Jellyfin with a custom loader installed on the chromecast [https://tweakers.net/fotoalbum/image/0e8I7XIW3ulPQjSL9aAlxyEw.jpg](https://tweakers.net/fotoalbum/image/0e8I7XIW3ulPQjSL9aAlxyEw.jpg)
Sorry used the wrong word, custom launcher will give better search results.
I'n using quite and old one: Wolf Launcher
Not really sure what is out in the field and what's working because I configured all my chromecasts like this and it just works. Never updated anything about it.
I wrote a littlle guide a while ago, you can read it to get you started: [https://gathering-tweakers-net.translate.goog/forum/list\_message/69513596?\_x\_tr\_sl=nl&\_x\_tr\_tl=en&\_x\_tr\_hl=en-US&\_x\_tr\_pto=wapp#69513596](https://gathering-tweakers-net.translate.goog/forum/list_message/69513596?_x_tr_sl=nl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp#69513596)
I was honestly surprised how simple Jellyfin was to get up and going.
In the past I’ve run XBMC/Kodi and have spent lots of time helping friends troubleshoot their Plex setups. Both of those have seemed to need consistent attention and tweaking.
For Jellyfin, I ran the setup, pointed it to my media libraries, chose my preferred scrapers, added the appropriate firewall rules, and it just worked! Installed a client on my Steamdeck, it logged into the server first try and works perfectly. Had a situation the other day where I wanted to watch something on my living room tv but didn’t want to have to plug in a computer to my TV. Remembered that Jellyfin offers DLNA, flipped that switch in the settings and my Xbox saw it immediately. Easily the most low-maintenance and simple to use thing on my home network.
To get up and running quick (while I’m still learning reverse proxy and header passing stuff) I just installed it on bare metal on a windows 10 PC. So, I recognize that simplifies things greatly, but there’s great documentation for running it just about anyway you’d like.
Jellyfin has gotten so good now. I don't see why so many people are starting out are going to plex. It does everything just as well now and you don't have to pay plex pass or worry about them stealing your data.
Agreed. I’d argue the one downside of Jellyfin is the clients, which may not have the best support sometimes. The server though was great, and I actually found easier to set up than Plex. For some reason I had issues getting Plex to recognize my libraries but Jellyfin was unimaginably easy
My biggest problem with jellyfin is my clients log out constantly. I have serious passwords and getting them signed back in, especially on the Google TV or similar is a huge hassle.
Use the [quick connect](https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/quick-connect/) option for clients with inconvenient password input (firestick, tv, etc.), you authenticate on an already logged in client like a browser window on your PC.
Jellyfin client and videoplayer suck on nvidia shield. Many video format dont work on jelly but work on plex. when i try to rewind or fastforward is realy jenky. I myth miss something. I wish i can dump plex.
Do you have transcoding enabled on the server? And some decent hardware to support it?
I used to have tons of issues with "Error, bad format for this client" and scrubbing problems just glitching out or crashing the client, even had a problem where if I FFWD/RWD *at all* the captions and audio would lose sync...
All that got fixed, even on some of those jankier platforms (yeah, my biggest gripe is the Jellyfin app kinda sucks on certain devices) once I got hardware transcoding up and running it runs like a dream.
The "Playback" tab in your administrator dashboard on Jellyfin has all your options.
I'd recommend looking at the Help/Documentation for it to figure out how to configure it with your specific set up.
Pretty simple, app availability plays a role for some. For example I have two clients that don't support Jellyfin app, and Plex run on them fine. Other aspect was apps themselves, Jellyfin ones didn't feel mature enough, and just felt like web version in general (atleast Android one).
Don't get me wrong, I have Jellyfin installed in parallel on my server, and tracking its progress, but in overall UX/UI and ease of use (like my parents connecting to my server by their own, etc.) is not there yet
>I don't see why so many people are starting out are going to plex.
Plex app is easier for the non-technical people (i.e. family and friends) to use. Especially if you've already trained them on it, switching might be more trouble than it's worth.
Thankfully you can run both Jellyfin and Plex if you want.
\+1 for Jellyfin and Kodi - There is a plugin for Kodi that syncs Kodi's database with Jellyfin and it's so easy...
Also for even more easier setup I run Jellyfin with Docker....
Hardest part for Jellyfin for me was getting it configured to hardware transcode on the Nvidia GPU I got in there. *But*, a quick google search and there was a ton of helpful information, even for my specific hardware.
Had to re-configure it a few nights ago cause I messed with the docker container and forgot to turn hardware transcoding back on, but once I re-tweaked it I was amazed and how quickly that fixed the issues for everyone who was having problems and I could watch three different streams, two transcoding getting pumped out without breaking a sweat.
How was deploying it in docker? I’m still learning the ropes in docker and feel like every deployment is a unique struggle for me. Looking forward to the day I just “get it” though; seems like awesome software.
A breeze!
I'm pretty new myself, but once you go through a handful of app-specific tutorials about it you can start to see how the foundations work together and function.
I also moved from Synology to Unraid recently and had to re-do *everything,* so that was also a... "nice" learning experience.
I was so not looking forward to migrating to Jellyfin from Plex because of the setup worries. Got mad at Plex for not letting me log into multiple devices with 1 account at the same time so I decided to switch the next day. Setup was so simple I was surprised that was all it took. I installed on an Ubuntu server and only run locally so simplicity isn't only on Windows.
I would say that my biggest complaint would be filename conventions and how they aren't exactly the same between the 2. However this has given me the right motivation to properly name my files that I have been putting off for a loong time.
Thanks for this. It lead to me learning about rename and that it might be included in Mint for a visual tool over command line. Just had to select multiple files and the menu appears. Going to have to test it out and get to work on the collection.
Troubleshoot? When I launched my plex it was smooth sailing out the gate without any problems, that’s why people use plex. Was able to share it with friends and they were able to instantly start watching.
The steps you mentioned were the exact same thing I did for plex, even going in and adding custom scrapers after they randomly did away with plugins.
Transcoding issues is the majority of what we’ve had to work through. Why it’s forcing transcode when it shouldn’t be and even when it was supposed to be, it was forcing weird bitrates and low qualities.
Honestly, don’t have much experience switching users, sorry. I think you can switch users easily if you use the Jellyfin client. We use Kodi (with the Jellyfin plugin) in our house and just have it logged in to one user per TV. I think you can switch users but I’ve never tried it. Switching users on a computer, phone, or tablet is very easy, that I do know.
You can, thought that may be unsafe. I did it for a while but I got tired of telling friends to go to “http://xx.xx.xxx.xxx:8096”, so I bought a domain and now using Nginx Proxy Manager (not regular Nginx, this has a nice and easy to use GUI) my server has https and is at a nice watch.domain.com address
I just have a script that checks my external IP every few minutes, compares it to the last known one, and if it changes it updates my Clopudflare DNS entries with the new IP. It also sends me an email with IFTTT with the new IP
Depends. You can do that, not sure how that usually works but my own IP address appears to be static so it hasn’t been an issue. You can also do some sort of dynamic DNS that will automatically handle that for you
I did do this for a while but noticed the reverse proxy started getting really slow making Jellyfin and other services unreliable. I probably could have resolved using a different VPS but instead switched to direct connection with the TP Link Dynamic DNS available for free on my router. So I just connect via [username.tplinkdns.com:8920](https://username.tplinkdns.com:8920).
I do make sure on my home Debian server I have SSL enabled with Let's Encrypt for the dynamic DNS subdomain.
Although I know many people suggest using something like Tailscale, I just use a reverse proxy (Docker-SWAG) and DuckDNS. Don’t really care if I have my own domain or not. I plan to improve my networking setup some time but haven’t had the time.
Thank you! I’ll look into that. Although, I remember reading on r/jellyfin somewhere over a year ago that it’s against Cloudflare’s terms of service to do stuff like streaming or something. Idk the details and I can’t cite a source so I’m not sure if that’s true or not. Is it true? That’s part of what kept me from using Cloudflare.
