5 ms·

https://jellyfin.org/ https://jellyfin.org/

Rebelgecko 3y ago
How effective is Jellyfin as an alternative? When I tried it un the past it still had some rough edges (especially the app)
- alphabettsy 3y ago
  It’s workable, but not as nice. I switched back.
- nilsb 3y ago
  As far as UI/UX is concerned their tvOS app is in a really rough shape. The web UI has a fairly reasonable program guide (edit: for Live TV), while the app doesn't. Also navigation in the app doesn't feel polished at all unfortunately.
  - newsclues 3y ago
    I think the Apps are inconsistent, some of the newer Apple ones are great, the computer ones are first tier, but some of the multiple TV OSes are lagging. I wish there was an open hardware option that was a target for devs to support for projects like Jellyfin but also funded them when you bought it.
    - edsimpson 3y ago
      What’s a good app for iOS or tvOS? It looks like the official jellyfin app for iOS hasn’t been updated in a year.
- newsclues 3y ago
  I've only used Jellyfin but good enough not to consider switching to Plex.
Someone1234 3y ago
I've given this a legitimate shot two times, both self-hosting and via a professional host and both times on I have massive streaming problems on a 1 gig connection. It, on paper, has competitive features to Plex but Plex streams almost as reliably as Netflix does.
- tombert 3y ago
  I run Jellyfin on my home server, and this has been a problem for me as well. Even within my home network I'll have occasional stuttering while watching movies, despite the fact that I'm using a dedicated server with 128gb of RAM and 12 CPUs, with a 10 gigabit network card in a 10 gigabit switch, and I'll still get stuttering. I've debated moving to Plex but I'm broadly against running proprietary software on a server (for reasons I cannot honestly articulate terribly well).
  - mizzack 3y ago
    Is that during direct play or transcoding? Are you running a reverse proxy in front of it? I'd check those things first.
    - tombert 3y ago
      > Is that during direct play or transcoding? During transcoding, but I'm having a hell of a time disabling that. I've looked around for a configuration to just broadly disable transcoding, since pretty much everything I use to play JellyFin is libavcodec or ffmpeg based anyway and can happily decode stuff client side. > Are you running a reverse proxy in front of it? Not within my home network.
      - TechBro8615 3y ago
        I'm not certain, but I think it will avoid transcoding for certain "Web-native" formats that your client device can already play. For example, if you download an mp4 then you should be able to watch it on your iPhone without Jellyfin needing to transcode it.
sgt 3y ago
A setup that I can now heartily recommend (after using it for 6 months) is Apple TV 4k and the Infuse media app[0] It's able to find your movies and series on Samba shares (and probably other types of locations, too) and categorize, find subtitles, adjust audio and so on. This assumes you've already got your media somewhere of course (like a file server on your LAN), but I bet 99% of the HN crowd has a home server anyway. And if you use torrents, you can dump the media there. [0] https://firecore.com/infuse?utm_source=hn https://firecore.com/infuse?utm_source=hn (you will need the Pro version which is about $15 a year, if I recall. Well worth it!)
- TechBro8615 3y ago
  If you're pirating content, you should retain complete control and security over your setup. How does Infuse enforce its yearly license cost? There must be some telemetry at the very least, which is exactly the issue that got Plex into this situation and why people would do well to avoid it (unless of course you're just watching your own legal copies of media).
  - skydhash 3y ago
    It's apple only (tvos, ios, and macos). The yearly subscription is for enabling formats and resolutions, I believe. They don't have a server part. They just scan your sources (smb shares, cloud drives, plex, jellyfin, emby,...) and present a library. My setup is Jellyfin (old Mac Mini with ubuntu server) + Infuse on Apple TV as the player.
  - intrasight 3y ago
    There is likely telemetry - good point. I assume that such telemetry can be block if you are concerned.
- hasel 3y ago
  +1 for the Apple TV mention. I gave up and ordered one to use Infuse, might try out Swiftfin first though, for my Jellyfin setup. It’s always trade offs with the official Jellyfin clients, can’t get everything working 100% of the time with the same setup. I have an Android TV and keep having to switch between LibVLC and ExoPlayer depending on what I’m watching, not to mention the numerous bugs and clunkiness. Like for some reason I can’t wrap my head around, ExoPlayer Jellyfin can’t play ASS and has to transcode the whole file while ExoPlayer Plex can. When you seek before waiting for a previous seek to finish and start playing you end up with a broken stream where the local progress bar and time doesn’t correspond to what’s actually shown on screen. After trying Infuse on my phone, it seems exactly the kind of “just works” I’m looking for.
toastercat 3y ago
Used this with my Roku to stream movies locally, and it worked OK for the most part, but on more than one occasion it had a hard time with larger video files, often causing audio sync issues, weird freezing, or subtitle failures. I tried both the Jellyfin app and the Emby app on Roku with similar results; not sure if it's Jellyfin or the Roku app. I've since switched back to Plex which streams flawlessly on my local area network.
hellisothers 3y ago
I tried Jellyfin vs Plex, I forget why, but it’s like how I wound up buying a Subaru because on paper it looked like it checked all the boxes. It does technically check all the boxes but it’s still unpleasant to drive in a myriad of little ways, just like Jellyfin. Checking boxes doesn’t add up to a pleasant user experience.

