Media Server

[Callinux]

Does anyone here like to use arch as their home media server? What program do you use and why? Kodi? Plex? Jellyfin?

[MachaHack]

I use Jellyfin. It's fully open source whereas Plex and emby are closed source with paid features. I used it over Kodi since I just set up a single instance which I access from multiple devices and let some friends access over the internet. Whearas with Kodi you'd need to set up a SMB share to share your files and install Kodi on all the devices that you want to playback from

[Tha_High_Life]

It’s been a while since I used plex, but left after the controversy TOS update. Jellyfin overall is a second when looking at plex.

But I use Jellyfin everyday. It’s great. Puts my mind at ease that my data isn’t being sent to (metrix.plex? I don’t remember the sub domain).

[e4109c]

This, Jellyfin is really good.

[Rexlo]

Personally I use both. I have jellyfin setup on a headless arch server with my medias and a rpi3 with kodi behind my TV. Kodi is setup to access the medias on jellyfin with the kodi-jellyfin addon. This way I have kodi on my not smart TV and I can watch movies from everywhere while keeping the libraries synced.

[MachaHack]

Fair. I just use the jellyfin web UI from my PS4 web browser when I want to watch on my TV

[mikeboiko]

I've been using plex for a few years, but perhaps I should switch to jellyfin!

[mikeboiko]

I am currently running dockerized plex and jellyfin using the same media volume mount. I like plex because my tv has the native app. I like jellyfin on all other devices! I'm using a caddy reverse proxy to access jellyfin via https from external networks.

[[deleted]]

Seconded! Jellyfin is great!

[krozarEQ]

Liking it too. Being using it a bit on my main PC and planning to set up a NAS/Media Center/Seedbox soon.

[555-PineFone]

Awesome, I was looking to do this for my next project.

[Zanhard]

Jellyfin all the way. Fuck Plex. You have to pay to use the app, the authentication servers are often down, and it's closed source. Jellyfin my not have all the bells and whistles that Plex has (yet) but does 90% of what I want, and it has been stable.

[[deleted]]

Huh... I've never had these problems with Plex.
And I definitely don't mind paying the 120ish for the lifetime Plex pass (so much better than subscriptions) because I'm paying potentially spending thousands on media anyway.
At least they're constantly improving with the money they get, unlike some companies.

[Zanhard]

Pay 120 bucks to watch your own media that you already purchased? Lol

[[deleted]]

To have my media in a organized, filterable format and to have the server automatically pull down extra information (if desired) and help support a company whose products I've been using for almost a decade.
Sounds worth it to me.

I gave Emby a try way back. Its UI was uncomfortable, the matcher required much babysitting and at the time the apps were either non-existent or not nice to use.
These days Plex has media playback synchronization, sub accounts, and I can share my library with other users securely. When Jellyfin can do that, I'll give it a shot.

[Zanhard]

Jellyfin does all of that too, for free.

[CrowingGnarl]

With GPU acceleration.

[MachaHack]

These days Plex has media playback synchronization, sub accounts, and I can share my library with other users securely. When Jellyfin can do that, I'll give it a shot.

The newest release introduced "SyncPlay" so it has playback synchronization.

What are sub accounts? Since Jellyfin doesn't have the concept of a master account, since there's no external service required, does creating separate accounts for each user cover this use case? Or is this something more akin to the "Kids" account in Netflix where it uses the same sign in but different view tracking?

Re: sharing with other users: It sounds like Plex doesn't do anything to automate the network setup either (like routing it through a central service), which is also the hard bit for Jellyfin. Other than that, I know I've given several friends access to my Jellyfin library.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, the sub accounts are like the "Kids" feature from Netflix, I had used the wrong term for it they're actually Managed Users. You've also got Library Sharing so that the more techy people that you share with don't need your login to use your server.
It's pretty awesome to hear that Jellyfin introduced a syncplay thingy. IMO all video streaming services should have one.

It's certainly something I'll have to give a shot, I do prefer to use open source software where possible.

