Is a plex subscription worth it? - eviltoast

I want to unlock the ability to view content on my mobile device. I can do that with a one-time purchase (payed with google opinion rewards) or with a subscription. I want to unlock the ability for my entire family though, across multiple devices. Do I have to pay the “one-time payment” for every device? If so, the plex subscription might be worth it. Is there any other major benefit to having a plex subscription?

    • nofunberg@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Jellyfin has more functionality but is a lot more technical to set up. I didn’t think it was worth the effort since I already have a Plex server running, but I could see going through that if I didn’t.

      Been running Plex with a lifetime pass for around a decade. Worth it for me for sure.

      • Uninvited Guest@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ve run both, and I found both required about the same level of technical understanding for an in house setup.

        I started with Plex as it worked nicer with my remote, then moved to Jellyfin when I picked up an Android TV. It was the hardware transcoding (without having to pay) that sealed the deal for me.

      • BlessedDog@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        1 year ago

        The dealbreaker about plex for me was having to use their auth servers and having to route traffic through them.

          • korewa@reddthat.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            12
            ·
            1 year ago

            You create logins on your server which is authenticated through them. I don’t think it routes traffic, just sends login tokens.

              • apprehensively_human@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                12
                ·
                1 year ago

                This is problematic because if Plex suffers an outage (which has happened before) users are suddenly unable to sign in. Even if your media server is running fine, through no fault of your own your content becomes inaccessible.

                Jellyfin does not have this issue because authentication is handled locally.

                However, Plex has too many nice features so I’ll be staying with them for the time being. Credits/intro skipping and Plexamp are a godsend, and the UI is in my opinion way better than what Jellyfin has.

                • ddh@lemmy.sdf.org
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  You can specify networks that don’t require authentication at Plex.tv. When our internet is down at home, we can still use Plex.

                  • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    The catch is that you need to set this up ahead of time as it can’t be done while in the middle of an outage. Also you’ll only be able to access the main server owner account.

                    Outages don’t happen too often these days, but I run Emby alongside Plex and it comes in handy in situations like this.

                • RBG@discuss.tchncs.de
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  There is a plugin which will hopefully be incorporated in the future, for intro skipping. Just google jellyfin intro skipper, its on github. Works ok, some series may beed manual intervention which I am not sure how well it works on Plex. But the point is, does exist for Jellyfin too.

      • Yote.zip@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago
        I haven't used Plex but Jellyfin is as easy as throwing this in Docker:
        ---
        version: "2.1"
        services:
          jellyfin:
            image: lscr.io/linuxserver/jellyfin:latest
            container_name: jellyfin
            environment:
              - PUID=1000
              - PGID=1000
              - TZ=Etc/UTC
              - JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=192.168.0.5 #optional
            volumes:
              - /path/to/library:/config
              - /path/to/tvseries:/data/tvshows
              - /path/to/movies:/data/movies
            ports:
              - 8096:8096
              - 8920:8920 #optional
              - 7359:7359/udp #optional
              - 1900:1900/udp #optional
            restart: unless-stopped
        

        (from linuxserver.io)

      • Barzaria@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        If you use Linux Mint, its a one click install from the software manager GUI and the config happens in a web browser. I use a VPN to connect and play videos from it on my phone. I like it and have it set up everywhere I can.

        • Auli@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          The only thing I can think of when people say jellyfin is more technical. Is there you have to set up port forwarding and some kind of DNS for your server for remote access.

          • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yes and you’ll need to handle security and authentication yourself. Plex is way better in this regard even if it means the very occasional issue when their servers are down.

            • Barzaria@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              My main bone to pick with Plex is that I believe that free and open source software should be gratis (free as in beer). You’re right about the authentication though. I have mine set up with a simple user name and password over http. I rely on the VPN to limit access to the network through a forwarded port. I don’t really like the idea of authentication being done on someone else’s machine for privacy reasons, which is why I choose jellyfin that runs on my local machine. I’m not currently sharing it, and if I did I would change some of my security practices.

              • deeznutz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                If you really need public remote access and you can set up jellyfin, it’s not much more difficult to set up authelia or LDAP with a reverse proxy and valid certs. I use tailscale and just leave simple auth with jellyfin since it’s only myself and family accessing. I used to run Plex for the offloading of authentication to them but I’m with ya, FOSS should be free.

      • paul@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s really easy to set up if you use Docker.

        I want to use Jellyfin, but the clients just aren’t up to par with Plex and last I checked Jellyfin won’t transcode downloaded media.

          • paul@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Last I checked, if you wanted to download media to a mobile device to watch later, you could only do that at full quality. Has that changed?

            • anteaters@feddit.de
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              Ah I see, I have misunderstood. I checked and you are correct that it is not possible to download anything but the original file.

    • korewa@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s weakness is client side apps. Most are web apps and not native. It’s getting better but in comparison plex has native apps on almost everything.

      I’m a lifetime plex pass user since 2016

      • yamdwich@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        I personally dislike the Plex apps, but yeah its native support is unmatched. The official Jellyfin app for Android gets the job done but isn’t native. However, Findroid seems like the future to me on Android and I use the Kodi plugin on my TV (which is amazing).

      • BitterSweet@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        This. I use game consoles as my base so I can stream and play games from one place.

        Jellyfin for xbox is using the controls to move a cursor around

        However Swiftfin and Findroid are making slow but steady progress for mobile devices.

      • zark@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Even as a lifetime plex pass subscriber, I have ditched it completely in favor of Jellyfin.