I think the biggest roadblock for jellyfin is setting up remote access in a way that has feature parity with Plex. Every one always says it’s so easy, just use tailscale, or zerotier, but that gets complicated when using different devices, or letting your non-tech family use your server.
I figured it out, but with zero experience, setting up my reverse proxy was pretty difficult. Then the plugins to get feature parity like skip intro support, is a far cry from opening a port for Plex.
In the end, jellyfin was totally worth it, plugins are awesome, and it can be less hassle at times when I’m trying to play a video. On the flipsode though, most people would not have the patience necessary to do all of that. If they aren’t interested in tech, and only want to watch videos on the go, it’s a non starter.
I don’t really see how that can be fixed though, without ending up giving power from your own media though. Admittedly, I’m just a scrub with an opinion.
Wireguard was remarkably easy to set up. Knowing nothing about it beyond “it’s a vpn thing right?” I set it up, tested it, and sent a qr code with setup instructions to my friend all from my phone without moving off the sofa. He was up and running in 5 minutes.
I need friends like yours. I’ll give you a hint on what I’m working with.
I built a mid-low end gaming PC for this person to game with them, since I live out of town and wanted to maintain a connection with them.
I setup Windows
I installed steam
Created their account
I made sure all their peripherals were good to go
I installed the game that I wanted to play with them before I left
I even gave them a walk through tutorial on how to get the games
At a later time, I decide that I want to try and play that game with them. Keep in mind I’m far out of town. When I call them and tell them to boot up the game. They say they can’t find it (impossible).
I spend like an hour on the phone trying to get them to boot up the game. Finally, someone who knows anything and that lives with them goes to check why steam, or the game isn’t there.
They were in FUCKING Razer Synapse
I spent an hour with them on the phone explaining every detail on how to get to the game and they spent that hour in Razer synapse.
I gave up anything technical from that point on. Luckily they’re much better at things now, but the people around me now, aren’t so much better.
What features are you talking about? I wasn’t using any Plex features that I don’t have on Jellyfin with just the basic “allow remote access” and port forwarding on my router. Maybe this is an issue with Windows as a lot of people seem to say it just doesn’t work even after doing that.
No, it’s a security thing for port forwarding. Opening a port and pointing directly at my home network isn’t recommended and isn’t nearly as safe as Plex’s central system (which comes with privacy issues). I’m running it on Linux, but the stock Jellyfin without plugins doesn’t have;
Intro detection/skip
Credits detection/skip
Thumbnails while seeking in video (in a meaningful way)
Subtitle search
Music sonic analysis, mood tags, style tags, etc.
Clients for game consoles/smart TVs
With plugins, Jellyfin can get some of these features, and can even exceed Plex is some areas, but it doesn’t have feature parity. The devs have even commented on this, saying that they want to end the v10 as an LTS, before building out a brand new backend/front end and clients with new features.
Fair enough. I don’t have an issue opening a port, but the computer its on is locally restricted and only runs as my media server. I may try looking for some interesting plugins, but I don’t use or care about any of those features. I’ve only used the android and roku apps for it which seem to work just fine.
I think the biggest roadblock for jellyfin is setting up remote access in a way that has feature parity with Plex. Every one always says it’s so easy, just use tailscale, or zerotier, but that gets complicated when using different devices, or letting your non-tech family use your server.
I figured it out, but with zero experience, setting up my reverse proxy was pretty difficult. Then the plugins to get feature parity like skip intro support, is a far cry from opening a port for Plex.
In the end, jellyfin was totally worth it, plugins are awesome, and it can be less hassle at times when I’m trying to play a video. On the flipsode though, most people would not have the patience necessary to do all of that. If they aren’t interested in tech, and only want to watch videos on the go, it’s a non starter.
I don’t really see how that can be fixed though, without ending up giving power from your own media though. Admittedly, I’m just a scrub with an opinion.
Wireguard was remarkably easy to set up. Knowing nothing about it beyond “it’s a vpn thing right?” I set it up, tested it, and sent a qr code with setup instructions to my friend all from my phone without moving off the sofa. He was up and running in 5 minutes.
I need friends like yours. I’ll give you a hint on what I’m working with.
I built a mid-low end gaming PC for this person to game with them, since I live out of town and wanted to maintain a connection with them.
At a later time, I decide that I want to try and play that game with them. Keep in mind I’m far out of town. When I call them and tell them to boot up the game. They say they can’t find it (impossible).
I spend like an hour on the phone trying to get them to boot up the game. Finally, someone who knows anything and that lives with them goes to check why steam, or the game isn’t there.
They were in FUCKING Razer Synapse
I spent an hour with them on the phone explaining every detail on how to get to the game and they spent that hour in Razer synapse.
I gave up anything technical from that point on. Luckily they’re much better at things now, but the people around me now, aren’t so much better.
What features are you talking about? I wasn’t using any Plex features that I don’t have on Jellyfin with just the basic “allow remote access” and port forwarding on my router. Maybe this is an issue with Windows as a lot of people seem to say it just doesn’t work even after doing that.
No, it’s a security thing for port forwarding. Opening a port and pointing directly at my home network isn’t recommended and isn’t nearly as safe as Plex’s central system (which comes with privacy issues). I’m running it on Linux, but the stock Jellyfin without plugins doesn’t have;
With plugins, Jellyfin can get some of these features, and can even exceed Plex is some areas, but it doesn’t have feature parity. The devs have even commented on this, saying that they want to end the v10 as an LTS, before building out a brand new backend/front end and clients with new features.
Fair enough. I don’t have an issue opening a port, but the computer its on is locally restricted and only runs as my media server. I may try looking for some interesting plugins, but I don’t use or care about any of those features. I’ve only used the android and roku apps for it which seem to work just fine.
That’s completely fair, your usage is the perfect one for jellyfin, and I’m a bit jealous. I almost regret sharing my server with my family. Haha