this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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Plex has paywalled my server! (lemmy.giftedmc.com)
submitted 20 hours ago by haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
220 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I tried testing a movie from my home server in plex through firefox and repeatedly got this message, even after reloading.

I knew that they had paywalled the apps on mobile and streaming from outside the network but now they have also blocked watching your own movies through your own hardware.

I do get the point that making software should be able to sustain people but I dont see the move of plex as a fair thing to do. Yes, they have made great software but taking your home server hostage feels like the wrong move.

Even a pop up that says "we need you to donate please" would have been fine. make it pop up before every movie, play donation ads before any movie but straight up disabling the app is kinda cruel.

Anyway, i have switched to jellyfin and it is insanely good. please give it a try. you can run it alongside plex with not issues (at least i had none) and compare the two.

In any case, good luck. Let me know if you need help.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 hours ago (5 children)

It's pretty rare that a company starts taking away free features and doesn't end up fucking payers in the end.

The biggest bar to Jellyfin is TV clients, the second biggest is security.

TV clients can be fixed with a one-time purchase of a $20 android TV stick. If viewing your familys ARR content isn't worth $20 you probably don't need to do it anyway.

Security for remote streaming is a harder thing to handle. Most people are capable of port forwarding, But just hanging a smallish public project out there in the open is always a dicey proposition. It honestly needs real fail2ban, probably SSL, 2FA and password complexity requirements.

We could probably make a jellyfin helper container to handle some of this. Walk people through Let's Encrypt, dynDNS, port forwarding tests, add fail2ban with a firewall, maybe even slap suricata in it.

We need to convince the project to add 2FA and password complexity requirements.

I don't know guys what do you think is it crazy? does it make sense? Would anybody actually use it?

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 minutes ago* (last edited 10 minutes ago)

Security for remote streaming is a harder thing to handle. Most people are capable of port forwarding, But just hanging a smallish public project out there in the open is always a dicey proposition. It honestly needs real fail2ban, probably SSL, 2FA and password complexity requirements.

Yeah.

It's tough because I get they're an open-source project, and they're volunteers, but at the same time, security is something that should be the highest priority.

Though, you could just make it so that it's not accessible via WAN and instead has to go through a VPN, though that'd make it harder to share with others.

[–] rollerbang@lemmy.world 3 points 55 minutes ago

I access my stuff via VPN. As for sharing with others, I simply don't do that. VPN is still an option though. Or temporary client whitelisting, etc.

[–] JessieGearGirl@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

As someone who is … lazy and took advantage of some Amazon Black Friday Fire TV stick deals, and who doesn’t want to drop the $200 for a Shield:

Any Android sticks/players you might recommend?

[–] kuhli@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 30 minutes ago (1 children)

You can address the 2fa by putting it behind something like authelia, but still, the project needs to step it up

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 minutes ago

I thought that you can still access media directly via the URL without any authentication, how would authelia change that?

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 1 hour ago

I think you make a hugely important point and I would definitely use it and I might even be able to help making it.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 29 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Old news, but time for Jellyfin. I made the switch a couple months ago. Some minor teething issues, but better, IMO, especially now as my family all have LDAP users and that just works.

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 3 points 3 hours ago (4 children)

awesome. thanks for chiming in. I will have to check how to do external streaming without opening my network up to the world (metaphorically).

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 1 points 22 minutes ago

Can your router open ports from a hostname vs an IP? If so, clients could run dynamic DNS.

WG client side isn't really that hard, though. All the fam run WG 24/7 on devices, and only traffic for the internal network goes through it.

[–] Sgt_choke_n_stroke@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

I used synology and reverse proxy. It was pretty easy to set up. The tricky part was going into jellyfins setting and connecting your reverse proxy to the path you made.

Overall my kids and family can now access it anywhere.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 6 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

...wireguard

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 4 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Thats not what I meant. I of course have wireguard set up for administration and my own streaming needs. But friends of mine who were able to use plex by just making an account but now they cant because of course there is no relay server etc. I'll have to think of a way to make it available to them (easily!) without putting my network at risk.

[–] skoell13@feddit.org 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)
[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

That is pretty much how I imagined it. Sadly, its A TON of work. I have most of this set up in many VPSs for both me and customers (with other services of course) and I can imagine its probably the best solution. I still hate my life when thinking of implementing it. :D I bet its gonna be easier than I think but you may get my point here. Thank you very much for sharing.

[–] skoell13@feddit.org 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Hell I know what you mean, it was so much trial and error until it worked, hence this guide/template to help others. Plus at some point it feels more like work than a hobby 😅

[–] WeAreAllOne@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 35 minutes ago* (last edited 35 minutes ago)

Or just get a Mikrotik router and run Back to Home and baaam you got a similar to tailscate fuction with 3 clicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ1PZkTNvzI

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Mine is public, but I block every state but the one all of my users live in(family) and I never get unwanted visitors. Couldn't say the same if I lived in NY or CA.

If they have static IP addresses, you may be able to whitelist them in your proxy, or maybe there's some sort of dyndns client/relay software you can run if their ips change.

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

yeah, thanks. but thats not gonna work for me. i live in a big city and none of us (me and my server included) have static IPs nor am I gonna get them (at all) and I dont want to pay for them either (because ISPs here want you to pay for them). in any case, thanks for trying to suggest something. it might help someone else who has a different setup. :)

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 2 points 46 minutes ago

Welp, I guess they'll just have to start their own servers or you'll have to get out your credit card. Pity.

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