Important 2025 Plex Updates
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Personal Media and Beyond You’re going to be hearing a lot from us this year—we’ve got a ton of exciting...

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.

    • dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.comEnglish
      01·
      23 days ago

      Alright, so I have had Jellyfin installed for years now, but my primary issue is that most devices myself or my users use lack official, readily-available clients. For example, the Samsung TV app is a developer mode install. Last I looked, nobody has put a build into the store.

      I really want to use Jellyfin, but I feel like my users simply can’t. I’m interested in others’ experiences here that could help.

        • BakedCatboy@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          23 days ago

          I give all my friends the choice between Plex and jellyfin (I run both containers side by side pointed to the same media folders) and they all invariably choose Plex. I think it has a lot to do with the jellyfin UI, and I think an overhaul like jellyfin-vue or something that looks like findroid needs to happen in order for jellyfin to really appeal to regular people.

    • Limonene@lemmy.worldEnglish
      01·
      23 days ago

      Jellyfin depends on proprietary Microsoft .NET, even on Linux.

      It’s still better than Plex and Emby, which are fully proprietary, and have no source code. But I will stick with sshfs with kodi, and nginx plus mpv for now.

  • electric_nan@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    22 days ago

    I’m surprised by the resistance to Jellyfin in this thread. If you are using Plex, you’re already savvy enough to use bittorrent and probably the *arrs. If you can configure that stuff, Jellyfin is absolutely something you can handle. If you like Docker, there’s good projects out there. If you’re like me and you don’t understand Docker, use Swizzin community edition. If you can install Ubuntu or Debian, and run the Swizzin script, you’re in business.

      • Obelix@feddit.orgEnglish
        0·
        21 days ago

        I just setup jellyfin and it totally is the same. Install. Point it to a media folder. Setup port forwarding.

          • Obelix@feddit.orgEnglish
            0·
            21 days ago

            But let’s be honest - it really is not complicated. That was a one minute configuration in my router.

              • Obelix@feddit.orgEnglish
                0·
                21 days ago

                Ok, that is a totally different use case than mine. I’m one of those guys browsing a selfhosting community on the fediverse and I only want to stream my own stuff to my mobile and provide my wife with audiobooks. If you’re providing a bigger group of people with streaming services, who are not tech savvy, another software might be the better solution. But that doesn’t mean that Jellyfin is bad - it’s just another use case with different requirements

          • freebee@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            0·
            21 days ago

            That ease of outside LAN access poses a big risk tho. Plex can and eventually probably will share, be forced to share, get hacked etc Those cloud accounts imply the possibility of very detailed reports about who’s streaming what, when, where, from which source…

    • Swarfega@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      22 days ago

      Me too. Docker isn’t hard if you use a compose file. It’s easy to read syntax.

      Linux server.io has great documentation for their images.

      I have Jellyfin and Plex running from the same virtual machine pointing at the same media. If it wasn’t for the one crappy TV I have in my house with no Jellyfin client, Plex would be gone.

      • JasSmith@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        21 days ago

        Docker isn’t hard if you use a compose file. It’s easy to read syntax.

        This is giving me “yaml isn’t hard to use if you use a compose file!” It is, actually. It’s easy for you because you understand the technology. The vast majority of people do not.

    • MrSelatcia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      21 days ago

      I think I represent a huge portion of Plex users; I am tech savvy enough to follow a simple walkthrough on YouTube to get my server setup. But the arrs, jellyfin, and docker both look like graduate level chemistry to me.

      Plex has been around for ages and they have put money into making things easier for users like me to understand with events such as Pro Week and directly paying content creators to dumb things down for me.

      • electric_nan@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        21 days ago

        I’ve got to admit that I’ve never used Plex (I’m a cantankerous open software fanatic), but how do you get your media on there? You’re hosting your own server so presumably you’re downloading the media somehow. Are you doing it manually? If so, you can do the same with Jellyfin. Is it automated with some tool built into Plex?

        • MrSelatcia@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          14 days ago

          I’m ripping it with makemkv, actually. I have a fairly large blu ray collection that is slowly going onto my DAS.

    • kieron115@startrek.websiteEnglish
      1·
      21 days ago

      Ease of setup was how I just got one techie friend and two non-techie gamer friends to set up Plex servers and we had libraries shared to each other within 15-30 minutes. I don’t want to think about explaining VPNs and SSL to them for the alternatives.

