The Service That Lets You Build Your Own Streaming Library Just Announced a Wild Price Increase
www.ign.com
The price of Lifetime Plex Pass plans will be increasing to $749.99 on July 1.

Plex has announced a massive price increase on the service’s Lifetime Plex Pass. On July 1, the lifetime subscription option will go from $249.99 to $749.99, an increase of 200%. The price hike will only apply to new subscribers, with no changes to monthly or annual subscription pricing.

  • Lonewolfmcquade@lemmy.worldEnglish
    441·
    3 days ago

    I don’t know why anyone would pay that instead of using Jellyfin. I’ve had my server up for years now and it works great.

    • brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      112·
      3 days ago

      Last I looked, jellyfin auth and public facing security were less than ideal.

      How far has that come in the last few years? I have plenty of people using my Plex and it’s been secure. I had heard a public facing Jellyfin wasn’t super secure.

      Honestly, 95% of the reason I use Plex is so I don’t have to manage user passwords and troubleshoot issues for my friends and family. I just grant access.

      • 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        3 days ago

        I moved from the default jellyfin login method to using Authentik as the identity provider. Now its part of my homelab setup where all services have SSO, and I don’t have to create/manage an account for each person for each service.

      • Lonewolfmcquade@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        3 days ago

        I only need my server to work locally so I haven’t messed with that part personally. But I’ve read that setting up tailscale is straightforward and works fine. There are many other solutions to the problem. I would definitely invest a lot of effort before paying for Plex.

          • helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.worldEnglish
            52·
            3 days ago

            Unfortunately, that’s probably not gonna happen without some new hardware.

            You could setup a wire guard at the router (can you setup tail scale on a router? idk). If she’s renting the ISP router, replacing that could save a 100+ a year, depending on how much the isp is scamming her for it.

            or you could repurpose a minipc/nuc from bay and set up a jellyfin streaming box with tailscale.

            If you have the extra hardware, you could also setup a local server with her jellyfin and use wiregaurd/tailscale to remotely connect to it and run backup/sync during off-hours.

            • W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              36·
              3 days ago

              So, no answer because I can’t. I’m not replicating buying hardware for all of the people who are on my plex account to move them to some free software because all y’all who shout “Jellyfin” do so because you do t want to pay for anything.

              Why doesn’t anyone ever mention Emby? Oh, right, because you have to support the project and no one wants to do that.

              Plex isn’t in the right here, but yelling Jellyfin ever. Single. Time. Is like using a hammer to tighten a screw; it’s not always the right tool for the job and tall look like morons for just blindly parroting what others say.

              • Jyek@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                51·
                2 days ago

                Bro, if you want to use Emby, nobody is stopping you. Jellyfin is the popular solution because it is open source. Emby isn’t a project, it’s a product just like plex is a product. Both Emby and Plex started as free methods to host your media and converted to a paid closed source solution. Jellyfin is a fork of Emby from before they moved to closed source and remains free and open to this day.

              • Lonewolfmcquade@lemmy.worldEnglish
                51·
                2 days ago

                Are you OK? I didn’t realize my comment was so inflammatory. I just love Jellyfin and don’t appreciate Plex’s actions over the years. You love Emby. That’s cool! Use what works for you.

          • Jyek@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            12·
            2 days ago

            https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-ar300m/

            Configure one of these to sit between the TV and your mother’s network and pass all the tv traffic through an exit node on your jellyfin network.

            Most smart TVs have a tailscale app you can install directly on device. Roku is an exception to that.

            • MML@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              2 days ago

              I love their routers but that one doesn’t have tailscale support, even if you did manage to install it (I did so on a mango) I think it would run extremely poorly

              • Jyek@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2·
                1 day ago

                Funny enough I actually meant to link this one, which is specifically for this purpose. https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt5000/

                That’s okay though because the guy I was replying to didn’t actually want the help. He just wanted to complain that people aren’t recommending his preferred software.

                • MML@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  1·
                  20 hours ago

                  That’s a better choice, got one myself the other day, haven’t actually had a chance to try it but their support has literally sent me firmware ahead of release (for mango), they fix their stuff.

            • W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              33·
              2 days ago

              Nope. How do I do it on the TV directly?

              I bring this up every time someone parrots off the Lemmy line of “Jellyfin” because that’s all you all know. Not what’s best for the use case, just ram Jellyfin in there shortcoming and all.

    • |IlI|lIIl|IlIll|Il|IllI|@lemmy.worldEnglish
      123·
      3 days ago

      I haven’t checked in on Jellyfin for a while now, but don’t they still have issues with hardware transcoding support?

      Not to mention the lack of software clients on other platforms for just playback that Plex has been established on for years and even multiple device generations like with PlayStation, Roku, Fire Stick, etc.?

      Also you have to configure your own reverse proxy / Tailscale set up to securely access a content library remotely, right - as opposed Plex’s relatively simpler remote access configuration?

          • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 days ago

            I have an ~80GB movie that I can watch on a TV that can’t even handle the data rate for that file, nevermind the codecs.

            But if the couple minutes to click “this client can’t handle anything over 60Mbps x264” is too much work, then by all means keep paying for Plex. Or “hypothetically” find a smaller copy of that movie.

            I’m always amazed by the number of people who absolutely can’t leave Plex because they’ve got 14 grandparents streaming 8k rips all day every day.

      • Lonewolfmcquade@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        3 days ago

        I have not personally experienced any issues with hardware transcoding. My server is an old Dell Optiplex and I use clients on Linux, Android, Roku and Shield.

        Yes you are correct about remote access and if that was a priority for me, I would happily learn that part instead of paying for Plex.

    • jumponboard@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      How much do you donate to jellyfin? If I sum up my 20 bucks per year for the next 50 years, I end up with 1000 bucks. If I wanted to pay today, I’d donate even more to jellyfin. (Neglecting inflation)