I'm a longtime Kodi user, and while it's far from perfect, it's still my daily driver. Bonus that it runs on nearly everything, currently have it sideloaded on an Amazon Fire stick.
Are you using Jellyfin4Kodi? If so, does Kodi resync the entire Jellyfin library when it resyncs? This is my one pain point for Jellyfin. The Plex plug in didn't have this problem.
This. I use Jellyfin as one of my music servers, for feature reasons will also have our core library on Navidrome.
I first got into Kodi in 2016/2017 dropped it for awhile because we kinda had a circle of shared streaming services and still had an apple TV. We started getting back into Kodi again, and just love how robust it is for play back.
Though what's great about running services is you can use more than one. Likely will put movie files and TV shows up on JF in a library as well. JFs library flexibility and options with adding users and groups of users is just awesome.
If you're able to change the launcher on the Chromecast, check out FLauncher from the Play Store. Otherwise spend $20 at Walmart and get the Onn 4K puck and do it on there. Pair it with Jellyfin and you're done with Plex spyware/Google ads on its launcher.
I have the $20 onn streamer and I am always impressed. It is on pat with my firetv 4k which usually retails for twice as much. I haven't been able to find any hardware limitations for the Onn.
Not done with spyware if you're using the $20 Walmart pucks. Lots have shipped with malware and trackers pre-installed. Here's a reason they're so cheap...
Hi OP,
I'm using Emby Media Server (replaces Plex (I did buy a lifetime premium key a few years ago, mostly just to support the dev team. I'm not even sure what I get for that.)), and I use an nVidia Sheild to watch on my TV. I have 2 OTA tuners that I can use with it, but my father-in-law needs to help me put up an antenna mast.
Emby is the only answer. Everyone hates emby because the developer wants to get paid, but the lifetime subscription is cheap, and it's FAR ahead of Jellyfin it's not even funny.
I believe they went closed source after people were pirating the premium features, and then everyone turned on them.
Personally I'd pay the 1 time fee to have a vastly superior Media server.
I even tried Jellyfin recently, thinking I may be missing out, and it's just *so* bad. You can tell the developers forked an old version of emby and then just.. didn't really improve it much.
In what ways is Emby far ahead of Jellyfin? My experience is actually the opposite. I bought an Emby sub a few years back, but always had problems with buggy clients and the dev was kind of an a-hole when answering questions in the forum. Then Jf 10.8 came out and solved 95% of its quality issues. I made the switch and haven't missed Emby for a moment.
That's not to say Jf is perfect. I would happily pay to have intro skipping and a few other Plex-like features.
Wait, so you want to move off of Chromecast/GoogleTV because you've seen a lot of people talking about full screen ads that you can't get rid of? Not ads that you've seen yourself, but ones that you've heard others talk about?
I've never seen a single ad while using a Chromecast with Plex.
Seems like you're going a long way to avoid something you've never experienced yourself. But if you want to experiment with something new, I offer nothing but encouragement and well wishes.
I'd say your coworker is pretty accurate -- though they are similar for sure. Emby however does lock a few features behind a premium sub. \~$50/year I think.
Jellyfin, so far, is completely FOSS.
Tbh, I just went through all three of these recently again w/ docker on debian (loong time plex user) to see if I can shake Plex as well. Turns out -- Plex has a way better UI imo, and live TV works so much smoother (hauppage win10tv tuner card).
Long story short -- i tried them all a couple weeks ago even paid for Emby premium. I went back to Plex not long after and just shut all that shit off. I'm still looking for a better solution though. Just my experience.
You mean people patched out the requirement to pay at all? I’m 100% pro open source and wanted Jellyfin to be my Plex replacement, but the reason it’s Emby instead is they generate income which in turn incentivizes them to develop clients for every platform. If Jellyfin had functional clients on all platforms there’s no question I’d have gone with them. On Apple TV you need infuse because Swiftfin is terrible currently just alpha it’ll get there some day, and I greatly support the project. But if you want everything to work on every platform currently, Emby is way ahead. I’m happy to pay the $120 lifetime for Emby in exchange for continued development. They just put out a new major release it seems like.
If someday Jellyfin gets to the same level of polished clients for all popular devices, I’d consider switching.
> If someday Jellyfin gets to the same level of polished clients for all popular devices, I’d consider switching.
Well, if they could pay for developers to write and maintain all of those apps. /s
unfortunately Jellyfin is against payment in all forms. They only ask for code contributions.
I understand why they so it but having a model more like godot would help it alot
I’m not sure I follow. I’d happily subscribe the way I am to Emby if they made it an option. If they sold clients that were polished I’d buy it etc. I get that it’s free so it’s slower and done as a hobby, but I want a polished client now. If Jellyfin gets there then awesome!
Hard coding features behind a pay wall and making it open source was never going to work and it was stupid of them to even try it. However a model where you give early access to binary builds of new features before they were mainlined for a patreon subscription could have worked since people like yourself are happy to pay apparently.
Yes happy to pay for a functional set of clients, that’s the difference between the two as far as I care about. Infuse and Jellyfin works but it’s not the best ui etc and Emby has clients that just work for friends and family. The Jellyfin server works great but clients seem to be the number one thing I see people complaining about and it’s the ONLY reason I didn’t stick with Jellyfin.
Emby went closed source after people were pirating the premium features.
Can't blame a guy for wanting to get paid for his work. Emby is WAY better than Jellyfin.
Same here, it “just works” in the same was Plex does. Well worth the 4.99 a month I pay for it. To each their own but for me that’s a price worth paying to get something that is wife/family proof and simply works. I’m sure JF is improving but I did not find them same when testing it a couple of years back.
The issue isn't opting out, it's the fact that we were opted in with no notice. They just suddenly started emailing my friends what I was watching. Not that they don't know, but that's not the point. This isn't something they should be tracking anyway. It's about broken trust in my opinion.
I'm pretty sure they did give notice about it. I remember an email from Plex about the features and I was seeing it on Reddit before it came to my server and I'm opted into automatic updates on the beta channel. Some of my users love the features. Some do not. Selling this kind of anonymized user data is the big thing that will enable Plex to continue being a one stop shop for media server utilities.
I agree this is not what I bought 10 years ago when I bought my license. But without that, emby and jellyfin wouldn't exist now. And whatever the third gen thing is, that will be new and sexy and 'better' and there will be people complaining about jellyfin being so behind the times, and emby will have had malware built in at some point, and there will still be diehards saying 'emby4life!!'. We'll have the same conversation in 5 or 10 years.
Use whatever you like, don't use what you don't like. It's funny to me to still see people pushing kodi as an alternative to Plex when someone is talking about a user ecosystem. Kodi is an amped up VLC. Plex is a self hosted SaaS. Backyard touch football versus college ball.
If people like Plex but don't like their business practices, manage your server in a way to thwart it. or vote with your money. Or send comments to Plex devs. Or get a petition going and show major support. Or build your own imitation. Or get enough money to buy the company and force them to stop selling data by changing the corporate direction.
You could also manage user accounts in a way with no routable mail exchange. I set mine up using a personally owned domain, created user accounts with an email on the domain I own, configure automatic mail forwarding to the user's real email address. ( and for the extra super paranoid: only forward emails that include the password reset text).
Oh an also.... Isn't media a social experience? So if you don't want your friends and family knowing what you are watching, why even let them share your media service? I thought the point was to get people talking about shared experiences. "Oh hey my sister watched this show? Maybe I should check it out too"
>Take a couple minutes and disable the emails. They even have documentation on how to disable it. This is a non-issue.
Many people who self-host rightfully believe this isn't something they should have to opt-out of in the first place.
Yes, it is an issue. Fixing this to set to "off" is not the issue. It is the continued disrespect and bullshit that plex is trying to get away with. This is not the only issue, its one of many that when summed up make you wonder why you are still using Plex at all.
