Unfortunately limiting concurrent streams or friend numbers would only really affect genuine users. The Plex share sellers would just be spinning up multiple docker instances/vms on their server to get around this issue.
3 Likes
Thereâs no restriction or outage â as others have posted itâs working fine for them. If youâre experiencing issues, that seems to be something about your setup/configuration/⊠â should be a different thread
Thank you for bringing Jellyfin to my attention.
Iâm not a Hetzner customer and so not affected by this latest Plex attempt to get rid of paying users, but for some time now Iâm looking for an alternative to this rubbish ânew agentâ for TV shows and the endless problems with downloading after âimprovingâ the clients.
So as of today, my Plex pass is cancelled and I started transforming my data.
Thanks again for bringing up this interesting alternative.
3 Likes
I have no other option but to use a server as a proxy since I canât unlock ipv4 ports. I am also going to jellyfin nowâŠ
2 Likes
Yeah sure, if there was you would have known, right? Whatâs happening here is way beyond your control.
There IS surely a restriction on the Plex Movie agent, since it stopped working just yesterday, for the first time ever in 4 years. I was forced to switch to TMDB.
Do you want to lose longtime Plex users? Because this is how you lose longtime Plex users.
Although, I suppose you do actually want to lose Lifetime Plex Pass users, since youâve gotten our money already, so we no longer really matter to you, since all we do is cost you money now.
I always did find the existence of the Lifetime Plex Pass, outside of at start of business to get an initial customer base and word of mouth, and rare, strictly limited and much more expensive opportunities, an absolute mystery, since it literally kills your revenue stream from those users permanently just for a one-time revenue boost. I honestly canât believe it is still offered, even after you were forced to push ad-supported content none of your existing user base wanted and essentially rework your entire business and product model because of it.
Anyway, that aside, your core product was, and, despite your best efforts, still is, a media server solution. Your customers host their media, and you provide an easy way to access it by bypassing the pain of having to set up a static IP or manual DNS updating, as well as apps that for playing back that media on various platforms.
Thatâs it. Everything else is just set dressing and a few usability features, along with profit generating bloat like Tidal and the ad-supported streaming push.
Youâve already severely limited much of Plexâs usability by ending proper HTPC support, burning the plugin system to the ground and severely limiting third party open source metadata agents and scanners, all of which were reasons many of us started using Plex rather than the existing alternatives to begin with. I personally moved from Emby/Mediabrowser to Plex entirely for one open source metadata agent, HAMA, the comtinued existence of which seems to be made harder with every major server update. The moment that dies, I leave Plex for good, and my word of mouth recommendations for the platform will finally go from âExcellent!â (when I started using Plex) to âIt does about 70% of whatâ (now) to âBurn it with fireâ.
I donât even host my server on any form of hosting provider, as I have access to decent Internet service at my home, but this decision still makes me very angry. Not everyone is as lucky as I am, and, above all, it is NONE OF YOUR DAMNED BUSINESS where your users choose to host their servers. You provide Software for Lifetime Plex Pass users, and SaaS for subscription users - that includes facilitating connections to the usersâ servers, but thatâs it. You donât get to decide what platform a user runs their server on, or where it is located. You shouldnât even be collecting data on usersâ servers and client IP addresses outside of what is needed to facilitate a connection, you certainly shouldnât be keeping records of those IP addresses for any other reason, especially non-anonymized, and you DEFINITELY shouldnât be snooping around usersâ ISPs, hosting providers or client ISPs. Not only does this excessively exceed the scope of what is needed for your software to function, it is also a severe violation of personal privacy. And deciding to wholesale block the hosting provider for a large number of users is just beyond the pale. All you need to know is the serverâs IP address, and anything beyond that is literally none of your business - as in, thatâs personal information that you do not require to make your software run. Stick to your business, and stop wasting money on violating peopleâs privacy. That is something neither needed or wanted from you by your customers, who are the only reason you have a business in the first place.
