Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week
arstechnica.com
Roku users will be hit first.

Plex is starting to enforce its new rules, which prevent users from remotely accessing a personal media server without a subscription fee.

If anyone needs it: https://jellyfin.org/

  • De Lancre@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    4 hours ago

    Two years ago, when I found out that you need damn subscription, to watch YOUR stuff with transcoding on your device in local network, from your local server - I complained on reddit and a lot of people was disagree with me for harsh position.

    They_got_what they_focking_deserve.png

    • Zanathos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      42 minutes ago

      Welcoming the incoming dowvotes for correcting your comment just like the many similar comments and posts I’ve seen on Reddit, but this is purely a configuration issue.

      Transcoding on local network is allowed without a subscription. If you are running your own DNS server (like pihole or unbound) you need to configure an internal “plex.direct” record. You also need to uncheck an option to “treat your WAN IP as internal” option which corrects double NAT issues.

      I have yet to see a need to move away from Plex. I paid for the cheap lifetime sub over a decade ago at this point and everyone I invite to my server has no complaints and has not had to pay Plex a dime. I don’t use their plex.tv proxy, I direct connect to my own IP and leave their remote proxy option off in the server and everything works great.

      I will check out Jellyfin at some point if Plex makes things more difficult in time, but for now these articles are literally just rage bait in the homelab ecosystem. They enacted this back in April of 2025 already!

    • eah@programming.devEnglish
      4·
      3 hours ago

      Pure rent seeking. It’s not the only example. So many products have artificial defects deliberately added by the manufacturer so that they can then charge you to disable the defect.

      • Buckshot@programming.devEnglish
        2·
        2 hours ago

        Years ago now, they pushed an offer for lifetime subscription onto my server. I clicked it, went through to their website and bought it, paid, the subscription activated and worked.

        The next day they emailed to say actually i wasn’t eligible for the offer, they cancelled it and refunded me and said it would actually cost $30 more.

        I installed Jellyfin that same day, it was pretty buggy back then but was definitely the right decision.