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I do not understand why anyone uses Jellyfin, I've tried it twice, and it seems soo finicky and opinionated. I've always just had a Linux computer hooked up to

I do not understand why anyone uses Jellyfin, I've tried it twice, and it seems soo finicky and opinionated. I've always just had a Linux computer hooked up to the T.V. Add a little bit of ktorrent, VLC, and SMB. Never really had any problems with this and its much much simpler.

shermanm 3y ago
Do you live with non-technical people or have visitors to your house? I have a kid and a wife who isn’t as nerdy as I am. Plex just works. I can show a babysitter or a grandparent how to use it in about a minute. Can’t say the same for a Linux box, as much as I’d love for that to be the solution.
righthand 3y ago
I agree. Media specific OSes are just okay but I have no problem about plugging my laptop into an HDMI cable to watch something. I have no anxiety about how a laptop sitting on a tv stand will look.
- afavour 3y ago
  I don’t think anyone is using Jellyfin because they have anxiety about what their laptop looks like on a TV stand. My whole family uses Plex, they can operate it incredibly simply with a remote and don’t have to unplug and replug a thing. The simplicity is key, if you’re only catering for yourself/an exclusively techie audience then it’s not necessary.
  - skydhash 3y ago
    I use Infuse on my Apple TV and Jellyfin is a nice backend for it (not necessary though). It’s just a nicer interaction than fiddling with an HTPC.
- Jochim 3y ago
  It's not an OS, it's a client-server application. Ignoring physical appearances, it presents large libraries nicely and allows you to use your phone or remote instead of needing to fiddle with a laptop. A few other nice features: can stream different content to multiple devices, users can be given access to specific libraries, and content can be age gated.
  - righthand 3y ago
    The abstraction between the two is a very minimal difference. My point stands is that as far as how things are controlled is a minimal issue. Streaming to multiple devices, library access, and age gates are nice features but they’re all mostly unnecessary and born out of the anxiety that the laptop connected to an HDMI port isn’t good enough.
- horsawlarway 3y ago
  It's not a media OS. You're thinking something like XMBC... Jellyfin is more equivalent to a streaming app - but the backend is running in your private server. Clients are available for the vast majority of consumer TV oses (Roku/Apple/AndroidTV/Web/Etc)
hotnfresh 3y ago
There’s little benefit if you’re the only one using it and are happy with it. Aside from TV-attached PCs sometimes being a lot fiddlier at providing fully-correct video and audio output than dedicated streaming boxes. There are tons of benefits to Jellyfin if other people use your set-up.
jethro_tell 3y ago
Tell me you live alone or only with a partner in a single TV home. Multiple users, multiple locations, one setup. That's the value.
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  12 years ago me and my then girlfriend used to torrent a USB pen drive full of the series and movies we wanted to watch and just plug it into a Sony TV and watch. Including subtitles when we wanted. You could put that USB pen drive in your pocket to continue watching at a friends house. 20 years ago, we'd connect any PC or Mac to the TV with HDMI and watch a movie or whatever we wanted.
  - jethro_tell 3y ago
    Nice, I'm sure that works great on an iPad in the car
    - carlosjobim 3y ago
      How is your iPad going to connect to your media server on the road with no signal?
      - happymellon 3y ago
        I normally solve this by tethering. All these media clients support downloading too for offline usage.
        carlosjobim 3y ago
        To me it seems to be much more trouble than it's worth. Setting up a server and installing clients, pirating a bunch of content to put on your server. Then using the client to download files since you won't have signal (how is the tether going to have any signal?). I guess it's fun for hackers to tinker with this stuff, but just putting the file on the device like we did 12 years ago seems much easier.
Clamchop 3y ago
Hooking the video out of a computer to a TV isn't the only use case. Once you can stream to any device and multiples of them, transcoding on the fly, with a good UX that saves your spot and tells you what's new with artwork and what seasons or special cuts are available, each attached to user profiles for multiple people, with good search including in metadata, and toss in the ability to download subtitles on demand and whatever else, you will be well on your way to reinventing Jellyfin and other plex-alikes! I understand favoring simplicity for a simple use case, but it obviously doesn't scratch every itch.
dinosaurdynasty 3y ago
It's extremely convenient to have software keep track of which episode on a 7 season show I'm on
- mmh0000 3y ago
  This is a good use case. This is a manual process for me or setting reminders in my phone.
- hotnfresh 3y ago
  An actual metadata-aware browsing system that works from my couch, controlled by an ordinary remote or by my phone, is great, too. “Sort by release year” or “what else do I have by this director?” work seamlessly.
horsawlarway 3y ago
Jellyfin lets me flexibly provide whatever video/music content I want to my family. In an interface that is basically "Netflix" - so they can actually figure out how to use it. You just listed like 4 applications, a linux box, and physical cables as your requirements. That is not a workable starting point for that discussion. My requirements are "Go to jellyfin.[mydomain]" and log in. It works basically everywhere (I am currently watching content from my jellyfin server while on vacation in a different state as I type this). Basically - you are optimizing for "low setup cost" as an admin. Jellyfin is optimizing for the entire group of people who will watch your content as users. As an aside... Sonarr/Radarr/Jellyfin are just a different league than the old school "I'll download every episode myself" time sink. It takes some genuine effort to setup, and then everything is way better.
JeremyNT 3y ago
I mean, it tracks metadata and progress centrally. It has clients for various low power appliance type devices as well as web. If you have more than one TV it's nice to use a cheap android TV device set up to connect to jellyfin on each rather than move your laptop around. It's also good for a road warrior. I can VPN to my house and steam elsewhere, and it does transcoding on the fly so it works over bad connections too. And if you want to use VLC or whatever you can still use the web UI to find the media you want and download it.
lost_tourist 3y ago
because it's easy for the end users. which is probably the most important feature rather than ease of control for devs. This has often been my experience in most things. They seem to be optimized for the end user and not the configurator.
SamuelAdams 3y ago
This reminds me of the dismissive Dropbox comment. Which is now a million dollar business. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

