Plex felt like a complete product to me, perhaps ten years ago. I figured they'd go on to make other products and perhaps just maintain it, not keep adding stuff no one really wants.
Plex felt like a complete product to me, perhaps ten years ago. I figured they'd go on to make other products and perhaps just maintain it, not keep adding stuff no one really wants.
Ultimately that is why I took down my plex server. I can't remember when I started using it but it was amazing for movies and tv shows. Other solutions at the time seemed clunky, half-baked or...
Ultimately that is why I took down my plex server. I can't remember when I started using it but it was amazing for movies and tv shows. Other solutions at the time seemed clunky, half-baked or needed arcane mystical otherwordly knowlege to setup/configure.
Then they kept adding features and I started to encounter more things that just didn't work or broke things that were working just fine before. They kept pushing monthly subscriptions, ads and changing my home screen it just became a game of whack-a-mole of annoyances.
I went back to the shared folder route again and recently started making the switch to Jellyfin.
Yes that's correct, I use it as a centralised media server on my lan. It can monitor directories for new files, pull in metadata, subs etc and expose the media over the network with transcoding if...
Yes that's correct, I use it as a centralised media server on my lan. It can monitor directories for new files, pull in metadata, subs etc and expose the media over the network with transcoding if required. I use Kodi clients myself but it supports DLNA etc.
It works really well with Kodi since all the clients can share the same library, watched status etc (if you want them to, you can also use separate accounts).
It works really well with Kodi since all the clients can share the same library, watched status etc (if you want them to, you can also use separate accounts).
I switched to Jellyfin which was worse in most ways because I couldn’t accept the attempts to stuff off-brand streaming services up my nose. I would have been happy to pay $X a month instead of...
I switched to Jellyfin which was worse in most ways because I couldn’t accept the attempts to stuff off-brand streaming services up my nose. I would have been happy to pay $X a month instead of the one-time Plex pass if Plex stayed focused on my needs. Jellyfish was a disaster on my XBOX ONE using the Videotape client (many videos “just didn’t work”) but recently they came out with an official app that plays videos correctly has an awkward UI (have to point at things with a simulated mouse.)
I started using Plex because I had videos on a server in my basement that I wanted to play on my TV. The Plex of old let me do that with a minimum of hassle. Over time, Plex started pushing...
I started using Plex because I had videos on a server in my basement that I wanted to play on my TV. The Plex of old let me do that with a minimum of hassle. Over time, Plex started pushing cloud-based things more and more, and made it increasingly difficult to just play media on the local network. I'm sure they were broadening their base with that; I'm probably a nice use case. But it made the software less and less useful for me.
Eventually I gave up on Plex and switched to Jellyfin. That's been filling my watch-a-local-video-locally need for a few years now.
Ahh the requirement for constant growth. I really really really hope this trend in capitalism dies soon. It is so sad that every company is forced to act as if infinate growth is possbile,...
Ahh the requirement for constant growth. I really really really hope this trend in capitalism dies soon. It is so sad that every company is forced to act as if infinate growth is possbile, essentially every company is doomed to grow past its natural equilibrium and will eventually fail because of it.
Takes tremendous courage to say that a product or service is complete and needs no more than maintenance.
You'd think stuff like the success of Coca-Cola, original M&Ms, Lego, Crayola, Campbell's, Rolex, Heinz ketchup, Weber original kettle, Zippo lighters, WinRar, CyberDuck, FileZilla, and many others would point to there being success in keeping the original product the same. That does not mean you can't innovate.
Look e.g. at all the other derrivative M&M flavors that have popped up. But they were sane and kept the original more or less the same.
It's fine to develop quickly and break things when it's new. But after you have a following LTS is so important. That's why Django is still around - it's mature and stable, make something with a...
Stability has value too, sigh.
It's fine to develop quickly and break things when it's new. But after you have a following LTS is so important. That's why Django is still around - it's mature and stable, make something with a Django LTS and you KNOW it will keep on chugging for a long time without crazy drama.