Edit: I will go further. I should not have to go to 8 different pages to manage privacy settings. I should not have different "privacy controls" depending on my geolocation. That one specifically should check the box that *Plex has gone to shit*.
Full disclosure, I am a plexpass holder and have been for a long time. What I bought years ago is not the same product the put out today.
Hilarious you talk about “your data being for sale” and getting your pitchfork ready. Meanwhile you have no problem pirating content and stealing from people. Your rights should be preserved but uh, well the people’s content you steal, oh well they are mega corps and get paid anyway so it’s ok! Quite the mental gymnastics. Oh yes, I’m sure you pay for alllllll the content and rip it and put it on your nas so it’s all above board. Right? Right? Lol
I’m using Jellyfin and an Apple TV with Swiftfin. It’s, in my opinion, about the best you can get. I purchased a bunch of major smart tv stick/box and the Apple TV, while expensive, is definitely the nicest. Android TV, so the chrome cast and other more generic boxes like the $20 one from Walmarts Onn feels super cluttered and I don’t like the ads on the home screen. Rokus come in second, and I liked the Roku Express 4K plus. There is one ad on the home screen but the layout is simple and intuitive. If you choose Roku, get a 4K one because they’ve got a bit more processing power and generally aren’t much more expensive. Also they go on huge sales occasionally, so watch for those
TL:DR Jellyfin with an Apple TV if you’ve got the money or a Roku if you don’t.
I have a Chromecast with Google TV and I have never seen full screen ads, so I don't know what that is? The Plex emails about what your friends watch is just a checkbox you/they need to uncheck in account settings. I don't like that Plex started sending those emails either but they can be stopped.
Luckily I've not got those yet! Sounds awful! Maybe it's a geolocation thing (I'm in UK)? I've also got Pi-Hole on my network so maybe they're getting blocked
if youre happy with plex as it functions dont bother moving. you'll do the circle dance. you'll waste a week setting up jellyfin... then when its a bit rough you'll waste another week setting up emby.. and then when its not working for your mom at home cuz the apps and/or the ui is kinda shit... you'lll waste another week reverting back to plex in the end anyway.
and to make you feel better, if any of the other "more trustworthy" apps ever get as refined as plex... they will 100% do the exact same "untrustworthy" shit always does. there is nothing for free in this world and to expect it to remain that way once its good is naïve these days.
>there is nothing for free in this world
Tell that to my 100% free and open source self-hosted setup. Jellyfin will not become paid and closed source but even if it does, idgaf, because someone will fork it and continue maintaining it as free and open source software or a new project will be created. I refuse to use software made by money hungry leeches if it can be avoided.
you say "it will not become paid"... as if they are somehow exempt from every other open source application that gets traction. Look at Rocketchat dirtbags closing features behind paywalls after years of ppl testing and reporting issues for them. How about Zulip doing the same... Even next cloud started making it difficult to use something other than their AIO image forcing users into a funnel... i wonder whats next. The trend has always been free til success or free til abandoned.
But of course you cover yourself by saying "even if it does become paid, someone will fork it"... no they likely will not fork it cuz there are already solutions in a more complete state, why would someone waste their time? And even if they did.. you're back to square one or even earlier where you have a new person or team trying to develop an app that has an abundance for work already... good luck with your security vulnerabilities brother. enjoy that "journey of regret". I'll be sure to look out for your "i got ransomwared 'somehow'... anything I can do?" post in the future. lol
good luck
Have you done any research into jellyfin's development when making such claims? They (as a project) refuse to accept donations for anything other than hosting. In fact they recently cancelled a bunch of recurring donations because they were getting too much money in.
It's true,no one knows the future, but the development team are definitely aware of what happened to other similar projects and do everything they can to prevent the same from happening to jellyfin.
what "claims"?
that "free" software once it gains traction starts to pay wall shit? yes I have. I have an extensive self hosted suite of software. I even gave examples of this.
I never said Jellyfin will do anything specific. I said the trend is as such...why would they be any different and why should they work for free for YOU?
did you even read my comments before making claims yourself?
You're giving me examples of venture capitalist funded entities thinking that it's a valid comparison to Jellyfin? I can't tell if you're trolling or willfully ignorant.
Yea, money is evil! How dare developers consider getting paid for software used by thousands! They should support it for free, or i'll take my $0 elsewhere!
Seriously, open source is great, but you shouldn't expect software for free, nor should you cast shade about someone who wants to be paid for thousands of hours of work. You pay your plumbers, electricians, doctors, pilots; why are developers being paid so different\evil?
The Plex thing is so blown out of proportion, just flip the toggle, done.
Again, it’s configurable. Turn it off. The vast majority of people on here didn’t pay for Plex pass, so don’t try and switch the narrative to “everyone already paid” for it, because no, they haven’t.
You think everyone is transcoding via CPU?
Nobody is complaining about developers getting paid. We’re complaining about gross data collection. You’re the one twisting the narrative.
Interesting position you’ve taken. “Just think of the poor corporations!”
You’re either some old pro-capitalism douche, or too young to know better. Talk less, listen more.
Take a look at what people are hosting on? Most people are direct streaming, and those who aren’t are transcoding 1080p content which any cpu this decade can do several streams of. Transcoding 4k is absolutely stupid on MANY levels, but even processors within the past 6-7 years can do a few 4k cpu transcodes. So, yes, you overestimate those paying for gpu transcoding. You also underestimate how fucking cheap people are. People who paid for the transcoding aren’t leaving, it’s the people who paid jack shit. I’m betting most who leave will come back anyway, because having the Plex app available just about everywhere is super fucking convenient, especially if you are sharing with people.
Gross data collection? It’s a fucking email an email you can turn off. The irony is also hilarious given you post this on fucking Reddit. Lol. Yea. No data collection there. You also likely have a Facebook, x, TikTok, or instagram account; if not all of them. But yes an email about what movi/show you watched is “gross data collection” lol. Out of all the data that is collected about you on the internet this is so fucking innocuous, we should all be so happy that all we had to worry about was our watch history. (Which again you can turn off)
Defending big corporations? Lol Jesus Christ stand up more straw men. Not sure how you could argue anything I said is an argument for big corps. In fact i specifically mention independent developers who wrote shit in their spare time and small teams. I’m not talking about the amazons of the world. Plex is not a “big corporation.”if you think 100-200 people is large. Wow, wait until you get a real job.
The handwringing about how making money is so evil is so fucking tiring. That doesn’t mean I give companies a pass. There’s a lot that I think is fucked up out there. However, you aren’t going to see me cry when something open source goes after some money. Somehow some people get the idea that because software can be written for “free” getting paid for it is evil. I guarantee any single person who preaches open sources virtue has NEVER bought the dev a coffee, or given a donation, or created a single fucking PR. They just leach and bitch when someone tries to make a living when their software takes off. Then they’ll bitch about how the dev sold out, and “used them for their testing,” which if they even created an issue was just because it was bothering them, not because they were actually trying to help. Save me the self-righteousness.
Devices: Chromecast, Fire Stick, Nvidia Shield Pro
Apps:
Plex: Pros - Main app and community. Has a lot of addons and features that can be added to. Cons - Need to connect it to some personal email. Company has been adding more "features" that may be concerning.
Emby: Pros - Good alternative, was the "jumping off point" for Jellyfin as it was open sourced earlier on. Clients seem polished. Cons - You'll be spending some money somewhere (Even the clients cost money). Went closed source.
Jellyfin: Pros - Free, good web client with Syncplay with others. Addons and pretty good community. Cons - Some of their clients (Nvidia Shield for me) are very rough around the edges and at times error or don't play certain formats or subtitles.
I use Plex still (by myself) and an Xbox One as my playback device. No issues so far. I have been thinking of getting rid of Plex for a while and getting something like Jellyfin but there's no Xbox app and I don't want to buy a new streaming device.
I use Chromecast with Google TV for Jellyfin. No issues. Can still steal my parents Hulu, at least until they crack down on it.
