Ahoy mateys, it’s time to setup Jellyfin if you prefer not to pay for the privilege of self-hosting your own content.
cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/27204525
We are also changing how remote playback works for streaming personal media (that is, playback when not on the same local network as the server). The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature. This—alongside the new Plex Pass pricing—will help provide those resources. This change will apply to the future release of our new Plex experience for mobile and other platforms.
I’m actually using Jellyfin but I hate the fact that there’s no easy way to install a client on Samsung TVs (Tizen OS) :(
Yeah fuck Samsung
Is there an easy way on any smart tv? I’ve got a Sony, it’s been a pain for some things but I haven’t tried jellyfin or emby on it yet.
Sony is AndroidTV, so just install Plex from Playstore? Or Jellyfin if you meant that
There is a alpha client and instructions available here: https://smartdigihere.com/jellyfin-on-samsung-smart-tv/
However as stated further down the article, it’s easier to just use a web browser and access your jellyfin server that way. Login, bookmark the URL (don’t forget to include the port) and then hit full screen.
Note: You may need to tweak (server side) your transcoding and subtitle settings.
Soon™ it’ll be on the store. Having to build and push to tizen is the absolute worst part of jellyfin (if you have to) otherwise there’s clients for every platform - even LG’s webOS.
There’s also finamp for music specific playback, so jellyfin can pretty much do everything
You could try emby? Seems to have a Samsung tv app according to their docs https://emby.media/emby-for-samsung-smart-tv.html
I’m probably gonna set up Jellyfin this weekend. Any tips for a first timer?
If setting up official docker container looks hard, check out linuxserver.io’s docker container for Jellyfin. Even HWA is very easy.
You can’t even fucking bring yourself to write hardware acceleration for the newbie asking for help?
🤡
Set up docker. I ran an installation on Linux and on Windows for a few years but having it running from docker using external drives for library is a game changer. Always up to date. User files and settings Safed on a seperate folder so you can transfer it to a different os any time. Fantastic.
This, also a recurring thing I keep hearing from people moving from Plex to Jellyfin is that not all media get recognised correctly.
Which is probably because Jellyfin is less forgiving on file structure, file names. So check their site first for what Jellyfin needs: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/media/shows
It’s not unreasonable requirements just seems somehow Plex didn’t care about structure as much.
Just use the arrs correctly and there will be no issue except for weird stuff.
Not an option everywhere outside the states. I mostly have to do that by hand
How so?
I am outside of the states and have absolutely no issues with recognition. Not for TV, movie nor anime.
And it’s usually available on tmdb or tvdb.Should have clarified. It’s not an option if you want to use it to get content that is not in english. For german content for example, you need access to german private trackers which you only get with a good torrenting record in addition to catching the exceedingly rare opportunities to get an invite.
Doesnt matter.
I download multiple things with radarr from 3 available german trackers without issues.
Imports properly and depending on my jellyfin library settings will get either german or english metadata.Dunno what you are having trouble with.
I accidentally download German things all the time on mine.
I set up tail scale with mine so I can easily access it anywhere.
Take it slow.
Don’t ditch Plex just yet but slowly transition the move.
Test it with your usual browser. If playback doesnt work, test with another browser or the phone app.
It’s pleasantly surprising that they aren’t deep sixing the lifetime pass.
Yet.
Yeah this is definitely coming at some point. What are we gonna do? Stop paying?
I deleted Plex from my barely functional home server.
I’ll give Jellyfin a try. I just want to be able to access my music away from home
Use Finamp for offline Music from Jellyfin
Correction. Use the finamp beta version, unless that recently made it out of beta.
I prefer Symfonium
As in, symfonium.app? If so, seems questionable, given its proprietary nature and unavailability outside the play store. Although, the feature set is interesting.
Edit: yeeeah, no
From their FAQ:
licences checks requires a call to the verification server from time to time
The license is tied to your Google account
I was planning to switch to Jellyfin but having to sideload the app in my Samsung TV is a headache for me. But guess I will be doing exactly that now.
If you really don’t want to deal with sideloading, Jellyfin can be accessed through an add on in Kodi (assuming Kodi is easily installable on the TV)
Jellyfin vue and access it from a browser.
I want to switch to jellyfin, I selfhost but I don’t want to open a port directly to my server. I don’t understand how everyone else figures this out and I’m apparently an idiot.
Also do people expect all who use my server to start a VPN each time? What if they leave it on and their other streaming services are using my bandwidth.
I don’t understand and I have looked it up but I don’t see a consensus.
