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I fear that soon we're going to need an open-source alternative to Plex. Increasingly aggressive monetization seems to be creeping into the Plex experience. I

I fear that soon we're going to need an open-source alternative to Plex. Increasingly aggressive monetization seems to be creeping into the Plex experience. I keep finding things I don't own and don't want showing up on my home screen. "Suggested movies" and "Suggested podcasts" and the like. You can prune them back but a few months later you find some other garbage you don't want.

satysin 7y ago
This is a very valid complaint however I understand their need to monetise and at least you can remove that items. At least so far. I am always open to alternatives however with everything I have tried over the years nothing has come close to how well Plex works. From the flexibility of running the server to the superb automatic content identification to the frame perfect delivery to my TV it has been flawless for me. However I feel I should point out again that I don't use the transcoding feature so I cannot comment on how well that works.
- causality0 7y ago
  Eh, it's gotten noticeably worse of late, almost as if their resources are going somewhere other than UX. The client as picked up a habit of hard-crashing on certain files when "Automatic" transcoding or "original" is selected instead of manually choosing a certain bitrate.
  - satysin 7y ago
    I do not use the transcoding feature (it murders HDR content) so have never experienced any crashes. The only UI prompt I recall seeing is some new streaming feature which I haven't looked into but appears to be some kind of partnership with content providers? I was able to get rid of it easily enough to not even remember how I did it and haven't seen it since. Perhaps the mobile apps (which I assume are updated more regularly?) have had some more prompts? I only ever use the app on my TV.
dvdgsng 7y ago
> I fear that soon we're going to need an open-source alternative to Plex. Alternative: Emby https://emby.media/ https://emby.media/ Open-Source Alternative: Jellyfin (fork of Emby v3) https://jellyfin.org/ https://jellyfin.org/
- lukifer 7y ago
  > no strings attached, no premium licenses or features, and no hidden agendas Subtle. :) Anyone know the motivation for this fork / dig against Emby, other than the premium licensing?
  - dvdgsng 7y ago
    The gist is that they went from being open to closed source, mostly because they had to invest heavily into transcoding and client support. Naturally, some folks didn't like that and forked.

satysin 7y ago

This is a very valid complaint however I understand their need to monetise and at least you can remove that items. At least so far. I am always open to alternatives however with everything I have tried over the years nothing has come close to how well Plex works. From the flexibility of running the server to the superb automatic content identification to the frame perfect delivery to my TV it has been flawless for me. However I feel I should point out again that I don't use the transcoding feature so I cannot comment on how well that works.

causality0 7y ago
Eh, it's gotten noticeably worse of late, almost as if their resources are going somewhere other than UX. The client as picked up a habit of hard-crashing on certain files when "Automatic" transcoding or "original" is selected instead of manually choosing a certain bitrate.
- satysin 7y ago
  I do not use the transcoding feature (it murders HDR content) so have never experienced any crashes. The only UI prompt I recall seeing is some new streaming feature which I haven't looked into but appears to be some kind of partnership with content providers? I was able to get rid of it easily enough to not even remember how I did it and haven't seen it since. Perhaps the mobile apps (which I assume are updated more regularly?) have had some more prompts? I only ever use the app on my TV.

dvdgsng 7y ago

> I fear that soon we're going to need an open-source alternative to Plex. Alternative: Emby https://emby.media/ https://emby.media/ Open-Source Alternative: Jellyfin (fork of Emby v3) https://jellyfin.org/ https://jellyfin.org/

lukifer 7y ago
> no strings attached, no premium licenses or features, and no hidden agendas Subtle. :) Anyone know the motivation for this fork / dig against Emby, other than the premium licensing?
- dvdgsng 7y ago
  The gist is that they went from being open to closed source, mostly because they had to invest heavily into transcoding and client support. Naturally, some folks didn't like that and forked.