Ahoy mateys, it’s time to setup Jellyfin if you prefer not to pay for the privilege of self-hosting your own content.
cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/27204525
We are also changing how remote playback works for streaming personal media (that is, playback when not on the same local network as the server). The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature. This—alongside the new Plex Pass pricing—will help provide those resources. This change will apply to the future release of our new Plex experience for mobile and other platforms.
That is so sad. I was just reconfigured my hone server with plex last weekend. Seems like it’s time to switch to jellyfin now. Luckily didn’t finish the configuration.
If you have Plex pass (honestly, get the lifetime, it’s worth it, jellyfin is pretty shit compared to Plex) it will not effect users of your server.
I had Plex lifetime and still switched to Jellyfin as an open source and community driven project will always be better in the future compared to a commercial product
How exactly is it “pretty shit”? Running Jellyfin on my network with zero issues whatsoever.
And so it begins …
For me it began since they announced they are killing the watch together feature… For other people it started a long time ago.
Charging for remote access is dumb as they are not being the one hosting the contents nor relaying them (if you have it properly set up).
If they want to charge for it they should have inbuilt tunnels to solve CGNAT (like their relay but not stupidly capped).
I want to switch to jellyfin, I selfhost but I don’t want to open a port directly to my server. I don’t understand how everyone else figures this out and I’m apparently an idiot.
Also do people expect all who use my server to start a VPN each time? What if they leave it on and their other streaming services are using my bandwidth.
I don’t understand and I have looked it up but I don’t see a consensus.
Opening a port isn’t really bad if you have your firewall configured properly. You will have to open a port either way with jellyfin or wireguard. If you have a TLS/SSL certificate then just doing jellyfin is fine (but have good passwords since it’s public facing), otherwise a VPN like wireguard will handle encryption for you.
As for managing traffic on the VPN you can follow this advice: https://serverfault.com/questions/1075973/wireguard-how-to-only-tunnel-some-of-the-traffic
Basically setup your firewall to stop extra traffic on your end, and change accessible IPs in wireguard to your service(s) so the peer knows not to talk on that interface for unrelated things.
It isn’t bad until an exploit is discovered on jellyfin. Then it can get really bad.
Do you have a recommended way of remote accessing a server?
It already happened on Plex. Just a matter of time until it happens to Jellyfin.
you can do a thing called UDP hole punching for NAT traversal, buuuuuut afaik these days a lot of consumer routers consider it a security risk and attempt to block it
I just use Tailscale when remote streaming.
From their docs:
By default, Tailscale acts as an overlay network: it only routes traffic between devices running Tailscale, but doesn’t touch your public internet traffic, such as when you visit Google or Twitter. The overlay network configuration is ideal for most people who need secure communication between sensitive devices (such as company servers or home computers), but don’t need extra layers of encryption or latency for their public internet connection.
It’s pleasantly surprising that they aren’t deep sixing the lifetime pass.
Yet.
Yeah this is definitely coming at some point. What are we gonna do? Stop paying?
This headline is misleading. If the owner of the server has Plex pass than the users can use remote streaming as normal. If the owner does not have Plex pass, then the users need Plex pass to use that server remotely
Imo a stupid move by Plex, but as a lifetime Plex pass holder, no one that uses mine will have to worry so I’m relatively unbothered.
Dito. Every discussion I’ve seen, people were acting like Plex is already dead. This will basically change nothing for most people
And free local network management is still a fair deal… Pay for extra features makes sense for this kind of service? The software needs maintenance and new hardware is always being released so new bugs. Better methods of netow and transcoding etc, this kind of software isn’t a drop and run, it still needs work after release. So I get the need to form some kind of long term sustainability, we all saw it coming.
The “Remote playback with a Remote Watch Pass subscription” just sounds like IPTV with extra steps. I’m kind of ok with them requiring Plex Pass for remote streaming for the server owner, but then I have lifetime so it doesn’t affect me. Might feel differently I was having to pay.
It also means they will now have official payment info to tie everyones identity to their Plex server. So if the cops come-a-knocking they’ll be fully able to comply with information requests.
I mean, that’s always kinda been the case. Plex uses their own infrastructure to do remote streaming, and that requires that they know your IP address, and therefore your ISP. I don’t think this really changes much in regard to cops. If that’s your concern, definitely don’t use Plex.
I mean, that’s always kinda been the case. Plex uses their own infrastructure to do remote streaming
Only if you don’t configure your server properly. Then you use their infrastructure to punch a connection through.
I’m not sure what you mean.
You don’t need to use their infrastructure for remote streaming. If you forward the port properly and setup your server properly. You can actually outright disable the remote streaming through them by unchecking the relay option in settings…
If that’s your concern, definitely don’t use Plex.
Or IPTV
I deleted Plex from my barely functional home server.
