135
Is Plex really Self Hosting? (piefed.zip)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
159 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I've been thinking about this more and more. According to the sidebar, this community is "A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don’t control." Based on that I don't think Plex qualifies.

Privacy: Plex clearly records the metadata of what you watch. When I used it, it would send me a report by email of what my "friends" were watching. Even with that turned off, their services still track telemetry.

Control: Plex has all of it. They can (and do) make unilateral changes to the service, how authentication works, where you can run it, etc.

So I ask, when you are hosting something that is entirely dependent on a commercial entity to function, is Plex really selfhosting in the spirit of this community?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 22 points 4 months ago (22 children)

im out here wondering why anyone would hand anyone credit card information to watch already downloaded pirated content.

open source to me means open source, not open/paywall/ source.

i prefer my open source free with a lil jank. as god intended.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 22 child comments
    •
  • [–] 22 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    Because I'm lazy and want to be able to watch my stuff from anywhere, and let my friends access my library easily across all their devices.

    Setting up Jellyfin for remote access is not trivial. Maybe for a lot of self hosting people it's fairly simple, but it's not nearly as simple as just downloading and running the Plex server software.

    I paid for a lifetime account when it was 250, and I felt like it was worth it. At 750 like it is now, I probably would actually have considered figuring out Jellyfin. As with everything, it's a money/time analysis and it's less of my time to host Plex.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    I have both specifically for this reason.

    Plex is for my family who only need to know 'login to your Plex account', but I personally use Jellyfin because I'm on my VPN. I got the lifetime pass for under $100 ($80?) and it has saved me a lot of time by preventing technical issues that would need my personal attention.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago

    Exactly this. Jellyfin shouldn’t be available externally (even with a reverse proxy!) which means a personal VPN is your only realistic option for remote access. But that means you can only remotely access it on devices that can run a VPN. So grandma’s smart TV is probably disqualified.

    Plex makes remote sharing much easier, so it’s what I use for friends and family. I got the lifetime pass like a decade ago, and I have gotten my money’s worth out of it a hundred times over. Luckily, Plex and Jellyfin will happily exist side-by-side, so there’s no real reason for me to choose one or the other.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Why would you bother with jellyfin locally if you have Plex also locally? It does nothing better.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    The short answer is because it is open source.

    I'm using some non-standard transcoding profiles, for example RIFE motion interpolation. I have some other server customizations so that it integrates with my home automation system a bit better.

    I can't customize Plex.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago*

    It's not just about watching content, but also about having it neatly organised with your watch history tracked in a easy to use interface. And on top of that, making it easily accessible to friends/family with minimum effort.

    open source to me means open source, not open/paywall/ source.

    It sure means that, but not quite sure why this is relevant. There is obviously a big overlap between self-hosters and foss enthusiast on lemmy, but for me they are unrelated.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago (15 children)

    I won't make any claims about other users, but I am using Plex for 100% legally obtained media, mostly by means of ripping physical media that I still have on my shelf. So, not everybody is using it for pirated content.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 15 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago (9 children)

    Due to the DMCA by circumventing the copyright to rip your DVDs you are technically breaking the law. You would most definitely be considered a pirate.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    I guess that depends on your definition of "piracy"... is it "breaking the law" or is it "stealing"?

    In any case, the point I was making is that some people use Plex with non-stolen media. I mostly see assumptions that it's only used for stolen media, so I wanted to offer a counter-example.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Piracy is infringing on copyright. Ripping DVDs is most definitely consider a form of piracy. Although without sharing it, I think a jury could see it as non-infringing personally.

    I do agree there is a huge difference between ripping media and downloading/sharing it as far as civil liability goes.

    I take some umbrage with calling either ripping or downloading stealing though as it does not deprive the owner of their property. The correct term would be commercial copyright infringement.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Technically recording TV on VHS is piracy, but in practice no one is getting sued for it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

    To this point Congress was ready to eliminate the VHS home taping technology. Believe it or not Mr. Rogers came in to save the VHS from regulation death because he believed parents could record shows to watch with their children.

    https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/29686/how-mister-rogers-saved-vcr

    Notable quotes

    "The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." - Jack Velanti

    "I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the 'Neighborhood' off-the-air ... they then become much more active in the programming of their family’s television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been ‘You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions’ ... I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important." - Mr. Rogers

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] -2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    If by "your definition of piracy" you mean your country's laws surrounding it, then in the USA you would still be breaking the law. The FBI anti-piracy warning that they put at the beginning of movies to warning you about the anti-piracy laws specifies that the unauthorized reproduction OR distribution of copyrighted works is illegal.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    I've got no moral qualms about the way I'm handling things, nor am I judging anybody for the way they handle things. My comment was simply meant to show that not everybody is using Plex for stolen media.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (3 children)

    Good for you. Now, about those torrents...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Not sure if you're implying that I torrent my media... but just to be clear I don't torrent.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •