It used to be that simple: r/plexshares, click any link, join the server, watch all you want.

Well, they really cracked down on that. Plex purged the servers en masse, my server switched to some obscure emby, r/plexshares is closed for good.

I’m in a need of a new server. Where do I even go? What platform is best to sail the seas now? Jellyfin?

P.S. my torrent days are over, thanks. I’m not interested in self-hosting anything either, again, thanks. 10$/month is a reasonable subscription fee for an all-you-can-eat streaming service

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    9 months ago

    P.S. my torrent days are over, thanks. I’m not interested in self-hosting anything either, again, thanks. 10$/month is a reasonable subscription fee for an all-you-can-eat streaming service

    The reason you’re not finding this is because everyone else was assuming all the risk by streaming the media to you, and that party is over. You were assuming none of the risk. If you want back in, you’re going to start having to assume some of the risk again, because that $10/month is what makes the operation actually something that the people offering the service can be criminally prosecuted for.

    Come on, get outta here with this self entitled attitude. Would love to help, but it sounds like you don’t even want help, really. You just want to pay someone else to commit crimes and risk arrest so you can benefit. Bringing money into it is 100% what has turned it into a crime for the person running the server.

    Piracy is a community thing, become part of the community, and maybe someone will just let you on their personal server without a fee, and then nobody is at risk criminally, only civilly. But it means getting involved at least a little bit, and not just expecting others to do it for you.

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      9 months ago

      Ah, and get outta here with this entitled attitude. I want to pay someone for something I can do myself: setup a Linux machine with a torrent, a movie organizer, and a jellyfin server. Easy. But maintaing it just eats too much time, which I don’t have.

      Forget the legal risk, it’s laughable. And with a properly located server no one will even ever bother figuring out who’s running it.

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      9 months ago

      Must be why instead of law enforcement it was plex who was shutting down hundreds of paid servers. Seems like way too many people wanted to sell their legal risk for some 10$/month per user. I’m sure they’d still be happy to do it if not for plex’s stubborness.

      • amigan@lemmy.dynatron.me
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        9 months ago

        Plex could be held liable as a vicarious enabler of infringement. Your suggestion that they turn a blind eye would endanger their very existence. Of course they are going to capitulate. It’s a wonder they still exist as it is.

  • kate@lemmy.uhhoh.com
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    9 months ago

    If you’re willing to pay $10 and you want all the content without torrents, maybe usenet is what you’re looking for?

  • inlandempire
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    9 months ago

    Pay for Netflix or whatever if you want ease of usage

    Piracy isn’t supposed to be easy nor should it be spoonfed to you

    • kratoz29@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Pay for Netflix or whatever if you want ease of usage

      Shitty and limited catalog, Stremio with RD FTW.

    • where_am_i@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’d pay for Netflix if they stopped removing and geolocking content. As it is, I can legally acquire half of the content I want to watch. In order to get all of it, I need a vpn to the default country a valid default country credit card, and a subscription to 5 services. I’ll rather set up a seedbox with jellyfin than play their dumb games. But why wouldn’t I pay someone to just do it for many of us instead? This labor scales very well.

        • where_am_i@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Yeah, exactly. My options are roughly: I find a working server, or make my own with blackjack and hookers. And give my friends a free invite.

  • swampdownloader@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 months ago

    This sub gets butthurt about paid services except for usenet.

    Have you checked out stremio + real debrid? Have to have a computer connected but it works well and is dirt cheap.

    I pay for IPTV and Emby services. This community will hate emby for not being FOSS but it has a better user experience than jellyfin IMO. There is not a great place to find them unfortunately.

  • Brownian Motion@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “obscure Emby”… You don’t get out much, do you.

    Emby is a direct competitor to Plex, and its better. It doesn’t require and internet connection to work, doesnt force signup, its completely self hosted if you want. The dev is responsive, bugs are fixed quickly.

    It does have subscription options if you want, none are required for full functionality.

    Emby is not FOSS, but neither is Plex.

    • where_am_i@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Needed a cracked version for Android. I’d pay them 5$ or whatever, but they insisted on a ludicrous subscription. There’s a very limited TV support. Web app is glitchy.

      We switched from Plex to emby and the difference is night and day.

      • Brownian Motion@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        no. Jellyfin aims to be totally open source.

        Emby is not, and the reason it works better. They pay the licenses for mp4 etc. earn it back from those who support, but it never was truly open source.

        Jellyfin is open source, and that is the reason they have “problems” (licensing issues, that you have circumvent if you look hard enough).

        For set and forget, Emby and Plex are the choices. Emby does not have a bullshit money making agenda, and is the better option - currently.

          • Brownian Motion@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Well, yeah true it started like that. But still Jellyfin followed the open source path. I’d expect that under the hood there would be very little left of what was Emby, it was just a starting point. (https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby , before they changed the licensing and removed any further work to the GPL 2 version).

            Also Emby is at 4.8.1 now and has been making leaps and bounds in changes lately.

            As I said, licensing was the issue for Emby, and the easiest solution was to change their license. It wasn’t just to make money, it was about being able to handle licenses from other software, such as Fraunhofer

    • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      While this is a great and easy option, bear in mind… Where do you think RD gets the content for you? It’s entirely reliant on other people doing the work. It’s the uploaders and seeders who keep it alive.

      It’s very easy for you to just go grab that content for yourself without sharing it, but what will happen if everyone starts doing it?

      Especially people like OP, who want the ease without the effort

  • harry_balzac@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I appreciate this post. It’s brought out some interesting comments and I’ve been able to block some idiots who apparently think they’re gatekeepers.

    I went through the same thing as you but when we moved to Emby, things have been better. Plex was always crashing when I’d search.

    If you can get back with them, give Emby another shot.

    I think self-hosted might be better but I don’t have the ambition right now. I’m reading up on it but I need to finish a couple of other projects first.

    • where_am_i@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      If you watch on your TV/streaming stick in a browser you get exactly zero support for any picture-enhansements. Not to mention remote controls etc. It can be dealt with but not ideal.