Honest question, I haven't looked in a while - what does Plex offer over Jellyfin that would make it worth a monthly payment, or even $250-$750 one-time? When I ran the calculus a few years ago I came up empty.
there's 2 (or 3) broad groups of people who 'might' use plex. and it seems that neither group can understand the use case of the others which leads to massive confusion.
group 1: somebody just wants to watch a movie they've downloaded. They either double click the movie file and maybe connect with a hdmi to a tv. Advanced group one users might eve use a usb drive / stick and plug it into a TV for computerless playback. Usually only a single user, or users who don't mind doing it 'manually'
group2: has a 'collection' is concerned with the 'library' of content possibly has a nas or media pc that handles playback. Jelly fin works fine here, and these guys who haven't used plex DO NOT understand why people would use plex given all the objections. (i'm including you in this group, as 'the interface sucked' Possibly a technical user that wants more than just a directory of movie files. I'd say usually a solo user or a shared setup on family tvs within the same network.
group3: These are folk who may be technical, but don't want to waste time pfaffing with linux configs etc . The shit really hits the fan here because this group will also likely want to share their library with family and friends, and perhaps use apps on their TV/devices to access the content, from different places. Plex is AS EASY as netflix to setup in this way. You invite your users from within plex. They create a plex account for free and they download an app on their TV or tablet from the app store, Sign in, and start watching. It (your server) tracks users, progress, between devices and everything just works in a nice way, there is basically zero configuration required.
of course there's overlap and this is broad strokes, but I see these issues pop up on these discussion all the time . The comment above that said 'just use jellyfin' is like saying 'just use linux 15 years ago' is on the money. Jelly fin is cool, but it's needs heavy dose of polish and more TV apps. Half the TV's in my house don't have a jelly fin app but they do have a plex app . I don't even need to check what my freinds and family have, plex app availability is a given.
You are not wrong, I am in group 2. I have a small library of movies/anime/tv series that I want to stream over my local network to watch on Android TV. Users are myself, wife and daughter.
I tried plex a while ago and I really disliked the interface and how it worked. I recently tried Jellyfin and found it pretty amazing instead. Setting it up was pretty alright.
As for TVs, My LG TVs have no native Jellyfin app, but it was easily solvable with Android TV boxes that I already had nonetheless.
i do agree the interface can be a bit odd in places, but it takes about 5 minutes to learn, really. Disabling all the plex crap helps a lot so i see only my own content.
As for the tv apps -- yes exactly you already had an android tv box but if you didnt? Then you have to get one, set that up, now you are 2 steps removed from what you are trying to acheive. And what about if you wanted to share your content with grandma or family elsewhere in the country? it's not easy.
Also you just unlocked horror memories of set top boxes etc. I remember years ago i used to run a decent setup with audio, hdmi matrix and various inputs, like a firetv, or a popcorn hour, as well as PC, consoles etc . ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE getting family to be able to use it. they could never get the input right, or the audio right or something. god i forgot how mauch i hate plugging stuff in to the family tv. Thank goodness for smart apps lol! WAF is through the roof. Never thought Id say that.
Now I have a Wiim Pro with ARC HDMI and a Sony android TV. never need to touch anything. all controlled on the tv remote, audio, source and it all just works.
The app ecosystem argument is totally valid, yeah. Paying to get access to that makes sense if you and the people you are sharing with benefit from that.
I guess I view the server-side as mostly fungible, because me and all the people I share with are more technical, have a separate media player (Apple TV etc), and are either light users content with the Jellyfin app, or use a third-party app like Infuse on iOS. I look at the media server software as more like a "media fileshare with metadata and easy user management", but I get why that's not the case for everyone.
I just replaced a T530 with a T14 gen 1 (R7 pro), and…yes. Super happy with the upgrade, for less than $300 mind you, even though I still love the old thickpad. It will live out its years in the rack, taking up an impressive amount of 1U.
I'm still "stuck" on the T530 for what many probably think are dumb reasons:
1. It's black. I used a laptop that was silver and white for years; it sucked. Being boring, non-flashy, and non-reflective is important to me since I get to use this computer in places where the lighting is outside of my control.
