this post was submitted on 01 May 2025
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cross-posted from: https://poptalk.scrubbles.tech/post/2333639

I was just forwarded this someone in my household who watches our server. That's it folks. I've been a hold out for a long time, but this is honestly it.

They want me to pay to stream content that I bought from my hardware transcoded also on my hardware.

I'll say it. As of today, I say Plex is dead. Luckily I've been setting up Jellyfin, I guess it's time to make it production ready.

Edit: I have a Plex Pass. More comments saying “Just buy a plex pass” are seriously not getting it. I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.

And for the thousandth person who wants to say the same things to me:

  • YES I know I'm unaffected as a Plex Pass owner.
  • My users were immediately angry at it, which made me angry. Our users don't understand what plex pass is, and they shouldn't have to, that's why I had it. The fact that they were pinged even though it should have kept working is horribly sloppy
  • Plex is still removing functionality. I don't care that "People should pay their fair share". If Plex wants to put every new feature behind a paywall, that's completely okay. They are removing functionality.
    • "But they have cloud costs". Remote streaming is negligible to them. It's a dynamic DNS service. Plex client logs in, asks where server is, plex cloud responds with the IP and port of where server is located. That's it.
    • "Good luck finding another remote streaming" - Again, Plex just opens up an IP and port. Jellyfin also just opens up an IP and port (Hold on jellyfin folks I know, security, that's a separate conversation). All "remote streaming" is is their dynamic dns. Literal pennies to them. Know what actually is costing them money? Hosting all of that ad-supported "free" content that they're probably losing money on.

In short, I don't care how you justify it. Plex is doing something shitty. They're removing functionality that has been free for years. I'm not responding to any more of your comments repeating the same arguments over and over.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago

As someone, who started with jellyfin, I never saw the reasons for the existence of Plex. There is no difference and people pay for it?

Hey Plex users, save your money and buy a coffee for the jellyfin team!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Should have use libre software from the start my guy! Jellyfin / Kodi let's go

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

"Your friends" hahaha good joke

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

How does this affect people who bought the lifetime service back in 2010?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

It doesn't, even when you share the Server, your users will be able to stream remotely.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago

Heloooooo Jellyfin!

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 day ago

I don't see this talked about much anymore, but the day Plex added telemetry in 2017 was the day I became five-alarm desperate for an alternative. Had to wait a 2-3 years with Plex's telemetry IP's and domains blacklisted before Jellyfin was mature enough for me to make the change.

How Plex users can be comfortable with any telemetry is beyond me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Do you guys know a way on jellyfin to download media to the phone in lower quality/ less storage intense? This is the only thing I miss in my jellyfin instance

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

There are several third-party clients that you could try, depending on which OS you are using

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Not really a big deal for me but I looked around and couldn't find anything sadly. My media is generally 2k with a larger phone it hasn't hit me to hard to switch seasons in and out (as they allow bulk downloads of seasons). Certainly would be a good feature I'd say!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The business model here is to basically paywall one user sharing (probably) pirated content with another person?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I can't imagine how that could go tits-up for them in court

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I’m sure their TOU moves all risk and liability to the users, so if anyone is getting sued, it’ll be the users.

The more likely outcome is that Plex just loses most of their users, since pirates (the majority of Plex users) won’t be willing to pay to access the content they already pirated.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

I started on Plex and even considered a lifetime Plex pass, but I felt like it was more interested in showing their content than my content. It was a lot of effort just to show music and movies.

My family and I use jellyfin every day now, and a key thing is it starts off boring but it shows your music, your movies, your books, your photos.

For folks who migrate who were paying, consider a donation to projects you make heavy use of. They don't usually have big companies behind them and can use the help.

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