I tried testing a movie from my home server in plex through firefox and repeatedly got this message, even after reloading.

I knew that they had paywalled the apps on mobile and streaming from outside the network but now they have also blocked watching your own movies through your own hardware.

I do get the point that making software should be able to sustain people but I dont see the move of plex as a fair thing to do. Yes, they have made great software but taking your home server hostage feels like the wrong move.

Even a pop up that says “we need you to donate please” would have been fine. make it pop up before every movie, play donation ads before any movie but straight up disabling the app is kinda cruel.

Anyway, i have switched to jellyfin and it is insanely good. please give it a try. you can run it alongside plex with not issues (at least i had none) and compare the two.

In any case, good luck. Let me know if you need help.

  • James R Kirk@startrek.websiteEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Jellyfin is great, but in defense of Plex, they announced that remote streaming would require one of the two parties to have a Plex pass was coming back in March so I don’t know if it’s fair to say they are holding anything hostage.

    • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      I started down the Jellyfin path after they made that announcement. It’s super easy to install, and in many ways the UI is nicer than Plex. But I ran into challenges getting my server safely accessible for users outside my LAN. And I haven’t had the time to look into that further.

      Would be great if there was a clean, easy way to set up the webserver portion so it’s as easy to share content entirely as Plex. But I get they are a volunteer project with a lot on their plate.

      • sudo@programming.devEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        But I ran into challenges getting my server safely accessible for users outside my LAN

        FWIW:

        1. vps + domain (optional?)
        2. connect vps to home server with wireguard (eg Tailscale)
        3. reverse proxy on the VPS forwarding to jellyfin (eg Caddy)

        Obviously not as trivial or seamless as Plex. Also I wouldn’t try to complicate this setup by using docker for everything. But once its up you can basically host whatever you want on the WAN from your LAN.

    • hedgehog@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      If they’re calling it remote streaming when you’re on the same (local) network, that’s not exactly intuitive. I’d say OP’s phrasing was fair.

              • hedgehog@ttrpg.networkEnglish
                1·
                2 months ago

                OP is also in the allegedly ultra rare camp of “successfully configured Jellyfin and lived to tell the tale.” Not what I’d expect of someone unable to configure Plex correctly. I’ve not set up a Plex server myself but my guess is it wasn’t clear that it was misconfigured - it did work previously, after all.

  • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Every non-Free Software will betray you eventually. It’s only a matter of time.

  • millie@slrpnk.netEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Threads like this are why people don’t use open source. It sounds like a reality-denying anti-intellectual one-size-fits-all cult in here. This is also like half the threads about Linux. Just armies of tech bros who couldn’t put themselves in someone else’s shoes if their life literally depended on it.

    • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      23 days ago

      If people choose not to use software that’s open source because of the way people talk on some thread… were they intellectually thinking about their own best interests? It’s like no longer enjoying a show because some fans did something cringe - anything popular enough will have weirdos (from someone’s perspective).

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

    Are you saying that you’re on your home network with your Plex server and it won’t let you play your media without paying? That’s not true if so. You must be outside the network.

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I’ve had that happen to me with plex, it was probably 100% my fault because I specifically changed things during the setup of the docker file, but apparently Plex can’t figure out that is local if it’s running inside docker with non-host network, it probably only accepts local connections from the docker network, and I was never able to make it treat my actual home network as local.

      • Zanathos@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        Under Settings > Network there is a configuration item exactly for this. I’m running host network, but you can add the docker networks here as well.

          • Zanathos@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            As someone else mentioned, this is only available to PlexPass users. Sorry for the confusion! I bought my lifetime sub over a decade ago at this point and forget about these inconsistencies that used to just be part of the product.

            • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
              01·
              2 months ago

              Therefore it’s literally impossible for me to watch my media locally, way to go Plex.

              • Zanathos@lemmy.worldEnglish
                0·
                2 months ago

                Are you running in docker? Change from bridged mode to host mode on your container which should resolve this.

                • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  01·
                  2 months ago

                  Yes I am, but I don’t want to give full control of my network drive to a closed source application because it paywalled me out of being able to access my media on my local network. It’s ridiculous that I have to do that. It breaks ECI, and is a security risk. And yeah, it’s a bit paranoid, but the fact that they can fix it with a simple config and put that behind a paywall is VERY worrisome, so I now need to pay if I want to isolate Plex from the host where it’s running.

          • Zanathos@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            It all starts to make sense then. I need to set Jellyfin up soon. It’s only a matter of time before they come after the “Lifetime” purchasers like myself. I bought it over a decade ago at this point.

            • Fribbtastic@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              2 months ago

              the actual problem here is that OPs network is not configured correctly and that Plex detects that the physical local client is actually accessing the server from a totally other network.

              Fairly common when you use docker to run Plex and have the container run in bridge mode. This will put the container in the docker network that will then be different to your local network.

              Plex determines if a stream is local or remote based on the network so when your container is in bridge mode, the physical local client will be a remote connection because of the different networks.

              And since remote streaming requires Plex pass since end of April, you will see this.