I’ll give Jellyfin a try. I just want to be able to access my music away from home
Use Finamp for offline Music from Jellyfin
I prefer Symfonium
As in, symfonium.app? If so, seems questionable, given its proprietary nature and unavailability outside the play store. Although, the feature set is interesting.
Edit: yeeeah, no
From their FAQ:
licences checks requires a call to the verification server from time to time
The license is tied to your Google account
Correction. Use the finamp beta version, unless that recently made it out of beta.
They would charge you to watch your own DVDs if they could
… A fee for adding content to each media, capped libraries? What is next?
Let’s brainstorm guys ;D
nice try Plex
Still don’t get why people use Plex over Jellyfin
Because comparitively, jellyfin sucks.
Once they reach some semblance of feature parity, then you can in good faith ask this question.
Jellyfin does everything it needs to. Movies, tv, metadata, music. What else?
that is the most basic list of features… if something implemented only that list id consider it an alpha
the thing im waiting on to switch is skip buttons on intro/outro/etc across all platforms i care about
It has that.
it does not have that on apple tv, thus it does not have that on all platforms that i care about - in fact, that’s the main, if not only platform that i really care about
heck, it doesn’t have skip buttons on any platform: it places chapter markers, which is a great implementation!… if they also added metadata that showed a button overlay for “special” chapters like this as wellupdated and checked again - they do add buttons now, but still not on tvosall of this is fine, and i’m sure they’ll get there but it’s disingenuous to say that everything is at feature parity with plex
I will make the switch once they revoke my lifetime pass, but in the meantime I’m really hoping that Jellyfin gets a face lift. I’ve tested Jellyfin a good bit and it mostly has feature parity for everything I care about, but it’s UI is objectively uglier than Plex’s
Inertia, mostly.
Of course Plex then takes advantage of that with the slow erosion of the free edition.
because it’s actually usable?
I didn’t realize my setup wasn’t usable. What does plex offer that makes the usability so much better? I considered plex for my newish setup but if anything, all the privacy controversies and charging for features was more unusable to me than anything I’ve noticed with Jellyfin
since the last time I checked (could be they’ve made progress since then):
- subtitle auto sync
- smart collections
- way better support for downloads, particularly transcoded ones
- skip intro and credits
- better UI (this one is subjective but I did find annoying little bugs often)
- I’ve found that it takes way longer to update & scan larger libraries
- overall disparity between clients on different platforms (in my case, webos, firetv and iOS).
in short it’s a lot of tiny little things that make my overall experience just annoying.
Client Support is way better, Hardware transcoding is more reliable and easier to set up (as in you don’t have to in Plex), UI/UX is better (if you can live with removing Plex’ stuff once from your homescreen), that also means the settings, which I find convoluted in Jellyfin. The media matching is way worse and I won’t go through thousands of folder to rename them just because Jellyfin only accepts one singular way to name things
bad take, jellyfin is great.
bad take, people are allows to have opinions that aren’t yours
Not about jellyfin being bad. One of the best FOSS
I am a lifetime Plex Pass User… I am not affected by their BS… Yet (watch together is going though).
you are, though. your personal information (like usage data) is going through them
No no, they promised they don’t do that nasty stuff, I gotta believe them.
It’s a lot easier to setup and get non-techy family to join. Setting up Jellyfin is easy until you want access outside your LAN. Setting up TLS or a VPN is a hassle I don’t want unless there is no other option. Plex has features I (and my family) use that jellyfin doesn’t support by default yet. Last I checked syncing of files for offline viewing in the official app wasn’t very good yet. Plex has a bunch of ad supported live streams baked in that aren’t too bad. There is a “How It’s Made” channel, a Mythbusters channel, and Top Gear channel. PlexAmp isn’t perfect, but it’s better than any of the Jellyfin options I’ve seen.
In my own house, or just myself. Jellyfin is fine. I haven’t spent as much time on it though compared to Plex.
Plex has its own user auth, I don’t need to manage that. My friends and family don’t have to hit me up for password resets.
It has apps on pretty much every device.
Users can just log in. They don’t need to know what server to type in.
Just gonna drop this link here for anyone who’s interested in a 3rd party Jellyfin user management application. This fixes the issues related to inviting users and allowing them to reset their own passwords. Would obviously prefer all of this built into jellyfin, but solutions do exist for those determined enough.
Yer it’s clear people who go on about not understanding either have small circles of users, or don’t actually support people…
You aren’t getting Pop and Nan to understand how to troubleshoot or setup Jellyfin access on their old TV compared to just throwing in a Chromecast or fire stick and having Plex auto logon with an account you setup for them if the couldn’t. Makes life a ton easier, even at the cost of other liberties.
They just want to watch Zulu or Are you being Served again, nothing more.
TIL that jellyfin doesn’t support an actual password reset. I’ve never had to actually try. That’s somewhat disappointing.
It syncs all movie covers and metadata automatically. When I used jellyfin last, this was a struggle.
