By Martin Jansen, Owner of Jansen-PCINFO
Plex TV
Plex TV is a streaming service that allows users to watch movies and TV shows for free, supported by ads. It also offers a media server feature, enabling users to organize and stream their personal media collections across various devices.
I have been a loyal Plex user since 2019, but recently Plex announced a price increase for Plex Pass, going from $40 to $70 per year. Plex explained the increase as a result of holding the line on pricing for many years – true – and increasing development costs – could be.
Probably the better approach would be to slowly increase prices as other streaming services have done, but the extreme Plex price increase caused me to look for alternatives.
Our Media Collection
We have a very large collection of media on a 4 Terrabyte NAS drive:
- Over 450 movies (carefully extracted from our Blu-ray and DVD collection)
- Around 70 music albums
- Family pictures ranging from the 1940s to the Present
- A variety of TV series from our collection
- A collection of Other Videos from plays and personal recordings
All of these can be heard and viewed without commercial interruption on Plex.
Extraction
I have carefully used a combination of Handbrake for DVD Movies and MakeMKV for Blu-ray disks to convert my media collections into digital files for personal family use. For music, I use Sound Juicer.
Recording TV Shows and Movies
Plex also lets you record live TV provided you have a good antenna and a network sourced over the air device. I use a HDHOMERUN Flex 4K on my network to view and record channels on Plex.
In addition, Plex lets you try to skip commercials on Live TV, but it’s not perfect. Recording “Jeopardy!” for instance, often skips the ending of the show, ‘Final Jeopardy,’ and the user needs to remote forward to the last 2:30 minutes of the show.
Big Shoes
As previously mentioned, Plex also offers free ad-supported TV channels, but we have many other sources of “free” streaming TV from Samsung TV Plus and the Roku Channel on most of our TVs.
I have established that Plex offers many features to their service, so any replacement would have to offer similar capabilities.
Jellyfin
Enter Jellyfin which is “the volunteer-built media solution that puts you in control of your media. Stream to any device from your own server, with no strings attached. Your media, your server, your way.” Jellyfin is open source and free to use.”
Jellyfin is also highly configurable, which can be simultaneously beneficial or difficult depending on the person’s needs.
Start with Ubuntu Server
Jellyfin can be installed on Windows and macOS, but I prefer to install on Ubuntu Server. Ubuntu Server installs on older hardware like that old Windows Desktop PC that has been gathering dust in the corner for a few years. My brother-in-law surrendered his old HP EliteDesk 800 G1 Tower PC to me since he bought a new Windows 11 desktop. It is a fairly large tower with an i7 fourth gen processor, 16 GB RAM and room for three 3.5 inch drives and one 2.5 inch drive. Ubuntu Server has no GUI interface – all administration is entered via the command line.
Here is a link to a YouTube video with step by step installation instructions: https://youtu.be/yEkc10Sqi_A
Docker
Next I installed Docker on Ubuntu Server. Docker is “an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. Docker enables you to separate your applications from your infrastructure so you can deliver software quickly. With Docker, you can manage your infrastructure in the same ways you manage your applications.”
In this case, I want to install Jellyfin in a Docker container. Here are some instructions on installing Docker on Ubuntu: https://www.thomas-krenn.com/en/wiki/Docker_Installation_under_Ubuntu_24.04
Install Jellyfin Docker Container
And here is one of the most thorough guides to install Jellyfin in a Docker container:
https://www.prerolls.me/install-jellyfin-docker-using-docker-compose-guide
Hint: The docker-compose.yml file is the key to a successful installation.
NFS
If your media is on a separate drive, like mine, it would be helpful to set up a NFS share on the Ubuntu Server.
NFS is a protocol developed by Sun Microsystems that enables file sharing across a network. It allows remote hosts to access files and directories stored on an NFS server as if they were local. This provides a convenient way to share data among multiple systems, promoting resource sharing and collaboration.
Here is a guide to install NFS and share files across your network:
https://linuxvox.com/blog/mount-nfs-share-ubuntu
If I ever need to add more media to Jellyfin, NFS is the way to go. And, yes, NFS client can be added to Windows, it’s built in.
Conclusion
I still have a lot to learn about Jellyfin, but I’ve successfully moved my media libraries and viewing content. I’m recording shows and my TV guide is supplied by Schedules Direct. Everything is working well, but I am still working on skipping commercials as a post process after the recording is complete. Our family is enjoying our media collections and recordings in a whole new way with Jellyfin.