I just use Tailscale when remote streaming.
From their docs:
By default, Tailscale acts as an overlay network: it only routes traffic between devices running Tailscale, but doesn’t touch your public internet traffic, such as when you visit Google or Twitter. The overlay network configuration is ideal for most people who need secure communication between sensitive devices (such as company servers or home computers), but don’t need extra layers of encryption or latency for their public internet connection.
Opening a port isn’t really bad if you have your firewall configured properly. You will have to open a port either way with jellyfin or wireguard. If you have a TLS/SSL certificate then just doing jellyfin is fine (but have good passwords since it’s public facing), otherwise a VPN like wireguard will handle encryption for you.
As for managing traffic on the VPN you can follow this advice: https://serverfault.com/questions/1075973/wireguard-how-to-only-tunnel-some-of-the-traffic
Basically setup your firewall to stop extra traffic on your end, and change accessible IPs in wireguard to your service(s) so the peer knows not to talk on that interface for unrelated things.
It isn’t bad until an exploit is discovered on jellyfin. Then it can get really bad.
Do you have a recommended way of remote accessing a server?
It already happened on Plex. Just a matter of time until it happens to Jellyfin.
you can do a thing called UDP hole punching for NAT traversal, buuuuuut afaik these days a lot of consumer routers consider it a security risk and attempt to block it
does this mean the server will need Plex pass or each user individually?
Edit:
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR CURRENT PLEX PASS HOLDERS: For users who have an active Plex Pass subscription, remote playback will continue to be available to you without interruption from any Plex Media Server, after these changes go into effect. When running your own Plex Media Server as a subscriber, other users to whom you have granted access can also stream from the server (whether local or remote), without ANY additional charge—not even a mobile activation fee. More on that later in this update.
I found this elsewhere and it seems to clear up the issue, for me at least:
The new “Remote Watch Pass” is primarily for users who stream from servers owned by individuals without a Plex Pass. For example, if your friend runs a Plex server but doesn’t subscribe to Plex Pass, their remote users will need a Remote Watch Pass to continue streaming after the changes take effect. Because you have a Plex Pass, your remote users will continue to be able to stream from your server remotely without needing to purchase the remote access pass.
And just found this from the FAQ on the announcement page:
I do not have a Plex Pass, but stream remotely from a Plex Media Server:
To stream remotely starting on April 29, 2025, you will need a Remote Watch Pass or Plex Pass subscription on your account or the admin of the Plex Media Server from which you stream will need a Plex Pass subscription on their account.
I guess the whole idea of this move is to force self-hosters to pay for a Plex pass. But it’s a funny demographic to try to strongarm into a subscription. Most tech savvy self-hosters won’t think twice about spinning up a Jellyfin instance instead, especially given that it’s FOSS. And for those folks with a lifetime Plex pass this makes no difference.,
Yeah but anyone who is seriously using Plex already paid for one so I don’t get the outrage
Dito. The price increase for lifetime is hard and surely made so to push people into the recurring instead. But as a Plex Pass holder this won’t drive me to Jellyfin
You should however give jellyfin a shot as it has a bunch of cool features and is way more extensible than Plex.
Plex is still more polished but ive found there are a bunch of plugins for jellyfin that are really cool
I have a Jellyfin instance running in parallel to check out its progress, but its just not there yet for me.
What do you mean with extensible? The plugin ‘shop’?
https://github.com/awesome-jellyfin/awesome-jellyfin
I really like the intro detector edl creator, tube archivist metadata provider, subtitle extract, and playback reporting plugins
Also you can customize the CSS for your server that extends to all clients using the jf webapp. Plex will never have that
Lol, that Jellyfin needs a 3rd party plugin for intro detection says a lot about the maturity of the project. Also, there are other Frontends for plex
Self hosters do it to absorb the burden and avoid playing subscriptions. I don’t pay for Netflix because I don’t want to have the monthly fee (among other things), I host Plex myself and deal with all the server and library maintenance. If I have to pay a subscription to self host it’s a step backwards lol.
I bought the lifetime back in 2013 so I have no complaints, but the month to month is a rip off.
From what the site says it’s just putting more stuff behind a paywall due to rising costs. That paywall is a subscription or the lifetime pass from what I can tell.
Since I got the lifetime pass a while back and host my own server, my brother should still be able to watch stuff in my library from his house. I also travel a lot so I’m going to be pissed if that’s not the case.
When I chose to use Plex initially it just fit better with what I needed. I can change to something else if I need to but it sounds like my lifetime pass means not much is going to change for me.
