Plex has paywalled my server!
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If #3 is your use case, then yeah, pony up the fees. Or learn to code I guess.
So, like every other jellyfin fanboy, no real actual answer.
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To set it up “correctly”, yes. It’ll require owning your own domain, being able to configure it properly (with either a static IP, or DDNS to point to your server at home), knowing how to automate https certificate refreshes, and a few other things. Plex just requires forwarding a port in your router.
Right.
Even though I could do those things, I just want something that works.
Plex (or even Emby) fits that request.
Plus they both have an AppleTV app for fee that doesn’t suck.
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In this thread:
- An OP that doesn’t understand how their network is working
- People rushing to suggest a solution that they fawn over because it’s open source. I have yet to see anyone recommend Emby.
- “Tailscale will solve all your problems!” Great - how do I make that work on an LG TV that’s 100 miles away?
wrote last edited by [email protected]3 - An OpenWRT router with Wireguard connecting to another router 1000 miles away will do the trick.
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To set it up “correctly”, yes. It’ll require owning your own domain, being able to configure it properly (with either a static IP, or DDNS to point to your server at home), knowing how to automate https certificate refreshes, and a few other things. Plex just requires forwarding a port in your router.
I thought self hosting was about learning networking basics like DNS and setting up let's encrypt.
So much whining in here about the most simple stuff being too complex.
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Is it torrenting in the background? Because, if it is, then you need a VPN and I don’t know how to set one up on my LG TV. Would you happen to have a guide?
wrote last edited by [email protected]If you live in an area where you need a VPN to keep your ISP off your ass, well you're in luck because the Torrentio plug-in is compatible with Debrid services (Real-Debrid is a good one). They're cheaper than a VPN (less than €3/mo) and get you direct downloads which ISPs don't care about since you're not distributing files like you would with a torrent client. What's nice is that they work with any torrent—not just video—so you can download wherever you want at 1gbps speeds so long as the torrent has at least one seed. Since you're not actually interacting with the torrents themselves, there's no need for a VPN.
Setup is easy. The only thing you need to do is install the Stremio app on your TV, then open it and install the Torrentio plug-in. From there you configure your preferences like preferred resolution, language, etc, enter your Debrid service credentials if you have them; after that you install additional plug-ins for the kind of content you want. I'd recommend starting off with the Streaming Catalogs (lists popular content from Netflix, Amazon, Disney HBO, etc.)and Trakt.tv plug-ins (recommends content based on your viewing habits). There's also plug-ins for anime if that's your thing. Once you install the plug-ins you like, the only thing left to do is pick something to watch and enjoy.
You can also download the Stremio app to your phone and configure everything from there if you don't want to fumble with doing all of this with the TV remote. I'd recommend doing it this way so that all you have to do on the TV is fire up the Stremio app and enjoy.
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Every non-Free Software will betray you eventually. It's only a matter of time.
I thought free software was when you were the product and non-free software actually supported developers.
Or do you mean non-OSS?
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If you are using wireguard from the VPS to your home server, it buys you nothing more. If you have mobile devices connecting directly to the home server, Tailscale will let them connect directly in most cases, which is nice.
The direct connection is cool, I just wonder if a P2P connection is actually any better than going through a data center. There's gonna be intermediate servers right?
Do you need to have Tailscale set up on any network you want to use this on? Because I'm a fan of being able to just throw my domain or IP into any TV and log in
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Took a quick look at the free tier,
- 3 users
- 100 devices
- Basically all tailscale features
That seems pretty reasonable to me. Main account and two accounts to share. With just friends and family, I doubt most people will reach the 100 device limit.
Creating a tailnet using a custom domain is considered for business use.
Well, that sucks for me. I was planning on using my domain name.
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I thought free software was when you were the product and non-free software actually supported developers.
Or do you mean non-OSS?
Yeah, the wording is confusing. A long time ago, there was no paid software, there was only software where you got the source code and other software where e.g. it was pre-installed on some hardware and the manufacturer didn't want to give the source code.
In that time, a whole movement started fighting for software freedom, so they called their software "free".
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I'll add to #2 (IDK if it's open source, though):
Give Stremio a try. Once you set it up (basically just add the Torrentio plug-in then whatever content catalogs you want), the workflow is much better and simpler than Plex.
You just browse it like Netflix: see something you want to watch, select it with your remote, then stream it immediately. No server to run, you don't have to build libraries, you don't even have download the content beforehand. Just select and watch. Could not be easier.
