Why some prefer Plex over Jellyfin

I have only used Plex very briefly before I moved to try Emby then Jellyfin. Granted I am not a heavy user of a media server - basically no one else in my household uses it, and I don’t have a lot of content, but I do use sonarr / radarr with it.

The moment Plex put me off was when I realized a Plex Pass was needed to add transcoding capability. What are some of the reasons people like Plex better than Jellyfin, other than those who have been using Plex forever and are just too lazy to explore other options?

ReclamationCrafts,

There doesn’t seem to be a straight forward way to set up a tv tuner.

Rukongai,

Plex is all about ease of access. If you aren't wanting to go hard on setting up your server, Plex makes it super easy. It also about accessibility for your end users. They create an account, and you share your server. They get access and it's usually that easy.

I used Plex for years. Probably for the better part of a decade. I then jumped ship to Emby, then more recently to Jellyfin.

I ended up with Jellyfin for a couple of reasons. I wanted to start collecting the best quality copies of things that I could get my hands on. Jellyfin ended up being a better fit for all of that.

AV1 support
HEVC direct play

It also has a great SSO plugin that allowed my to integrate seamlessly with my IDP. End users sign up with an email invite I send. They then have access to my jellyfin, request portal, and whatever else I'm hosting through a single login. I have an easy to remember domain, branding, and even a pre-roll with my server name. It's all pretty neat.

I have a few people with access to my server, but with the higher bar of entry it is way less popular than my old Plex server. I figured this was going to be setup for me first, with my interest, needs, and home theater in mind. Anyone else using is just extra.

stevecrox,
stevecrox avatar

What identity provider do you run?

jalim,

Plex has a client app on just about every single media player out there and they have a simple single sign on solution.

So I personally run both Plex and Jellyfin, Jellyfin for myself as I’m willing to put up with some of the hoops I have to jump through and Plex for everyone else who just gets an invite email, creates an account and suddenly has access to all of my content on every single device they own.

Once jellyfin has reliable apps on every App Store and a simple way of getting non-tech savvy users onboarded I’ll move everyone over to jellyfin. Until then, it’s just for me.

uninvitedguest,
@uninvitedguest@lemmy.ca avatar

We started with Plex because the Jellyfin desktop client did not play nice with the remote that I have. I switched to Jellyfin when I set up an Android TV client, and I chose Jellyfin because of the immediate access to hardware transcoding and use on mobile devices.

But honestly, I prefer Plex's UI (though sometimes it stutters), on the spot downloading of subtitles, and subtitle offset features. But as I start to update our library with more 4k titles, hardware transcoding is clutch.

Vittelius,

External access is much easier to get with Plex. Not everyone can setup a reverse proxy and the process gets even harder when your ISP assigns you a new public IP address every 24 hours (like mine does)

seemebreakthis,

Yeah I think this would be one of the areas where Plex has an advantage over Jellyfin. Thanks for letting me know.

I managed to set my Jellyfin server up behind a reverse proxy, but yes that took a while to do.

techwithjake,

I would suggest using a Tunnel; I personally use a TailScale funnel to reverse proxy my Jellyfin setup. No need to worry about IP address changes then. If you already reverse proxy things, use one of the other ports TS Funnel allows.

otterpop,

From TailScales docs: "Traffic over Funnel is subject to bandwidth limits. They are not currently configurable.". This is the same problem the CloudFlare proxy has, have you ran into any performance issues or throttling using funnel?

techwithjake,

I haven't, no. But not many are using it currently. I would assume that bandwidth limits are more for large, terabytes of data, rather than a few hundred gigs. Could be mistaken though.

Swimmerman96,

I personally haveb't used Plex, but one feature they have that I've heard is hard to give up is automatic intro and credit skipping.

techwithjake,

It is a very nice QOL feature to have but I rarely miss it. Hopefully JF will get it officially soon.

techwithjake,

I use both in my home but I have friends and family that use only Plex. Plex currently is much more user friendly as it has apps everywhere and is simpler to use. Having to enter an URL is already a non-starter for many non-techies.

I personally love Jellyfin even with its drawbacks and quirks. But usability and ease are what's more important to me.

seemebreakthis, (edited )

I use Jellyfin on different platforms (Sony TV, Set top box with Kodi, phone, PC) - basically all I need are the Jellyfin clients for these different platforms namely

  • Jellyfin media player for Windows
  • Jellyfin for Android
  • Jellycon for Kodi

For me there is no need to enter any URL on these clients (except the initial setup that is). Is Plex much simpler even for the initial setup? Sorry like I said I haven't really used Plex.

For normal daily usage I haven't really run into any problem with Jellyfin... just click and watch.

boothin,

IIRC, once you install the plex server software, it sends you to the server's login page to complete the setup where you link the server to your account, so you actually never have to enter an ip anywhere. Following that, you can log in to the plex.tv website from anywhere and get access to your media (as long as your router allows upnp), no need to set up reverse proxies or get your ip or anything. Then if you want to share your library with friends, all they need to do is make a plex account and you can give them access via invite links.

LonelyLarynx,

Same here. If anything I found Jellyfin far simpler to set up than Plex (used to use Plex, transitioned to Jellyfin).

techwithjake,

With Plex, there's zero URL input even on initial setup. You just login with your username/password and off you go.

It's the initial setup that scares people in my life. They hardly know what a username/password is.

Daily usage of Jellyfin, 100% agree. I use it daily as well, even have Jellystat installed even though I'm the only one who uses it.

krolden,
@krolden@lemmy.ml avatar

Hey quit reading my mind. This is exactly what I was gonna say

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