this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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Plex crossed a line with "Your week in review" emails today. (alien.top)
submitted 2 years ago by Ironicbadger@alien.top to c/main@selfhosted.forum
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As you may have seen Plex decided it was OK today to send an email showing me what my friends have been watching. To be clear, this is Plex telling other people what I've been watching from my server, with my files, and this is not OK.

https://imgur.com/a/DYR4wlh

We all knew it was a matter of time before Plex started collecting data on our libraries and sharing it with advertisers. What happened to their "we don't know, and don't want to know, what is on your server"?. This, for me, is proof that those fears were absolutely founded in reality. On what planet would I ever want this information to be shared with friends on family on an OPT OUT basis?

It's totally unacceptable to collect this data in the first place. It's totally unacceptable to share this information with uniquely identifiable information. And it's totally unacceptable to do this without explicitly asking me if it's OK.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this as a server admin, because technically these are Plex users and their marketing email preferences are controlled on the user side in the Plex website preferences. Not on your server.

This is an absolutely egregious overreach.

Thank goodness there are alternatives available in the form of Jellyfin and Emby. I left my Plex server up after the Jellyfin January challenge we did on the Self-Hosted podcast but because of this I feel that I have no choice but to take it down for good.

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[–] Kraftingg@alien.top 8 points 2 years ago (9 children)

Jellyfin FTW!

[–] TattooedBrogrammer@alien.top 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Problem is my user base are TV and mostly non technical people. No way they setup and maintain a JellyFin install. That’s why Plex just wins.

[–] zim1985@alien.top 3 points 2 years ago

What? Why would they need to setup a whole install to use your server? Just connect to the server in one of the numerous apps and login to your account?

[–] wireis@alien.top 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Made the switch to JF about 6 months ago, Never looked back!

[–] R0GG3R@alien.top 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

JF has no proper chromecast support… ☹️😤

[–] Mintfresh22@alien.top 2 points 2 years ago

Yes it does.

[–] -eschguy-@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You have to use the Play Store version

[–] R0GG3R@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

iPhone has no Play Store. I got the app from the AppStore for iPhone, no luck, chromecast does not work.

[–] -eschguy-@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Ohhh, that's too bad then.

[–] tariandeath@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What do you mean? I have used chromecast with Jellyfin many times.

[–] R0GG3R@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Chromecast in JF never worked...
When I click the chromecast icon in JF "Play On" (top right) I get "Google Cast Unsupported".

How did you manage to get it working?

[–] DarthNihilus@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You need to be hosting jellyfin behind a reverse proxy so that it works through https. Chromecast doesn't support unsecured sources.

[–] R0GG3R@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yup... I have a reverse proxy. Chromecast in Emby works, Chromecast in JellyFin doesn't. Really weird.

[–] DarthNihilus@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Then yeah idk that makes no sense to me. The only time I had problems with Jellyfin chromecast was when I wasn't on https.

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[–] HeadlineINeed@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Is it supported on tv makers?

[–] scfw0x0f@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

AppleTV + Infuse

[–] levogevo@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wdym TV makers?

[–] Big-Finding2976@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (12 children)

They mean Smart TVs. My Dad's Samsung TV has a Plex app, but no way to install anything like Kodi that would let him use Jellyfin instead of Plex to serve media.

[–] swiftb3@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (7 children)

Amazon stick is the cheapest (easy) way to turn any TV into a Jellyfin TV.

[–] Big-Finding2976@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Yeah, I use one myself. He's already using all the HDMI ports on his AV receiver though, so there's no room for any extra devices.

I know modern TVs can send the audio from the TV to the receiver, so in theory he could plug the stick into the TV instead, but his one seems to only be able to send certain formats that way, and you can't see the receiver's overlay on the TV when using it that way, so it's impossible to adjust anything.

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[–] Mintfresh22@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Why would you install Kodi to use Jellyfin?

[–] ONE_BIG_LOAD@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There's a Jellyfin app for Tizen (Samsung TV) but it's kinda stupid to get installed and is kinda sluggish. Actual playback is perfect however.

[–] Big-Finding2976@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

His TV is a few years old, so I'm not sure if it uses Tizen but I'll have a look, thanks.

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[–] frostycakes@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I think Vizio doesn't have a Jellyfin app either, unless they're also using Android under the hood like Fire TV?

[–] GoTeamScotch@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

PSA: Pre-built images are available, which avoids having to compile the app yourself. https://github.com/jeppevinkel/jellyfin-tizen-builds

The install process is pretty straightforward. I'd recommend giving it a try. More or less copying commands, then you're left with the Jellyfin client on the TV. Works great once installed.

No Kodi sadly though.

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[–] XTJ7@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I am also strongly considering to make the switch now. Any notable drawbacks/learnings from using it for 6 months?

[–] 12_nick_12@alien.top 2 points 2 years ago

And if JF won't work for you, Emby is pretty decent as well.

[–] metajames@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Is there some way to send a invite to someone from your jellyfin where they just need to install the app and follow your link? Or some other way to seriously streamline install and setup?

The whole use this hostname and managing reverse proxy etc is the reason I have not switched. It's just not user friendly for a grandma or typical consumer. That's the majority of my users.

[–] tehgreyghost@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I would love to switch but their agent is so bad. It only finds like 10% of my videos. I dont want to spend 80 hours searching the metadata one at a time.

[–] highly_confusing@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Does Jellyfin have an adequate apple TV iphone and android client with library sharing thats comparable to plex? Im not trying to start a war here, i just want to know. Only reason I don't use jellyfin is because back in the day it didnt have library sharing or a decent apple tv app.

[–] Shmoogy@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

What's the safe way to expose jellyfin for users to access without a vpn or cloudflare tunnel (tos)

[–] trowgundam@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Unfortunately Jellyfin is just missing features. Opening and Credits skip? Nope. There is a plugin, but it doesn't work with the Android client. On that front the Android client is so temperamental. Half the time it just doesn't work on my Nvidia Shield. The UI is really clunky as well. I was using it for several months and the app just frustrated me so much I just went back to Plex.