Honest question, because I know multiple people who are not looking to jump ship since they already have the Plex Pass.
I stopped using Plex because it was buggy for me, stopped using Jellyfin because it didn’t have an app for my smart TV, and now I use Emby because it’s pretty simple, works amazingly and is free.
Now, go ahead and tell me that Emby supports baby eating facists or something
I have tried it but having Plex handle the out-of-home routing for me securely is a great feature Jellyfin doesn’t have but doesn’t for obvious reasons and I justify that as why I pay Plex. I have thoughts and better knowledge now about how to properly implement it, but I’m not sure I want to rebuild my current setup that just works with very minimal upkeep.
That and I am on someone else’s Plex server who updates it much more than I do. Mine just supplements theirs with stuff they don’t have and one-offs I’ve wanted and found. I’d still be using Plex even if I did rebuild with Jellyfin today.
But if these price increases keep coming, I may make the switch. It’s tempting to shell out the money for the lifetime membership, but I don’t have faith in companies, including Plex, to keep up their end of the deal on these things.
I definitely have noticed that it is important to install metadata plugins like imdb, as well as fanart, in order to feel closer to Plex. Users like seeing Rotten Tomato and IMBD scores, in addition to cast info and such.
I have both. My main gripe with Jellyfin is the the Google TV app. It doesn’t seem to have an easily accessible skip 30 or jump to next chapter option. If that was improved, I might be ready to ditch Plex.
I’m aware of the intro skipper plugin. Also set my default skip under
Profile / Skip forward length / 30 secondsAlso, it seems Chapter Segments Provider was recently introduced as a plugin, which you’ll need to install to “Create media segments based on chapters.”
- See this docs section and plugin repo Hmm… not much info.
The UI didn’t support remotes on console and use tiles. Really amateur shit. No need to set up a reverse proxy. I have a lifetime, zero need to switch.
I have both. Plex is better with music at this time, which is a huge use for me. Jellyfin has a quicker UI and i swear looks better streaming to my TV, but could just be bias.
Jellyfin needs to fix their bugs around having the same artist listed multiple times in your library.
Plex was good for music for me until it started acting weirdly a few months ago. It started scanning my library nonstop and running my hard drives on full speed for days before I eventually caught it.
I was told it was the agent from Plex but changing that out didn’t fix the issue so I moved my stuff off there and have been working with Navidrome instead.
Have you tried PlexAmp? And, are you doing music entirely through the base Jellyfin app? Interesting to know you prefer the music experience on Jellyfin.
WhatI’ve noticed is that people who prioritize privacy and just want to watch their downloads on their tv usually use jellyfin and people who prioritize ux slickness and want to run an IPTV service for their friends and family usually use plex.
It’s not a matter of privacy vs UX. I actually think Plex has ruined their UX. But if you have friends and family, some are tech-illiterate, some have their own media servers, and you all want to share with each other quickly and easily, Plex is the only viable option. Same if it’s just you, but you travel a lot, and want to watch something from your home server without lugging around a device that has access to your VPN and a screen/hdmi-out.
Jellyfin is really only viable if it’s just you on your own network.
Just passing by from all, not much of a self-hoster myself, but I do have Plex running in my home. I just never really do much with it these days…it runs, I log into it and access my media. I’m not sharing with other people. I’m not using the other streaming services it tried to show me, etc. It works for now and I’m not invested enough to put in the work to switch to something else.
I will say/ask this though, I have a ton of music (video is secondary for me). I use plexamp on my phone all the time as my primary source of music. Does jellyfin do well with music + mobile pretty well out of the box?
I don’t have PlexPass btw
No free Apple TV app is kind of a deal-breaker. Even Emby has one. Also the Roku app still crashes fairly regularly for me just randomly either browsing or during playback.
I’d love to use it fulltime but I don’t want to have to buy new devices just to use it. Plex already works and I picked up a lifetime pass when it wasn’t insanely priced.
