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Plex users, why? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by Ejz9@alien.top to c/main@selfhosted.forum

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Hello! I’m just a guy who saw plex is on sale.

My current setup uses jellyfin, I use FLAC music and 4k films. I use Finamp on my iPhone and the jellyfin desktop client.

Now my question is, why?

Both platforms are great but I’m a guy who likes all free. No farm, no foul to the lifetime pass users of plex though. But I’ll scroll and I’ll see: “100% worth it!” ; “I could never go back”. Now this doesn’t capture everyone’s opinions, but out of the features they display that make lifetime unique is Transcoding (something I think you should have a right to after owning the processor) and plexamp which, I cannot rate its experience, but from what I hear it’s solid. But I’ve also heard it’s got its bugs and downloads can be finicky.

So, as a jellyfin user, why might I care or want to switch to plex?

(I’m not ignoring the issues jellyfin has, I don’t really experience any though and bugs are minimal for my case)

(I’ve posted in this sub instead of plex because I want mixed, not skewed results and yes I’ve searched the history, but I don’t think any question truly validates why transcoding or similar should be a $100+ “feature”. That’s snake oil marketing.

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[–] Jwiggins0123456789@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I bought the lifetime pass many many many many many years ago when it was cheap.. dirt cheap and love it.... my family uses Plex daily. We have no paid streaming services and no paid TV services just Plex. Only thing I cannot make work in Plex well is IPTV as xTeve just sucked and was constantly dropping channels because the Channel Guide Feed would have an issue when it was refreshed and Plex would say "sorry no guide no channel" and just mark it not available. It was a weekly fight.

I have over 150,000 FLAC audio files and tons of 4k movies and TV Shows. Kids love to watch their shows and movies as do my wife and I.

I have Jellyfin setup for IPTV and have used it off and on for years. The iOS client has remained "okay but clunky to me." I mean it works, but really gets no love no real updates and while I dont have a great need for Transcoding with Plex it is nice to have that feature. The Roku client is the same. I have mostly Roku TCL 4K TVs and streamers and that client has looked the same and clunky for years. Again it works (explodes occasionally but really it does work pretty solidly) but Plex just brings so much more to it to the media you are watching.

Would I pay the higher price for PlexPass now if I did not own it or just use and live with JellyFin? I would most likely still pay the price (on sale when they send me the discount code) and get the deal. It is just worth it to me.

Also the home user lock down features like I can share specific libraries or just specific TV shows or movies with my kids I like with Plex. Not sure If I can even do that with JellyFin (never researched it so it might be there).

[–] Ejz9@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

User management does exist in jellyfin and you can control what library as well as ratings.

You make a good point to. Plex being for profit, can do stuff with the money. In reality, I’d be making an investment into the company which yes incurs its own risks but that’s life.

Thank you, and I will definitely give Plex another shot when I go home today! Will I buy the pass? I’m not sure. I’m more convinced it could be the better option though, even though one is free. I also would love to see jellyfin grow and although I have coding experience, I haven’t the time to invest in learning and adding to a project like itself.