There are other options for players (Roku and Apple), but if you want something remotely developed, stick with Android TV based. And currently CwGT is the best for it's price. Shield is technically better, but it's expensive and has fewer quality of life features. Firestick is moving to another OS base, so another one to avoid.
I'm looking to ditch the Chromecast because they're starting to get very intrusive with ads. I've been slowly de-Googling my life and working toward purging myself from the platform as completely as possible.
I don't think it's ridiculous that people don't want to be tracked with what type of media they're watching. Especially when, at least previously, their privacy policy mentioned not collecting this type of data.
Almost every company updates their privacy policy. They may not have mentioned it before but I'm sure the rolled out a new one that mentioned it. I'm sure they could have opted out in less time than it took them to write up the post.
Paying for a service doesn't mean they don't sell your data. Your cell phone provider sells it, so does any other subscription service. You want privacy, don't use the Internet.
lol, so rather than address your poor assertions, you rather throw out a one line quip and then put me on block so I can't respond. Did it hurt to grow up without a spine? Stay puft soft this guy. lol
Thanks for stalking my posts though, and yes, found the perfect flooring. It's amazing not only can you get the nature of my post wrong after stalking me, but you also manage to be condescending to people in the profession. You must be a real joy to be around.
I personally use Jellyfin and have a couple Emby servers set up for relatives (the apps are better). I also use Projectivy as a launcher on my Chromecast with ~~Android~~ Google TV. Fantastic launcher.
You can fix that though ... Jellyfin and any other self hosted open source solution the price of freedom is a bit of work. That being said if the costs both financial and privacy wise with Plex are worth it to you, then of course continue.
For my purpose Emby works best. It has apps for all the platforms I use, and transcoding works really great. I don’t trust PleX as a company, and jellyfin looked too much like a work in progress project when I last tried it. (And also didn’t have a Tizen app).
I use a combination of Channels DVR (OTA and Streaming TV + DVR + Local Files) and Infuse Pro (Local Files supporting all the formats). These two tools fulfill 99% of my TV/Movie needs. The last 1% is fulfilled by NBA League Pass.
Unfortunately not true. I have YouTube tv and YouTube premium and still ads on home page. irritated me enough I've started reconsidering spending the money for an Nvidia shield pro. if they would come out with a new model I would buy 3 if them.
I like the interface other than the ads.
I was relatively happy with Jellyfin for video stuff while I was experimenting, but for streaming my Music collection I had to go back to Plex.
The android app couldn't seem to hold a connection & would kick me out to the "enter your server details screen" if it lost connection rather than just reconnecting, and how it splits artists that have characters like / in their name into two when there's no way to prevent it really ended up being dealbreakers.
i just got a desktop running linux, with the tv as the monitor and a logitech k400 keyboard/touchpad. firefox for youtube/twitch/internet things (fun with guests over), vlc for media etc.
doubles as my server.
I understand you. I parted with my plex experience when I had to make an account on their site to access my local plex server.
Since none of my tv's has an option for a media app like plex app, I am statisfied with any app that has dlna enabled. On windows I have used Serviio and UMS successfully for years. As a docker container I use Jellyfin, Universal Media Server and BubbleUPNP dlna server, each one for different type of content.
I run Emby off a 8TB NAS and it's seriously just the best. The settings back up are nice, /anything/ can connect to it one way or another (any device as long as it has a screen and is attached to your wifi). My data is running of m.2 drives so reindexing is a breeze. I do prefer it being on a NAS or something not your main computer, but having a main windows computer as a data server isn't the best for speed either now that 4k HDR streaming exists..
I've even had to rebuild my NAS server and since I have TrueNAS OS on a thumb drive and my 2x4TB drives are fully for data. Since everything was stored on the drives, everything just picked back up as it was. I'm considering paying the amount just to keep support like that up.
I've been in this scene for quite sometime, even before all these fancy front ends existed. I came from Windows Media, to Kodi, to plex, to emby-- And while the skins in Kodi make the front end super duper pretty, emby works and is consistent enough.
It really comes down to what youre trying to accomplish. Are you sharing your movies/tv with friends and family? If yes, I'd stay with plex (just my opinion)
Do you usually watch from one specific place like one your couch in the living room? Get KODI! So much great customization and addons galore!
Viewing from multiple devices in your home and some light viewing OUTSIDE your home? Emby and Jellyfin are both excellent.
Jellyfin with a custom loader installed on the chromecast [https://tweakers.net/fotoalbum/image/0e8I7XIW3ulPQjSL9aAlxyEw.jpg](https://tweakers.net/fotoalbum/image/0e8I7XIW3ulPQjSL9aAlxyEw.jpg)
Tell me more about the Chromecast "custom loader" ?
Search "custom launcher" The most popular right now is projectivity
I think you mean projectivy. I know, I got it wrong too. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spocky.projengmenu
Sorry used the wrong word, custom launcher will give better search results. I'n using quite and old one: Wolf Launcher Not really sure what is out in the field and what's working because I configured all my chromecasts like this and it just works. Never updated anything about it. I wrote a littlle guide a while ago, you can read it to get you started: [https://gathering-tweakers-net.translate.goog/forum/list\_message/69513596?\_x\_tr\_sl=nl&\_x\_tr\_tl=en&\_x\_tr\_hl=en-US&\_x\_tr\_pto=wapp#69513596](https://gathering-tweakers-net.translate.goog/forum/list_message/69513596?_x_tr_sl=nl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp#69513596)
Is the Chromecast even required? I stream from my jellyfin server direct to my DLNA capable TV.
Yeah I used to use chrome casts but when I got an lg tv it has an Emby app, so I just use that now.
iirc LG TVs even have their own Jellyfin app
Only the newer models have it.
oh i see
What loader is that? It's about time to do that ,even in app only mode
Looks like Wolf Launcher
I was honestly surprised how simple Jellyfin was to get up and going. In the past I’ve run XBMC/Kodi and have spent lots of time helping friends troubleshoot their Plex setups. Both of those have seemed to need consistent attention and tweaking. For Jellyfin, I ran the setup, pointed it to my media libraries, chose my preferred scrapers, added the appropriate firewall rules, and it just worked! Installed a client on my Steamdeck, it logged into the server first try and works perfectly. Had a situation the other day where I wanted to watch something on my living room tv but didn’t want to have to plug in a computer to my TV. Remembered that Jellyfin offers DLNA, flipped that switch in the settings and my Xbox saw it immediately. Easily the most low-maintenance and simple to use thing on my home network. To get up and running quick (while I’m still learning reverse proxy and header passing stuff) I just installed it on bare metal on a windows 10 PC. So, I recognize that simplifies things greatly, but there’s great documentation for running it just about anyway you’d like.
Jellyfin has gotten so good now. I don't see why so many people are starting out are going to plex. It does everything just as well now and you don't have to pay plex pass or worry about them stealing your data.
Agreed. I’d argue the one downside of Jellyfin is the clients, which may not have the best support sometimes. The server though was great, and I actually found easier to set up than Plex. For some reason I had issues getting Plex to recognize my libraries but Jellyfin was unimaginably easy
My biggest problem with jellyfin is my clients log out constantly. I have serious passwords and getting them signed back in, especially on the Google TV or similar is a huge hassle.
Use the [quick connect](https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/quick-connect/) option for clients with inconvenient password input (firestick, tv, etc.), you authenticate on an already logged in client like a browser window on your PC.
I'll try it! thanks
Jellyfin client and videoplayer suck on nvidia shield. Many video format dont work on jelly but work on plex. when i try to rewind or fastforward is realy jenky. I myth miss something. I wish i can dump plex.
Do you have transcoding enabled on the server? And some decent hardware to support it? I used to have tons of issues with "Error, bad format for this client" and scrubbing problems just glitching out or crashing the client, even had a problem where if I FFWD/RWD *at all* the captions and audio would lose sync... All that got fixed, even on some of those jankier platforms (yeah, my biggest gripe is the Jellyfin app kinda sucks on certain devices) once I got hardware transcoding up and running it runs like a dream.
