I’ve got Jellyfin up and running right now on a DS620Slim NAS and it’s running pretty good so far. I’ve seen a lot of people say they prefer Plex over Jellyfin. What are the main advantages to plex?

  • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Jellyfin:

    • Free
    • Gets the job done
    • Not in financial trouble
    • No layoffs
    • Not trying to sell you stuff
    • Not selling your watch habbits
    • Mainly develops features people want

    Plex (paid):

    • Decade of development with pretty solid pay features
    • Easy sharing with friends and remote watching
    • Decent clients for almost every device and more solid transcoding
    • Fairly quick fixes for problems
    • Great intro/credit/commercial skipping
    • Only develops features that might make money
    • In the middle of layoffs
    • Centralized authentication makes is impossible to watch if offline or they’re offline unless you removed local authentication before it went offline.
    • They sell your viewing habbits

    Plex is super convenient and slimy

    Jellyfin is pure and behind on features, clients and comforts.

    • Fisch@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      You can get intro skipping for Jellyfin too with a plugin. It even works with Findroid, which is a native Android app for Jellyfin. I’ve been using it for a while now (maybe a month or so) and it’s always worked perfectly.

    • Hizeh@hizeh.com
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      1 year ago

      Question about the viewing habits data. Is this only related to the Free Ad Supported Streaming content Plex pushes or are they also tracking viewing habits of users personal libraries?

      • 418teapot@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        There’s no way of knowing, which is the whole problem with their model and why a lot of us self host things in the first place. Even if they super duper promise not to use the data, they could be lying. And if they are actually true to their word today, that could change tomorrow.

      • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        We know the data goes to Plex.

        I would not bet you ANY amount of money they’d leave any stone unturned on data sales.

        That’s why none of the stuff I sign up with them is using any of my usual credentials, they do have my ip though.

    • HomelessCanadian@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Seems like I’ll continue to stick with Jellyfin because of the offline access. My internet is very spotty where I live so it seems to be the best option.

      • Guilty Tangent@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Same here.

        My internet connection isn’t too spotty, but having gone through it I found it really annoying not being able to watch my own shows off my own systems just because I can’t auth to Plex’s login servers.

    • snor10@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Great list of comparison!

      Worth noting that Jellyfin is not only free as in beer (if you selfhost), but also free as in Freedom i.e. open source.

    • SRo@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      ?! I can watch stuff locally from my Plex server even if my internet is down.

  • priapus@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Jellyfin is only getting better while Plex is primarily getting worse. You also need to pay for Plex to get many features Jellyfin provides for free.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Something I don’t see talked about enough with Jellyfin is that the UI is much nicer than Plex. It’s so clean and uncluttered, where Plex is this bizarre mess of unclear controls and advertised content.

      • ech0@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I couldn’t disagree more and I think you’re in the minority here.

        Plex UI is just leagues ahead. Also last I checked the desktop app UI and Android TV ui is pretty bad also. Its just the Web UI in a wrapper.

        • u_tamtam@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          I’m new to both, and both are terrible if you ask me, but for different reasons. Where I see plex having a clear UI advantage is where it comes with a native app for that platform, which is less often the case of jellyfin (although it’s slowly catching up). Being open source, jellyfin has a clear advantage IMO because with enough traction, the community will be able to do wonderful things (think of winamp skins meets android custom ROM scene, or something to that effect).

          And as a new comer having only seen the freemium side of plex, it has really weirded me out in some places (sponsored stuff, stuff of no use to me that I can’t disable, locked out stuff, including petty stuff like HDR encoding…) , so much so that I don’t see myself trusting them my credit card, and so I might never get to experience the “real thing”. That’s just how my perception of it is: Plex probably needs me to pay for it to become good, but it won’t be that much better (and still have many quirks) to justify it.

        • batmaniam@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          To each their own and all that, but for my time, I agree with you Plex still has the edge in UI by a wide margin. The advertised content is super annoying but it is possible to trim it.

