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
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      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
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        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
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        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
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            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
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                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
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                  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.

                • RBG@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  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
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        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
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        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
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          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
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            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
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              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
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                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
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        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
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            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
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              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
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      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
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        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
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        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.

    • dasr@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Regarding downloading from other people’s libraries, I believe they need to allow you to do so. I have a library that was shared with me, but I can’t download anything from them, although I can save it “offline” via the Plex app. The unfortunate thing is that the offline function doesn’t not work very well at all, it works about 20% of the time for me on iOS and Android.

    • tinykingdoms@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      you’re not wrong… but you gotta give credit where credit is due. Plex does a good job of having a client on every platform. Telling family and friends “search for plex on your devices app store” is a whole hell of a lot easier than having them jump thru all the hoops that it takes for jellyfin to work.

        • ech0@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          OK great. Now to that on your Roku, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, smart phone, etc. There aren’t clients for every platform and the ones that do exist frankly are just not even close to as polished looking as Plex is.

          • dustojnikhummer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 year ago

            Fortunately Roku doesn’t exist in my country. Jellyfin has apps for AndroidTV, AppleTV and smartphones. It really only lacks an app for consoles

    • trimmerfrost@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Because Plex provides you with the user interface to access your own content. Atleast that’s how I like to think about it

  • BitterSweet@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Jellyfin is a great alternative if you’re okay with webports.

    Plex is definitely worth plex pass though. Many features and it works well on any device.

    • thepianistfroggollum@lemmynsfw.com
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      1 year ago

      Eh, plex has been super buggy on my FireTV Cube. For some reason it always jumps back like 6 episodes in a show or just picks a random season when we resume playing the next day.

  • prince of space@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    What sealed the deal for me was skip intro. Incredible feature I don’t believe any other option has.

    Wait for lifetime memberships to go on sale if you can. There are a few sales a year. Usually on Black Friday.

  • Tronrocks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I bought the lifetime pass when it went on sale a few years ago. I have used the hell out of it and loved plexamp before that feature was available to non Plex pass users. If I had to buy it now, I might just go with an open source alternative like jellyfin.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What worked for me was subscribing for a month, then cancelling. A couple months later, I got an offer for discounted PlexPass, including the lifetime subscription.

  • Wooly@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I sub for the skip intros alone, turns out it affects everyone who watches on your server which is great.

    I don’t really utilise any other aspects of Plex Pass but £4 isn’t much to me and Plex is insanely useful to me.

  • ChrisFhey@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I feel like it is, but, be on the lookout for a sale and get the lifetime option when there’s a sale.

    • abbadon420@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      Do you know if there’s any frequency to the sale? Like, once per year? Once per quarter? Every major holiday? Or you haven’t a clue?

      • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I don’t really pay attention having bought the lifetime pass years ago, but I do see mentions of it being on sale at least a couple times per year. You may wait for black friday in November if you’re interested but don’t mind waiting.

      • ChrisFhey@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I’m not sure. I remember I was waiting for it to go on sale when I needed it, and it happened pretty quickly. But I don’t know if it happens at any set intervals.

      • Limewirelord@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        It goes on sale a couple times a year. If you check Slickdeals, you can find the last few times it was on sale. It is always on sale during Black Friday though.

  • Nach@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 year ago

    I bought it when it was a one time payment. It’s been worth it but I don’t think I would do it if it was a monthly fee.

    • abbadon420@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      They have monthly, annual and lifetime subscribtions. I’m gonna wait for the sale to buy a lifetime subscription.

  • Mugmoor@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I used to have a Plex Pass, but I dont think it’s worth it anymore. I have remote access via Tailscale, which I use for a number of other services as well.

  • Overzeetop@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    If you pay the one time fee or the subscription fee, the system unlocks all the paid features for all of the users on your account. Under your account you can have multiple users, each with their own viewing history (and restrictions, iirc). So if your users log into Plex on their devices using your account username and password - abbadon420 and Hunter1 - and then select their user profile, they will all have access to the features.

    The one time fee unlocks forever (the lifetime of Plex, of course) and the subscription unlocks the features for the term of the subscription and then you revert back.

  • mawp@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Not sure if you wanna weigh this in as a reason to choose one or the other, but with the one-time purchase you can only stream via Plex on mobile. If you want to download the file and then watch it at a later time WITHOUT streaming you need Plex Lifetime (I made this error!)