Media Server Choice

[technoholic]

I plan to install a media server on my FreeNAS. I do have some experience with Plex and there are things to like about Plex. There are however, some things not so likable. That being said, what is your choice of media server for streaming music, videos and displaying photos? Is there a better choice than Plex?

 

[danb35]

My choice is Plex. The other main contender, as I understand it, is Emby.

 

[Nick2253]

I too use and recommend Plex. If not Plex, I would probably manually configure Kodi with a shared MysqlDB, since that's all I use my media with, and I'm not too fond of the the Kodi/Emby integration (however, there is a Kodi-Emby plugin, if you want to go that route).

 

[nojohnny101]

I use plex. I have not tried with any amount of seriousness, any other platform because it met all my needs and is very well supported.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I too use and recommend Plex. If not Plex, I would probably manually configure Kodi with a shared MysqlDB, since that's all I use my media with, and I'm not too fond of the the Kodi/Emby integration (however, there is a Kodi-Emby plugin, if you want to go that route).

Why don't you like Kodi/Emby integration? I love that when I am on the road I can pickup exactly where I left off (using Emby in the browser), when at I home I only watch using Kodi.

I personally use Emby, but I never tried Plex since when I finally decided I wanted something for mobile streaming Emby was in the process of being ported to FreeBSD. I think they are on feature parity for the main stuff, but like the fact Emby is open source, so even if the main dev Luke stops developing the project it can continue on.

 

[technoholic]

I was under the impression that Plex also was open source but Plex and Emby both have subscription fees. That seems to imply that neither is entirely open source. There are free versions of each but functionality is limited. As such making a decision isnt easy without spending the money.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I was under the impression that Plex also was open source but Plex and Emby both have subscription fees. That seems to imply that neither is entirely open source. There are free versions of each but functionality is limited. As such making a decision isnt easy without spending the money.

Built in subscription fees does not imply the projects are not open source.

Plex Media Server is not open source since it has proprietary components.

Emby is open source, with a GPLv2 license. If someone doesnt like the paid subscription they can take Emby's publicly available source code, fork the project and start their own.

 

[Nick2253]

Why don't you like Kodi/Emby integration? I love that when I am on the road I can pickup exactly where I left off (using Emby in the browser), when at I home I only watch using Kodi.

As I recall, the only Emby/Kodi integration at the time (about 18 months ago) was pretty limited in scope. However, thanks to PlexKodiConnect, I'm able to integrate everything with all my Kodi customizations.

I use mobile all the time to watch stuff remotely with Plex, and sync that status across the devices in my network, and I love having the account integration so we can each have our own profile in the house.

What's funny is that, as I was trying to remember what Plex/Kodi integration I use, I discovered that PlexKodiConnect is actually a fork of Emby for Kodi. I'm not sure how I missed that the first time around, since that integration was really the big reason for going with Plex (and it turns out the feature was in Emby all along). I'm very happy with Plex, and I have no reason to change, but I probably would go to Emby (and recommend new people to go that way) thanks to what looks like feature parity with Plex right now (and it's open source!).

 

[nojohnny101]

I was under the impression that Plex also was open source but Plex and Emby both have subscription fees. That seems to imply that neither is entirely open source. There are free versions of each but functionality is limited. As such making a decision isnt easy without spending the money.

I'm not sure of the numbers, but I think you would be surprised as to the number of people that don't pay for plex yet still use it. It has a surprising amount of features that don't require paying. Do some research and see if it fits your needs.

 

[technoholic]

From some things I have read, there seems to be a difference in Plex vs. Plexpass iterations at least as far as FreeNAS is concerned. There was non-specific mention aimed at some additional Plexpass features having issues. Any insights on that or am I reading FUD? Are you guys using Plexpass?

 

[Nick2253]

I use plexpass. If you want to know the features, check the website: https://www.plex.tv/features/plex-pass/

 

[Yusuf Limalia]

I use plexpass. If you want to know the features, check the website: https://www.plex.tv/features/plex-pass/

Plex gets my recommendation. I've also got plex pass :)

 

[danb35]

Are you guys using Plexpass?

I paid for a lifetime Plexpass subscription a few years back.

 

[nojohnny101]

There are some key differences if you decide to install plex directly onto FreeBSD. FreeBSD does not support the following plexpass features:
- music matching by gracenote
- commercial skip features (just introduced in the last month or so, relatively new)

The gracenote matching will never come to the FreeBSD pkg, and the commercial skip feature, too early to tell but if I had to guess, not coming to FreeBSD either (just a guess though).

To get around these limitations, you could easily setup plex in docker or create a linux vm and install plex in that. bam, you get those two features back (if you pay for plexpass). Personally, I also have a a lifetime plexpass subscription.

I'm sure you've seen it, but here is a support article that is a general overview of the differences between free and plexpass

 

[technoholic]

Thanks for all the input. I have decided to go with Plex and have purchased the lifetime Plexpass. Got it installed via the GUI. Now if I can just get this think working.

 

[technoholic]

you could easily setup plex in docker or create a linux vm and install plex in that.

Have you done this? I am not having much success with Ubuntu in a VM.

Never mind, I just found this:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/how-to-boot-ubuntu-desktop-vm-in-uefi-mode.53863/

Looks like the answer I need.

 

[technoholic]

OK, I followed the recommendation to install Plex in a Linux VM and have that all up and running on FN 11.1 bhyve. Question is, how to get Plex to access the media source on the FN SMB share? I have tried every UNC syntax I can think of but no luck. This is the last piece of the puzzle can anyone offer a pointer?