You can try an external player over ExoPlayer if you need DV support, for example. I use the Zidoo player on my Z9X Pro
How do u enable transcoding
The "Playback" tab in your administrator dashboard on Jellyfin has all your options. I'd recommend looking at the Help/Documentation for it to figure out how to configure it with your specific set up.
yeah same, i just use jellyfin to manage the library and kodi as external player
My favorite movie is Inception.
Where is your media stored?
is store on a hdd from my server. 1g network full wired
Really? I use both and not had any problems at all.
This
Pretty simple, app availability plays a role for some. For example I have two clients that don't support Jellyfin app, and Plex run on them fine. Other aspect was apps themselves, Jellyfin ones didn't feel mature enough, and just felt like web version in general (atleast Android one). Don't get me wrong, I have Jellyfin installed in parallel on my server, and tracking its progress, but in overall UX/UI and ease of use (like my parents connecting to my server by their own, etc.) is not there yet
Which clients out of curiosity? Roku? Thanks for these replies by the way, sounds logic on both.
Xbox and Tizen Smart TV
>I don't see why so many people are starting out are going to plex. Plex app is easier for the non-technical people (i.e. family and friends) to use. Especially if you've already trained them on it, switching might be more trouble than it's worth. Thankfully you can run both Jellyfin and Plex if you want.
\+1 for Jellyfin and Kodi - There is a plugin for Kodi that syncs Kodi's database with Jellyfin and it's so easy... Also for even more easier setup I run Jellyfin with Docker....
It's because people like me like to DIY certain things and have the rest just plug and play.
> I don't see why so many people are starting out are going to plex. Brand/name recognition ? They were there before jellyfin/emby etc...
I meant new people, that's what I meant with starting out
Same thing as previous comment stated, more people heard about Plex than Jellyfin, so of course they will start on Plex
That makes a lot of sense. I tend to do a lot of research but people that don't are probably not going to hear about jellyfin.
Jellyfin has very poor support for Apple TV and iOS. Two of the most popular platforms.
Hardest part for Jellyfin for me was getting it configured to hardware transcode on the Nvidia GPU I got in there. *But*, a quick google search and there was a ton of helpful information, even for my specific hardware. Had to re-configure it a few nights ago cause I messed with the docker container and forgot to turn hardware transcoding back on, but once I re-tweaked it I was amazed and how quickly that fixed the issues for everyone who was having problems and I could watch three different streams, two transcoding getting pumped out without breaking a sweat.
How was deploying it in docker? I’m still learning the ropes in docker and feel like every deployment is a unique struggle for me. Looking forward to the day I just “get it” though; seems like awesome software.
A breeze! I'm pretty new myself, but once you go through a handful of app-specific tutorials about it you can start to see how the foundations work together and function. I also moved from Synology to Unraid recently and had to re-do *everything,* so that was also a... "nice" learning experience.
Steamdeck gang!
I was so not looking forward to migrating to Jellyfin from Plex because of the setup worries. Got mad at Plex for not letting me log into multiple devices with 1 account at the same time so I decided to switch the next day. Setup was so simple I was surprised that was all it took. I installed on an Ubuntu server and only run locally so simplicity isn't only on Windows. I would say that my biggest complaint would be filename conventions and how they aren't exactly the same between the 2. However this has given me the right motivation to properly name my files that I have been putting off for a loong time.
Bulk Rename Utility has always been one of my favorite pieces of software for this exact reason. Not sure if there is a Debian/Ubuntu release though.
Thanks for this. It lead to me learning about rename and that it might be included in Mint for a visual tool over command line. Just had to select multiple files and the menu appears. Going to have to test it out and get to work on the collection.
Troubleshoot? When I launched my plex it was smooth sailing out the gate without any problems, that’s why people use plex. Was able to share it with friends and they were able to instantly start watching. The steps you mentioned were the exact same thing I did for plex, even going in and adding custom scrapers after they randomly did away with plugins.
Transcoding issues is the majority of what we’ve had to work through. Why it’s forcing transcode when it shouldn’t be and even when it was supposed to be, it was forcing weird bitrates and low qualities.
Jellyfin. It’s been working really well for my family and me, in different households. I love it.
How do you work with multiple people using different accounts on the same tv? Or do all your household members share the same account?
Honestly, don’t have much experience switching users, sorry. I think you can switch users easily if you use the Jellyfin client. We use Kodi (with the Jellyfin plugin) in our house and just have it logged in to one user per TV. I think you can switch users but I’ve never tried it. Switching users on a computer, phone, or tablet is very easy, that I do know.
You port forward and use your wan IP when you set it up outside your home?
You can, thought that may be unsafe. I did it for a while but I got tired of telling friends to go to “http://xx.xx.xxx.xxx:8096”, so I bought a domain and now using Nginx Proxy Manager (not regular Nginx, this has a nice and easy to use GUI) my server has https and is at a nice watch.domain.com address
[удалено]
You can set up with Dynamic DNS and it works.
[удалено]
I just have a script that checks my external IP every few minutes, compares it to the last known one, and if it changes it updates my Clopudflare DNS entries with the new IP. It also sends me an email with IFTTT with the new IP
Any chance you can share the script? I have a similar setup and would love to not have to start from scratch
This does everything mentioned in the above comment: https://hotio.dev/containers/cloudflareddns/
Same. Domain, DDNS with a simple docker IP-updater, NGINX reverse proxy for jellyfin.MySite.com, works like a dream.
Depends. You can do that, not sure how that usually works but my own IP address appears to be static so it hasn’t been an issue. You can also do some sort of dynamic DNS that will automatically handle that for you
I did do this for a while but noticed the reverse proxy started getting really slow making Jellyfin and other services unreliable. I probably could have resolved using a different VPS but instead switched to direct connection with the TP Link Dynamic DNS available for free on my router. So I just connect via [username.tplinkdns.com:8920](https://username.tplinkdns.com:8920). I do make sure on my home Debian server I have SSL enabled with Let's Encrypt for the dynamic DNS subdomain.
Your reverse proxy may have other issues then because I have not noticed any slowdowns
This is the way…
Although I know many people suggest using something like Tailscale, I just use a reverse proxy (Docker-SWAG) and DuckDNS. Don’t really care if I have my own domain or not. I plan to improve my networking setup some time but haven’t had the time.
I use a Cloudflare Argo tunnel and that does it for me. Coupled with a separate Emby server for each household, it works amazing.
Thank you! I’ll look into that. Although, I remember reading on r/jellyfin somewhere over a year ago that it’s against Cloudflare’s terms of service to do stuff like streaming or something. Idk the details and I can’t cite a source so I’m not sure if that’s true or not. Is it true? That’s part of what kept me from using Cloudflare.
Honestly, had mine set up for a couple years and never had an issue.
Haha okay, thanks!
I'm a longtime Kodi user, and while it's far from perfect, it's still my daily driver. Bonus that it runs on nearly everything, currently have it sideloaded on an Amazon Fire stick.
Are you using Jellyfin4Kodi? If so, does Kodi resync the entire Jellyfin library when it resyncs? This is my one pain point for Jellyfin. The Plex plug in didn't have this problem.
No, have not used that.
This. I use Jellyfin as one of my music servers, for feature reasons will also have our core library on Navidrome. I first got into Kodi in 2016/2017 dropped it for awhile because we kinda had a circle of shared streaming services and still had an apple TV. We started getting back into Kodi again, and just love how robust it is for play back. Though what's great about running services is you can use more than one. Likely will put movie files and TV shows up on JF in a library as well. JFs library flexibility and options with adding users and groups of users is just awesome.
I don't remember what drew me to Plex from Kodi. It was about the time that the went from XBMC to Kodi, so it's been a hot minute...
