What do you mean they’re moving toward trying to be a streaming service?

al_borland 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Take a look at their homepage, you wouldn’t even know they offer a media server looking at this. (The main URL forwards to the watch subdomain)

https://watch.plex.tv/

It’s now how a majority of users are using Plex as well.

> In 2023, Scott Hancock, Plex’s then-VP of marketing, said that Plex had more people using its online streaming service than using its media server features since 2022.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/plexs-crackdown-on-f...

With media servers being something studios surely don’t like, and Plex deprioritizing that aspect of the business, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before they shut it down completely.

To even know they have a media server, I need to click on the profile image in the top right of their website (even though I’m logged out), then click “My Media” under Links. No one is finding that organically.

That goes here, which seems to be their only page about the media server, and at the bottom is a link to a site that tries to scare people away. Instead of talking about how to rip your existing DVD and CD collection for the modern streaming era and self-hosting, it pushes users toward the big streaming services. Maybe that link is there because of the lawyers, but it sure seems like they don’t want this to exist anymore.

https://www.plex.tv/your-media/

	▲	2muchtime 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I feel very foolish, I thought you were saying Jellyfin was trying to become a streaming service. I was concerned.

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someguyiguess 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They’re a paid service now. It’s no longer open source.

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chaosharmonic 2 days ago | parent [-]

To the best of my knowledge Plex has never been open source. It's just easy to mix up because it's been using Kodi as a base the whole time.

	▲	oarsinsync 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Indeed. They forked Xbox Media Center back in the day, to produce a Mac version when none existed. Then they became a client/server model. They are supposed to provide the source code for Plex Transcoder, since that's a modified ffmpeg build. In practice, the version they share is not up to date with the version they ship. They are generally speaking, closed source.

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kortilla 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Plex is a piece of shit that rams dumb streaming stuff down your throat each time you sign in on a TV. This coincidentally happens every other month or so when the app seems to forget the account it’s signed into.

It’s becoming hostile for people who want to work from their media alone.

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infecto 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I am not so sure. Have used it for years for free( I have need to stream on the go) and it’s always been no issue. On first setup you are give the option to display streaming options or only your library. I cannot remember the last time I was logged. Super stable and zero time spent setting it up.

On the flip side Jellyfin has never worked that well out of the box for me. Always some fiddling around and even when I get it right the server will crash unexpectedly and when I want to go watch something I have to manually reboot it.

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kortilla an hour ago | parent | next [-]

You must not use the TV apps. Both the Samsung and the LG ones suffer from this.

I was not suggesting Jellyfin was better because the apps don’t exist in any meaningful sense for TVs.

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al_borland 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I was a user back when it was Mac only, before they even broke it out into a client/server architecture. When they added the streaming services, I don’t remember getting a choice. I do remember finally getting annoyed enough some time last year and looking for a way to hide it all.

I also remember opening the app one day, not long ago, and seeing a full screen ad instead of my media. Considering I have PlexPass, I found this extremely off putting. I think that was a one-time thing, but still a bad omen.

	▲	infecto 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Been a user since forever too but for the past few years I just don’t recall seeing any ads on a day to day basis. Regardless it runs much better for me than the only alternative.

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yard2010 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Have used it for years as well, Plex is a piece of shit. I'm waiting for the day I'll have the time to migrate off this enshitified hostile dark "platform".

	▲	infecto 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Works amazing for me.

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hjkl0 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This has never been my experience. When it can’t find my own content, it says “nothing to watch”…

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Handy-Man 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Haven't been logged out of the app on my Apple TV in 4 years now.

	▲	kortilla an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Apple TV is not a TV. It’s the terrible quality of all of their TV apps that leads to this behavior.