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I throughly recommend Jellyfin if you want a media server that doesn’t track your viewing habits and so on. I’ve been using for the past year or so. https://je

by pixxel 6y ago

I throughly recommend Jellyfin if you want a media server that doesn’t track your viewing habits and so on. I’ve been using for the past year or so. https://jellyfin.org https://jellyfin.org

mmastrac 6y ago
Can you elaborate on the tracking part? I am a Plex user but unaware of this. I found this [1] but it appears to be that they were tracking only at a very generic level. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5zrxtd/plex_the_company_tracks_how_i_use_my_plex_server/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5zrxtd/plex_the_compa...
- callmeal 6y ago
  >Can you elaborate on the tracking part? I am a Plex user but unaware of this. I got rid of plex once they made everything (including metadata lookups) go through their system. And you cannot run plex without it calling home and requiring an account.
  - tobylane 6y ago
    I use it without an account. There's occasional nag screens that are quickly exited.
colordrops 6y ago
How does this compare with others like Kodi and OSMC?
alanfranz 6y ago
I'm using Emby; what's the difference with Jellyfin? I dropped Plex because its quality was getting lower and lower, especially chromecast-wise.
- afavour 6y ago
  Jellyfin is an open source fork of Emby, they went closed source a while ago. When I tested it the Jellyfin server worked great. But the client apps were terrible in comparison to Plex.
  - mikepurvis 6y ago
    I'm a reasonably happy Jellyfin user as well. On the one hand I'm grouchy to not have native apps for phones, PS4, etc; on the other, it seems to work pretty reasonably just through a browser.
  - alanfranz 6y ago
    So Emby is now closed source? Wow. I didn't get that message. Not that I really care about that for a media server, but it's still strange that I didn't realize that. I think that the main problem with Plex (some of those are the same as Emby) are: * They are trying to add too many features (Plex Arcade? really?) while other features are not stable - chromecast queuing was working then not working then working again with every other release. In the end it stopped working for a while, and I quit using Plex. I just need something to have my collection organized, with a bit of metadata handling and a "watched/not watched" flag. Plex (and Emby) are trying to do an incredible amount of work on top of that. * The price for the "deluxe" version is too steep for a self hosted solution. Netflix Standard is EUR 144/year, Plex is 40 EUR/year (about the same as Emby, btw). And I need to provide hardware, electricity, and content - it's just not competitive. I'd be happy to pay something between 10 and 20 EUR per year for a properly working software of that kind.
- ghostpepper 6y ago
  Another one I am keeping an eye on is Olaris. It's still in alpha but the codebase is quite nice (go for the backend, react for the front). https://gitlab.com/olaris/olaris-server/ https://gitlab.com/olaris/olaris-server/
  - rapfaria 6y ago
    Does it take 12.3GB of storage once cloned and built?
dpeck 6y ago
Are there clients for AppleTV/iOS yet?
- domy 6y ago
  Infuse has support for Jellyfin.
- hundchenkatze 6y ago
  Here's the official one for ios, not tvos though. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jellyfin-mobile/id1480192618 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jellyfin-mobile/id1480192618
radicaldreamer 6y ago
Plex doesn't track your viewing habits for personal media...
- PaulHoule 6y ago
  What gets me is how they never stop harassing me to use streaming services I don't want to use. That plus the server often being slow to seek has me looking for an alternative.
  - Ashanmaril 6y ago
    What gets me is their servers have to be up in order for your Plex server to work, even locally within your own Network (or on the device hosting the server). It happens occasionally that their servers go down and nobody is able to stream anything. I don't know why their servers are a dependancy in that chain at all, I probably looked it up before but I don't recall it being a good reason.
    - Youden 6y ago
      I don't believe this is true, do you have more details? It's needed for authentication but locally, it should be nearly fully functional. At worst, you should need to set up a subnet that's allowed without auth in the server's network settings. Aside from that, internet is mostly needed for downloading metadata and the server can work just fine without an internet connection.
      - daveslash 6y ago
        How bout' this: later tonight, I'll unplug my modem and try to play some Plex on my LAN. Stand by for a few hours, and I'll have an answer. :-)
        Youden 6y ago
        While you're experimenting, try to set up the authless subnet in your settings. Settings -> Network -> "List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth".
devilduck 6y ago
It's nice but it's not there yet in terms of good UX. Needs a lot of help in that department. Plex is a lot easier to use still. Once Jellyfin gets its shit together in that respect I think there will be good competition.
dom96 6y ago
Are there Samsung TV clients for it? If not is there a workaround? I often wonder if I should attempt to flash my TV’s OS. Does someone have experience with this?
- TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
  It's easier to attach an external computer via HDMI and use the TV as a dumb display. You can install Plex or whatever on the computer. Get a wireless keyboard/mouse combo from Logitech.
  - coddle-hark 6y ago
    Works great with an Apple TV as well, I use the Infuse app to play stuff from my Jellyfin server.
  - hsbauauvhabzb 6y ago
    Easier than what? I have a Pi connected to my TV. I don’t use the official app, because I couldn’t figure out how to build it. From memory browser playback sucked or didn’t work at all. I settled on the Kodi plex plug-in which works pretty well - sometimes at the end of an episode it ‘double skips’ to next+1. The one thing that does work well with a Pi is CEC but that’s a double edged sword - I woke up to the plex turning my TV on a few nights ago, no idea why. For plex, I would recommend looking into an Apple TV, a new Android TV (the one where you can use a remote, older ones only support casting) or a nvidia shield - I can’t fully recommend them but i suspect they suck less than my experience. Failing that, a decent (i5+) nuc may work but ymmv.
    - hanniabu 6y ago
      > CEC I've been using kodi but recently my hdmi cable started going bad. CEC worked with that one but for some reason that I don't understand I can't get another cable that it works with. I've tried old and new cables, microhdmi-hdmi, hdmi-hdmi with a microhdmi adapter, combinations of the above, but no matter what I can't find another cable that CEC works with. Would you happen to have any idea why this would be happening? Also when I switch back to the cable that's failing CEC works again. I can't explain it. And yes, I have CEC enabled on the TV.
bsharitt 6y ago
I just want something to stream movies from my file server to my TV and mobile devices in a way that's simple enough for the wife and kids to use, but Plex just kept shoving every damn other thing in front of my face. I finally went full Jellyfin last year when the Roku and iOS apps got official launches. There's still a rough spot here or there, but they're getting fewer.
- RHSeeger 6y ago
  I use Kodi on my fire stick and it seems to work pretty well. It's setup to be able to play video and music from my media server.
  - hanniabu 6y ago
    Yeah i use kodi (libreelec) on an rpi and it's been great, but i don't think you can stream it to your phone
- vlunkr 6y ago
  > Plex just kept shoving every damn other thing in front of my face This is why I left Plex too. It shouldn't be hard to find your own content on a service that exists to play your own content.
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
    You can customize and hide all of that though. Mine only shows my own media.
2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
My favorite part of Plex is that it doesn't touch my files but can scan and organize, add missing metadata, album covers, etc. I have a lot of media so this is huge. Plex has been the best $120 or so that I've ever spent and I'm not kidding. It's a load off to not worry about managing media and adding music to various devices all the time. How well does jellyfish seamlessly do these things?