I really donât understand why you seem to be so desperate to kill off your existing user base and all of the goodwill and free advertising we provide, as well as just get your users to outright hate your company as a whole. What is your endgame, here? Plex is not a streaming provider, and had exactly zero chance of competing in that space. You expanded into ad-supported streaming because you sold too many Lifetime Plex Passes, and needed an additional revenue stream, yet you continue to sell Lifetime Plex Passes. Making ad-supported streaming your focus would just be idiotic, since itâs a product some people may grudgingly use because itâs âfreeâ, but not something anyone actually wants.
You make decent media server software, that used to be great. If you keep trying to kill that off, as your actions seem to indicate as your goal, the only thing that will happen is you will go out of business, and leave people spitting on your name. That just doesnât seem very productive, or remotely smart.
8 Likes
Youâre not the first one to mention this (or some variation of), your post just happens to be the most recent so please donât think this is directed at you specifically.
The idea that this is none of Plexâs business is a nonsense imo. If we all want to be honest with ourselves we can agree that the vast majority of Plex installations are probably breaching copyright legislation in the various jurisdictions they reside. We all know this, as does Plex (and pretty much every other developer of similar software). But, for the most part, they turn a blind eye to it and pretend they donât know itâs happening. They are happy to work in a world where all their users are only using the software to share content that they either own distribution rights for or have authorisation to distribute. They probably also have some limited legal defence if copyright owners were to try and take action on the basis that itâs not commercial software and users arenât making money by using the software to commit copyright infringement.
However, this all changes when users are using their software to make money by infringing copyright. You can bet that copyright owners will be coming after Plex and I have no doubt that money being involved (even if Plex isnât directly selling access to copyright material) is going to complicate matters for them. It is also in breach of their terms of service.
So however you want to word it, it is Plex business because it directly affects them as a business. People using their software to sell access to copyright material puts them in the firing line. And if it so happens that a large number of said users are all using a particular hosting company (for whatever reasons that may be) then it is also Plexâs business to do something about that. Now you can get all worked up about how âevilâ or âstupidâ Plex is, but really what you should be annoyed about is the people who have ruined it for everyone else.
3 Likes
i bought my lifetime in 2017.
Well its a shame of plex, to block Hetzner without a real reason.
IP block? Realy?
Im hosting 5 Servers at Hetzner for Hosting my Websites or Call Server and some other Projects ! Not a single Plex Server on it!
But my PC thats using Wireguard by Hetzner Server for getting access outside as Starlink user ! Get punished for nothing? I have to pay another server to reach my plex server when im not at home?
Do you spend me a replace ip with 1gb network for access when you block my hetzner access ip?
2 Likes
This is by far the dumbest justification Iâve ever had to read. According to your logic, I shouldnât be able to use any program with which I could potentially commit a legal violation. This basically includes almost all programs:
- Windows
- FTP programs
- Graphics and video programs, since one could potentially watch or edit videos with them (VLC etc.)
- THOR Browser
The list could go on forever, and yet there is a commonality: None of these manufacturers have the right to dictate what I can and cannot do with their software. Plex can write whatever they want in their Terms of Service, but local law supersedes those terms. Of course, they can write that they donât want certain activities, and the consequence could be exclusion. But ultimately, this must be decided on a case-by-case basis. This affects a German hosting provider that primarily has German customers who, according to local law, are allowed to have these copies on their servers legally. In the end, it even affects people who are not breaking any laws. This is also not the first time that big corporations are attacking legitimate resources through the back door.
So itâs wrong to claim that the majority of people hosting on Hetzner are doing illegal things.
1 Like
I would agree if it were not for the fact that Plexâs actions categorically will not solve the issue they are claiming to solve - bad actors will just move on to the next hosting company. Itâs a tale as old as internet piracy itself.
Letâs not pretend Plex doesnât know this. So we can, and should, be angry at Plex here.
7 Likes
After reading many of the comments in that link, I can totally understand why Plex is doing this. Sadly, a few legitimate Plex users have been caught up in the process - it happens all the time with software using off site servers, not just Plex (especially with software that revolves around âmediaâ servers, hell, my ISP has done it for years).
