After 14 years with Plex, I finally moved my video library to Jellyfin. Why rising costs, feature restrictions and digital ownership pushed me towards FOSS.
You may not need Plex to do anything, but it’s kinda disingenuous to say most people can easily and securely set up port forwarding and a DNS service/reverse proxy/etc to keep outside access working.
I don’t mean that as a “I can do it so obviously everyone else can” I mean it more as a “what purpose does plex even serve in this regard?”
Like what do you mean plex provides bandwidth? It’s hosted locally, no? From your network and your server? They provide software but surely plex as a company doesn’t host your media?
They provide super-simple access from outside your home without any tech knowledge. Automagically. It even works (albeit slowly) without port forwarding.
I don’t know, and honestly that’s the beauty of it. It just works, and while I know every system is vulnerable to attack, I suspect it’s more secure than what I’d setup myself.
I guess I don’t understand why remote access is such a popular use case. Throw some shit on your phone, h/d, or thumbdrive and you’re good for a few hours. I crammed 4 full seasons of STNG on my phone recently.
Because I have friends and family that want access to some of the media I host. It’s a lot easier if I can just give them access and have it just work and whatever device they want to use.
I don’t know much about Plex but I guess because it is not easy for the average guy. Setting up a remote connection without a VPN is definitely not something I would recommend to someone who is just a media enthusiast.
Why would Plex need to do that? I can access my Jellyfin and outside of my home just fine without someone else acting as a middle man.
You may not need Plex to do anything, but it’s kinda disingenuous to say most people can easily and securely set up port forwarding and a DNS service/reverse proxy/etc to keep outside access working.
I don’t mean that as a “I can do it so obviously everyone else can” I mean it more as a “what purpose does plex even serve in this regard?”
Like what do you mean plex provides bandwidth? It’s hosted locally, no? From your network and your server? They provide software but surely plex as a company doesn’t host your media?
They provide super-simple access from outside your home without any tech knowledge. Automagically. It even works (albeit slowly) without port forwarding.
Is it like a TURN server that provides p2p connection or do they proxy it?
I don’t know, and honestly that’s the beauty of it. It just works, and while I know every system is vulnerable to attack, I suspect it’s more secure than what I’d setup myself.
I guess I don’t understand why remote access is such a popular use case. Throw some shit on your phone, h/d, or thumbdrive and you’re good for a few hours. I crammed 4 full seasons of STNG on my phone recently.
Because I have friends and family that want access to some of the media I host. It’s a lot easier if I can just give them access and have it just work and whatever device they want to use.
Ah, so you have friends and family! That is a blessing, and I know that from distant experience.
I don’t know much about Plex but I guess because it is not easy for the average guy. Setting up a remote connection without a VPN is definitely not something I would recommend to someone who is just a media enthusiast.
Isn’t that the plesk added value?