How effective is Jellyfin as an alternative? When I tried it un the past it still had some rough edges (especially the app)

alphabettsy 3y ago
It’s workable, but not as nice. I switched back.
nilsb 3y ago
As far as UI/UX is concerned their tvOS app is in a really rough shape. The web UI has a fairly reasonable program guide (edit: for Live TV), while the app doesn't. Also navigation in the app doesn't feel polished at all unfortunately.
- newsclues 3y ago
  I think the Apps are inconsistent, some of the newer Apple ones are great, the computer ones are first tier, but some of the multiple TV OSes are lagging. I wish there was an open hardware option that was a target for devs to support for projects like Jellyfin but also funded them when you bought it.
  - edsimpson 3y ago
    What’s a good app for iOS or tvOS? It looks like the official jellyfin app for iOS hasn’t been updated in a year.
newsclues 3y ago
I've only used Jellyfin but good enough not to consider switching to Plex.

Someone1234 3y ago

I've given this a legitimate shot two times, both self-hosting and via a professional host and both times on I have massive streaming problems on a 1 gig connection. It, on paper, has competitive features to Plex but Plex streams almost as reliably as Netflix does.

tombert 3y ago
I run Jellyfin on my home server, and this has been a problem for me as well. Even within my home network I'll have occasional stuttering while watching movies, despite the fact that I'm using a dedicated server with 128gb of RAM and 12 CPUs, with a 10 gigabit network card in a 10 gigabit switch, and I'll still get stuttering. I've debated moving to Plex but I'm broadly against running proprietary software on a server (for reasons I cannot honestly articulate terribly well).
- mizzack 3y ago
  Is that during direct play or transcoding? Are you running a reverse proxy in front of it? I'd check those things first.
  - tombert 3y ago
    > Is that during direct play or transcoding? During transcoding, but I'm having a hell of a time disabling that. I've looked around for a configuration to just broadly disable transcoding, since pretty much everything I use to play JellyFin is libavcodec or ffmpeg based anyway and can happily decode stuff client side. > Are you running a reverse proxy in front of it? Not within my home network.
    - TechBro8615 3y ago
      I'm not certain, but I think it will avoid transcoding for certain "Web-native" formats that your client device can already play. For example, if you download an mp4 then you should be able to watch it on your iPhone without Jellyfin needing to transcode it.

sgt 3y ago

A setup that I can now heartily recommend (after using it for 6 months) is Apple TV 4k and the Infuse media app[0] It's able to find your movies and series on Samba shares (and probably other types of locations, too) and categorize, find subtitles, adjust audio and so on. This assumes you've already got your media somewhere of course (like a file server on your LAN), but I bet 99% of the HN crowd has a home server anyway. And if you use torrents, you can dump the media there. [0] https://firecore.com/infuse?utm_source=hn https://firecore.com/infuse?utm_source=hn (you will need the Pro version which is about $15 a year, if I recall. Well worth it!)

TechBro8615 3y ago
If you're pirating content, you should retain complete control and security over your setup. How does Infuse enforce its yearly license cost? There must be some telemetry at the very least, which is exactly the issue that got Plex into this situation and why people would do well to avoid it (unless of course you're just watching your own legal copies of media).
- skydhash 3y ago
  It's apple only (tvos, ios, and macos). The yearly subscription is for enabling formats and resolutions, I believe. They don't have a server part. They just scan your sources (smb shares, cloud drives, plex, jellyfin, emby,...) and present a library. My setup is Jellyfin (old Mac Mini with ubuntu server) + Infuse on Apple TV as the player.
- intrasight 3y ago
  There is likely telemetry - good point. I assume that such telemetry can be block if you are concerned.
hasel 3y ago
+1 for the Apple TV mention. I gave up and ordered one to use Infuse, might try out Swiftfin first though, for my Jellyfin setup. It’s always trade offs with the official Jellyfin clients, can’t get everything working 100% of the time with the same setup. I have an Android TV and keep having to switch between LibVLC and ExoPlayer depending on what I’m watching, not to mention the numerous bugs and clunkiness. Like for some reason I can’t wrap my head around, ExoPlayer Jellyfin can’t play ASS and has to transcode the whole file while ExoPlayer Plex can. When you seek before waiting for a previous seek to finish and start playing you end up with a broken stream where the local progress bar and time doesn’t correspond to what’s actually shown on screen. After trying Infuse on my phone, it seems exactly the kind of “just works” I’m looking for.

toastercat 3y ago

Used this with my Roku to stream movies locally, and it worked OK for the most part, but on more than one occasion it had a hard time with larger video files, often causing audio sync issues, weird freezing, or subtitle failures. I tried both the Jellyfin app and the Emby app on Roku with similar results; not sure if it's Jellyfin or the Roku app. I've since switched back to Plex which streams flawlessly on my local area network.

hellisothers 3y ago

I tried Jellyfin vs Plex, I forget why, but it’s like how I wound up buying a Subaru because on paper it looked like it checked all the boxes. It does technically check all the boxes but it’s still unpleasant to drive in a myriad of little ways, just like Jellyfin. Checking boxes doesn’t add up to a pleasant user experience.