this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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I want to unlock the ability to view content on my mobile device. I can do that with a one-time purchase (payed with google opinion rewards) or with a subscription. I want to unlock the ability for my entire family though, across multiple devices. Do I have to pay the "one-time payment" for every device? If so, the plex subscription might be worth it. Is there any other major benefit to having a plex subscription?

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Normally people are using https://jellyfin.org/ although i have never used it so I'm not sure if it offers the same functionality but it's worth a try.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Jellyfin has more functionality but is a lot more technical to set up. I didn’t think it was worth the effort since I already have a Plex server running, but I could see going through that if I didn’t.

Been running Plex with a lifetime pass for around a decade. Worth it for me for sure.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

I've run both, and I found both required about the same level of technical understanding for an in house setup.

I started with Plex as it worked nicer with my remote, then moved to Jellyfin when I picked up an Android TV. It was the hardware transcoding (without having to pay) that sealed the deal for me.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (8 children)

The dealbreaker about plex for me was having to use their auth servers and having to route traffic through them.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I haven't used Plex but Jellyfin is as easy as throwing this in Docker:


***
version: "2.1"
services:
  jellyfin:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
      - JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=192.168.0.5 #optional
    volumes:
      - /path/to/library:/config
      - /path/to/tvseries:/data/tvshows
      - /path/to/movies:/data/movies
    ports:
      - 8096:8096
      - 8920:8920 #optional
      - 7359:7359/udp #optional
      - 1900:1900/udp #optional
    restart: unless-stopped
(from [linuxserver.io](https://docs.linuxserver.io/images/docker-jellyfin))
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you use Linux Mint, its a one click install from the software manager GUI and the config happens in a web browser. I use a VPN to connect and play videos from it on my phone. I like it and have it set up everywhere I can.

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

The only thing I can think of when people say jellyfin is more technical. Is there you have to set up port forwarding and some kind of DNS for your server for remote access.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It’s weakness is client side apps. Most are web apps and not native. It’s getting better but in comparison plex has native apps on almost everything.

I’m a lifetime plex pass user since 2016

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I personally dislike the Plex apps, but yeah its native support is unmatched. The official Jellyfin app for Android gets the job done but isn't native. However, Findroid seems like the future to me on Android and I use the Kodi plugin on my TV (which is amazing).

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Jellyfin is just great and easy to configure

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

Yeah I used to use Plex, Jellyfin all the way now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Literally everything that makes plex better is pay walled. Support FOSS.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Jellyfin is a great alternative if you’re okay with webports.

Plex is definitely worth plex pass though. Many features and it works well on any device.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Eh, plex has been super buggy on my FireTV Cube. For some reason it always jumps back like 6 episodes in a show or just picks a random season when we resume playing the next day.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I used to have one. Then I asked myself why I was paying someone else to access my own stuff.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

you're not wrong.. but you gotta give credit where credit is due. Plex does a good job of having a client on every platform. Telling family and friends "search for plex on your devices app store" is a whole hell of a lot easier than having them jump thru all the hoops that it takes for jellyfin to work.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

This is the main reason I will continue to use Plex over jellyfin

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

Through a subscription fee, no less.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Jellyfin with Jellyseer and all the *ars

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I bought the lifetime pass when it went on sale a few years ago. I have used the hell out of it and loved plexamp before that feature was available to non Plex pass users. If I had to buy it now, I might just go with an open source alternative like jellyfin.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What sealed the deal for me was skip intro. Incredible feature I don’t believe any other option has.

Wait for lifetime memberships to go on sale if you can. There are a few sales a year. Usually on Black Friday.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Jellyfin has a skip intro plugin that is easy to install and works great from my experience.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Jellyfin also has skip intro

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

I sub for the skip intros alone, turns out it affects everyone who watches on your server which is great.

I don't really utilise any other aspects of Plex Pass but £4 isn't much to me and Plex is insanely useful to me.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I feel like it is, but, be on the lookout for a sale and get the lifetime option when there's a sale.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

No. Just use Jellyfin

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you pay the one time fee or the subscription fee, the system unlocks all the paid features for all of the users on your account. Under your account you can have multiple users, each with their own viewing history (and restrictions, iirc). So if your users log into Plex on their devices using your account username and password - abbadon420 and Hunter1 - and then select their user profile, they will all have access to the features.

The one time fee unlocks forever (the lifetime of Plex, of course) and the subscription unlocks the features for the term of the subscription and then you revert back.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I bought it when it was a one time payment. It's been worth it but I don't think I would do it if it was a monthly fee.

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

They have monthly, annual and lifetime subscribtions. I'm gonna wait for the sale to buy a lifetime subscription.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I used to have a Plex Pass, but I dont think it's worth it anymore. I have remote access via Tailscale, which I use for a number of other services as well.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Plex subscription is crap, this is coming from someone who had one. I'd recommend using something else like emby or jellyfin

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Not sure if you wanna weigh this in as a reason to choose one or the other, but with the one-time purchase you can only stream via Plex on mobile. If you want to download the file and then watch it at a later time WITHOUT streaming you need Plex Lifetime (I made this error!)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I dig the hardware transcoding, the hdr-sdr tone mapping and the tablet App.

If you use Plex free and never found the limitations to be a burden, you have your answer.

All in all I personally find that a one time unlimited subscription is a great deal that is rarely seen nowadays

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

Pay anyone but google, amazon and meta. Fuck these companies.

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

There are modded versions of the android app that let you play on mobile without the pass, check mobilism.

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