Plex is overhauling its apps with a redesign and under-the-hood upgrades

The quality and features of JellyFin are nowhere close to Plex. I have used both for years.

I'm in the same boat as you. I'd love to switch but the user experience of Jellyfin is still pretty bad outside the most basic cases. If you have a media center PC, it's fine, but if you want to be able to switch between several devices the way you can with Netflix, it's quite poor.

Plex is slowly trending down and Jellyfin is slowly trending up. I hope Jellyfin outpaces Plex before the enshittification is complete, but it's a steep hill to climb.
- The big thing for me is privacy and control.
  
  Plex requires Cloud access via accounts.
  
  This is a sitting duck for subpoenas to mass punish media libraries once copyright holders get a more friendly government that cares less about citizens rights (which is coming up here soon).
  
  Nothing about my jelly fin instance leaks my information to anyone else's servers.
  
  You can't say the same about Plex.
  
  I agree with you, however Jellyfin is not intrinsically more secure than any other piece of software. You have to be very careful how you go about deploying it if you open up external access, as you are dependent on the Jellyfin devs to fix vulnerabilities and they aren't actually being paid to do this. If you're paranoid about privacy, you should be paranoid about this too; the people sending subpoenas aren't above port-scans on ISP subscribers, they did it back in the early days of torrents.
  
  You get control and privacy, but you also get responsibility. It's a trade-off, and one I'd certainly make if Jellyfin were more mature. That's just me though, I've been hosting my own stuff for about a decade now and I can set up an isolated environment for Jellyfin to run within. Plex is a lot more newbie-friendly and I'd still recommend it for most folks unless they for sure know what they're doing.
  
  As an aside, these concerns are common to all FOSS software that don't have deep-pocketed backers. Jellyfin is likely never getting those, unfortunately. I hope they can find some other way of sustaining themselves, they've not got much money for the scale of development needed and it's all volunteer-driven today.
  
  https://opencollective.com/jellyfin
  
  I want them to keep going, and I've even donated to them. I still don't think it's at a place to replace Plex for most people yet though.
  
  The way I do it with webservices is that I serve them all from virtual hosts. Scan my IP on port port 80? 301 moved permanently to same host port 443. 443? Welcome to nginx! Which webservice is actually served depends on the hostname being requested. The hostnames are just part of a wildcard subdomain with a matching wildcard certificate, so you can't derive the hosts from the blank landing page's cert. Though one option would be to disable https when no matching virtual host is found.
  
  I know this isn't protection against sophisticated attackers, but nobody uses my home services except me when I'm not home so the exposure is very limited.
  
  Anyhow, with Plex you have a central provider who, if I'm not mistaken, knows a lot about how their customers use their product. The angle of attack is different.
- How does it not work for you? I use it on my phone, laptop, ipad, kodi, ... without issues
  
  Switching between wasn't seamless, it kept forgetting where I left off on the last device, which was pretty annoying. Also, mobile/remote connectivity was spotty for me. Never got to the bottom of that, but my best guess is Plex's relay system makes up for a lot of random network issues. My best work-around was to add my phone to tailscale, but obviously that's not a great solution and won't work for a lot of devices.
  
  Overall, my impression was that Plex is a lot more polished. I also bought a lifetime membership years ago, so I have no incentive to switch to something that isn't better. Plex isn't perfect, but it was still better than Jellyfin as of a few months ago. I honestly hope that changes soon, I have zero faith in Plex as a company.
  
  The switching thing is really weird, for me it is always saved across devices and I can just play from where I was on the other device. But maybe that is a newer feature that wasn't yet there when you tried it.
  
  Overall, my impression was that Plex is a lot more polished
  
  That I can understand, but with plex trying to be a streaming provider themselves, it makes it very confusing for not so tech-savvy people
  
  I also have a plex lifetime pass beacuse it was really the only option like 10 years ago and it was pretty solid. I run plex and jellyfin in parallel now and some of my friends use jellyfin, others plex. I myself almost only use jellyfin at the moment and it works pretty well for me
- Can you elaborate on how it's poor in that regard? That's how I and many of my friends use it, and none of us have had any issues relating to that.
  
