Just how offline can you go?

General Discussions
1

Hi,

can someone please describe just how offline/plex.tv-independent a user can go?

Assuming unfettered access between the PMS and any clients of course.

What actions necessitate access to the mother-ship? Is that access continuous or regular or one-off? etc. etc.

Thanks

2

The short answer is not very. The slightly longer answer is outlined in a bit more detail in this support article:

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200484903-internet-and-network-requirements/

Note that this article is actually a little optimistic nowadays. In particular, the list of clients which require Internet access (and to be signed into a Plex account) has grown since the rollout of the new experience clients.

In short, don’t expect Plex to be very usable at this point when offline for more than a very short period of time. Oh, and you Plex Media Server needs to be signed in and be able to check in occasionally for any Plex Pass features to be available.

3

From my experience, it is unpredictable. As long as your client is signed in, you should be able to user your local server as long as the client access token is still valid. But my experience has been very random, from the video stopping while watching it and losing the Internet and not been able to play anything again until the Internet is back to everything working as per normal for a couple of days. This is with Apple TV clients.

If you want a “solution” you can change some access configurations to make your server work permanently when offline situations happen but this will disable managed users and make all libraries visible to everyone at home (online and offline), so this might be a solution for some people but not a solution for other ones (i.e. you have kids at home).

4

Hi @Havohej - the situation you touch on where you can be permanently offline - I assume this involves the “List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth” setting. Do you know of the other requirements (or a link to a page describing them)? I understand that my PlexPass benefits would be lost.

I think I’m anxious that one day this excellent product will die/be killed/be bought out/be bought out and killed/and so on.

Thanks

5

This is from the Plex website, no idea if it is still 100% valid, I never use it because it is not a solution for me:

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200890058-authentication-for-local-network-access/

I keep a copy of Jellyfin as backup pointing to the same media and it is synced to Plex with JellyPlex-Watched (which syncs both ways). This is what I use as backup when Plex is not working, it works, but it is not as polished as Plex.

6

IF that happens then all Plex components will cease to function quite quickly.
Nothing you can do will change that. They are all depending on connections to plex.tv for a whole list of reasons.

7

If that happens please release the source code to the authentication server on the way out :slight_smile:

8

The authentication is only one piece of the puzzle. There are also codec downloads, metadata proxying, Discovery, Credits etc.pp. A lot of features rely on connectivity to plex.tv.

9

I get that there’s a whole bunch happening at the back-end. Some things essentials, others not. I’d pay a thousand bucks right now a Plex Pass “Lifetime+” that was truly lifetime; where the lifespan of the product was aligned with my personal lifespan rather than Plex’s. This isn’t a criticism at all; it’s just a wish based on the historical reality of other lifetime licences being rewritten to mean something other. It’s more an expression of how important I consider Plex to be and how I’d miss it where it to vanish.