  • yarr@feddit.nlEnglish
    4·
    21 days ago

    I keep a Jellyfin instance running as a hedge. Here’s the thing with Plex (and actually a lot of companies set up similarly): those “lifetime” memberships are a trap. Think about it: Plex gets your money ONCE but they have ongoing expenses. Sooner or later, they’ll have spent every single cent made by a lifetime membership unless they either get more folks OR squeeze everyone a bit more.

    Once they started adding their own shows and making strange UI decisions, I could sense the end was coming. A move like this brings it up fast. Jellyfin is not nearly as good as Plex in a lot of ways, but it’s really Open Source.

    Anyway, a lot of rambling, but in short: when there is a “lifetime” subscription, watch out!

    • waitmarks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      21 days ago

      Yes, it’s one thing to offer a lifetime subscription early on to get a large cash infusion and reward early adopters, but it’s a big red flag if they don’t get rid of the lifetime subscription eventually. What will happen is one by one, the people that use the service the most will switch to lifetime and your cash flow will dwindle. Eventually the only people left on the month to month are the casual users who don’t use it very often and will leave as soon as a price increase happens.

  • yarr@feddit.nlEnglish
    3·
    21 days ago

    A big part of the appeal with Plex is that you can run a server and friends can sign up for a FREE account and stream remotely. When you take this away, you’re going to just kneecap the whole offering. This is such an arrogant move from Plex: they are thinking that when this change goes live they will get a flood of subscriptions. The more likely outcome is they will get a few subscriptions and a lot more angry and frustrated people that walk away.

    • Zacpod@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      20 days ago

      Friends can still stream for free, as long as the server is paying for plex pass. That was my main concern, too, but they make a point of stating it directly in the release.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    22 days ago

    Wireguard so you are always seen as being on the local network. This bit of assholery is easily defeated.

  • spacemanspiffy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    21 days ago

    I used to use Plex, then one day my internet was down and since Plex couldn’t phone home, it wouldn’t let me log in to watch media ON MY LAN.

    So yeah it’s inherently broken. That’s before you even consider the licensing.

    • kieron115@startrek.websiteEnglish
      1·
      21 days ago

      i’m not sure why it would do this, i’ve never had any issues with watching plex while the internet is down (in fact that was one of my original uses for it, to have movies and tv in a building without internet). I don’t have it turned on but I do know you can go into server settings -> network and set a list of IPs/subnets that can access without any authorization at all. That lets you use plex without even having a plex account afaik.

  • profilelost@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    2·
    23 days 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.

  • Xartle@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    They seem to be getting a lot of hate for this, but Plex is not FOSS… They have the roots but they currently have like 100 paid employees and are trying to make a business out of it. They have to do something to make money to pay people every month. My $75 10 years ago isn’t going to do much for that… The fact that they’ve made it this far without folding is impressive.

    • SayCyberOnceMore@feddit.ukEnglish
      1·
      22 days ago

      Yep, it’s something that more people need to consider to keep their free (as in the source code is not a prisoner) software going

      It looks like jellyfin costs ~$500/MONTH just for their hosting fees: https://opencollective.com/jellyfin

      If everyone using jellyfin contributed $1/month, I bet that would be covered

      (No, I’m not affiliated with them)

  • quack@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    Can’t say I have a huge issue with this - Plex isn’t FOSS and the infrastructure to make this happen isn’t free. Other options are available if you don’t want to pay the fee.

    • Tilgare@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      22 days ago

      But what infrastructure does this feature require? I’m direct connecting to my own personal server with perhaps credential handling and a handshake handled by Plex servers to connect. None of the media is passing through their servers - or it shouldn’t be if it is.

      • Captain Janeway@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        21 days ago

        In a nutshell, if your app isn’t able to make a direct connection to your Plex Media Server when you’re away from home, we can act as sort of a middle man and “relay” the stream from your server to your app. To accomplish this, your Plex Media Server establishes a secure connection to one of our Relay servers. Your app then also connects securely to the same Relay server and accesses the stream from your Plex Media Server. (In technical terms, the content is tunneled through.)

        So, your Plex Media Server basically “relays” the media stream through our server so that your app can access it since the app can’t connect with your server directly.

        Source: https://support.plex.tv/articles/216766168-accessing-a-server-through-relay/

        It’s not a requirement to stream and it’s sort of dumb they are lumping this relay service as a part of the remote streaming. Remote streaming should be allowed for free - if you are not a subscriber. The relay should just be a paid service, which makes sense. But if it’s a direct connection to my server, it should be free.

