cross-posted from: https://poptalk.scrubbles.tech/post/2333639

I was just forwarded this someone in my household who watches our server. That’s it folks. I’ve been a hold out for a long time, but this is honestly it.

They want me to pay to stream content that I bought from my hardware transcoded also on my hardware.

I’ll say it. As of today, I say Plex is dead. Luckily I’ve been setting up Jellyfin, I guess it’s time to make it production ready.

Edit: I have a Plex Pass. More comments saying “Just buy a plex pass” are seriously not getting it. I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.

And for the thousandth person who wants to say the same things to me:

  • YES I know I’m unaffected as a Plex Pass owner.
  • My users were immediately angry at it, which made me angry. Our users don’t understand what plex pass is, and they shouldn’t have to, that’s why I had it. The fact that they were pinged even though it should have kept working is horribly sloppy
  • Plex is still removing functionality. I don’t care that “People should pay their fair share”. If Plex wants to put every new feature behind a paywall, that’s completely okay. They are removing functionality.
    • “But they have cloud costs”. Remote streaming is negligible to them. It’s a dynamic DNS service. Plex client logs in, asks where server is, plex cloud responds with the IP and port of where server is located. That’s it.
    • “Good luck finding another remote streaming” - Again, Plex just opens up an IP and port. Jellyfin also just opens up an IP and port (Hold on jellyfin folks I know, security, that’s a separate conversation). All “remote streaming” is is their dynamic dns. Literal pennies to them. Know what actually is costing them money? Hosting all of that ad-supported “free” content that they’re probably losing money on.

In short, I don’t care how you justify it. Plex is doing something shitty. They’re removing functionality that has been free for years. I’m not responding to any more of your comments repeating the same arguments over and over.

  • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.auEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    It’s also fucking wild to me that people are defending a monetization model that is on self hosted hardware.

    It’s wild to me that people who claim to be tech savvy don’t understand that Plex Server, the software, is what makes Plex what it is and as popular as it is. No other solution exists that is as easy as Plex and as secure as Plex. Jellyfin, Emby, Kodi, etc are nowhere near as simple to use and don’t have the breadth of app support that Plex does. Plex is basically on every device anyone owns. They sign in and they can stream from everyones libraries. No VPNs needed, no other hoops.

    I paid like $100 for a lifetime Plex Pass like 10 years ago. The 2 dozen friends and family that share my server don’t pay a cent and this changes nothing.

    • Xanza@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      No other solution exists that is as easy as Plex and as secure as Plex.

      Entrenchment. This is a profoundly absurd statement.

      I paid like $100 for a lifetime Plex Pass like 10 years ago.

      You paid $100 to access software hosted on your own devices. That’s wonderful you think that’s a great idea. I’m sure the Plex devs love you and would kiss you right on the mouth.

      They sign in and they can stream from everyones libraries. No VPNs needed, no other hoops.

      Because you’re vendor locked in… lol.

      • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.auEnglish
        0·
        2 days ago

        I paid $100 to play Forza Horizon on my own device too - should that have been free?

        This is a profoundly absurd statement.

        That no other solution exists that is as easy and secure as Plex? That’s not just absurd, but profoundly absurd? What other solution is there that is?

        Your entire argument seems to be that software should be free if it’s on your own device, which is a profoundly absurd statement. The only paid software should be on hardware you don’t own?

        • Xanza@lemm.eeEnglish
          11·
          2 days ago

          I paid $100 to play Forza Horizon on my own device too - should that have been free?

          This is a complete false equivalence and I feel that you know that. The idea of a console is to expand it by buying new games. That’s not unexpected.

          Your entire argument seems to be that software should be free

          I am a software developer. The argument isn’t that software should be free. The argument is that this is an exceptionally poor business model and as a developer I’m disgusted that people are defending it. The VC which owns Plex and other VCs will use this “logic” that you have to move the goal posts further, and further, and further, and further until there’s no such thing as free software anymore. And I think that’s fucked up.

          At the end of the day you’re paying twice to avoid buying IP. Just fucking buy the IP if you’re going to be stupid. Movies are like $12. At $250 you’re paying $2.10/mo in addition to your hosting costs.

          Just go buy 20 movies for the same price. It’s so dumb.

    • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      This place sucks at times as it becomes clear it’s just an echo chamber that we used to call the Donald for.

      My users don’t like the UI of Jellyfin as it isn’t as polished as Plex. I do this for my users and although it costs me money, it does save them a whole lot more money and means they’re taken out of some capitalist systems which should be the goal no?

      I also have the cost of a VPN too.

      Edit: The comment I replied to was on -6 upvotes at the time of posting.

      • douglasg14b@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 days ago

        I use jellyfin, and jellyfin is not safe to expose to the internet.

        They have a handful of vulnerability and security holes that have been open for like 5+ years now. And the old emby architecture is quite difficult to work with.

        • kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          01·
          2 days ago

          A load of those so called vulnerabilities are way overblown and in most cases require you to be logged in anyway.

            • kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              0·
              2 days ago

              That is with any piece of software. their will always be some vulnerabilities that are very bad. so by your definition using any piece of software is a concern.

              • dogs0n@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                01·
                2 days ago

                I agree with you, it’s likely this vulnerability is only known because Jellyfin is open source… how many are hiding in Plex’s proprietary source code…

                Anyways when has anyone ever been pwnd by this “exploit”, I have seriously never heard of anyone being “hacked” by one of them.

                Definitely overblown as far as I am aware… don’t post your instance url all over the internet and you will likely be fine.

                Using Plex (is fine, do whatever u want) and giving them your data instead doesn’t really help you (or at least sending your data through them).

                • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
                  0·
                  2 days ago

                  You don’t need to post your IP. Any server admin would tell you that if you have a server exposed to the internet then you’re going to get people / bots knocking and your doors (ports) to see what is open. They could then use something like meta spoilt to find vulnerabilities and gain access to your server.

                  • Zeoic@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    2·
                    4 hours ago

                    Not to mention bots/people/companies watching torrent peers, looking up SSL certs for the IPs, then attacking anything with jelly in it… Security through obscurity is not security