2. It has a 15" screen. That's the right size for me. (I do not care that it is larger heavier and heavier than alternatives; that part isn't on my radar.)
3. The keyboard is centered. It accomplishes this in part by lacking a numeric keypad. (I do not use numeric keypads because I grew up with an 85-key XT keyboard that could have a numeric keypad, or cursor keys, but not both at once...and I chose cursor keys.)
4. Ports. I often connect my laptop to other things. That's an important part of how I find utility with laptop computers.
5. I found it very cheap on eBay with a housing that still looked very minty.
It's been a fine machine. CPU and RAM are maxed out (amusingly, the cheapest way I found to get the best CPU was to buy the whole bottom half of another T530 that already had one installed, so now I've got spare parts). The cheap third-party battery works for most of a workday in testing, and I've never run out when away from an outlet. It's lovely.
It's hard to find anything more-recent that meets these requirements, but maybe I'll be able to score a used Framework 16 or something at some point.
Exactly this! After ~3 years I rarely receive an email with the Gmail tag now that all contacts/services have been switched over (or unsubscribed). Fastmail is easily my most valued paid service, and yet I never have to think about it. Just works very well.
GP has provided an anecdote with no supporting evidence, nor any code examples. So it is as fair to assume the story is a fabrication as much as it is to assume it has any truth to it
I am really shocked at the response this trivial anecdote has gotten.
I could state it much more generically: we had an annoying Excel sheet that took ~10 minutes a week, I vibe coded a command line tool that brought it down to ~1 minute a week. I don't think this is unusual or hard to believe in any way.
> hyper-malleable control surface [...] (the stream deck is popular for a reason!).
I agree with the sentiment - making a control surface that adapts to the user's current task makes total sense to me, and is a compelling feature in theory.
The execution (and how the touchbar differs from the Stream Deck) is where I think the argument falls apart. There is effectively zero ability to navigate the touchbar without using your eyes and taking your focus off the display, and your work. The Stream Deck can easily be used without looking. A static grid of real buttons whose function changes within context is a more useful implementation in the real world, even though it is technically _less_ capable.
IMO the touchbar concept is flawed in exactly in the same way as the modern car user interface.
The incentive seems very thin/weak. Pay extra now to push DP adoption and hope that in ~10-15 years you can drop the HDMI port? Meanwhile you still pay the cartel, and they invest your money directly against your interests. And it all hinges on predicting consumer adoption which is nearly impossible. I honestly don’t see how they could justify making such a step in that direction let alone a significant one.
That's a catch 22 / circular argument that can always be used to excuse inaction, but it's not a real argument. Yes, it's a long term problem to solve and has many moving parts. But if they don't solve their part, they are only slowing it down even more. Any contribution to move things forward moves things forward, and lack of it delays things.
I.e. if you are saying "we feed the cartel, let's not do anything about it, since doing anything will only potentially help later, so we still need to feed the cartel in in the interim" doesn't really stand any argument grounds. I.e. feed the cartel and do nothing is worse than feed the cartel and do what you can to stop that over time.
And their piece of this is pretty big (huge portion of TV market), that's why they in particular should be asked more than others, why they aren't doing their part.
It's not so much that it's a catch 22, its that there's no financial incentive for them. TVs are a low margin item already, and Samsung/LG get their margin by being brand names and advertising fancy features.
I doubt they would meaningfully save money over investing in DP, and the opportunity cost is greater for them to spend that money on the next "Frame" TV or whatever.
LG, Samsung and Sony are the only actual panel manufacturers and they probably bake those license fees into the panels they sell back to HDMI Forum.
May be, but by not solving the problem, they become part of the problem, even if they aren't part of HDMI cartel directly. So it's their fault too problems like above happen.
For DP adoption it's too late. They should push for USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 instead. We are in the phase where about every new laptop has USB4. Connecting your laptop/phone to a TV might be a selling point. I'd love that for hotel TVs.
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