    • batmaniam@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      also, after implementing my pi-hole, I’m not crazy about the fact plex keeps trying to send out analytics.

  • Meow.tar.gz@lemmy.goblackcat.com
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    1 year ago

    My vote will always side with the open source community so please take that with a grain of sand. I much prefer Jellyfin because of its status as an open source project.

  • Takatakatakatakatak@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I used Plex for years.

    As soon as I tried Jellyfin with a limited section of my library I was immediately finished with Plex.

    1. Jellyfin works with no internet connection with no stuffing around
    2. The app is far quicker and more responsive and IMO it looks world’s better
    3. It handles mixed media libraries better
    4. A vastly larger selection of my library can be played with zero transcoding in Jellyfin. Less load on my server, less load on my client, less load on my drives and a far, far more responsive UI as a result.

    You owe it to yourself to try jellyfin. It’s amazing.

    • delvach@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Plex just started requiring a login to my local server. I don’t have a plex account, no reason to get one, I only stream locally. Sounds like Jellyfin is the way to go!

    • Entropy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Your 4th point is the opposite for me, any kind of subtitles I have on causes transcoding in jellyfin. Its the only thing stopping me from switching fully.

      • Takatakatakatakatak@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Set “Burn Subtitles” to AUTO and grab the Open Subtitles plugin and make sure you are logged in. Beware opensubtitles.com and opensubtitles.org are different logins.

        I’d say about 95% of what I’m playing is playing without transcoding to my LG CX Oled with Jellyfin app on it.

        I don’t know enough about the triggers for transcoding to know why I’m getting this result, but my server has an obscene GPU in it. I’m not sure if this is a factor.

    • lue3099@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Interesting that I find number 3 different for me. I have a very heterogeneous library and I find plex better at choosing when to transcode and what quality to transcode.

  • JASN_DE@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    What are the main advantages to plex?

    AFAIK they offer more apps resp. apps for more platforms. Apart from that, nothing really. Maybe a little more idiot-proof.

    • WxFisch@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is pretty much it, Plex offers far more client apps that are full featured and they make it super easy to setup and use both as an admin and a user. Especially for things like OTA TV where they provide the guide data once it’s setup (which is why it’s a paid option). I’d move to JellyFin in a heartbeat if they’d support OTA and DVR playback on AppleTV.

      • 8565@lemmy.quad442.com
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        1 year ago

        …they do but, you have to supply the schedule. I was using a Home run to pipe OTA tv in but, have since moved to a IPtv provider. Works very very well

        • WxFisch@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The problem I have is there is no way to playback live tv on AppleTV which is what we use throughout our home. Plex just works and has wife approved first party apps for pretty much everything.

        • jmshrv@feddit.uk
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          1 year ago

          In theory it’d be possible to make a Jellyfin UWP app, of course nobody’s made one yet. Maybe it could be you ;)

  • terribleplan@lemmy.nrd.li
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    1 year ago

    I switched from Plex to Jellyfin several years ago and haven’t really looked back. Overall I just didn’t like the direction plex kept going (pushing shit streaming services, central auth, paywalling features), and dropped it even though I grabbed a lifetime plex pass back in the day. The only thing I miss about plex was the ease of developing a custom plugin for it since you could pretty much just drop python scripts in there and have it work, though their documentation for plugin development was terrible (and I think removed from their site entirely).

      • bemenaker@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I still only use the free version of plex. I don’t stream to other people but I am pretty sure the option to share my library is still there. I do stream from two other libraries on occasion.

  • Mubelotix@jlai.lu
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    1 year ago

    As a jellyfin user, I have to say that it sometimes brings more trouble than it solves. Especially for non-admin users

  • OutrageousUmpire@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have run both Plex and Jellyfin and I much prefer Jellyfin. I got sick of Plex content being interjected into my menus and feed. Plex also had issues seeing my server which was inconvenient. I now run Jellyfin with Infuse as my client. Love it so far.

