months ago
Why not? It depends on your situation, but if you have a static IP or a dyndns service, you can just open a port to your Jellyfin and reach it from anywhere.
You can also stick a reverse proxy in front of it, if you want to feel safer.
Egonallanon@feddit.uk 4 months ago
I’d strongly recommend reverse proxy, some sort of security like crowd sec or fail2ban and sperate auth (authelia, aithentik) in front of anything you’re opening to the internet. Just opening services directly up to the internet is choice I’d politely describe as brave.
RandomLegend@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
or use tail scale / headscale
piyuv@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’ve never used jellyfin, but do they also host proxy servers? AFAIK plex does and its costing them money, hence the need for paywalling this. You can still use tailscale and reverse proxy to allow remote streaming
Brewchin@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You can still use tailscale and reverse proxy to allow remote streaming
I used to use Plex and when I discovered there was paid remote streaming function - that goes through their servers - my reactions were “Haha, no”* and checking whether my existing WireGuard setup would do it instead.
Whaddya know, remote streaming using Plex and PlexAmp at no cost.
*Not because I begrudge them recouping costs, but because it’s designed that way to justify charging for it, gives them whatever information they want from my viewing, and it’s not self-hosting if there’s any third party cloud/account component to it.
Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
Jellyfin does not host anything. With this change free Plex users behind a reverse proxy (or VPN) and Jellyfin users behind a reverse proxy (or VPN) have exactly the same features.
The only difference is that Plex no longer provides expensive services for free, while Jellyfin never provided them.
piyuv@lemmy.world 4 months ago
This is my understanding and I’m surprised with the negative reaction. I think jellyfin is the better alternative being FOSS but this is not the reason.
sirico@feddit.uk 4 months ago
The only reason I went with plex was easy remote access. Now with the state on reverse proxies and tailscale tunnels we happily ditched it.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 months ago
just pay for a lifetime pass…
sirico@feddit.uk 4 months ago
I did in like 2007 how is that relevant to what I posted?
SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org 4 months ago
To anyone saying they’re happy since they already have a lifetime Plex pass, do you really think they won’t come for you too?
littleomid@feddit.org 4 months ago
Am I the only one who thinks jellyfin is not only superior to pure, but also way more intuitive to setup? I still don’t understand how plexs routing works, and why I need a central account in order to connect to my own server.
istdaslol@feddit.org 4 months ago
Tbf Plex lifetime is often on sale and relatively cheap. For me Plex is a paid Software the free part was always more of a demo.
aesthelete@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Bought a lifetime Plex pass a few years ago so this doesn’t affect me. It’s honestly worth the cost especially over time.
Cyber@feddit.uk 4 months ago
Longterm MythTv user here, watching the discussions
🍿
HeyJoe@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Years ago I decided to go with Emby over Plex only because at the time plex didnt support kodi integration and I enjoyed using that at the time for my front-end user experience. Within 6 months they started supporting it and I was upset since I did want to go with plex. Lately I feel like I made the perfect decision. It’s gotta be close to 10 years now and I paid one $100 lifetime fee for Emby and still use it everyday along with some family and friends I gave access to. Also gotta remember I dont believe jellyfin was even an option at that time. I tried it not to long ago and although it was fine, I actually think I liked emby a little more.
As for the remote access, how do they block it? Do they not allow you to setup your own remote connection that does not involve plex? Thats how I do it, I do not use emby connect to make it easier to go through them I just setup my own domain, use ddns, and configure the ports I want exposed and thats it. If plex doesnt allow that then thats already crazy, if they do and even thats now blocked then thats even crazier.
Emby may be simpler, and i heard about plex having a music AI feature that I was actually jealous of, but overall it just works and not paying anything in forever will always be my preferred method over awful monthly subscriptions anyday.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Plex is not free. Plex is paid software, just like Google Photos or iCloud. The only free software is open source. Open source everything. Doesn’t matter if the client is open source. If the server isn’t, it’s not open source. (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, SNAP!)
BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Why would anyone use Plex over jellyfin anyway? The writing was on the wall years ago.
JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Enshittification intensifies
roofuskit@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Lol, guess who just made themselves a target. They are now profiting directly on people who stream content they don’t own from other people’s servers. Plex is going to go down when Hollywood sues them.
JTode@lemmy.world 4 months ago
(looks up from his floaty chair in his Jellyfin pool while sipping his fruity bittorrent cocktail) C’MON IN FOLKS THE WATER’S FINE!
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 months ago
(sits in his Lamborghini Plex while a beautiful blonde gives him a handy) I’m fine, mate. Maybe later.
JTode@lemmy.world 3 months ago
(GreenKnight23’s Internet goes out) (Lambo stalls and blonde turns into Steve Ballmer screaming DEVELOPERS)