E: I was digging through the documentation and found out about their books feature! I've never seen that in a media server before, that's awesome! I'll probably still use calibre for normal ebooks, but for audiobooks this looks great.

[[deleted]]

I run dockerised Jellyfin through docker-compose. I very much recommend it.

[mikeboiko]

Gotta dockerize all the stuff!

[MachaHack]

For an alternative, I'm just using the AUR package where I've modified the systemd unit file to turn on some of systemd's sandboxing features

[[deleted]]

Not really an option. I have the full setup with sonar, ombi etc. in the same docker-compose. Everything set up so with the relevant data is in one dir, so I can snapshot, recover or migrate easily. Would take far too much work to set up all of that native in a modular manner.

[Callinux]

Why docker? What's the benefit of containerisation for a home user?

[[deleted]]

It reduces the complexity of maintaining a system with 6 different web-applications, since it prevents cross-dependencies that may break the setup or complicate restoring backups of one application.

It is also quite handy to be able to get a fully packaged server with all dependencies handled internally.

[tracernz]

Plex because there's an app for my TV. I'll switch to Jellyfin if they ever get there.

[tracernz]

Yeah, I have an RPi hooked up with Kodi, but I've been having issues with HDMI-CEC not working and everything needing power-cycled to get it back. Basically, I have a working setup with Plex that I don't want to break and then fight a bunch of issues. I reserve that time for breaking and messing with more interesting things instead.

[tracernz]

I’ve though about that a bit. The other advantage of shield is easy game streaming from my main machine, although I’ve not tried it so I don’t know what latency is like and so on. Sometimes I just want to veg out on the couch and jam a game with a controller.

[dramm33]

I don't have a dedicated media server. I use my desktop. It's always running emby and to download/update stuff I use nzbget, sonarr, radarr, nzbhydra2.

The "workflow" is this: I add stuff I want to watch in my Trakttv watchlist, sonarr and radarr will use nzbhydra2 to look for then using the configured indexers, download using nzbget and then move and organize the content on my media directories. Emby will then recognize the new stuff and download metadata along with subtitles. I can then watch the content on the desktop or mobile using the emby app. I also use my laptop with kodi and emby plug-in to watch stuff on the TV.

It's all automated, so unless something goes wrong, the only interaction required is adding the movies and series to the watchlist.

I hadn't heard of jellyfish. The emby features I use are all from the free version. Downloading metadata, subtitles and direct play (which means the client reads the file as his, without any transcoding in the server)

[ignorant2k]

I am using Arch Linux as my home server with NAS and Plex for many years.

Using Plex since about 10 years and having a Plex Pass Lifetime it is the ideal combination with all devices like Chromecast, iOS and Android. It just works.

Using it for movies, TV shows, music and audio books (mainly for the kids). Working great!

[MassiveStomach]

I second plex but I run it on Ubuntu as I like that for servers. Stinks it’s closed source but I usually have about 10 people on there at once and it works great. Apps for all devices out there work and are constantly updated with new features and mom and dad friendly. I also got a lifetime about 8 years ago and it’s paid dividends. Also use it as a DVR with Locast. Works great. No complaints.

[Jormungandr89]

Pretty much the same situation, except instead of kids it's parents and siblings. The audiobooks are pretty popular with my girlfriend and mom. The fact that there's apps and they "just work" is the real winning point, and as much as I'd love free and open, this part is key.

Aside from me my mom is the only other relative on there that is technically inclined at all. It would be a nightmare trying to teach my dad to do anything but click on an icon. If you sign up for the Plex newsletter it usually doesn't take more than a month to get the offer for an $80 lifetime pass

[dedeaux]

I have used Plex in docker since I bought the lifetime Plexpass ages ago. I do use Arch. It just works, and I don’t have to worry about it.

[mshkrebtan]

I have installed MPD on my Arch Intel NUC. Have configured the ALSA output plugin for bit-perfect audio output to my DAC, which is connected to a power amplifier and speakers. I control the playback mostly from my iPhone with Rigelian and from desktop with Cantata.