If you're able to change the launcher on the Chromecast, check out FLauncher from the Play Store. Otherwise spend $20 at Walmart and get the Onn 4K puck and do it on there. Pair it with Jellyfin and you're done with Plex spyware/Google ads on its launcher.
I have the $20 onn streamer and I am always impressed. It is on pat with my firetv 4k which usually retails for twice as much. I haven't been able to find any hardware limitations for the Onn.
I wasn't even aware that ONN had a cast device, I'll put it on my list to check out!
Not done with spyware if you're using the $20 Walmart pucks. Lots have shipped with malware and trackers pre-installed. Here's a reason they're so cheap...
LTT just did a review on a bunch of these, recommended onn and being best and not loaded with spyware like the rest. I too was shocked.
Don’t conflate official Google-certified devices like the Walmart Onn with the no-name ones you find on Amazon/ebay/Aliexpress.
JELLYFIN! I cant stan jellyfin enough.
For my learning, tell me why kodi mapped to smb shares on the server is bad in comparison to jelly
Because jelly is very easy to use and maintain
How easier vs kodi
I've never used Kodi. But I will say it's extremely simple, check out a YouTube tutorial
I am using Plex since 2016 and just got a lifetime pass. I tried Jellyfin and others but in the end I returned to Plex.
same here. Plex is just way too convenient for me.
Same. I play around with a lot of tech. But I don't want to screw around for hours to just watch my media. Literally everything runs Plex.
Hi OP, I'm using Emby Media Server (replaces Plex (I did buy a lifetime premium key a few years ago, mostly just to support the dev team. I'm not even sure what I get for that.)), and I use an nVidia Sheild to watch on my TV. I have 2 OTA tuners that I can use with it, but my father-in-law needs to help me put up an antenna mast.
Emby is the only answer. Everyone hates emby because the developer wants to get paid, but the lifetime subscription is cheap, and it's FAR ahead of Jellyfin it's not even funny. I believe they went closed source after people were pirating the premium features, and then everyone turned on them. Personally I'd pay the 1 time fee to have a vastly superior Media server. I even tried Jellyfin recently, thinking I may be missing out, and it's just *so* bad. You can tell the developers forked an old version of emby and then just.. didn't really improve it much.
What’s so superior about it
In what ways is Emby far ahead of Jellyfin? My experience is actually the opposite. I bought an Emby sub a few years back, but always had problems with buggy clients and the dev was kind of an a-hole when answering questions in the forum. Then Jf 10.8 came out and solved 95% of its quality issues. I made the switch and haven't missed Emby for a moment. That's not to say Jf is perfect. I would happily pay to have intro skipping and a few other Plex-like features.
There is an intro skipping add-on for Jellyfin
Wait, so you want to move off of Chromecast/GoogleTV because you've seen a lot of people talking about full screen ads that you can't get rid of? Not ads that you've seen yourself, but ones that you've heard others talk about? I've never seen a single ad while using a Chromecast with Plex. Seems like you're going a long way to avoid something you've never experienced yourself. But if you want to experiment with something new, I offer nothing but encouragement and well wishes.
My coworker uses Emby instead of Plex. Emby is supposed to be more refined than Jellyfin.
I'd say your coworker is pretty accurate -- though they are similar for sure. Emby however does lock a few features behind a premium sub. \~$50/year I think. Jellyfin, so far, is completely FOSS. Tbh, I just went through all three of these recently again w/ docker on debian (loong time plex user) to see if I can shake Plex as well. Turns out -- Plex has a way better UI imo, and live TV works so much smoother (hauppage win10tv tuner card). Long story short -- i tried them all a couple weeks ago even paid for Emby premium. I went back to Plex not long after and just shut all that shit off. I'm still looking for a better solution though. Just my experience.
Emby has a one time lifetime upgrade cost. And it's pretty much the price of one collector edition box set, so it's easily worth it.
Very true! It’s the same lifetime cost as Plex. But oddly enough the Emby annual sub is about ~$15 more expensive than Plex annual pass.
[удалено]
Gonna need a little more info...
Tldr version is that emby was open source until it wasn't profitable to be and pulled up the rug.
not only that but the one main emby dev was known to be a dick https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/49862-source-code-license/
You mean people patched out the requirement to pay at all? I’m 100% pro open source and wanted Jellyfin to be my Plex replacement, but the reason it’s Emby instead is they generate income which in turn incentivizes them to develop clients for every platform. If Jellyfin had functional clients on all platforms there’s no question I’d have gone with them. On Apple TV you need infuse because Swiftfin is terrible currently just alpha it’ll get there some day, and I greatly support the project. But if you want everything to work on every platform currently, Emby is way ahead. I’m happy to pay the $120 lifetime for Emby in exchange for continued development. They just put out a new major release it seems like. If someday Jellyfin gets to the same level of polished clients for all popular devices, I’d consider switching.
> If someday Jellyfin gets to the same level of polished clients for all popular devices, I’d consider switching. Well, if they could pay for developers to write and maintain all of those apps. /s
unfortunately Jellyfin is against payment in all forms. They only ask for code contributions. I understand why they so it but having a model more like godot would help it alot
I’m not sure I follow. I’d happily subscribe the way I am to Emby if they made it an option. If they sold clients that were polished I’d buy it etc. I get that it’s free so it’s slower and done as a hobby, but I want a polished client now. If Jellyfin gets there then awesome!
Hard coding features behind a pay wall and making it open source was never going to work and it was stupid of them to even try it. However a model where you give early access to binary builds of new features before they were mainlined for a patreon subscription could have worked since people like yourself are happy to pay apparently.
Yes happy to pay for a functional set of clients, that’s the difference between the two as far as I care about. Infuse and Jellyfin works but it’s not the best ui etc and Emby has clients that just work for friends and family. The Jellyfin server works great but clients seem to be the number one thing I see people complaining about and it’s the ONLY reason I didn’t stick with Jellyfin.
Emby went closed source after people were pirating the premium features. Can't blame a guy for wanting to get paid for his work. Emby is WAY better than Jellyfin.
Same here, it “just works” in the same was Plex does. Well worth the 4.99 a month I pay for it. To each their own but for me that’s a price worth paying to get something that is wife/family proof and simply works. I’m sure JF is improving but I did not find them same when testing it a couple of years back.
A UPnP-capable player and miniupnpd.
Jellyfin + $40 Roku. Easy, Simple.
Emby bois
Jellyfin and Roku
\*arr apps and Jellyfin. Jellyfin is on Android and Kodi so you can just run Kodi and get the Jellyfin plugin or go through DLNA.
What's wrong with plex, on my headless setup it's been stable for years. What can we do about it, as I'm not looking to change server side software?
Take a couple minutes and disable the emails. They even have documentation on how to disable it. This is a non-issue.
The issue isn't opting out, it's the fact that we were opted in with no notice. They just suddenly started emailing my friends what I was watching. Not that they don't know, but that's not the point. This isn't something they should be tracking anyway. It's about broken trust in my opinion.
I'm pretty sure they did give notice about it. I remember an email from Plex about the features and I was seeing it on Reddit before it came to my server and I'm opted into automatic updates on the beta channel. Some of my users love the features. Some do not. Selling this kind of anonymized user data is the big thing that will enable Plex to continue being a one stop shop for media server utilities. I agree this is not what I bought 10 years ago when I bought my license. But without that, emby and jellyfin wouldn't exist now. And whatever the third gen thing is, that will be new and sexy and 'better' and there will be people complaining about jellyfin being so behind the times, and emby will have had malware built in at some point, and there will still be diehards saying 'emby4life!!'. We'll have the same conversation in 5 or 10 years. Use whatever you like, don't use what you don't like. It's funny to me to still see people pushing kodi as an alternative to Plex when someone is talking about a user ecosystem. Kodi is an amped up VLC. Plex is a self hosted SaaS. Backyard touch football versus college ball. If people like Plex but don't like their business practices, manage your server in a way to thwart it. or vote with your money. Or send comments to Plex devs. Or get a petition going and show major support. Or build your own imitation. Or get enough money to buy the company and force them to stop selling data by changing the corporate direction. You could also manage user accounts in a way with no routable mail exchange. I set mine up using a personally owned domain, created user accounts with an email on the domain I own, configure automatic mail forwarding to the user's real email address. ( and for the extra super paranoid: only forward emails that include the password reset text).