Is Streamio considered safe/private? I remember looking into it a while back and saw something about needing an account on their servers or something.
I used Kodi with addons for ages but switched to jellyfin because kodi felt too clunky and slow for my wife.
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Is Streamio considered safe/private? I remember looking into it a while back and saw something about needing an account on their servers or something.
I used Kodi with addons for ages but switched to jellyfin because kodi felt too clunky and slow for my wife.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I'm not the person to ask this kind of question to. I use DNS-level tracking protection in my router (via NextDNS), but I'm not a privacy expert.
If you're living in a country where censorship is a thing and/or privacy is of upmost importance, then you should still use a VPN in addition to a Debrid service with Stremio. Or you can nix the Debrid and just use a VPN if you don't mind more buffering and all the downsides that come with torrents. (VPNs can be setup to run on a TV through DNS settings either on your router or TV itself, though this may not be 100% secure. Again, I'm not an expert.)
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Are you saying that you’re on your home network with your Plex server and it won’t let you play your media without paying? That’s not true if so. You must be outside the network.
wrote last edited by [email protected]My guess is they have VLANs and they didn’t set up the server to treat them as local traffic.
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I tried testing a movie from my home server in plex through firefox and repeatedly got this message, even after reloading.
I knew that they had paywalled the apps on mobile and streaming from outside the network but now they have also blocked watching your own movies through your own hardware.
I do get the point that making software should be able to sustain people but I dont see the move of plex as a fair thing to do. Yes, they have made great software but taking your home server hostage feels like the wrong move.
Even a pop up that says "we need you to donate please" would have been fine. make it pop up before every movie, play donation ads before any movie but straight up disabling the app is kinda cruel.
Anyway, i have switched to jellyfin and it is insanely good. please give it a try. you can run it alongside plex with not issues (at least i had none) and compare the two.
In any case, good luck. Let me know if you need help.
I’ve never seen the appeal. A simple smb share and Kodi work perfectly fine no?
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I’ve never seen the appeal. A simple smb share and Kodi work perfectly fine no?
Not on the go, but you can use your own DDNS/VPN & Jellyfin for that instead of Plex
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That’s great until you try and get it working on your <insert person here that doesn’t live with you>’s TV via their streaming device.
My mom's tv surprisingly has WireGuard so I set that up for her.
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I tried testing a movie from my home server in plex through firefox and repeatedly got this message, even after reloading.
I knew that they had paywalled the apps on mobile and streaming from outside the network but now they have also blocked watching your own movies through your own hardware.
I do get the point that making software should be able to sustain people but I dont see the move of plex as a fair thing to do. Yes, they have made great software but taking your home server hostage feels like the wrong move.
Even a pop up that says "we need you to donate please" would have been fine. make it pop up before every movie, play donation ads before any movie but straight up disabling the app is kinda cruel.
Anyway, i have switched to jellyfin and it is insanely good. please give it a try. you can run it alongside plex with not issues (at least i had none) and compare the two.
In any case, good luck. Let me know if you need help.
Welp, i killed mine yesterday as it wouldnt let me stream while offline. Modem died so no Internet for me. Why do i have everything local if it dosent work while offline...
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I’ve never seen the appeal. A simple smb share and Kodi work perfectly fine no?
It's not great with a family, each with multiple devices. Years ago I used it with a central MySQL db, but it was a huge pain and frequently broke with updates.
As mentioned by others, Jellyfin is an amazing alternative and I've been using it for a few years already.
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I thought free software was when you were the product and non-free software actually supported developers.
Or do you mean non-OSS?
Free as in freedom, not as in free beer.
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I’ve never seen the appeal. A simple smb share and Kodi work perfectly fine no?
Not really, if you use Kodi the information on what you have watched remains on the PC running Kodi, if you always watch from the same device that's not a big deal, but if you like to watch stuff on your smart tv, then on your PC, and downloading some to watch on your phone on the go, having the information of which episodes you've watched on the server helps keep things organized.
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Are you saying that you’re on your home network with your Plex server and it won’t let you play your media without paying? That’s not true if so. You must be outside the network.
I've had that happen to me with plex, it was probably 100% my fault because I specifically changed things during the setup of the docker file, but apparently Plex can't figure out that is local if it's running inside docker with non-host network, it probably only accepts local connections from the docker network, and I was never able to make it treat my actual home network as local.