There is no requirement for constant growth. Growth is nice - all held equal, growing is better than not. But not all things can grow, and there are plenty of public companies with no real shot of...
There is no requirement for constant growth. Growth is nice - all held equal, growing is better than not. But not all things can grow, and there are plenty of public companies with no real shot of growth, that just exists and return dividends. They get lower multiples because, if all else held equal, growth > not growing. But they exist, and are the majority of the stock market.
They finally sold a copy?! (Sorry, couldn't resist that joke) We all know unlimited growth is impossible yet companies are stuck in a perpetual cycle of pleasing investors in short term...
WinRar
They finally sold a copy?! (Sorry, couldn't resist that joke)
We all know unlimited growth is impossible yet companies are stuck in a perpetual cycle of pleasing investors in short term increments. Stability be damned (employee or product). "Sorry, you only made us an extra $200 million in profit over last year, you're fired!"
Only the bottom line matters and such antiquated ideas like customer loyalty, employee loyalty or brand value don't matter anymore.
You raise an interesting point: Would Coca-Cola be as popular or huge right now if they were forced to constantly make new flavors to beat projections every quarter for the last 100 years? Or would they have been crushed or severely weakened after their "failures" grew and grew?
Would they ever have gotten desparate to try "Ham Gravy Soda"??
They tried with NewCoke, but wisely gave up and returned to their original formula.
Would Coca-Cola be as popular or huge right now if they were forced to constantly make new flavors to beat projections every quarter for the last 100 years?
They tried with NewCoke, but wisely gave up and returned to their original formula.
How/Why did Plex have almost 200 employees? I use Plex, I enjoy it, I have a Lifetime Plex Pass. I don’t agree with their growth strategy of shoehorning commercial-driven streaming content that...
How/Why did Plex have almost 200 employees? I use Plex, I enjoy it, I have a Lifetime Plex Pass. I don’t agree with their growth strategy of shoehorning commercial-driven streaming content that nobody watches into software that’s meant to stream your own content. I think they’ve caught the “we must grow” bug but don’t really have any good ideas on how to do that.
Plex doubled down on free ad-supported streaming but that's not generating enough revenue. I feel like the easiest thing for them would be a modest yearly subscription for the software. Who is...
Plex doubled down on free ad-supported streaming but that's not generating enough revenue. I feel like the easiest thing for them would be a modest yearly subscription for the software.
Who is using the free ad-supported stuff? If you installed Plex to stream your own library, you probably avoid that section of the app. I doubt very many people installed the Plex TV app just for free stuff when there are already apps like Tubi and Pluto.
I've seen the argument that "Plex customers are pirates and pirates don't pay for software" but that's not a valid argument, IMO. People who turn to pirating usually do so if the cost is exorbitant or the method of access is cumbersome or restrictive. Plex can easily avoid those problems.
I have some movies and TV shows on Plex, and I even started rebuilding my music library (and a small audiobook library) on it. I want to see it be profitable, but by leaning on its core utility.
What are your thoughts on Plex's features and business model? Some of the Verge comments mentioned Jellyfin (one even said it's 'eating Plex's lunch' which was humorous because I'd never even heard of the app before).
I'll occasionally watch the Plex channels. Especially if I'm watching on my computer instead of my TV. They already have Plex Pass which is a monthly subscription, although I think it can also be...
I'll occasionally watch the Plex channels. Especially if I'm watching on my computer instead of my TV.
They already have Plex Pass which is a monthly subscription, although I think it can also be a one-time fee (which is what I paid)
I've heard of Jellyfin and I know a lot of people like it, I just can't be bothered to transition over when I've got a bunch of friends/family already hooked into my Plex.
I watch the Plex channel on my Roku occasionally because it's the only service that streams the Comedy Bang! Bang! tv show. On Roku I just search for what I want to watch and it'll show me which...