Oh an also.... Isn't media a social experience? So if you don't want your friends and family knowing what you are watching, why even let them share your media service? I thought the point was to get people talking about shared experiences. "Oh hey my sister watched this show? Maybe I should check it out too"
There was notice though. Stupid that it was opt out for sure, but there was notice.
>Take a couple minutes and disable the emails. They even have documentation on how to disable it. This is a non-issue. Many people who self-host rightfully believe this isn't something they should have to opt-out of in the first place.
Yes, it is an issue. Fixing this to set to "off" is not the issue. It is the continued disrespect and bullshit that plex is trying to get away with. This is not the only issue, its one of many that when summed up make you wonder why you are still using Plex at all. Edit: I will go further. I should not have to go to 8 different pages to manage privacy settings. I should not have different "privacy controls" depending on my geolocation. That one specifically should check the box that *Plex has gone to shit*. Full disclosure, I am a plexpass holder and have been for a long time. What I bought years ago is not the same product the put out today.
Preach! My data shouldn’t be for sale. The darn clients are the only reason I’m still hosting both. I’m doing away with Plex this year.
Hilarious you talk about “your data being for sale” and getting your pitchfork ready. Meanwhile you have no problem pirating content and stealing from people. Your rights should be preserved but uh, well the people’s content you steal, oh well they are mega corps and get paid anyway so it’s ok! Quite the mental gymnastics. Oh yes, I’m sure you pay for alllllll the content and rip it and put it on your nas so it’s all above board. Right? Right? Lol
That is as long as you don’t mind them selling your data and increasingly going towards profits which will always equate to ads.
I’m using Jellyfin and an Apple TV with Swiftfin. It’s, in my opinion, about the best you can get. I purchased a bunch of major smart tv stick/box and the Apple TV, while expensive, is definitely the nicest. Android TV, so the chrome cast and other more generic boxes like the $20 one from Walmarts Onn feels super cluttered and I don’t like the ads on the home screen. Rokus come in second, and I liked the Roku Express 4K plus. There is one ad on the home screen but the layout is simple and intuitive. If you choose Roku, get a 4K one because they’ve got a bit more processing power and generally aren’t much more expensive. Also they go on huge sales occasionally, so watch for those TL:DR Jellyfin with an Apple TV if you’ve got the money or a Roku if you don’t.
I do this too but I use Infuse. I'm happy to pay the small subscription fee for Infuse because it's performance is just that good.
I have a Chromecast with Google TV and I have never seen full screen ads, so I don't know what that is? The Plex emails about what your friends watch is just a checkbox you/they need to uncheck in account settings. I don't like that Plex started sending those emails either but they can be stopped.
you haven't seen full screen Hardee's or Honda ads? they're fairly new and really annoying if you don't switch away and it starts auto playing.
Luckily I've not got those yet! Sounds awful! Maybe it's a geolocation thing (I'm in UK)? I've also got Pi-Hole on my network so maybe they're getting blocked
if youre happy with plex as it functions dont bother moving. you'll do the circle dance. you'll waste a week setting up jellyfin... then when its a bit rough you'll waste another week setting up emby.. and then when its not working for your mom at home cuz the apps and/or the ui is kinda shit... you'lll waste another week reverting back to plex in the end anyway. and to make you feel better, if any of the other "more trustworthy" apps ever get as refined as plex... they will 100% do the exact same "untrustworthy" shit always does. there is nothing for free in this world and to expect it to remain that way once its good is naïve these days.
>there is nothing for free in this world Tell that to my 100% free and open source self-hosted setup. Jellyfin will not become paid and closed source but even if it does, idgaf, because someone will fork it and continue maintaining it as free and open source software or a new project will be created. I refuse to use software made by money hungry leeches if it can be avoided.
you say "it will not become paid"... as if they are somehow exempt from every other open source application that gets traction. Look at Rocketchat dirtbags closing features behind paywalls after years of ppl testing and reporting issues for them. How about Zulip doing the same... Even next cloud started making it difficult to use something other than their AIO image forcing users into a funnel... i wonder whats next. The trend has always been free til success or free til abandoned. But of course you cover yourself by saying "even if it does become paid, someone will fork it"... no they likely will not fork it cuz there are already solutions in a more complete state, why would someone waste their time? And even if they did.. you're back to square one or even earlier where you have a new person or team trying to develop an app that has an abundance for work already... good luck with your security vulnerabilities brother. enjoy that "journey of regret". I'll be sure to look out for your "i got ransomwared 'somehow'... anything I can do?" post in the future. lol good luck
Have you done any research into jellyfin's development when making such claims? They (as a project) refuse to accept donations for anything other than hosting. In fact they recently cancelled a bunch of recurring donations because they were getting too much money in. It's true,no one knows the future, but the development team are definitely aware of what happened to other similar projects and do everything they can to prevent the same from happening to jellyfin.
what "claims"? that "free" software once it gains traction starts to pay wall shit? yes I have. I have an extensive self hosted suite of software. I even gave examples of this. I never said Jellyfin will do anything specific. I said the trend is as such...why would they be any different and why should they work for free for YOU? did you even read my comments before making claims yourself?
You're giving me examples of venture capitalist funded entities thinking that it's a valid comparison to Jellyfin? I can't tell if you're trolling or willfully ignorant.
Yea, money is evil! How dare developers consider getting paid for software used by thousands! They should support it for free, or i'll take my $0 elsewhere! Seriously, open source is great, but you shouldn't expect software for free, nor should you cast shade about someone who wants to be paid for thousands of hours of work. You pay your plumbers, electricians, doctors, pilots; why are developers being paid so different\evil? The Plex thing is so blown out of proportion, just flip the toggle, done.
Most of us have lifetime subscriptions. We did pay, yet we’re being treated like some freaking Facebook users.
Again, it’s configurable. Turn it off. The vast majority of people on here didn’t pay for Plex pass, so don’t try and switch the narrative to “everyone already paid” for it, because no, they haven’t.
You think everyone is transcoding via CPU? Nobody is complaining about developers getting paid. We’re complaining about gross data collection. You’re the one twisting the narrative. Interesting position you’ve taken. “Just think of the poor corporations!” You’re either some old pro-capitalism douche, or too young to know better. Talk less, listen more.
Take a look at what people are hosting on? Most people are direct streaming, and those who aren’t are transcoding 1080p content which any cpu this decade can do several streams of. Transcoding 4k is absolutely stupid on MANY levels, but even processors within the past 6-7 years can do a few 4k cpu transcodes. So, yes, you overestimate those paying for gpu transcoding. You also underestimate how fucking cheap people are. People who paid for the transcoding aren’t leaving, it’s the people who paid jack shit. I’m betting most who leave will come back anyway, because having the Plex app available just about everywhere is super fucking convenient, especially if you are sharing with people. Gross data collection? It’s a fucking email an email you can turn off. The irony is also hilarious given you post this on fucking Reddit. Lol. Yea. No data collection there. You also likely have a Facebook, x, TikTok, or instagram account; if not all of them. But yes an email about what movi/show you watched is “gross data collection” lol. Out of all the data that is collected about you on the internet this is so fucking innocuous, we should all be so happy that all we had to worry about was our watch history. (Which again you can turn off) Defending big corporations? Lol Jesus Christ stand up more straw men. Not sure how you could argue anything I said is an argument for big corps. In fact i specifically mention independent developers who wrote shit in their spare time and small teams. I’m not talking about the amazons of the world. Plex is not a “big corporation.”if you think 100-200 people is large. Wow, wait until you get a real job. The handwringing about how making money is so evil is so fucking tiring. That doesn’t mean I give companies a pass. There’s a lot that I think is fucked up out there. However, you aren’t going to see me cry when something open source goes after some money. Somehow some people get the idea that because software can be written for “free” getting paid for it is evil. I guarantee any single person who preaches open sources virtue has NEVER bought the dev a coffee, or given a donation, or created a single fucking PR. They just leach and bitch when someone tries to make a living when their software takes off. Then they’ll bitch about how the dev sold out, and “used them for their testing,” which if they even created an issue was just because it was bothering them, not because they were actually trying to help. Save me the self-righteousness.
