this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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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.
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.
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.
The dealbreaker about plex for me was having to use their auth servers and having to route traffic through them.
You create logins on your server which is authenticated through them. I don’t think it routes traffic, just sends login tokens.
This is problematic because if Plex suffers an outage (which has happened before) users are suddenly unable to sign in. Even if your media server is running fine, through no fault of your own your content becomes inaccessible.
Jellyfin does not have this issue because authentication is handled locally.
However, Plex has too many nice features so I'll be staying with them for the time being. Credits/intro skipping and Plexamp are a godsend, and the UI is in my opinion way better than what Jellyfin has.
You can specify networks that don’t require authentication at Plex.tv. When our internet is down at home, we can still use Plex.
The catch is that you need to set this up ahead of time as it can't be done while in the middle of an outage. Also you'll only be able to access the main server owner account.
Outages don't happen too often these days, but I run Emby alongside Plex and it comes in handy in situations like this.
It also means if Plex ever goes under then remote access will stop working for you, your service only works as long as the company still exists. If jellyfin ever goes under, nothing changes. I realize this isn't a selfhosting sub, so I won't go too in depth on my tirade, but persnally, I want to selfhost everything, and I don't want to rely on any cloud based services that are outside of my control like Plex.
There is a plugin which will hopefully be incorporated in the future, for intro skipping. Just google jellyfin intro skipper, its on github. Works ok, some series may beed manual intervention which I am not sure how well it works on Plex. But the point is, does exist for Jellyfin too.
I haven't used Plex but Jellyfin is as easy as throwing this in Docker:
If you like Ansible and docker, check out saltbox. It's a great project and if they don't have what you need, it's in community. They also use authelia sso. I've contributed to their community repo.
https://github.com/saltyorg/Saltbox
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.
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.
Yes and you'll need to handle security and authentication yourself. Plex is way better in this regard even if it means the very occasional issue when their servers are down.
My main bone to pick with Plex is that I believe that free and open source software should be gratis (free as in beer). You're right about the authentication though. I have mine set up with a simple user name and password over http. I rely on the VPN to limit access to the network through a forwarded port. I don't really like the idea of authentication being done on someone else's machine for privacy reasons, which is why I choose jellyfin that runs on my local machine. I'm not currently sharing it, and if I did I would change some of my security practices.
If you really need public remote access and you can set up jellyfin, it's not much more difficult to set up authelia or LDAP with a reverse proxy and valid certs. I use tailscale and just leave simple auth with jellyfin since it's only myself and family accessing. I used to run Plex for the offloading of authentication to them but I'm with ya, FOSS should be free.
It’s really easy to set up if you use Docker.
I want to use Jellyfin, but the clients just aren’t up to par with Plex and last I checked Jellyfin won’t transcode downloaded media.
Jellyfin does hardware transcoding.
Last I checked, if you wanted to download media to a mobile device to watch later, you could only do that at full quality. Has that changed?
Ah I see, I have misunderstood. I checked and you are correct that it is not possible to download anything but the original file.