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.

  • Green Wizard@lemmy.zip
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    2 hours ago

    I moved on to jellyfin after I found out the hard way Plex servers need to authenticate for use. I’m sure by now there are ways to set up offline authentication but I already didn’t like the idea of paying monthly to stream my own content from my own machine. It just didn’t make sence to me. Jellyfin isn’t perfect, or as flashy as Plex, but it works, looks fine, and its free, not counting a much deserved donation to the devs .

  • cantankerous_cashew@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    So basically… this is a blatant cash grab, and a nearly 200% one depending on the level of service you pay/paid for. Wonder how long it will be before the lifetime pass is discontinued and everyone gets forcibly moved over to a monthly subscription model

  • rekabis@programming.dev
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    3 hours ago

    I don’t like it, but it’s a pragmatic decision.

    Hosting for a simple website can be as little as a few bucks a month. That’s easy for any project to absorb, even if they are open-source with no one pulling a paycheque.

    Streaming requires high-performance, high-bandwidth machines that cost anywhere from several dozen dollars to several hundred dollars a month. You build a resilient high-availability network, and you could easily be looking at several tens of thousands of dollars a month.

    That isn’t easy to absorb, even for a for-profit company with clearly-defined revenue streams.

    Some people want everything for free, but free doesn’t pay the bills.

    Full disclosure: I don’t use the streaming feature. I prefer to grab actual copies to drop onto my NAS. I also don’t share to friends and family, as I am the only one I know of who uses Plex.

  • profilelost@discuss.tchncs.de
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    5 hours ago

    I’ve been meaning to set up a homeserver with plex recently but will defnitely go for jellyfin now that I read this thread.

  • PhAzE@lemmy.ca
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    8 hours ago

    As a plex pass lifetime user, this doesn’t change anything for me.

    I am, however, blown away that the price went from $75 CDN to $350 CDN over the last 10 years!! That’s just insane!

  • tane@lemm.ee
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    7 hours ago

    All these comments mentioning jellyfish and I haven’t see a single mention of emby. Is it considered bad or something? Because I switched over to it and I am liking it a lot better than plex so far

  • LoopingRiver@lemm.ee
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    6 hours ago

    So I have a lifetime Plex pass, but my friend (who is remote) does not. Does this change mean they have the have a Plex pass to connect to my device remotely?

    Edit: thanks for the info! After I posted I continued reading and realized that question was already answered! Appreciate the help!

  • Evotech@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    I’m not pirating a bunch of shows just to pay Plex for the privilege of watching it.