  • GoodPointSir@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Why not get both (free teir on Plex), and decide for yourself?

    If you want another opinion from an internet stranger though:

    tl;dr: Plex if want simple seamless integration, and are prepared to spend money.

    Jellyfin if you want FOSS, but are prepared to spend time.

    I run both Jellyfin and Plex, and I only use Plex. It’s more polished, has more clients, and has less bugs than Jellyfin. Plus, there are more community applications that are built around Plex vs Jellyfin.

    For example, if you want to share your Jellyfin server, you have to manually forward ports, setup DNS records, dynamic DNS services, maybe reverse proxying, just to get easy access outside your network. Meanwhile, Plex is more or less plug and play (you might need to forward a port if the automatic port forward doesn’t work)

    That being said, I have the lifetime Plex Pass, and I don’t think the monthly subscription for Plex is worth it.

    I have a ton of friends that use my Jellyfin server instead of Plex, just because the Jellyfin mobile apps are free, so I keep Jellyfin running even though I don’t personally use it.

    If you decide to go with Plex, I would highly recommend getting the lifetime pass instead of a subscription.

    • Resolved3874@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      All the Jellyfin votes had me downloading it and before it even got downloaded you changed my mind lol. Just gonna stick with plex. I like simple and already have the lifetime sub.

  • gravydog@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I really have only ever used either of them as a DLNA server, but I was recently forced into Jellyfin and find that I like it much better than Plex. It’s faster and more reliable on my system, and for my stripped-down needs, it’s a perfect fit. I’d say that if Jellyfin is doing the job you need, you’ve got absolutely no reason to switch.

  • Spiritreader@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Plex has a few more features with plex pass.

    However I switched to jellyfin a few years ago because I found everything to be too limiting and dependent on them. Including the necessity to pay for codecs / playback on some of their mobile apps.

    Jellyfin is a lot less polished, but it works well and you’re in control of everything.

    I would recommend trying out jellyfin first. If you encounter some deal breaking issue or aren’t happy with it, check our plex.

    • lol@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Jellyfin is offline too. My internet died for a week and I couldn’t log into Plex…

  • IDew@lemm.ee
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    My experience with Jellyfin have not been great. The mobile app is just not working well enough

    Plex has lots of customisation available (which I prefer) but is a little harder to get running in my experience. I’d say, install them both and see what you like most. Do start with Jellyfin as it’s easy to install.

    • OptimisticPrime@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Not sure how long ago you tested it, but there is now an alternative Android app called Findroid which I like much more than the official app.

    • HomelessCanadian@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I’ve found my media I play over the network looks grainy on some devices using Jellyfin. But it’s probably settings I have wrong

      • IDew@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Been quite a while! Thanks for telling me though, I will test it out when I get to it!

  • BananaTrifleViolin@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    It depends what you use it for.

    If you’re watching your own content within your home then Jellyfin is better. It’s free, open source and private. Your Jellyfin instance is yours and secure, and entirely under your control.

    Plex’s differences are mostly behind it’s plex pass pay wall, and you sacrifice privacy using their platform. The key difference is really offline and remote viewing of content which is easier and slicker with plex (but doable with jellyfin), and the plex App maybe available a few more devices. There are also some credits and ad skipping features. That’s about it - I struggle to see the benefit in plex. The only other thing I can think of is some people prefer the interface?

    I used to use Plex and got annoyed when I couldn’t view my content, which I host locally, because their login servers were down. Made me realise why did I need them so I researched a bit and switched to Jellyfin.

    • Fisch@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I already commented this on another comment here but there’s a plugin for Jellyfin to get intro skipping

        • Fisch@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          You need to install a modified web interface (just replace some files on your server) so you get the skip button

  • exu@feditown.com
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    1 year ago

    If you’re happy with Jellyfin I don’t see a reason to switch. But if you’re missing something, do checkout Plex.