Escaping vendor lock-in. It’s why people hate the cloud when it used to be the answer for everything. You make a good product that can only be used with your hardware/software, whatever, and people run from that shit because it’s abused more often than not.
Apple is the biggest example of this. Synology is getting worse and worse. Plex not far behind either.
I recently discovered that Plex no longer works over local network, if you lose internet service. A) you can’t login without internet access. B) even if you’re already logged in, apps do not find and recognize your local server without internet access. So, yeah, Plex is already there.
even if you’re already logged in, apps do not find and recognize your local server without internet access.
You set your server in those app’s settings to not use direct connect and thus they are being routed through Plex’s servers
When you select your Plex libraries from the drop-down there are usually 2 options, one will be the local IP and say (direct), that’s always the best choice if you’re able
I just turned off my Internet connection to my Chromecast and tested, no issues with accessing my media
Chromecast w/ google TV, sorry, so like a fire stick but different branding. Once you’re signed into apps on it it’ll remember you cuz it’s a full android device
I think they’re saying they’ve already signed into a Google account, downloaded play store apps, and set everything up. Afterwards, they have disconnected the Chromecast from the internet and successfully continued to access their self hosted content.
I’ll take another look, but I didn’t see any such setting when I was trying to diagnose. And I haven’t changed any Plex settings since the last time we had an internet outage and it worked properly, just a month or two ago.
What is the point of Plex? I just went straight for Jellyfin and it does everything I need and then some. Is it just that people went with Plex initially and then stuck with it as it got enshittified?
Yeah, I’m not gonna give you that one. It’s a single option that you toggle. Wanna use your nvidia GPU? Enable NVENC. AMD gpu/cpu? AMF. Intel CPU? QSV.
Plex has better security, federates and shares with other plex servers and generally is less hands-on for transcoding.
Regarding security, it’d be interesting to see how secure it actually is. Yeah, the individual endpoints might be protected better, but is Plex the company maybe a single point of failure?
I’m down for paying for a piece of software. I bought a lifetime subscription back in the day I feel like until recently it served me pretty well. And to be fair they are caching the movie database, providing SSL keys, epg, low speed proxy through cgnat for people, there’s quite a bit too there cloud operations that they do deserve money for.
What pisses me off is the mining of my watch habits, and the slow and enshitification of features.
14 years of lifetime Plex pass for $75, they don’t really owe me anything, But I am moving on.
I’m slowly digging my way out of sights with algorithms, clawing my way out of Google is particularly difficult. I’m considering spinning my own Alexa with whisper
Yeah I’m increasingly unwilling to put up with subscriptions that arent reasonable. If you’re selling a piece of software, I’ll consider paying for it. I love foundry for that, its a vtt that I bought and it just works. They update it, but I don’t expect or demand updates beyond keeping it working. And if they were to offer more features in the future with a new model I’d consider paying for the new model.
Escaping vendor lock-in. It’s why people hate the cloud when it used to be the answer for everything. You make a good product that can only be used with your hardware/software, whatever, and people run from that shit because it’s abused more often than not.
Apple is the biggest example of this. Synology is getting worse and worse. Plex not far behind either.
I recently discovered that Plex no longer works over local network, if you lose internet service. A) you can’t login without internet access. B) even if you’re already logged in, apps do not find and recognize your local server without internet access. So, yeah, Plex is already there.
I try to explain this to the plex cultists and they usually have one of two responses;
Takes every ounce of willpower I have to not eye roll.
You set your server in those app’s settings to not use direct connect and thus they are being routed through Plex’s servers
When you select your Plex libraries from the drop-down there are usually 2 options, one will be the local IP and say (direct), that’s always the best choice if you’re able
I just turned off my Internet connection to my Chromecast and tested, no issues with accessing my media
Nice! How are you using a chromecast without internet? Mine screams at me to get a google account.
Chromecast w/ google TV, sorry, so like a fire stick but different branding. Once you’re signed into apps on it it’ll remember you cuz it’s a full android device
How do you get past the first screen that asks for a google account?
I think they’re saying they’ve already signed into a Google account, downloaded play store apps, and set everything up. Afterwards, they have disconnected the Chromecast from the internet and successfully continued to access their self hosted content.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I’ll take another look, but I didn’t see any such setting when I was trying to diagnose. And I haven’t changed any Plex settings since the last time we had an internet outage and it worked properly, just a month or two ago.
A lot of people that run Plex have a Jellyfin container on standby, or they’ll use Plex for friends and family and use JF at home.
What is the point of Plex? I just went straight for Jellyfin and it does everything I need and then some. Is it just that people went with Plex initially and then stuck with it as it got enshittified?
Plex has better security, federates and shares with other plex servers and generally is less hands-on for transcoding.
But, I don’t use it. I like Jellyfin. It’s free and while it may lack a few features, it isn’t worse by any measure.
Yeah, I’m not gonna give you that one. It’s a single option that you toggle. Wanna use your nvidia GPU? Enable NVENC. AMD gpu/cpu? AMF. Intel CPU? QSV.
Really not that hard…
Regarding security, it’d be interesting to see how secure it actually is. Yeah, the individual endpoints might be protected better, but is Plex the company maybe a single point of failure?
Because why run one server for all your needs when you can double up, right? /s
I didn’t say it was a good idea…
KODI is calling.
What!?! Damn. I didn’t know it got that enshitty already.
I’d say plex is up there. “Want to use your hardware and bandwidth to view your own files? Pay us!”
I’m down for paying for a piece of software. I bought a lifetime subscription back in the day I feel like until recently it served me pretty well. And to be fair they are caching the movie database, providing SSL keys, epg, low speed proxy through cgnat for people, there’s quite a bit too there cloud operations that they do deserve money for.
What pisses me off is the mining of my watch habits, and the slow and enshitification of features.
14 years of lifetime Plex pass for $75, they don’t really owe me anything, But I am moving on.
I’m slowly digging my way out of sights with algorithms, clawing my way out of Google is particularly difficult. I’m considering spinning my own Alexa with whisper
Yeah I’m increasingly unwilling to put up with subscriptions that arent reasonable. If you’re selling a piece of software, I’ll consider paying for it. I love foundry for that, its a vtt that I bought and it just works. They update it, but I don’t expect or demand updates beyond keeping it working. And if they were to offer more features in the future with a new model I’d consider paying for the new model.
Nothing wrong with having to pay for software if the prices are reasonable. It’s a product like any other, with real people working on it.
The shitty part is taking features people already had access to and locking them away all while spying on you.
No way, plex is completely enshitified.