this post was submitted on 01 May 2025
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cross-posted from: https://poptalk.scrubbles.tech/post/2333639

I was just forwarded this someone in my household who watches our server. That's it folks. I've been a hold out for a long time, but this is honestly it.

They want me to pay to stream content that I bought from my hardware transcoded also on my hardware.

I'll say it. As of today, I say Plex is dead. Luckily I've been setting up Jellyfin, I guess it's time to make it production ready.

Edit: I have a Plex Pass. More comments saying “Just buy a plex pass” are seriously not getting it. I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.

And for the thousandth person who wants to say the same things to me:

  • YES I know I'm unaffected as a Plex Pass owner.
  • My users were immediately angry at it, which made me angry. Our users don't understand what plex pass is, and they shouldn't have to, that's why I had it. The fact that they were pinged even though it should have kept working is horribly sloppy
  • Plex is still removing functionality. I don't care that "People should pay their fair share". If Plex wants to put every new feature behind a paywall, that's completely okay. They are removing functionality.
    • "But they have cloud costs". Remote streaming is negligible to them. It's a dynamic DNS service. Plex client logs in, asks where server is, plex cloud responds with the IP and port of where server is located. That's it.
    • "Good luck finding another remote streaming" - Again, Plex just opens up an IP and port. Jellyfin also just opens up an IP and port (Hold on jellyfin folks I know, security, that's a separate conversation). All "remote streaming" is is their dynamic dns. Literal pennies to them. Know what actually is costing them money? Hosting all of that ad-supported "free" content that they're probably losing money on.

In short, I don't care how you justify it. Plex is doing something shitty. They're removing functionality that has been free for years. I'm not responding to any more of your comments repeating the same arguments over and over.

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[–] 30p87@feddit.org 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I never got the idea of selfhosting but paying (except for enterprise-grade support or donations) anyway.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

For a good while, Plex was the only game in town that did the job well, and they put the transcoding feature behind the paywall.

Given it wasn't that expensive for a lifetime pass a number of years ago (I remember it was cheaper than a game anyway) and they still seemed relatively user-centric at the time, many people like me felt like they were supporting developers building something that was useful to us.

I still run my Plex server since it's not really costing me not to, but I've been running Jellyfin too for a little while and it more or less can do the same job these days

[–] chaospatterns@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

With Plex, you're getting the easy ability to grant access to users. You get a single pane that can search across multiple Plex instances, and NAT traversal/port forwarding. Jellyfin makes you figure that out yourself.

[–] NotKyloRen@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not exactly difficult if you use Tailscale or really any VPN. So I really don't see the value for the cost; if you're even considering self hosting a Plex server/instance, there's a list of basic knowledge you should have or learn (like what you mentioned).

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 1 points 1 year ago

It’s not exactly difficult if you use Tailscale or really any VPN. So I really don’t see the value for the cost;

Getting everyone that streams from your server to use tailscale or any other VPN every time they want to watch stuff from your server on any device they own is very difficult and basically a no-go. As someone that tried getting people who are using my plex server to use Tailscale so they could access my Overseer to request movies/shows, and basically no one would, it's a deal breaker.

[–] chaospatterns@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Its not difficult for technical people like you or me, but my friend who just wants to watch their favorite show on my Plex on their TV won't know how to traffic engineer the traffic over a Tailscale network to my network. My mom won't be installing Tailscale on her laptop and phone.

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As long as the technical person does all of the setup on their end, the non technical person only has to enter a domain and port in their jellyfin client.

[–] thundermoose@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you want to be on the hook for all IT requests from folks you share with, this is a fine approach. There are people out there who honestly don't have a problem with that and more power to them. I doubt they are the majority, and a lot of selfhosters completely ignore this aspect of software. There is a reason non-free services exist beyond just "capitalism bad." I mean, capitalism indeed bad, but your time is worth something.

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

I guess I haven't noticed that. The non technically literate folk I know use smart TVs, or can download Jellyfin from an app store. Then they just use the URL when the app asks for it.

There's no other configuring to do on their end.

[–] b3an@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

When they monitor what you watch and who you share it with, it’s enshittified. Fuck Plex. I used to be a lifetime drum thumper. Stopped a few years ago.

Plex doesn’t care about you, your comfort, ease. It wants your money and it wants to monitor and control what you do with your own data.

Fuck. That.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lol "Your Friends at Plex"

get fucked, assholes, Jellyfin is better anyway

[–] legion02@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Doesn't jellyfin just not do this at all? Like if you want to stream remotely you need to figure out a vpn solution to do it?

[–] charles@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

You're 100% correct. I always find it funny how hardcore some people are with jellyfin vs Plex. I'll probably end up getting downvotes on this but imo Plex is way simpler to setup and keep running, and as a lifetime pass owner, I've very rarely felt like my experience has been deteriorated by any of the changes that the jellyfin crowd freaks out about. Plus plexamp is honestly such a great music player. I'll happily keep running Plex for the foreseeable future.

[–] semperverus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

You can stream remotely via jellyfin if you expose your server to the internet. VPN is safer but not the only option.

[–] Adam@lemmy.gregw.us 2 points 7 months ago

Totally agree with this. Plex has been drifting away from what made it great — the whole “own your media” ethos. I’ve been slowly moving my setup toward Jellyfin too, and honestly, it feels so much more in line with self-hosted values.

If anyone still wants a simple, lightweight media streaming option (especially for Android devices), CloudStream APK has been surprisingly solid no paywalls, no cloud lock-ins.

[–] ozoned@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

YES JELLYFIN! Thank you Plex for enshitifying!

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And how are you doing remote streaming from friends with Jellyfin?

[–] TangledHyphae@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

I'm doing it with a jellyfin client to my friend's jellyfin server.

[–] ertai@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

Should have use libre software from the start my guy! Jellyfin / Kodi let's go

[–] j0ester@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That was announced 2 months ago?

[–] flightyhobler@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And? Does that make it alright? 😆

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No but the fact that software is reasonable to charge for does.

[–] Tanka@lemmings.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't you understand it's a feature that doesn't require any of there servers. It uses your internet. They could charge for other things but this one, no.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But they develop the software and need to fund that regardless of technical reasons.

[–] Tanka@lemmings.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok, they can still do that for better features and not just for something that can be done for free. They also went public and made a lot ofoney which now the investors also want. Not my problem.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are other options if you want something entirely free. I'm actually surprised that feature was ever free.

[–] Tanka@lemmings.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because you port forward and share your device to the internet and not use their server. It's obvious why it was free lol. Why are you suprised? And there were thousands of alternatives to plex that needed pay so it was obvious why they would make a free feature a free feature.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

Thousands..? Lol probably 3