        That being said, I understand how Plex may have built some technical debt into this relay system. It might be hard for them to decouple the relay from the remote streaming. What they should have done is:

        We are removing the relay service as a free service, but you can still do remote streaming with a direct connection.

        And they should have built their architecture in a way that’s easy to decouple the two services.

        • Tilgare@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          21 days ago

          Thanks for that - I wasn’t aware of the relay service, but completely agree that this is what they should be charging for and not the remote play feature in its entirety. I’ll probably drag it out for a while by refusing to update the app and server… Might be able to make it work with Tailscale as others have suggested.

          In the past I’ve paid for a month or two when I wanted to download to my devices remotely (and I think that’s the singular feature that I’ve ever cared about in the Plex pass). But to take features away and then try and charge me for them is a bridge too far, I can’t support that bad behavior.

          • Captain Janeway@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            21 days ago

            I paid for the lifetime membership ~6 years ago so I’m going to stick with it. Plus I just use it for my own home. It’s not like I’m serving a bunch of other clients. But I’ll switch to Jellyfin if the lifetime membership ever gets taken away.

  • jivandabeast@lemmy.browntown.devEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    The audacity of this company to increase prices when:

    A) downloads are locked behind the paywall but havent worked in years (probably close to a decade at this point)

    B) they focus all the development time on bringing bullshit to the platform (live tv, rentals, other streaming app searches, etc)

    Requiring a subscription for remote access is actually fucking insane, they don’t have any bandwidth costs associated with that other than authentication so ???

    This will drive people to Jellyfin, and watch how fast Plex drops into irrelevance when all the selfhosters move away. Plex is (now was) the #1 thing to that both myself and others in this community would recommend to someone looking to get into selfhosting. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ not anymore, wonder how much the revenue will drop?

  • TedZanzibar@feddit.ukEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    Judging by the rest of the thread I’m going to get downvoted for this, but what the hell:

    I’m sure I’ll switch to Jellyfin eventually but I tried it out a few weeks ago to see what all the hype was about and it just… wasn’t great. It was difficult to setup, with way too many overly-complicated settings, and then it refused to play one of the two test files I tried. Like it or not there’s a reason that Plex is the dominant player in the game, and a large part of that reason is that it verges on plug-and-play for simplicity of both setup and use.

    Yes, it sucks that they’re removing remote streaming for free users, but I imagine there’s a significant chunk of users who don’t know or care how to properly open their server up to the world and are relying on the Plex proxies for their streams (which happens entirely in the background), and those aren’t going to be cheap to run. Maybe putting them behind a paywall will provide the resources to make them faster.

    I did buy a lifetime pass last time they announced a price hike; it’s honestly paid for itself many times over, and I’ve been encouraging other users I know to do the same before this next one, because yes, it is a significant hike this time around. That said, while I wouldn’t pay monthly for it, I do still feel like the lifetime pass is tremendous value for such a polished product. It’s a shame they’ve had to do it at all, but I don’t begrudge them for it.

    • brot@feddit.orgEnglish
      1·
      22 days ago

      It was difficult to setup

      I’m not really sure here - I just did the setup and you literally paste one command into your terminal. There you’ll find the Jellyfin IP and port, visit it in a browser and you’ll get a simple wizard which guides you into setting up your libraries. Which also is not complicated, you just select a folder where your stuff is?

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      21 days ago

      I imagine there’s a significant chunk of users who don’t know or care how to properly open their server up to the world and are relying on the Plex proxies

      That seems like the obvious place to put a subscription that won’t get people upset. Or maybe it’s in the presentation.

      When HomeAssistant started a subscription, they renewed their commitment to opensource, added new remote features with obvious costs under subscription while still letting you do it yourself, plus made it clear this funded continued opensource development. I happily pay this and haven’t been disappointed. Did Plex fumble a similar opportunity?

    • Randomgal@lemmy.caEnglish
      01·
      22 days ago

      This is what people don’t realize. If you want something good, you have to pay people for their time and talent. Free products that are free because of ideology are just exploitation with extra steps.

      • chaospatterns@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        22 days ago

        That’s a good reason for people to take the money they would have spent buying a proprietary solution and instead donate that money to an open source project. For me it’s not always about the cost, but what I get out of it. I’d rather the money go to the community and better it.