  Left a comment further down: https://lemmy.world/comment/13599910
  
  I see. I've never had an issue with it forgetting my spot in a show, and as far as I know my friends haven't either. Haven't had connectivity issues either.
Not asking this to be combative, but as Jellyfin convert I'm curious what quality/features you are missing? Also what platform are you using mainly?

I watch mostly using the Android app or Nvidia Shield, and the client does everything Plex did (in terms of just media watching - no DVR or other features ) without all the bloat the current Plex client brings.
- For me, the DVR functionality is basically non-existent. Having to pay a third-party for channel programming is just lol. The UI too, it is one that a programmer thinks is peak, but any outside user sees era Windows 2000.
  
  Those were the two killers; I know there was more but without /complete/ DVR functionality ootb, it's doa for me.
- There is a huge disparity in the quality, UX, and features of the clients. Many clients are missing basic features like scrubbing, subtitles, saving position, etc… Many platform-specific clients are people’s pet projects and quickly lose support or are half baked.
  
  Furthermore my wife and kids are not technical the way I am—when things don’t work properly they can’t debug & diagnose, they simply can’t use it. And I personally don’t want to spend my time diagnosing why I can’t fast-forward a TV show and so on.
  
  Interesting, again at least in the android/web/Linux client ecosystem I've not experienced any of those issues, and Jellyfin has caused me less family tech support issues than Plex or Emby. I guess it all depends on the platform, and how much outside of just media consumption you're wanting your server to do.
  
  Thanks for the follow up.
  
  That's why I gave up on Plex. I couldn't get it to play over Chromecast reliably and it kept forgetting my media library information. I haven't had those issues with Jellyfin.
- No Chromecast support was a dealbreaker for me.
  
  The Android version at least has Chromecast support, not sure on other platforms.
  
  This is a new vs old chromecast discussion. The new chromecast that relies on apps has no jellyfin app. Old chromecast only works for android users or computer users using a chrome browser.
  
  Ah, "standards", you got to love them. I was also thinking in terms of using Chromecasting" and not the use of the physical Chromecast device. Thanks for the follow up.
  
  You can open the Play Store on the Chromecast 4th generation (the one with Google TV), and from that you can indeed install the Jellyfin Android TV app (as Google TV is derived from Android TV apparently). However if you try to look for a Jellyfin app from the regular “Apps” menu there is nothing. Typical Google making it super convoluted.
- For me, Plex works great on my Synology while Jellyfin is completely unusable - video payback simply crashes. Running Jellyfin on my desktop machine gets it to work, but it takes over 24 hours to scan my media library and doesn't automatically add new media when I add new files.
  
  So the server part runs worse from your NAS? That seems odd but I have never run either from a NAS so no idea how to help. =(
  
  Yep. I'm guessing it insists on transcoding the video but doesn't have the horsepower. Plex either has a superior transcoder or detects it doesn't need to transcode it.
  
  I think the transcode part is decided by the client, but in the Jellyfin server admin you can control if a client can request a transcode (which may not be actually needed - and if you know what client they are running it's probably easier to decide). This could just be client setting though, because I know on Jellyfin you can change the "backend" in the client that it tries to use and can make the difference on things like x265/HVEC playing back or not.
What about Emby tho?
- Jellyfin is a fork of Emby.
  
  But better.
Quality is fine, sounds like user error. Features sure, but that's to be expected with a paid app.
- Show me an AppleTV JellyFin client that “just works”. Something my mom & dad could use to watch a movie. Something that can do normal media player things like seeking or subtitles.
  
  There is a huge disparity in the quality, support, and features of the various clients.
  
  I set my parents up with infuse and it works fine with no issues. To be fair apple doesn't seem to be very supportive of foss development on their devices
  
  I’ll have to check out Infuse, thanks for the recommendation.
  
  I don't use Apple products so I can't speak to the AppleTV support.
  
  But your criticisms seem to be of clients for Jellyfin rather than Jellyfin itself.
  
  They are effectively one and the same. You cannot use JellyFin without a client.

