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It seems that Plex is more about being a Streaming and Live TV service. The media server function has now taken a backseat to this goal. This makes many lifetime members feel betrayed as they just wanted a media server for their own content. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less. So are their options? Jellyfin and Emby seem to worth a look. Do any of you guys have any thoughts or suggestions?
I Tried the Big 3 Media Servers - Plex, Jellyfin, & Emby
I use both Plex and Jellyfin as media servers. Plex Media Server is my primary, daily-use system. Jellyfin is only a backup. There’s a reason for that.
Anyone who considers Jellyfin as a peer to Plex on the client side of things is simply deluding themselves. Their apps are all over the place with huge feature gaps on some platforms and riddled with bugs which make them unstable at best. The only thing which makes it usable for me is that I’m primarily in the Apple ecosystem and I have Infuse.
(The one thing which makes Jellyfin useful to me is that I need something when my Internet goes out. It’s reliable in that regard.)
On other posts it seems many have different considerations. I’m not disagreeing with your assessment with Jellyfin, but many are considering the move. If you are content with the direction is Plex, then you do you. The idea was more in the line with many who are not content with the direction of Plex, regardless of what the others offer, Plex has done enough for others to consider those alternatives. Even if they lack the bells and whistles. Some will glady take the hiccups if means going back to why the got Plex in the first place. I am looking more into Emby myself.
I have had Plex for over 6 years now. I agree they are slowing turning into a streaming service. I played with Emby for about 4 months, what i did like about Emby was its self contained. No PPV crap, you can just enjoy your own media without all the extra stuff that Plex puts in the way. In my opinion, Plex has become way to bloated for me. We should have the options of what we install within Plex. Want a basic media server, here, make the rest plug ins. Sadly they have become to big, corporate and greedy, but that happens to a lot of companies. Once they added PPV to Plex, i had a feeling it was going down hill then. Plex has my life time $$$ already, so losing me dont hurt them. I am almost 99% sure going to Switch to Emby in the next month. Yes, there is parts of Plex i will miss, but Emby is now more what i want in a media server.
On a side note, DID they beta test this update with any real people? Like , long time users?
If you want just a non bloated, well put together media server, i would highly suggest Emby. Emby does not have all the bells and whistles that Plex has, but one thing Emby does have, plugins. If you want what Plex use to be, i would give Emby a try.
As for Jellyfin, there is a learning curve to it and in my opinion does not run as smooth as Plex or Emby.
Sadly, I had the same feeling. That Plex as a media server has taken a back-seat to the streaming service it seems it wants to become. No longer being the primary focus. So I am looking into Emby like you have.
As for Beta testing, I have no idea for how long or how many users were involved. But from the little bit I have seen on forums, the backlash to this new UI change is very noticeable.
And I am checking into Emby for sure. In Emby, are Graphic Titles for shows forced or can they be turned off and just show the plain titles you assigned your shows in the server? I really dislike the forced graphic titles.
What are these titles you (and others I’ve seen) are talking about? Fortunately, I don’t seem to be seeing anything like that (nothing that looks like the screenshots I saw in one thread complaining about this anyway), but I don’t know why or what I did that might have stopped them from showing up. Are they on your own content or only on stuff streaming from Plex?
Forced Graphic Titles are titles of movies or shows that present the text in a very stylized manner. Something user’s can not control. So if you have a director’s cut, or extended cut of a movie… and you have the title listed as that cut in your server, it is replaced by this graphic on your player… which many do not want. You may also have a foreign movie title replaced by an international rebrand, but you may have the original movie with original title. But what you see on your player is that forced rebranded graphic title. Titles of shows should reflect what we have put in our servers. I do not want Plex’s forcing me to use the title graphics they want me to have. See below…
I’ve installed both Kodi and Jellyfin, and they each have issues. Kodi is unstable and outdated. Jellyfin is a work in progress that requires a degree in computer science.It’s geek factor is pretty high. I has the best promise though, but you’re going to need to be ready. It creates and stores support files in the folder where you store your media. Each file can result in the creation of an nfo file and several jpgs for season, and chapters, and such. It will clutter up you hard drive like you cannot believe.
Plex wants to be a streaming platform now, and I’m assuming that they want to push those of us with our own media libraries unto their plex pass and streaming and out of media servers because that doesn’t make them any money. At some point, they will start to nickle and dime us till abandon the server side altogether, and why should they care since they give away for free.
Thanks for the prompt response. I’m not sure what’s happening, but while I see the image I’ve selected as “background” on that screen when I’m using my browser (I haven’t checked all 6200+ of my movies of course, but so far I haven’t run across any that aren’t displaying the correct image that I selected as Background), I don’t actually see any images at all on that screen on my Roku TV, mine or something different from Plex - I just see plain text on a blank background.
Please reread my response along with the posted pictures . I was NOT talking about the background. I was talking about the title (the actual text) of the movie or show. If you look at the pictures I posted earlier…. My server shows that I have the Dune (Alternative Edition Redux). That is what SHOULD be showing on my Player or APP… but it showing the FORCED graphic title (Stylized Text). Not the title I have typed in my server. Plex is FORCING users to use the graphic version (Stylized Text) of the movie or show title text. These are not forced when viewing your server in the browser. This is NOT about the background image. Look at the pictures I posted again… READ the titles of the same movies… they DO NOT MATCH. That is the issue. I want the plan text titles that I typed for my movies and shows. Do you see the difference now?
I think you’re right about Plex’s new direction is wanting to be a streaking platform more so than a media server. I like Jellyfin well enough but I don’t want to manually configure everything, like you pointed out. If you look at the video I initially posted, there is a 3rd option… Emby. That’s what I’m looking into now. That seems to be a very promising option right now.
“What is setting Plex apart from the streaming competition?… Plex CEO Keith Valory discusses the streaming platform’s ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) service and content catalogs….”
And? He’s talking about things Plex has been doing for ages now. It’s all been done alongside the media server functions and, importantly, can all be turned off.
And demonstrates my point of the original post which demonstrate that Plex being a streaming service or pay-per-view platform is now the primary focus and a media server second. Which the other user seems to disagree while the CEO pf Plex actually confirms. Which further explains why many on Plex are frustrated and are considering moving to other projects that are media servers and only… media servers. Anything else?
No, it doesn’t. All the clip demonstrates is he was asked a question which he responded to. There’s nothing in it which demonstrates anything about the primary focus of Plex.
