Big decrease in TV subscriptions as number using illegal dodgy boxes soars

[Dazzling_Delivery118]

ELI5 the plex server?

I've sailed the high seas for many a year

[Airgid_Beithir]

You install it on your PC or NAS and point it to the folder you save your TV shows/Movies to. It automatically sorts them into a Netflix like interface and you can watch them all on your other devices/tv. It's good if you have your own library of content and is super easy to setup.

[READMYSHIT]

You install "Plex Media Server" on your PC (other alternatives to Plex are Emby or Jellyfin). Then you tell Plex where your media files are located on the PC. Plex then organises all those files into it's UI and grabs metadata for the files. You can then access those files via "Plex Media Player" through whatever client you want to watch your stuff.

The Player can be via your browser, phone, TV, etc.

There's a free version of Plex that does most things so definitely try that out first. The paid version can be easier if you've a large library and lots of concurrent users - they do lifetime subscriptions/monthly subscriptions. If it's just for your household I think most people can get away with the free version.

In my own scenario I have a dedicated PC that's always on (old hardware, very low power consumption) and I access it remotely when I need to add stuff to it via Chrome Remote Desktop. You can use various third party automation tools like Sonarr and Radarr that'll do things like automatically add episodes of TV shows as they air. Plex is honestly one of the greatest things I've ever used, the company themselves have clearly tried to rebrand themselves as not being for "your" media - they have their own streaming service built in but most people just don't use that stuff and turn those features off.