Does anyone actually pay for plex

[the real sfpour]

Does anyone actual pay for plex or do u just use the free version, I want to kno if it is worth it. I will mostly be pirating movies so mostly using it for my media library, if I pay for it what perks does it have. And also if I were to not pirate and pay/watch plex movies from it would it be worth it then? 

[GuiltySpark_]

Yes, a lifetime license many years ago. Needed hardware encoding support. 

4 minutes ago, the real sfpour said:

if I pay for it what perks does it have

https://support.plex.tv/articles/202526943-plex-free-vs-paid/

5 minutes ago, the real sfpour said:

And also if I were to not pirate and pay/watch plex movies from it would it be worth it then?

No, probably not. 

 

If you don't want to pay and can stand the less polished experience, there is always Jellyfin.

[AbydosOne]

6 minutes ago, the real sfpour said:

Does anyone actual pay for plex

I paid for Plex (once), basically just for the remote access stuff.

[WereCat]

IMO, Jellyfin is better and completely free. I had also no issues with HW transcoding which I can’t say about Plex.

[Vanderburg]

If you just want a local access tool that does great as long you don't care about live anything, Jellyfin is amazing.

[Needfuldoer]

I bought a Plex Pass years ago, because I use it as a DVR. I would've spent even more on guide data by now if I tried to make Jellyfin do the job.

 

To me, the "it just works" factor is well worth the cost of admission alone. I'm at a point in my life where I'll happily pay a bit to save a ton of effort. All I had to do to share the library with family is have them sign up for free Plex accounts and ask them which email address they signed up with. The client "just works" whether they're running an Android TV box, iPad, Roku, or Apple TV.

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, the real sfpour said:

Does anyone actual pay for plex or do u just use the free version, I want to kno if it is worth it. I will mostly be pirating movies so mostly using it for my media library, if I pay for it what perks does it have. And also if I were to not pirate and pay/watch plex movies from it would it be worth it then? 

Raises Hand. 

 

I bought Plex Pass in 2019. For the sole purpose of using an HD Homerun and a TV antenna. At the time we had a 1 TB data cap which would be raised to 1.2TB due to covid. BUT we wanted to cancel cable TV. So OTA via Plex worked fairly well until this year, when we started consistently getting near our data allotment, even going over at least once. So we moved to a prepaid plan from the same provider as it was cheaper and unlimited data, but slower on both download and upload. 

 

While we do a lot of streaming now, Plex is good for when you want something on but not sure what to watch, plus we get local news. Though I dont have to sub to paramount plus to watch NCIS, and I have no commercials with plex because I just skip them. at least if I watch the recordings. 

 

Besides the ease of use, there are other alternatives. I choose Plex because setting up OTA watch / record is a pain in the ass on Jellyfin from what I have read, plus you have to pay for guide data, which is included with the Plex pass. Also Im not sure what devices the alternatives support, Plex seems to support about anything. 

[kirashi]

3 hours ago, the real sfpour said:

Does anyone actual pay for plex or do u just use the free version, I want to kno if it is worth it. I will mostly be pirating movies so mostly using it for my media library, if I pay for it what perks does it have. And also if I were to not pirate and pay/watch plex movies from it would it be worth it then? 

Nope, I definitely don't pay for Plex because I use Jellyfin. No need to pay for Plex if you use an open-source alternative.

[Donut417]

7 minutes ago, kirashi said:

Nope, I definitely don't pay for Plex because I use Jellyfin. No need to pay for Plex if you use an open-source alternative.

Just curious, how is streaming device compatibility? Is Jellyfin available for all the major platforms like FireTV, Roku, Apple TV, etc or is it more certain devices? 

[ChrisLoudon]

8 hours ago, the real sfpour said:

Does anyone actual pay for plex or do u just use the free version

Lifetime pass for me.

 

I've never used Jellyfin so can't really comment on how it stacks up against Plex but I share my server with my freinds and family (off-site) so I rely on this and HW transcoding which the free version of Plex doesn't do.

 

I've also heard that JellyFin isn't as easy to setup nor is as well 'polished' as Plex.

[EffeectFTW]

I paid for the lifetime plex pass and it's been mostly great. Admittedly I don't have a huge library but it works well.

 

Also having the plex proxy makes remote access network setup much easier to setup and fairly easily to debug. I've tried Emby/Jellyfin but remote access is always a pain point.

[Donut417]

6 hours ago, Psittac said:

Plain and simple Plex will not replace cable TV

It can at least for the local channels with an HD Homerun, Antenna and Plex Pass. That being said, this setup could be on the chopping block depending on what the FCC does in the up coming months. But with this setup you can distribute and record Live TV from like any device on your network. 

 

[kirashi]

17 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Just curious, how is streaming device compatibility? Is Jellyfin available for all the major platforms like FireTV, Roku, Apple TV, etc or is it more certain devices? 

Video encode / decode capabilities largely depend on the client device itself (hence why the NAS picks up the slack when necessary), but otherwise I've been quite surprised to see Jellyfin client apps for every platform I use, including my ROKU streaming media players.

https://jellyfin.org/downloads/clients/

[ewitte]

There are features that are locked for the free version.  It seems they are actively trying to figure out what to break to get more subscribers.  For instance, "remote access" used to mean from outside your house.  Now it can mean a different subnet on your network or possibly even a docker container...  I purchased the lifetime pass for about $75 years ago.  I think I'm somewhere around $2.50/mo right now.

[Donut417]

7 minutes ago, ewitte said:

There are features that are locked for the free version.  It seems they are actively trying to figure out what to break to get more subscribers.  For instance, "remote access" used to mean from outside your house.  Now it can mean a different subnet on your network or possibly even a docker container...  I purchased the lifetime pass for about $75 years ago.  I think I'm somewhere around $2.50/mo right now.

I paid $119 for mine. It allowed us to cancel cable/Live tv services. Shit we paid $40 in equipment fees alone. The plex pass has been paid off as far as I’m concerned. 

[AbydosOne]

2 hours ago, ewitte said:

Now it can mean a different subnet on your network or possibly even a docker container...

Okay, that's just user error at that point... being on a different subnet (without firewall routing rules) is functionally the same as being in a different country as far as the way Plex works. They don't want to give away their network resources for free forwarding traffic for people.

[ewitte]

1 hour ago, AbydosOne said:

Okay, that's just user error at that point... being on a different subnet (without firewall routing rules) is functionally the same as being in a different country as far as the way Plex works. They don't want to give away their network resources for free forwarding traffic for people.

Yeah, but it WAS working until it was killed intentionally.