Remote streaming will be a Plex Pass feature

[Forkboy]

@usrplex I’ll try to answer…

@usrplex

But regarding the question about the Plex (server) user base: how many do you think did the same as you?

I would guess quite a few, since buying the Plex Pass opened a lot of usefulness to the Plex Server user base who, like me (and I’m assuming here) wanted to “cut the cord” and base an entertainment system around their personal media and (not all) OTA integration which would require the Plex Pass to use fully.

@usrplex

From my point of view, the ratio between paying users and “leeches” is not balanced at all. And to me, that’s the core issue.

But Plex themselves added a whole lot of those “leeches” by turning it into a Ad based social hub model.
They decided to go after the “Entertainment Consumer” not the “Plex Server User” who was funding them at the time, then things like “where to watch” which just points you to some other “subscription” based content app by interjecting that code into the base code of the server system (see this thread for context and the fact it took 1004 votes before we could even hide this from our servers.)

@usrplex

Plex is a business: if we want bugs to be fixed and new features to be developed, we need to pay the people who will do it…

Yes they are a business and as I’ve stated (multiple times) I understand that they want to make money and I am all for it, but once again the changes seemed* to be saying they could charge money to people, they invited to use their program for free, for watching MY content if I invited them to do so. As stated (also multiple times) this is why I came to ask questions, because the way it read was making me believe this was the case (*I was corrected and told it wouldn’t effect me or anyone I invited to share my content with, but the fear, to me was valid and may still be in the future).
As to the “bugs to be fixed” comment, Have you seen the amount of issues related to bugs on this forum? And I’m not talking about the PEBCAK ones, but the actual bugs that not only seem to ever get fixed, but are reintroduced when one of the “New Features” that are implemented for the “Entertainment Consumer” not the “Plex Server User base”.

@usrplex

• When something is free with ads, you are the product (especially if there’s no built-in monetization system).

Plex brought the Ad Supported content (what I call the Pluto Model) so that’s on them.
I thought the pay wall for the Server base user was the monetization system? “You want to open up the full power of your Plex Server? Subscribe to the Plex Pass or even buy the lifetime Plex Pass and super charge your personal entertainment system!” It’s what got me to buy into the company.

@usrplex

• When it’s based on voluntary contributions, either enough people pitch in so that some can benefit from it for free, or it can’t remain free.

Yes the original “Fork this program from Kodi” model, which is what brought us Plex.

@usrplex

• When something is paid from the start, people don’t question it.

Until they start changing what we paid for to start funding something else and raise the cost, then questions abound.

@usrplex

Here, we’re in the second case: there are more “leech” users who don’t contribute at all, so obviously, Plex is tightening its policies… That’s only logical, nothing shocking about it.

And for the most part, it’s these same “leech” users—outraged and stubborn—who are now crying about it. But if we’re at this point, it’s their fault!

Shocking? No
Logical? Sure
Obvious? Maybe, but Plex has some culpability in why there are more “leech” users and why it’s gotten this way. The “Plex Server User Base” has been far from quiet on the direction Plex has taken even since I came aboard.

@usrplex

Let them go and leech off Jellyfin, which probably has a donation system… that they’ll never use anyway.

I use Jellyfin (I’ve been running it along side of Plex since I bought my server machine) and have donated (and even did some pre-beta testing for developers through GitHub on the Roku integration when I was laid up for an injury and stuck in the house).
But since Plex and Jellyfin started out as the same concept and one went with monetization and the other didn’t, I wouldn’t bash on Jellyfin. It may have a learning curve to use as a Daily Media Server compared to Plex, but it’s the “leech” user (as you say) that Plex decided to court and start sending the “Plex Server User Base” into the basement, in my opinion.

@usrplex

I understand Plex’s decision, and it makes sense. However, if they tighten the rules even further in the future, then it will be a different story.

On this statement, we both agree!
But I will add, Plex could use a little more straight and to the point wording.
If I and other “Plex Server User Base” Plex Pass owners, were/are confused about what these “new rules” are saying and how they effect us and our users, just put in the exact wording to dispel the confusion at the onset, not word it in such a way to make us question that this is not the end of us sharing with family/friends coming soon or in the future, when they find this doesn’t satisfy the “balance” of their goal to monetize.