by pixxel 6y ago

I throughly recommend Jellyfin if you want a media server that doesn’t track your viewing habits and so on. I’ve been using for the past year or so. https://jellyfin.org https://jellyfin.org

mmastrac 6y ago

Can you elaborate on the tracking part? I am a Plex user but unaware of this. I found this [1] but it appears to be that they were tracking only at a very generic level. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5zrxtd/plex_the_company_tracks_how_i_use_my_plex_server/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5zrxtd/plex_the_compa...

callmeal 6y ago
>Can you elaborate on the tracking part? I am a Plex user but unaware of this. I got rid of plex once they made everything (including metadata lookups) go through their system. And you cannot run plex without it calling home and requiring an account.
- tobylane 6y ago
  I use it without an account. There's occasional nag screens that are quickly exited.

colordrops 6y ago

How does this compare with others like Kodi and OSMC?

alanfranz 6y ago

I'm using Emby; what's the difference with Jellyfin? I dropped Plex because its quality was getting lower and lower, especially chromecast-wise.

afavour 6y ago
Jellyfin is an open source fork of Emby, they went closed source a while ago. When I tested it the Jellyfin server worked great. But the client apps were terrible in comparison to Plex.
- mikepurvis 6y ago
  I'm a reasonably happy Jellyfin user as well. On the one hand I'm grouchy to not have native apps for phones, PS4, etc; on the other, it seems to work pretty reasonably just through a browser.
- alanfranz 6y ago
  So Emby is now closed source? Wow. I didn't get that message. Not that I really care about that for a media server, but it's still strange that I didn't realize that. I think that the main problem with Plex (some of those are the same as Emby) are: * They are trying to add too many features (Plex Arcade? really?) while other features are not stable - chromecast queuing was working then not working then working again with every other release. In the end it stopped working for a while, and I quit using Plex. I just need something to have my collection organized, with a bit of metadata handling and a "watched/not watched" flag. Plex (and Emby) are trying to do an incredible amount of work on top of that. * The price for the "deluxe" version is too steep for a self hosted solution. Netflix Standard is EUR 144/year, Plex is 40 EUR/year (about the same as Emby, btw). And I need to provide hardware, electricity, and content - it's just not competitive. I'd be happy to pay something between 10 and 20 EUR per year for a properly working software of that kind.
ghostpepper 6y ago
Another one I am keeping an eye on is Olaris. It's still in alpha but the codebase is quite nice (go for the backend, react for the front). https://gitlab.com/olaris/olaris-server/ https://gitlab.com/olaris/olaris-server/
- rapfaria 6y ago
  Does it take 12.3GB of storage once cloned and built?

dpeck 6y ago

Are there clients for AppleTV/iOS yet?

domy 6y ago
Infuse has support for Jellyfin.
hundchenkatze 6y ago
Here's the official one for ios, not tvos though. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jellyfin-mobile/id1480192618 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jellyfin-mobile/id1480192618

radicaldreamer 6y ago

Plex doesn't track your viewing habits for personal media...