It’s only an issue if the files aren’t properly named. If you’re using *arr this won’t be an issue. E.g. “Title (Year) - TMBD/TVDB ID” works flawlessly.
That’s good to hear. I’ve got an arr setup so this is promising whenever plex becomes unusable to me.
Definitely not an issue anymore
For me?
- Remote Play (I’ve never been able to get it to consistently work on every device with Jellyfin)
- PlexAmp is awesome
- LiveTV
- IPTV
- Way better clients
- Numerous small little issues.
There’s FinAmp for jellyfin. There’s also support for LiveTV and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least a plugin for IPTV.
LiveTV refers to a PlutoTV like service for Plex. There are a lot of amazing channels, but the big gain for me is having broadcast news networks.
FinAmp really isnt up to PlexAmp yet. PlexAmps “guestdj” mode is really awesome and it still doesn’t have a Carplay App which kills it right there for me.
I paid Plex Pass Lifetime for peanuts (maybe $50 or $75) a decade ago, not using it would mean wasting that so yeah…
Because some of us bought the lifetime Plex Pass for cheap many years ago and it’s what our family is used to. Plex also passes the “wife test”, and my kids use Plexamp on their phones for music.
Not gonna stop me from ditching Plex in the not-too-distant future though, once I figure out Jellyfin and another local music streaming app that doesn’t have an interface stuck in 1997.
The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature.
What “resources” do you need, exactly, to allow my friends to stream from my server?
As long as you have Plex pass it’s all good and nothing changes. That said, this was exactly my reaction. Plex expends exactly zero fucking resources for my server, so wtf is this shit supposed to mean?
I’m pretty sure that’s corporate speak for “we need to drive plex pass subscriptions more so we need to lock more feature behind it.”
This is 100% my opinion too.
I’m annoyed that I supported them and got a lifetime account on sale. At the same time I’m happy that I can take my time testing and moving my family and friends over to something else.
Developers to keep things up to date and secure. Which I wouldn’t mind paying for, but instead they spend it all on making Plex a social media that emails your friends a list of shows you watch? I can tell you right now that other than “watch together” no one is using the Plex social features on purpose
Pretty sure they’re also sunsetting watch together lol
LMAO that’s like 90% of the reason I went with plex in the first place. Just switched over to Jellyfin this weekend. Pretty seamless.
Just to make it clear to any other people reading this, Jellyfin has Group Sync where you can create groups with participants and syncplay media.
Paying devs
What does that have to do with my friends streaming from my server?
Their revenue stream is based on license fees for the software? So if they want to keep the lights on they need money
Okay so you agree it’s nothing to do with “resources” and everything to do with locking features behind paywalls to drive up revenue?
developers are a “resource” and they need to be paid. Do you want to keep getting updates for your server? Someone needs to do that and that someone wants to be paid in this case
Did they write their own software?
The software already exists, and has for decades.
Then just ask them if they would share their work for free, or recreate it yourself?
They’re already sharing it for free
they never said they needed resources for the remote playback… they said that they needed more resources - ie money to develop the software in general, and this are feature gating a useful feature to try and convince people to pay
they never said they needed resources for the remote playback…
That’s exactly what it sounds like to me…
that’s fine… but it’s not necessarily what it says. it’s ambiguous at best, but if they’d meant they need you to pay them for resources then theyd probably say it more outright
for real though, such a dumb decision on plex’s part lol
Yet again, FOSS showing why it’s always the way to go vs proprietary tech. So glad I started my self-hosting journey with Jellyfin!
I’m starting mine this weekend, what timing!
Right on!
Thus to all proprietary software!
Does anyone have any helpful guides on setting up jellyfin with a certificate so they can privately host it while also keeping it secure and up to date? I think if using docker it would make sense to use compose and configure traeffic proxy and use let’s encrypt for certificates.
Plex takes care of this for you with their cert and authentication systems. I feel like if user management and secure authentication is easy to set up then that is the primary reason to leave Plex. If I can just hand out accounts to anyone whom I would like to access my instance with ease then my family members could easily access it.
If one was to host from the home, using something like tailscale to host it online with forwarding a port would also be ideal.
Look into a thing called Caddy. It can do a few things but it makes certificates super easy. You will likely need to buy a domain tho. They can be cheap if you don’t care what its called.
Cool. I was just looking to see if someone had a guide because I’m trying to understand the pitfalls of doing it this way and I’m curious if anyone else has opened up Jellyfin to the world.
Does anyone have any helpful guides on setting up jellyfin with a certificate so they can privately host it while also keeping it secure and up to date?
You can expose jellyfin via a reverse_proxy like caddy2, godoxy, ssl-proxy, or you can use something like lego to directly manage your certificates without the proxy. Lego is great because it works with dozens of dns providers, even cloudflare.
Fuck around with proprietary software and find out.
