You know...
For lemmy being so dead set on replacing everything propietary with (F)OSS they are really firm on only using/stayung with Plex and pay a 100$ for their pass instead of things like Jellyfin...
You can get a cheap domain (~8 digit .xyz is 0.80$/y) and use cloudflare tunnels. You won’t have to expose your home network and the setup is really easy. You will be dependent on Cloudflare but I feel they’re fairly reliable.
Create a cloudflare account
Buy a .xyz domain (on for example Namecheap) consisting of only digits, it should cost less than a dollar a year of you have the right amount of digits.
Set your domain to the Cloudflare DNS server. (You can find instructions on Cloudflare for this).
Go to zero trust and create a tunnel. This allows you to share traffic from your local device on your domain in the next step. (It shows instructions on how to install it on your server)
Add public hostname and create a subdomain for jellyfish and point it to localhost:JELLYFIN_PORT.
Note: You can also do this for other services you host but I recommend using a VPN to connect to your device / home network instead because it does not require exposing it to the internet.
Cloudflare is a decent service, with really good security. Plus, with their tunnelling feature, they’re helping to keep you private. If you just pointed your A record to your IP, that’d be visible to everyone. Instead, your A record is just visible to Cloudflare. Plus it’s handy if you’re using them to forward a bunch of services onto the net. Not to mention all the other security features you can use. DNS records by design, are not private.
Here, friend. Plex will send you an invite, use it on whatever device you have because it probably supports Plex
I share jellyfin with friends
Now download this app, no that one....no this one. Why does this one not work . What do you mean it doesn't exist. Now you need my help getting you going....
Sorry, Jellyfin is great if tech people but I run a Plex server so I don't HAVE to help anyone anymore.
Your credentials are:
Username: Friend
Pw: ***********
To watch search "Jellyfin" on the playstore or visit this link: Link to playstore Link to Windows JMP
Have fun.
Sorry but those are at best comfortable excuses of moving dependencies to another platform.
At most you'd need to train them on how to the same as before.
The only issue I'd seen so far were playback issues with non-standard encodings (audio codecs for example) and playback devices unable to work with whats reported...
But this is one of the rare uglies I have seen so far.
The problem I have with Plex is that default UI is bloated with recommendations, alternative sources and what might as well be ads. Meaning I need to help less technically literate (and sometimes technically literate) friends set up the UI anyway. Just so that they can actually cut through the piles of bullshit to see my server content.
Plex's default UI is ruined by it trying to shovel its extra shit onto you constantly, making it a terrible new user experience.
At least with Jellyfin you connect to the server and you're done. It's a lot more manual, but the UI is just better and easier to navigate.
I say this as an avid Plex user, mostly due to Jellyfin having somewhat dodgy support for more advanced audio and video codecs
The problem I have with Plex is that default UI is bloated...
Also an avid Plex user.
The Plex new user experience is absolute garbage. What if you just want to share a family video with your grandma? Someone better be there to do the initial app setup because it is overloaded with nonsense like Discover. Sharing Plex with a normal person? You still need to walk them through setup or they will not find your stuff, and stumble into the ad-supported streams.
Oh, and every client app is kinda different, which is terrible.
I do use and like Plex but man, I wish they would make some changes.
I use emby Plex and jellyfin. Plex just started it all so that's where my library began. It's clean and everything looks good. It will take me considerable time to migrate off it. I also paid 75$ for it in 2014, so I think that makes my point.
Jellyfin has always been on the back burner as a to-do, because I'm a huge advocate for open source.
I originally setup Plex and was immediately unhapy with their always online model as well as really poor support on their forums.
Pretty quickly moved to Emby and have been happy since (7 years). It's not FOSS but it's not locked down nearly as much as Plex, and they have a focus on keeping your info within your own systems. No telemetry.
I don't mind paying a bit to support development, especially when they offer lifetime options instead of being stuck with a monthly subscription.
Jellyfin has branched out more into niche features like watch parties, leaaving some stability to be desired. Especially with apps like smart TVs. Emby has focused more on its core reliability across all platforms, comming up with a product that's nice and stable pretty much everywhere.
Jellyfin was a fork of Emby when Emby went closed source as users kept removing the paywalls for premium features. Development time isn't free; that's not sustainable for a fulltime dev. Since, Jellyfin has barely kept up, lacking the resources/funding to really flesh out their code. (hell, ~75% is still embys code AFAIK)
Yeah, but relying on peoples generosity is less than ideal unfortunately...
On the other hand; when you've got to pay to use a product, you're a bit more entitled to its use and support than a free project that gets worked on at the devs leisure. Especially when the developers maintain that same view.
It's a fine line between securing stable income for your efforts while not limiting the usage of your products. I think Embys developers have done a pretty good job keeping that balance. I've certainly never had an issue with the activation and use of premium features, and the licence I bought 7 years ago has held excellent value. I've just been waiting on some funds to donate ontop as I feel I've gotten more than I've paid for.
It would be great if the Jellyfin Devs could have some sort of paid service that just does all the DNS/reverse proxy stuff required for remote access, and charge like £5 a month for it.
They would just have to make it clear that the money is going towards further development, not just for the actual service. And obviously continue to allow others to set things up themselves if desired.
I'd pay for that so quick, it would just be so convenient
Not me. I set up my server last November and tried Plex. It reminded me too much of too many services starting to lose their way. Given recent events it looks like I was right. We use Kodi because my partner prefers it, but I really like Jellyfin myself. It was a learning process but really only took two or three hours with research time to set up. Costs me nothing and I don't have any ads, upselling, or any other BS that will eventually turn into more extreme attrition.
Plex is definitely trying to monetize and I am wary of how they will reconcile all of the discount lifetime passes that were sold over the years
But I still think it is "good". Yes, they are adding in hooks for different services and are technically a service of their own (every month there is a "free" movie they offer that I tell myself I will watch and then I never do). But all of that can pretty easily be hidden if I just want access to my library and the libraries of my friends. Its very much a case where the extra features are not getting in the way of the core functionality.
I have "see if jellyfin is viable" on my todo list and have been checking in for years now. Basically every time I do it is "This looks better than it used to be but X or Y is still a headache". Hopefully that will change if/when Plex shits the bed. But they haven't so it isn't really a concern for me.
Jellyfin is awesome! It does everything I could ask for and has been super stable for myself and a dozen friends and family.
Almost all my media is 4k and some version of HDR. My cheap Intel ARC A380 and jellyfin handle everything beautifully. I tried plex but it's hardware transcoding wasn't as good with Intel GPU on Linux.
Very easy if you're building a new box. The latest Linux kernel (6 I think) has all the required drivers available, and no encoding limit like Nvidia. The Intel GPUs are pretty great for media transcoding.
Personally I setup an old Dell r720 and stuck the GPU in that. My hypervisor is proxmox and I just run jellyfin as an unprivileged container.
Sure thing. My electric rate is pretty cheap though. You may be better off finding a small box with integrated graphics in the CPU. Then add storage separately. Connected NAS or something else.
But I like the Dell servers since they're so cheap for the value.