I watch the Plex channel on my Roku occasionally because it's the only service that streams the Comedy Bang! Bang! tv show. On Roku I just search for what I want to watch and it'll show me which app has it. I certainly don't have any loyalty to Pluto or Plex or whatever else.
But I did move on from Plex to Emby as my media host because Plex was getting kind of bloated with features I had no interest in. And the way I see it, the more mainstream Plex gets, the more likely they are to start cracking down on people using it exclusively as a streaming app for their pirated stuff.
The reason I love Plex is because I can acquire movies and tv (illegally and legally) put it all in one place and have control over it. I download Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV, bbc iplayer etc shows...
The reason I love Plex is because I can acquire movies and tv (illegally and legally) put it all in one place and have control over it. I download Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV, bbc iplayer etc shows I like whilst still paying subscriptions to those services. I do it so it’s all in one place, I don’t need to browse all the different services to be served endless content. I know what I want, and it’s on my Plex.
I think for better or worse Plex has been seeking revenue streams and users outside its core service. The core users want to serve their own media to their house and family member, they want as much control of how this works as possible. They want to remove someone else calling the shots on what and how they consume their media, how many ads are forced down their throats etc. As a historical frequenter of the Plex subreddit any new changes that go against this core idea are met with general anger. The reason being that they change they way ‘users’ servers are viewed and consumed by the ones they choose to share their content with. I’ve had plenty of conversations with non technical family members having to coach them on how to view my content - and no ‘movies on Plex’ is in no way affiliated with me, apologies for all the terrible content filling your Home Screen.
Jellyfin is always touted as the thing hot on Plex’s heals, but I don’t think it will ever be as good. That said it does provide an alternative route if Plex goes away.
I believe there's a way you can pin your libraries to the main screen so you don't have to go into the other menus (I forget where, it is an option though), but I agree, their UI experience leaves...
I believe there's a way you can pin your libraries to the main screen so you don't have to go into the other menus (I forget where, it is an option though), but I agree, their UI experience leaves alot to be desired. It's nice looking, but if you have a large number of video files, there's not really a good way to organize everything and you just end up scrolling a bunch to get to whatever you need. The biggest benefit I've seen is that it's the easiest option (for me) to get movies/tv series from my computer onto my TV across the house.
I haven't seen any really killer new features come out since I got a lifetime pass, I just wish they had better tools for organizing a library. They're kind of like Apple in that they seem to consider your personal library a "solved problem" and they've just moved on to adding a bunch of extra fluff, instead of actually trying to improve the core experience.
I mean the set and settings are hidden away by design. Once set up there shouldn’t be many reason to be in their tinkering. But from a UI standpoint it’s evolved from XBMC - talk about a horrible...
I mean the set and settings are hidden away by design. Once set up there shouldn’t be many reason to be in their tinkering.
But from a UI standpoint it’s evolved from XBMC - talk about a horrible mess of UI.
This is unfortunate. I would have bought a Plex pass, but decided not to as the product gets broken so often by the updates along with issues like the menus being densely obtuse and unfriendly to...
This is unfortunate. I would have bought a Plex pass, but decided not to as the product gets broken so often by the updates along with issues like the menus being densely obtuse and unfriendly to use. Files that play fine directly will either refuse to play without stuttering at best or simply not being recognised at worst.
Plex felt like a complete product to me, perhaps ten years ago. I figured they'd go on to make other products and perhaps just maintain it, not keep adding stuff no one really wants.
Ultimately that is why I took down my plex server. I can't remember when I started using it but it was amazing for movies and tv shows. Other solutions at the time seemed clunky, half-baked or needed arcane mystical otherwordly knowlege to setup/configure.
Then they kept adding features and I started to encounter more things that just didn't work or broke things that were working just fine before. They kept pushing monthly subscriptions, ads and changing my home screen it just became a game of whack-a-mole of annoyances.
