I originally setup Plex and was immediately unhapy with their always online model as well as really poor support on their forums.
Pretty quickly moved to Emby and have been happy since (7 years). It’s not FOSS but it’s not locked down nearly as much as Plex, and they have a focus on keeping your info within your own systems. No telemetry.
I don’t mind paying a bit to support development, especially when they offer lifetime options instead of being stuck with a monthly subscription.
Jellyfin has branched out more into niche features like watch parties, leaaving some stability to be desired. Especially with apps like smart TVs. Emby has focused more on its core reliability across all platforms, comming up with a product that’s nice and stable pretty much everywhere.
Jellyfin was a fork of Emby when Emby went closed source as users kept removing the paywalls for premium features. Development time isn’t free; that’s not sustainable for a fulltime dev. Since, Jellyfin has barely kept up, lacking the resources/funding to really flesh out their code. (hell, ~75% is still embys code AFAIK)
Yeah, but relying on peoples generosity is less than ideal unfortunately…
On the other hand; when you’ve got to pay to use a product, you’re a bit more entitled to its use and support than a free project that gets worked on at the devs leisure. Especially when the developers maintain that same view.
It’s a fine line between securing stable income for your efforts while not limiting the usage of your products. I think Embys developers have done a pretty good job keeping that balance. I’ve certainly never had an issue with the activation and use of premium features, and the licence I bought 7 years ago has held excellent value. I’ve just been waiting on some funds to donate ontop as I feel I’ve gotten more than I’ve paid for.
I originally setup Plex and was immediately unhapy with their always online model as well as really poor support on their forums.
Pretty quickly moved to Emby and have been happy since (7 years). It’s not FOSS but it’s not locked down nearly as much as Plex, and they have a focus on keeping your info within your own systems. No telemetry.
I don’t mind paying a bit to support development, especially when they offer lifetime options instead of being stuck with a monthly subscription.
Jellyfin has branched out more into niche features like watch parties, leaaving some stability to be desired. Especially with apps like smart TVs. Emby has focused more on its core reliability across all platforms, comming up with a product that’s nice and stable pretty much everywhere.
Jellyfin was a fork of Emby when Emby went closed source as users kept removing the paywalls for premium features. Development time isn’t free; that’s not sustainable for a fulltime dev. Since, Jellyfin has barely kept up, lacking the resources/funding to really flesh out their code. (hell, ~75% is still embys code AFAIK)
Regarding free dev time: Donations can be made as a means to thabk and compensate the project.
Yeah, but relying on peoples generosity is less than ideal unfortunately…
On the other hand; when you’ve got to pay to use a product, you’re a bit more entitled to its use and support than a free project that gets worked on at the devs leisure. Especially when the developers maintain that same view.
It’s a fine line between securing stable income for your efforts while not limiting the usage of your products. I think Embys developers have done a pretty good job keeping that balance. I’ve certainly never had an issue with the activation and use of premium features, and the licence I bought 7 years ago has held excellent value. I’ve just been waiting on some funds to donate ontop as I feel I’ve gotten more than I’ve paid for.