I use JF. It's ok but still rough around the edges and if we count as JF the apps, I have to admit that the Android TV app is pretty bad, it's chokefull of very basic bugs, like crashing on start, and missing very basic features like delaying subtitles and the navigation is pretty bad, especially for TV show, navigating between series, episodes and home is a hot mess.

crashing on start

My main issue is that my TV occasionally decides to kill the network, which causes Jellyfin to crash on startup, clearing the server. It's annoying, but I think the bigger problem is the TV, not Jellyfin.

I think the navigation is fine. I like the scroll by letter thing for movies on the right, and I don't have so many TV shows that it's an issue (maybe like 5-10 series? We don't watch a ton of serials), and my kids seem to navigate it just fine. I did spend some time naming everything properly, so maybe that's the difference? We rarely navigate though. My kids watch one show start to finish (however much time we give them), we generally watch one movie as a family and are done, and my SO uses it for exercise videos.
- I've reported my fair share of bugs but the main issue with the android app is that the code is amateurish and poorly tested. Lots of the crash bugs are just devs not checking for non existent values and relying on perfect network conditions.
  
  But yeah, It gets the job done, it's just not a great app.
  
  Hmm, I haven't used it much. Maybe I'll take some time this holiday season to go bug squashing. I did a little of that with the Jerboa app here some time back, so maybe I'll lend a hand here as well.
  
  That said, I've only used it to show my collection to friends or test a new network tweak.

Is there a jellyfin app on the Xbox? The ps5? Roku TV app store?

I think no so it's hard to switch if you have family using many different devices to watch plex.

Roku TV app store

Yes, and it works pretty well.

But not so much with the consoles, though there is a UWP xbox app, but it's uh, not very good.
No, No, and Yes -- Consoles are notoriously difficult to work with. Not for actual programming, no - Consoles are difficult to navigate POLITICALLY. Xbox, understandably doesn't like F/OSS software, and PS5 has tons of rules and regulations you must meet.
Roku, yes. Xbox as well. PS5 no, but not for lack of trying. That's apparently on Sony.
- The Xbox app is a UWP app, and has basically been abandoned.
  
  That's unfortunate to hear. Jellyfin does definitely suffer the from the problem of not having a teams developing apps under a unified banner. You can make your own, provided you're determined enough, but guidance from the core Jellyfin team is not to be expected.
You could install kodi and connect with jellyfin from there
Idk, but there's one on my LG TV.
What type of device is the Xbox or PS5 hooked up to? If a TV ("smart TV") then there is a client for both Roku and Android TV. If they are using a monitor, could they use the web client? Or could they use the web client on either console (I never had an Xbox, and only PS was PS1 so I honestly have no idea)?

I've only used the Android/Android TV/web client versions from the Jellyfin team, but all seemed solid these days. On Linux I've also used a number of 3rd party clients, and there are plenty of 3rd party clients for most non-console platforms.

I tried Plex and it had all kinds of shit that could not be turned off

I jumped to linux and downloaded jellyfin... shit is too complicated I havent got time to get to terms with it

Guy who runs Plex on a Ubuntu container on Proxmox.
- Yeah see I barely understand that
Are you using the LSIO docker image, or did you install it manually via the official website instructions?
- Ahh think I did the website
  
  There's a much easier way.
  
  https://docs.linuxserver.io/images/docker-jellyfin/#usage
  
  Copy the text from the docker-compose section, and paste it into a file called compose.yaml
  
  You can also add your other programs which rely on each other (Sonarr/Radar/qBitttorrent) in this same compose.yaml file (you can find them on this website).
  
  When copying the other programs, omit the lines:
  
  --- Services:
  
  After that, in your terminal, navigate to where the compose.yaml file is, and run this command
  
  docker compose up -d
  
  Now your suite of applications are installed and can talk to each other.
  
  You'll need to change some of the details of the compose file (to set timezones and media directories).
  