I went back to the shared folder route again and recently started making the switch to Jellyfin.
Jellyfin rules man. Been loving it
Yes that's correct, I use it as a centralised media server on my lan. It can monitor directories for new files, pull in metadata, subs etc and expose the media over the network with transcoding if required. I use Kodi clients myself but it supports DLNA etc.
It works really well with Kodi since all the clients can share the same library, watched status etc (if you want them to, you can also use separate accounts).
I switched to Jellyfin which was worse in most ways because I couldn’t accept the attempts to stuff off-brand streaming services up my nose. I would have been happy to pay $X a month instead of the one-time Plex pass if Plex stayed focused on my needs. Jellyfish was a disaster on my XBOX ONE using the Videotape client (many videos “just didn’t work”) but recently they came out with an official app that plays videos correctly has an awkward UI (have to point at things with a simulated mouse.)
I started using Plex because I had videos on a server in my basement that I wanted to play on my TV. The Plex of old let me do that with a minimum of hassle. Over time, Plex started pushing cloud-based things more and more, and made it increasingly difficult to just play media on the local network. I'm sure they were broadening their base with that; I'm probably a nice use case. But it made the software less and less useful for me.
Eventually I gave up on Plex and switched to Jellyfin. That's been filling my watch-a-local-video-locally need for a few years now.
I wish Jellyfin would have audio integration to the Sonos ecosystem. I would make an instant switch.
Ahh the requirement for constant growth. I really really really hope this trend in capitalism dies soon. It is so sad that every company is forced to act as if infinate growth is possbile, essentially every company is doomed to grow past its natural equilibrium and will eventually fail because of it.
Takes tremendous courage to say that a product or service is complete and needs no more than maintenance.
You'd think stuff like the success of Coca-Cola, original M&Ms, Lego, Crayola, Campbell's, Rolex, Heinz ketchup, Weber original kettle, Zippo lighters, WinRar, CyberDuck, FileZilla, and many others would point to there being success in keeping the original product the same. That does not mean you can't innovate.
Look e.g. at all the other derrivative M&M flavors that have popped up. But they were sane and kept the original more or less the same.
It's fine to develop quickly and break things when it's new. But after you have a following LTS is so important. That's why Django is still around - it's mature and stable, make something with a Django LTS and you KNOW it will keep on chugging for a long time without crazy drama.
There is no requirement for constant growth. Growth is nice - all held equal, growing is better than not. But not all things can grow, and there are plenty of public companies with no real shot of growth, that just exists and return dividends. They get lower multiples because, if all else held equal, growth > not growing. But they exist, and are the majority of the stock market.
They finally sold a copy?! (Sorry, couldn't resist that joke)
We all know unlimited growth is impossible yet companies are stuck in a perpetual cycle of pleasing investors in short term increments. Stability be damned (employee or product). "Sorry, you only made us an extra $200 million in profit over last year, you're fired!"
Only the bottom line matters and such antiquated ideas like customer loyalty, employee loyalty or brand value don't matter anymore.
You raise an interesting point: Would Coca-Cola be as popular or huge right now if they were forced to constantly make new flavors to beat projections every quarter for the last 100 years? Or would they have been crushed or severely weakened after their "failures" grew and grew?
Would they ever have gotten desparate to try "Ham Gravy Soda"??
They tried with NewCoke, but wisely gave up and returned to their original formula.
Coke and Pepsi got brand extension fever maybe 10 years ago. I have no idea how many kinds of Coke there are these days.
How/Why did Plex have almost 200 employees? I use Plex, I enjoy it, I have a Lifetime Plex Pass. I don’t agree with their growth strategy of shoehorning commercial-driven streaming content that nobody watches into software that’s meant to stream your own content. I think they’ve caught the “we must grow” bug but don’t really have any good ideas on how to do that.
