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I used Plex briefly right after it came out from the roots of XBMC. The reason was, at that time, if you wanted to play something off a computer on your TV, be

I used Plex briefly right after it came out from the roots of XBMC. The reason was, at that time, if you wanted to play something off a computer on your TV, better have a long DVI cable and a headphone-to-RCA cable and hookup your laptop and screen mirror, or better set up a PC sitting next to your TV and have a media server running. That option felt cool and useful so I did that, between like 2009 and 2012 ish. Now? I stream most of my content, but if I am torrenting something, I pop the file in a folder on my NAS and my smart TV can see that drive on my home network. I don't need fancy thumbnails. I don't need any fancy sorting. I typically don't need transcoding. I just navigate the folders using my TV's built in browser and hit play, and it works. And it has worked that way for years.... I think I am in the place where most home users are now. Most people, even technologically-adverse people, know that they can put some media on a USB stick and plug it in their smart TV and that is simpler than setting up media servers for home media content. And streaming services have taken away the need for a lot of people to have local content. So who is left? People who hoarde local media and want instant access to it in their home theatres, who have vast libraries and want advanced sorting, playlisting, and multi-device streaming? How many people can that possibly be, and how would those people be supporting Plex financially?

lelandbatey 3y ago
I just paid the $150 lifetime membership the last few months, and I'm not the only one. Most folks in this boat are trying to support sharing and managing a media collection with more people than just ourselves. For me, it's my wife and some family friends. And with Plex, I can share my whole library, or just parts, with them and they can watch easily on their TV. No big downloads on their end, no navigating a file tree, just a slick app like all the other streaming apps. Add in the *Arr apps and Overseer for slick request management and youve got a great system that's easy enough for my accountant brother and my non-technical wife to use without any hiccups.
austhrow743 3y ago
Never occurred to me that people would use Plex for local media. Afaik its main use is for seedboxes. Torrenting on a server. You set up Plex and Prowlarr, then you have your own streaming service with all of the content on streaming services put together plus everything out on dvd, bluray, etc. I don't think Plex would be getting much financial support from them, not because they're not willing to pay* but because having purchased the lifetime licence seems to be fairly widespread from what ive seen. *Check out plans on seedbox providers. Most are more expensive than streaming services. Then you've got people who dont want to/can't manage the above paying for access to remote Plex libraries, much like they would a streaming service. There's plenty of people pirating for the better experience who are willing to pay a premium for it.
- jiveturkey 3y ago
  > more expensive than streaming services. more expensive than _one_ streaming service, or more expensive than a cable-tv-esque "package" of multiple streaming services?
  - austhrow743 3y ago
    Some get in to the hundreds of dollars a month. I have no insight in to how popular they are.

lelandbatey 3y ago

I just paid the $150 lifetime membership the last few months, and I'm not the only one. Most folks in this boat are trying to support sharing and managing a media collection with more people than just ourselves. For me, it's my wife and some family friends. And with Plex, I can share my whole library, or just parts, with them and they can watch easily on their TV. No big downloads on their end, no navigating a file tree, just a slick app like all the other streaming apps. Add in the *Arr apps and Overseer for slick request management and youve got a great system that's easy enough for my accountant brother and my non-technical wife to use without any hiccups.

austhrow743 3y ago

Never occurred to me that people would use Plex for local media. Afaik its main use is for seedboxes. Torrenting on a server. You set up Plex and Prowlarr, then you have your own streaming service with all of the content on streaming services put together plus everything out on dvd, bluray, etc. I don't think Plex would be getting much financial support from them, not because they're not willing to pay* but because having purchased the lifetime licence seems to be fairly widespread from what ive seen. *Check out plans on seedbox providers. Most are more expensive than streaming services. Then you've got people who dont want to/can't manage the above paying for access to remote Plex libraries, much like they would a streaming service. There's plenty of people pirating for the better experience who are willing to pay a premium for it.

jiveturkey 3y ago
> more expensive than streaming services. more expensive than _one_ streaming service, or more expensive than a cable-tv-esque "package" of multiple streaming services?
- austhrow743 3y ago
  Some get in to the hundreds of dollars a month. I have no insight in to how popular they are.