  You can restart programs with
  
  docker restart jellfin
  
  LinuxServer.io are basically your one-stop shop for home-server applications
  
  yeah... containers are easy as long as you know wth you're doing.
That's too bad, but it sounds more like you bit off too much rather than Jellyfin being bad. Once it's set up, it's fairly smooth, we just drop movies in a folder on the NAS, name them somewhat appropriately, and Jellyfin frequently recognizes it, though sometimes I'll need to help it out a bit. Setup wasn't much more complicated than other self-hosted stuff I run, but I'm also a full-time Linux user for some 15 years and a SW dev by trade, so I guess I'm blind to issues I take for granted.
- Yeah absolutely it is a me problem, but the imsinuation is that these jumps are easy. Plex works easier and windows in mpre intuitive, I hate microsoft and will push on with Linux and hopefully jellyfin but it isnt an easy move.
  
  Windows is only intuitive because that's what you have experience with. If you grew up on macOS or Linux, you would probably find it as confusing as you do Linux right now.
  
  But yeah, it's a learning curve, and self-hosting on Linux generally requires a mental shift from thinking of things as "apps" and moving to "clients" and "servers." On Windows, the two tend to be mixed, because managing servers on Windows kinda sucks, but the opposite is true on Linux.
  
  But yeah, do one thing at a time. Get comfy with Linux first, and then learn about self-hosting stuff (including Jellyfin).
  
  I dont know what to do with linux to get comfortable. Outside of doing something like jellyfin, which is basic to most people, I would just be browsing.
  
  Tbh I cant even get my ps5 controller to work properly to play games.
  
  The PS5 controller should work out of the box on pretty much any Linux distribution, at least through Steam. If you have trouble, ask on [email protected].
  
  And Jellyfin is a bit complex since you need to host the server, so don't feel bad about that.
  
  Thanks dude, I'll follow up on that because it is a bit disappointing I have everything else ready to go

I tried to switch from Emby to JF but I am grandfathered into free premium Emby and if I switch to JF I would have to pay for live TV guide.

Maybe in a decade, when it has a feature set close to Plex. Jelly fin is just a cheap knock off. No thanks.

It's a FOSS alternative, and that's a pretty important feature for me. It has worked well so far for me.
- Compared to Plex? It being FOSS does not make up for it being severely lacking and features in comparison. If your standards are much lower than mine, so be it. That’s your choice.
  
  FOSS ≠ better. Just look at GIMP. It can’t even come close to what Photoshop can do, and the interface is an absolute nightmare.
  
  It being FOSS does not make up for it being severely lacking and features in comparison
  
  It does for me. I apparently don't need all those extra features because Jellyfin completely meets my expectations. I don't even know what I'd want to add.
  
  GIMP
  
  GIMP is an exception. It's usable (I made my wedding invitations using it), but you're right, it's pretty awful to use. There are tons of related software that's pretty high quality, such as Krita (drawing) and Blender (3D modeling). I'm not sure why GIMP has such bad UX, but there's still plenty of good stuff in the FOSS landscape.
  
  That said, I'm not a FOSS purist, I just tend to prefer FOSS for things that I'll be relying on for many years to come, and self-hosted platforms absolutely counts there. If I decide to bail from Jellyfin to something else, I know there will be a way to export my data, even if I have to build it myself. I don't know much about Plex (maybe it's easy to export too?), but if I don't need the features, I'll tend to stick w/ FOSS.
  
  Here are some of the distinguishing features I see (looking at this site):
  
  hardware transcoding - I think Jellyfin supports it, and it's an extra fee for Plex; not sure how "good" it is though since I don't need it, it works fine on my devices
  
  app support - works on my TV, tablets, phones, and desktop; honestly, I can't think of anywhere else I'd need it
  
  TV shows + DVR - looks like Jellyfin supports this, but I don't watch live TV, so I have no use for this; maybe I'll look into it at some point
  
  access more movies/TV shows - I'll just get a streaming subscription to Netflix or something instead
  
  I'm probably missing a ton though, and I'm guessing Plex has an overall smoother experience. But Jellyfin has been fine so far, so I haven't had any reason to try others. I only want it for playing my ripped DVD and Blu-ray collection, and it works well for that.
  
  What features specifically?
Can't go cheaper than free. They don't even sell your data
Hauppage TV tuner DVR capability, apps for more TVs and i could kill off Plex, personally