Plex doubled down on free ad-supported streaming but that's not generating enough revenue. I feel like the easiest thing for them would be a modest yearly subscription for the software.
Who is using the free ad-supported stuff? If you installed Plex to stream your own library, you probably avoid that section of the app. I doubt very many people installed the Plex TV app just for free stuff when there are already apps like Tubi and Pluto.
I've seen the argument that "Plex customers are pirates and pirates don't pay for software" but that's not a valid argument, IMO. People who turn to pirating usually do so if the cost is exorbitant or the method of access is cumbersome or restrictive. Plex can easily avoid those problems.
I have some movies and TV shows on Plex, and I even started rebuilding my music library (and a small audiobook library) on it. I want to see it be profitable, but by leaning on its core utility.
What are your thoughts on Plex's features and business model? Some of the Verge comments mentioned Jellyfin (one even said it's 'eating Plex's lunch' which was humorous because I'd never even heard of the app before).
I'll occasionally watch the Plex channels. Especially if I'm watching on my computer instead of my TV.
They already have Plex Pass which is a monthly subscription, although I think it can also be a one-time fee (which is what I paid)
I've heard of Jellyfin and I know a lot of people like it, I just can't be bothered to transition over when I've got a bunch of friends/family already hooked into my Plex.
I watch the Plex channel on my Roku occasionally because it's the only service that streams the Comedy Bang! Bang! tv show. On Roku I just search for what I want to watch and it'll show me which app has it. I certainly don't have any loyalty to Pluto or Plex or whatever else.
But I did move on from Plex to Emby as my media host because Plex was getting kind of bloated with features I had no interest in. And the way I see it, the more mainstream Plex gets, the more likely they are to start cracking down on people using it exclusively as a streaming app for their pirated stuff.
The reason I love Plex is because I can acquire movies and tv (illegally and legally) put it all in one place and have control over it. I download Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV, bbc iplayer etc shows I like whilst still paying subscriptions to those services. I do it so it’s all in one place, I don’t need to browse all the different services to be served endless content. I know what I want, and it’s on my Plex.
I think for better or worse Plex has been seeking revenue streams and users outside its core service. The core users want to serve their own media to their house and family member, they want as much control of how this works as possible. They want to remove someone else calling the shots on what and how they consume their media, how many ads are forced down their throats etc. As a historical frequenter of the Plex subreddit any new changes that go against this core idea are met with general anger. The reason being that they change they way ‘users’ servers are viewed and consumed by the ones they choose to share their content with. I’ve had plenty of conversations with non technical family members having to coach them on how to view my content - and no ‘movies on Plex’ is in no way affiliated with me, apologies for all the terrible content filling your Home Screen.
Jellyfin is always touted as the thing hot on Plex’s heals, but I don’t think it will ever be as good. That said it does provide an alternative route if Plex goes away.
I believe there's a way you can pin your libraries to the main screen so you don't have to go into the other menus (I forget where, it is an option though), but I agree, their UI experience leaves alot to be desired. It's nice looking, but if you have a large number of video files, there's not really a good way to organize everything and you just end up scrolling a bunch to get to whatever you need. The biggest benefit I've seen is that it's the easiest option (for me) to get movies/tv series from my computer onto my TV across the house.
I haven't seen any really killer new features come out since I got a lifetime pass, I just wish they had better tools for organizing a library. They're kind of like Apple in that they seem to consider your personal library a "solved problem" and they've just moved on to adding a bunch of extra fluff, instead of actually trying to improve the core experience.
I mean the set and settings are hidden away by design. Once set up there shouldn’t be many reason to be in their tinkering.
But from a UI standpoint it’s evolved from XBMC - talk about a horrible mess of UI.
This is unfortunate. I would have bought a Plex pass, but decided not to as the product gets broken so often by the updates along with issues like the menus being densely obtuse and unfriendly to use. Files that play fine directly will either refuse to play without stuttering at best or simply not being recognised at worst.