shermanm 3y ago

Do you live with non-technical people or have visitors to your house? I have a kid and a wife who isn’t as nerdy as I am. Plex just works. I can show a babysitter or a grandparent how to use it in about a minute. Can’t say the same for a Linux box, as much as I’d love for that to be the solution.

righthand 3y ago

I agree. Media specific OSes are just okay but I have no problem about plugging my laptop into an HDMI cable to watch something. I have no anxiety about how a laptop sitting on a tv stand will look.

afavour 3y ago
I don’t think anyone is using Jellyfin because they have anxiety about what their laptop looks like on a TV stand. My whole family uses Plex, they can operate it incredibly simply with a remote and don’t have to unplug and replug a thing. The simplicity is key, if you’re only catering for yourself/an exclusively techie audience then it’s not necessary.
- skydhash 3y ago
  I use Infuse on my Apple TV and Jellyfin is a nice backend for it (not necessary though). It’s just a nicer interaction than fiddling with an HTPC.
Jochim 3y ago
It's not an OS, it's a client-server application. Ignoring physical appearances, it presents large libraries nicely and allows you to use your phone or remote instead of needing to fiddle with a laptop. A few other nice features: can stream different content to multiple devices, users can be given access to specific libraries, and content can be age gated.
- righthand 3y ago
  The abstraction between the two is a very minimal difference. My point stands is that as far as how things are controlled is a minimal issue. Streaming to multiple devices, library access, and age gates are nice features but they’re all mostly unnecessary and born out of the anxiety that the laptop connected to an HDMI port isn’t good enough.
horsawlarway 3y ago
It's not a media OS. You're thinking something like XMBC... Jellyfin is more equivalent to a streaming app - but the backend is running in your private server. Clients are available for the vast majority of consumer TV oses (Roku/Apple/AndroidTV/Web/Etc)

hotnfresh 3y ago

There’s little benefit if you’re the only one using it and are happy with it. Aside from TV-attached PCs sometimes being a lot fiddlier at providing fully-correct video and audio output than dedicated streaming boxes. There are tons of benefits to Jellyfin if other people use your set-up.