If you have Plex pass, this does not effect anyone using your server.
It’s still a shit asshole move by them, but at least it isn’t catastrophic. Hopefully by the time Plex starts to suck jellyfin will not blow chunks.
Lol, OK Plex, cya.
They’re honestly lucky I was willing to pay the $2.99 or whatever it was to be able to access MY server, using MY internet and cell data, to access MY media files from MY phone. Plenty fair a price for a nice app, might’ve paid a few bucks more but they can screw off trying to charge a monthly fee for… nothing in particular in my usage case.
Literally just set up Jellyfin w/ Tailscale which took all of 10 minutes and works just as well. GG no re 🖕
That is so sad. I was just reconfigured my hone server with plex last weekend. Seems like it’s time to switch to jellyfin now. Luckily didn’t finish the configuration.
If you have Plex pass (honestly, get the lifetime, it’s worth it, jellyfin is pretty shit compared to Plex) it will not effect users of your server.
I had Plex lifetime and still switched to Jellyfin as an open source and community driven project will always be better in the future compared to a commercial product
How exactly is it “pretty shit”? Running Jellyfin on my network with zero issues whatsoever.
The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature.
What “resources” do you need, exactly, to allow my friends to stream from my server?
Paying devs
What does that have to do with my friends streaming from my server?
they never said they needed resources for the remote playback… they said that they needed more resources - ie money to develop the software in general, and this are feature gating a useful feature to try and convince people to pay
they never said they needed resources for the remote playback…
That’s exactly what it sounds like to me…
that’s fine… but it’s not necessarily what it says. it’s ambiguous at best, but if they’d meant they need you to pay them for resources then theyd probably say it more outright
Their revenue stream is based on license fees for the software? So if they want to keep the lights on they need money
Okay so you agree it’s nothing to do with “resources” and everything to do with locking features behind paywalls to drive up revenue?
developers are a “resource” and they need to be paid. Do you want to keep getting updates for your server? Someone needs to do that and that someone wants to be paid in this case
Did they write their own software?
The software already exists, and has for decades.
Then just ask them if they would share their work for free, or recreate it yourself?
They’re already sharing it for free
for real though, such a dumb decision on plex’s part lol
Developers to keep things up to date and secure. Which I wouldn’t mind paying for, but instead they spend it all on making Plex a social media that emails your friends a list of shows you watch? I can tell you right now that other than “watch together” no one is using the Plex social features on purpose
Pretty sure they’re also sunsetting watch together lol
LMAO that’s like 90% of the reason I went with plex in the first place. Just switched over to Jellyfin this weekend. Pretty seamless.
Just to make it clear to any other people reading this, Jellyfin has Group Sync where you can create groups with participants and syncplay media.
As long as you have Plex pass it’s all good and nothing changes. That said, this was exactly my reaction. Plex expends exactly zero fucking resources for my server, so wtf is this shit supposed to mean?
I’m pretty sure that’s corporate speak for “we need to drive plex pass subscriptions more so we need to lock more feature behind it.”
This is 100% my opinion too.
I’m annoyed that I supported them and got a lifetime account on sale. At the same time I’m happy that I can take my time testing and moving my family and friends over to something else.
Charging for remote access is dumb as they are not being the one hosting the contents nor relaying them (if you have it properly set up).
If they want to charge for it they should have inbuilt tunnels to solve CGNAT (like their relay but not stupidly capped).
If you are worried about opening port 443 on your local firewall I suggest trying to get a cheap vps with decent bandwidth and hosting a reverse proxy on it that points back to your local jellyfin over a tunnel.
Ive been doing it for a few months now and finally got all my family off of Plex.
Or you can dump your media server on another vlan on your same network. That’s what I do.
Can you elaborate more on this? I’m wondering how to set up jellyfin for people outside my lan to use and its unclear to me which method is best.
This headline is misleading. If the owner of the server has Plex pass than the users can use remote streaming as normal. If the owner does not have Plex pass, then the users need Plex pass to use that server remotely
Imo a stupid move by Plex, but as a lifetime Plex pass holder, no one that uses mine will have to worry so I’m relatively unbothered.
Dito. Every discussion I’ve seen, people were acting like Plex is already dead. This will basically change nothing for most people
And free local network management is still a fair deal… Pay for extra features makes sense for this kind of service? The software needs maintenance and new hardware is always being released so new bugs. Better methods of netow and transcoding etc, this kind of software isn’t a drop and run, it still needs work after release. So I get the need to form some kind of long term sustainability, we all saw it coming.
This is why we stremio