- Swiftfin app for Apple TV is free. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/swiftfin/id1604098728
- There is also the more recent Moonfin: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/moonfin/id6761283970
So, two free options for tvOS / Apple TV.
I’ve had little luck with Swiftfin. Last time I tried it, it wouldn’t connect to my server by IP: port.
That happened to me related to needing http:// https:// before the ip, then it worked. Also added avahi mdns, to use hostname.local instead of ip
Both are not nearly as polished/finished as the Plex app on AppleTV
I’m not switching at this time because I already bought a lifetime pass about 7 years ago. If ANY of my functionality gets changed by Plex then I’ll be switching
They already changed the authentication system a few years ago. Everything goes through their server now. You can’t self-host it.
Running Plex locally is still perfectly viable without going through their servers
I don’t know what this means and maybe I’m just not techy enough, but all my shit is on my PC, and if my PC is turned off it doesn’t work. Are you saying it goes through their servers? I’m just curious why it matters.
Can you explain what you mean by not being able to self-host?
They can’t because they’re just plain wrong. I’ve been self-hosting Plex (lifetime pass) for years so idk what they’re on about
You can, and whitelist your local network so you don’t have to log in.
The Apple TV client is basically unusable. Otherwise I would have switched already.
I’d be getting rid of apple whatever at that point
Why?
Because they’re an insufferable twat.
There’s still a bunch of outstanding API security issues last I checked, so it’s not secure enough for me to open to the web.
Teaching friends and family to use it with a VPN is a whole another can. Also, you’ll have to make sure the VPN is secure and users don’t have access to the rest of your network…
and then you’ll have to deal with client apps/access for mobile, android boxes, TVs, and Chromecasts…
I got lucky with the Plex Pass too so I can only ride this out to the end until Jellyfin catches up. (also, I’m not good to contribute code)
Any particular API security issues? Never considered exposing Jellyfin, but can certainly understand how it simplifies access.
This was the security report from awhile back:
https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/issues/5415
Lot’s of things have been fixed but theres still much to do. The issue was broken down to smaller issues for tracking and I check back every once in a while.
Even if there were no security issues, exposing jellyfin is also another can… choice of:
- open up ports
- cloudflare (and potential ban for video content on the free tier, even if caching is disabled)
- vps with enough bandwidth
Don’t you have to open a port for Plex remote access?
You do not but you’ll be severely bandwidth limited. It’ll go through their servers if a port can’t be opened.
Oh I forgot about that option
I think the difference is Plex offers a web address you can use for logging into Plex and for sharing it with others. So, you get a friendly admin interface with oauth for logging in from other popular services as the Plex user getting setup.
I absolutely love jellyfin and frequently take advantage of its features. But the client absolutely suck butt. When I can hardly get my mom to remember which app on her TV lets her watch what, I can’t also have her fucking around with play buttons that don’t do what they say, a “continue watching” list that’s often haunted by episodes that have been marked as watched, or inscrutable menu icons mashed into the top-right corner of a media browser.
And don’t get me started on getting people logged in on the client.
I only use my library with jellyfin and only locally. I left plex a few years ago. What I really want to set up next is a UI that uses a simple remote control and ditch the Roku interface so I can be seamlessly offline.
Like https://kodi.tv/ ?
I have both. Plex for family and Jellyfin for me. I still don’t have hardware transcoding working (probably a permission thing. It’s always permissions) and haven’t had much time to tinker this year. Plex just… worked.
I can use Jellyfin without transcoding, but only one or two users at a time is all my CPU can handle.
Are you running it on baremetal or in a VM?
Both are docker containers. It can detect the card, but ffmpeg crashes with an error and that’s as far as I got.
I haven’t given up, life just got busy for a bit as often happens.
Okay, I haven’t tried using docker, so I can’t help directly, but I set up my Plex server with help from Jellyfin documentation. You could probably find something in there about setting up hardware acceleration on docker, if you haven’t already. They should work with Plex, as well.
Oh, HW works on Plex just fine.
Same, directplay at 1080