jethro_tell 3y ago

Tell me you live alone or only with a partner in a single TV home. Multiple users, multiple locations, one setup. That's the value.

carlosjobim 3y ago
12 years ago me and my then girlfriend used to torrent a USB pen drive full of the series and movies we wanted to watch and just plug it into a Sony TV and watch. Including subtitles when we wanted. You could put that USB pen drive in your pocket to continue watching at a friends house. 20 years ago, we'd connect any PC or Mac to the TV with HDMI and watch a movie or whatever we wanted.
- jethro_tell 3y ago
  Nice, I'm sure that works great on an iPad in the car
  - carlosjobim 3y ago
    How is your iPad going to connect to your media server on the road with no signal?
    - happymellon 3y ago
      I normally solve this by tethering. All these media clients support downloading too for offline usage.
      - carlosjobim 3y ago
        To me it seems to be much more trouble than it's worth. Setting up a server and installing clients, pirating a bunch of content to put on your server. Then using the client to download files since you won't have signal (how is the tether going to have any signal?). I guess it's fun for hackers to tinker with this stuff, but just putting the file on the device like we did 12 years ago seems much easier.

Clamchop 3y ago

Hooking the video out of a computer to a TV isn't the only use case. Once you can stream to any device and multiples of them, transcoding on the fly, with a good UX that saves your spot and tells you what's new with artwork and what seasons or special cuts are available, each attached to user profiles for multiple people, with good search including in metadata, and toss in the ability to download subtitles on demand and whatever else, you will be well on your way to reinventing Jellyfin and other plex-alikes! I understand favoring simplicity for a simple use case, but it obviously doesn't scratch every itch.

dinosaurdynasty 3y ago

It's extremely convenient to have software keep track of which episode on a 7 season show I'm on

mmh0000 3y ago
This is a good use case. This is a manual process for me or setting reminders in my phone.
hotnfresh 3y ago
An actual metadata-aware browsing system that works from my couch, controlled by an ordinary remote or by my phone, is great, too. “Sort by release year” or “what else do I have by this director?” work seamlessly.

horsawlarway 3y ago

Jellyfin lets me flexibly provide whatever video/music content I want to my family. In an interface that is basically "Netflix" - so they can actually figure out how to use it. You just listed like 4 applications, a linux box, and physical cables as your requirements. That is not a workable starting point for that discussion. My requirements are "Go to jellyfin.[mydomain]" and log in. It works basically everywhere (I am currently watching content from my jellyfin server while on vacation in a different state as I type this). Basically - you are optimizing for "low setup cost" as an admin. Jellyfin is optimizing for the entire group of people who will watch your content as users. As an aside... Sonarr/Radarr/Jellyfin are just a different league than the old school "I'll download every episode myself" time sink. It takes some genuine effort to setup, and then everything is way better.

JeremyNT 3y ago

I mean, it tracks metadata and progress centrally. It has clients for various low power appliance type devices as well as web. If you have more than one TV it's nice to use a cheap android TV device set up to connect to jellyfin on each rather than move your laptop around. It's also good for a road warrior. I can VPN to my house and steam elsewhere, and it does transcoding on the fly so it works over bad connections too. And if you want to use VLC or whatever you can still use the web UI to find the media you want and download it.

lost_tourist 3y ago

because it's easy for the end users. which is probably the most important feature rather than ease of control for devs. This has often been my experience in most things. They seem to be optimized for the end user and not the configurator.

SamuelAdams 3y ago

This reminds me of the dismissive Dropbox comment. Which is now a million dollar business. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224