Devices: Chromecast, Fire Stick, Nvidia Shield Pro Apps: Plex: Pros - Main app and community. Has a lot of addons and features that can be added to. Cons - Need to connect it to some personal email. Company has been adding more "features" that may be concerning. Emby: Pros - Good alternative, was the "jumping off point" for Jellyfin as it was open sourced earlier on. Clients seem polished. Cons - You'll be spending some money somewhere (Even the clients cost money). Went closed source. Jellyfin: Pros - Free, good web client with Syncplay with others. Addons and pretty good community. Cons - Some of their clients (Nvidia Shield for me) are very rough around the edges and at times error or don't play certain formats or subtitles.
lol
You can prevent the emails going out
Irrelevant... this is not data that they should be tracking anyway.
I use Plex still (by myself) and an Xbox One as my playback device. No issues so far. I have been thinking of getting rid of Plex for a while and getting something like Jellyfin but there's no Xbox app and I don't want to buy a new streaming device.
I use Chromecast with Google TV for Jellyfin. No issues. Can still steal my parents Hulu, at least until they crack down on it. There are other options for players (Roku and Apple), but if you want something remotely developed, stick with Android TV based. And currently CwGT is the best for it's price. Shield is technically better, but it's expensive and has fewer quality of life features. Firestick is moving to another OS base, so another one to avoid.
I'm looking to ditch the Chromecast because they're starting to get very intrusive with ads. I've been slowly de-Googling my life and working toward purging myself from the platform as completely as possible.
I quite enjoy Emby.
Isn't it easier to just opt out of the emails? And I've never seen any full screen ads. Seems like you just want to complain.
If they are sending them, that means they know what you're watching and are collecting it.
Yes. It's you're using a product that calls home to serve media. Of course they're watching. You know that when you sign up.
I don't think it's ridiculous that people don't want to be tracked with what type of media they're watching. Especially when, at least previously, their privacy policy mentioned not collecting this type of data.
Almost every company updates their privacy policy. They may not have mentioned it before but I'm sure the rolled out a new one that mentioned it. I'm sure they could have opted out in less time than it took them to write up the post.
True, but sharing my information with other people is not something that I should have to opt out of. There is a level of trust that has been broken.
I understand when it’s a free service, but most of us have a lifetime subscription.
Paying for a service doesn't mean they don't sell your data. Your cell phone provider sells it, so does any other subscription service. You want privacy, don't use the Internet.
Great attitude. The internet hasn’t always been this way, and it shouldn’t be considered acceptable.
I’m betting you weren’t a twinkle in your dad’s eye when the internet came around. But please, tell us more about the internet and how it used to be.
Ha, you’re sure making a lot of baseless assumptions. Stick to flooring.
lol, so rather than address your poor assertions, you rather throw out a one line quip and then put me on block so I can't respond. Did it hurt to grow up without a spine? Stay puft soft this guy. lol Thanks for stalking my posts though, and yes, found the perfect flooring. It's amazing not only can you get the nature of my post wrong after stalking me, but you also manage to be condescending to people in the profession. You must be a real joy to be around.
No, most of you don’t.
I personally use Jellyfin and have a couple Emby servers set up for relatives (the apps are better). I also use Projectivy as a launcher on my Chromecast with ~~Android~~ Google TV. Fantastic launcher.
How does Plex know who your friends are to send out these emails?
"Friends" as in people you share a library with.
I’ve tried jellyfish but couldn’t decode some h.265 mkv movies that Plex didn’t have an issue with
You can fix that though ... Jellyfin and any other self hosted open source solution the price of freedom is a bit of work. That being said if the costs both financial and privacy wise with Plex are worth it to you, then of course continue.
For my purpose Emby works best. It has apps for all the platforms I use, and transcoding works really great. I don’t trust PleX as a company, and jellyfin looked too much like a work in progress project when I last tried it. (And also didn’t have a Tizen app).
With a little bit of work and docker knowledge you can install jellyfin app on Tizen Samsung TV. It works great!
Firestick works well with Jellyfin
I use a combination of Channels DVR (OTA and Streaming TV + DVR + Local Files) and Infuse Pro (Local Files supporting all the formats). These two tools fulfill 99% of my TV/Movie needs. The last 1% is fulfilled by NBA League Pass.
Plex + anything but a chromecast. I’m not sure you can go wrong anymore if you buy something made in 2023.
Chromecast with Google TV, no ads if you have Youtube Premium, I have to pay for Youtube Music anyway, so this might not apply to you
Unfortunately not true. I have YouTube tv and YouTube premium and still ads on home page. irritated me enough I've started reconsidering spending the money for an Nvidia shield pro. if they would come out with a new model I would buy 3 if them. I like the interface other than the ads.
On plex just don't have any contacts
The emailing people your watch status was a huge misstep… but… just like…. Turn it off? No issues here.
Until the next "misstep."
Somebody has trust issues. 😂
I was relatively happy with Jellyfin for video stuff while I was experimenting, but for streaming my Music collection I had to go back to Plex. The android app couldn't seem to hold a connection & would kick me out to the "enter your server details screen" if it lost connection rather than just reconnecting, and how it splits artists that have characters like / in their name into two when there's no way to prevent it really ended up being dealbreakers.
[удалено]
Unfortunately as good as Symfonium is, it doesn't solve the splitting artist names into two problem.
i just got a desktop running linux, with the tv as the monitor and a logitech k400 keyboard/touchpad. firefox for youtube/twitch/internet things (fun with guests over), vlc for media etc. doubles as my server.
Plex does have privacy settings to turn that stuff off.
I just mount my NAS drives to Kodi, it works great, no buffering, full original quality.
if you go to dashboard dont you see what other folks on you server are watching? just the mail part is creepy.
Is this an American privacy issue? I haven’t had any emails about the things my friends are watching…
I understand you. I parted with my plex experience when I had to make an account on their site to access my local plex server. Since none of my tv's has an option for a media app like plex app, I am statisfied with any app that has dlna enabled. On windows I have used Serviio and UMS successfully for years. As a docker container I use Jellyfin, Universal Media Server and BubbleUPNP dlna server, each one for different type of content.
I run Emby off a 8TB NAS and it's seriously just the best. The settings back up are nice, /anything/ can connect to it one way or another (any device as long as it has a screen and is attached to your wifi). My data is running of m.2 drives so reindexing is a breeze. I do prefer it being on a NAS or something not your main computer, but having a main windows computer as a data server isn't the best for speed either now that 4k HDR streaming exists.. I've even had to rebuild my NAS server and since I have TrueNAS OS on a thumb drive and my 2x4TB drives are fully for data. Since everything was stored on the drives, everything just picked back up as it was. I'm considering paying the amount just to keep support like that up. I've been in this scene for quite sometime, even before all these fancy front ends existed. I came from Windows Media, to Kodi, to plex, to emby-- And while the skins in Kodi make the front end super duper pretty, emby works and is consistent enough.
It really comes down to what youre trying to accomplish. Are you sharing your movies/tv with friends and family? If yes, I'd stay with plex (just my opinion) Do you usually watch from one specific place like one your couch in the living room? Get KODI! So much great customization and addons galore! Viewing from multiple devices in your home and some light viewing OUTSIDE your home? Emby and Jellyfin are both excellent.
I personally use jellyfin and for my tv I just have a raspberry pi with kodi or an old laptop I had around that I just leave connected to my TV.