Iâve been through it half a dozen times with other software titles in the ten + years I have been a Lifetime PlexPass user.
As for some of the comments in this thread, so much misinformation, misinterpretation and faux outrage.
Edit -frankly, I am impressed that Plex has managed to keep the server side running given the focus that the movie industry has had on pirated media.
Actually, my edit was already mentioned 
This measure only affects legitimate users as well. The for-profit crowd will find all kinds of ways around it.
2 Likes
Thatâs not what I said at all. Iâm not even sure how you managed to twist that interpretation out of it, but well done for trying.
I mean thatâs not true. If it were there wouldnât be terms of service which say what you can and canât do with licensed software/services/products etc. I agree that where those terms of service are in conflict with local law then the local law will supersede it, but other than that Iâm not sure what your point is. Unless youâre still sticking with the idea that Plex is in breach of the laws that you allegedly know about but are unable to point to or describe in anything other than very vague meaningless terms.
Even if thatâs true and the law also extends to allowing them to share those copies with individuals who havenât bought the original item (which again is something that, if we really want to be honest with ourselves, is likely to be happening in a lot of plex installs) it doesnât require Plex to allow those users to use their software.
Is it unfortunate that innocent users are getting caught up in this? Yes. Thereâs no argument about that. But, again, the real issue here is the users who have forced Plexâs hand and have ruined something for everyone by their actions. That is what people should be getting riled up about.
Never did claim that.
Youâre right, it probably wonât. But it will probably go a decent way towards them having something to show they are trying to tackle the problem if they are ever pushed/questioned on it. And if they donât do this what is your suggestions? Play whack-a-mole with individual IPs till the end of time?
3 Likes
So you think itâs justifiable to mess up users setups just so that Plex might have something to show if theyâre questioned? Even though basically everyone already knows that the actions they took wont even be effective?!
Many other people have already put forward far saner suggestions like limiting sharing, overall watch time, geo blocks, etc. Itâs not just Plex having to solve these kind of issues, all tech platforms which deal with user content have to - and they tend to solve it a bit more elegantly than âjust block hetznerâ.
4 Likes
From a business perspective? In the context of alleged piracy/copyright infringement and the frankly OTT fines that can result from successful litigation? Undoubtedly. No sane business wouldnât take action if there was a potential risk of legal action taken by copyright holders.
When resellers are (from my understanding) spinning up individual plex instances for users, how do you think limiting sharing or blocking by watch time is going to work? And how would geo blocks even begin to work as an effective measure? Surely blocking an entire area of the world would be far worse than blocking a single online provider?!?
1 Like
Have Fun:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32003R0001
https://competition-cases.ec.europa.eu/search
The magic word is discrimination. But there are other points to consider.
Anyone could have found that within a few minutes. I will not discuss this any further. Please educate yourself.
1 Like
The copyright holders should address this directly with Hetzner through official channels, not through Plex. Nobody at Plex can be held responsible for someone distributing something illegal through their platform. Such a perspective can only come directly from the industry, as itâs wishful thinking.
3 Likes
This move will do basically nothing to prevent copyright holders coming after plex if that is really the case. Nearly all plex users are watching linux ISOs.
I wasnât suggesting that. I was suggesting you do any other investigation at all before you bend over backwards defending Plex and think about the issue a bit.
Not going to reply to you anymore. Try to actually think about this issue from a broader perspective.
If the sellers are just spinning up single instances for each customer and linking them all to a centralized disk array then there really isnât much Plex can do in terms of anything. This is how the internet was made to make it harder for authoritarian governments and dictators to censor information. A great invention I must say! Am I comparing Plex to an authoritarian dictator⊠SURE AM. Bunch of kims.
I bet the sellers have already tunneled their servers to another location. Prolly have backup tunnels too ready to rock.
Perhaps they have and Plex are responding, being the conduit for the sharing.
My local ISP did just that.