PaulHoule 6y ago
What gets me is how they never stop harassing me to use streaming services I don't want to use. That plus the server often being slow to seek has me looking for an alternative.
- Ashanmaril 6y ago
  What gets me is their servers have to be up in order for your Plex server to work, even locally within your own Network (or on the device hosting the server). It happens occasionally that their servers go down and nobody is able to stream anything. I don't know why their servers are a dependancy in that chain at all, I probably looked it up before but I don't recall it being a good reason.
  - Youden 6y ago
    I don't believe this is true, do you have more details? It's needed for authentication but locally, it should be nearly fully functional. At worst, you should need to set up a subnet that's allowed without auth in the server's network settings. Aside from that, internet is mostly needed for downloading metadata and the server can work just fine without an internet connection.
    - daveslash 6y ago
      How bout' this: later tonight, I'll unplug my modem and try to play some Plex on my LAN. Stand by for a few hours, and I'll have an answer. :-)
      - Youden 6y ago
        While you're experimenting, try to set up the authless subnet in your settings. Settings -> Network -> "List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth".

devilduck 6y ago

It's nice but it's not there yet in terms of good UX. Needs a lot of help in that department. Plex is a lot easier to use still. Once Jellyfin gets its shit together in that respect I think there will be good competition.

dom96 6y ago

Are there Samsung TV clients for it? If not is there a workaround? I often wonder if I should attempt to flash my TV’s OS. Does someone have experience with this?

TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
It's easier to attach an external computer via HDMI and use the TV as a dumb display. You can install Plex or whatever on the computer. Get a wireless keyboard/mouse combo from Logitech.
- coddle-hark 6y ago
  Works great with an Apple TV as well, I use the Infuse app to play stuff from my Jellyfin server.
- hsbauauvhabzb 6y ago
  Easier than what? I have a Pi connected to my TV. I don’t use the official app, because I couldn’t figure out how to build it. From memory browser playback sucked or didn’t work at all. I settled on the Kodi plex plug-in which works pretty well - sometimes at the end of an episode it ‘double skips’ to next+1. The one thing that does work well with a Pi is CEC but that’s a double edged sword - I woke up to the plex turning my TV on a few nights ago, no idea why. For plex, I would recommend looking into an Apple TV, a new Android TV (the one where you can use a remote, older ones only support casting) or a nvidia shield - I can’t fully recommend them but i suspect they suck less than my experience. Failing that, a decent (i5+) nuc may work but ymmv.
  - hanniabu 6y ago
    > CEC I've been using kodi but recently my hdmi cable started going bad. CEC worked with that one but for some reason that I don't understand I can't get another cable that it works with. I've tried old and new cables, microhdmi-hdmi, hdmi-hdmi with a microhdmi adapter, combinations of the above, but no matter what I can't find another cable that CEC works with. Would you happen to have any idea why this would be happening? Also when I switch back to the cable that's failing CEC works again. I can't explain it. And yes, I have CEC enabled on the TV.

bsharitt 6y ago

I just want something to stream movies from my file server to my TV and mobile devices in a way that's simple enough for the wife and kids to use, but Plex just kept shoving every damn other thing in front of my face. I finally went full Jellyfin last year when the Roku and iOS apps got official launches. There's still a rough spot here or there, but they're getting fewer.

RHSeeger 6y ago
I use Kodi on my fire stick and it seems to work pretty well. It's setup to be able to play video and music from my media server.
- hanniabu 6y ago
  Yeah i use kodi (libreelec) on an rpi and it's been great, but i don't think you can stream it to your phone
vlunkr 6y ago
> Plex just kept shoving every damn other thing in front of my face This is why I left Plex too. It shouldn't be hard to find your own content on a service that exists to play your own content.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
  You can customize and hide all of that though. Mine only shows my own media.

2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago

My favorite part of Plex is that it doesn't touch my files but can scan and organize, add missing metadata, album covers, etc. I have a lot of media so this is huge. Plex has been the best $120 or so that I've ever spent and I'm not kidding. It's a load off to not worry about managing media and adding music to various devices all the time. How well does jellyfish seamlessly do these things?