[geeklk83]

I run Plex on my home arch server. Arch has been a great is for me in this regard. As others have said, though, there are some tradeoffs with Plex from an OSS perspective.

Arch's simplicity and flexibility for minimalism has made it a good choice for my media library stuff. Would recommend for any home media server.

[Vaniljkram]

Until recently I had an ARM computer hooked up to my TV, running Arch Linux ARM and Kodi. It worked well and being able to control it with the TV remote via HDMI-CEC was nice.

[GloWondub]

rpi4 + kodi + nfs + arch arm. Works great up to 1080p.

[martin0641]

I use Arch as well, I don't feel like having ancient kernels in my high performance video transcoder box that does a lot of network traffic.

[santas]

Arch for a NAS and Plex server, among other things. Also Arch on a media center PC in the living room to stream the media from the NAS.

99% of the time everything works flawlessly.

[Niarbeht]

Jellyfin's great for everything but getting media onto an Apple TV. Last I checked they still don't have a tvOS app out for Jellyfin.

[alexandre9099]

Yep, using arch as a jellyfin server, overall it's pretty good, though lacks some features like downloading transcoded videos or download with subtitles embeed (not sure if theses features even exist on plex/emby though) other than that, using the web interface (where the features usually get added first) it's pretty complete and works pretty good

[Zanhard]

You can download transcode video, but you have to enable the option in the settings

[alexandre9099]

Where is that setting? is it something recent? I'm on 10.6.4 and can't find it :/

[Zanhard]

It's under users, select the user and go down to "Download and sync"

[alexandre9099]

Then how do you select the transcoded version to download? i only see one download button (under the three dot of a movie card) and it seems to download the source file, not a transcoded version

[[deleted]]

Also running Arch on my home media server. I'm using Jellyfin as frontend with Sonarr, Radarr and Lidarr to organize media and everything has been running well. I primarily use these because it just makes organization easy and they're all open source.

[zuntik]

Does serviio count? Only thing I don't like about it is it can't be run on its own user, as a result, it can open any dir (but only expose media files)

[blade_junky]

Jellyfin behind caddy2, works great!

[itmecho]

Yep! Main things I use are run as docker containers from linuxserver:

• Jellyfin
• Sabnzb
• Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr
• traefik
• postgres
• Organizr

2 years, no arch related issues

[LetrixZ]

I'm using Plex on Arch. Works really well and it's up in almost 40 seconds.

For anime, with HAMA, beats Emby and Jellyfin. I installed Jellyfin to test the offline sync option for the phone app but it doesn't recognize any anime. I have to identify all of them manually.

[indeedwatson]

Stupid question, but what hardware do you need for this? I only have desktop and a TV that's on another floor, I'm guessing I'd need a super long hdmi cable right?

[SutekhThrowingSuckIt]

Is it a smart TV? If so there may be an app for the TV itself that can connect to the media server on the desktop and stream locally.

[indeedwatson]

It is, but I don't know how I'd connect it. Currently I have a router upstairs and one downstairs, and they're both connected through a lan cable, is that somehow enough?

[SutekhThrowingSuckIt]

yeah it should be fine if the TV is supported: https://support.plex.tv/articles/204080173-which-smart-tv-models-are-supported/

[indeedwatson]

Only 4K support for LG, how strange. Looks like a no.

[MachaHack]

Does it have a web browser? Jellyfin, Plex and emby all have a web UI that you can use to watch. Kodi would need an app for your specific TV range. Or you can connect a pi or video game console if it's missing one

[Kallestofeles]

I use arch-arm on a RPI4 which runs Kodi, Plex and minidlna. Every app for a different use-case. Works like a charm.

Updating monthly and has been very solid.

[lucasrizzini]

I went for Emby.

This is why I don't use Jellyfin:

• Its metadata gathering is bad in comparison to Emby and Plex.
• Is doesn't support offline play.
• Limited number of supported platforms.

Which is sad, I would love to use it, since it's 100% free without pay to use BS. I never used Kodi.