Selfhosted
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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In this thread:
Jellyfin is the most complex to set up, right? (Just making sure I’m reading this correctly)
To set it up “correctly”, yes. It’ll require owning your own domain, being able to configure it properly (with either a static IP, or DDNS to point to your server at home), knowing how to automate https certificate refreshes, and a few other things. Plex just requires forwarding a port in your router.
I thought self hosting was about learning networking basics like DNS and setting up let's encrypt.
So much whining in here about the most simple stuff being too complex.
I disagree; Self-hosting is for a variety of things, and plenty of people (in fact, I’d say probably the majority of Plex users) just want to be able to pirate Netflix without a ton of setup.
Is learning some networking inevitable? Yeah, probably. But I also think this xkcd is apt. The reality is that what may be simple for you and me actually requires a lot of studying for a complete novice. Plenty of people will need to google what a port is, let alone how to forward one. And that’s assuming they even know the word “port” to google. Plenty of people won’t even know where to start.
And true novices are hopefully going to be extremely wary of any info they find online. It’s easy to fuck something up without even realizing it, and leave your entire system exposed; especially when the braindead “lol just forward your Jellyfin port and use your public IP” advice is posted somewhere in every single advice thread.
Worse. Exposing Jellyfin to the internet is a bad idea given the teams stance on security. https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/issues/5415#issue-824791596
The only safe way to host jellyfin is with a vpn.
Lots of those issues have been blown out of proportion, and would never be a real concern for the “just a dude running a server in his closet for his friends” setups. Which, to be clear, is the vast majority of setups.
For instance, virtually all of the worst issues require that the attacker already has a valid login token. So unless they stole your buddy’s credentials, the only one to truly worry about would be your buddy directly. But yes, Jellyfin has some gaping holes, and letting it touch the WAN at all is always a risk. You’re giving attackers a new potential vector of attack that didn’t exist before, so that’s worth noting.
Thank God trolls never steal people's credentials so they can hack a small server because they're bored.
Right.
Even though I could do those things, I just want something that works.
Plex (or even Emby) fits that request.
Plus they both have an AppleTV app for fee that doesn’t suck.
My tech-illiterate mom uses my Jellyfin instance with no issues. I sent her a link to the app store, her credentials, my server's hostname and that was it. And once it's set up, Jellyfin is much more straightforward to use than Plex.
Sure Jellyfin has issues and doesn't support as many types of devices, but Plex is far from perfect. I use it like twice a year, and the UI gets more and more confusing with each update IMO.
Jellyfin doesn’t have an app on every App Store. On some, you have to sideload it, by enabling developer mode and connecting to a PC that is running an App Store server. Then the TV downloads it from the PC.
Welcome to “People rushing to suggest a solution that they fawn over because it’s open source.”
How do you personally 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt know that Jellyfin is the right solution? Why not a VPN, shared folder, and VLC? What about running a DNLA server?
Edit: All of you downvoting don’t know; and it makes you salty.
3 - An OpenWRT router with Wireguard connecting to another router 1000 miles away will do the trick.
Great; how do I get my Mother to do that over the phone?
It's not a cake walk, but I've something similar for a friend who can barely turn on his PC.
The OpenWRT router was fully configured before shipping it to him and the existing router's needed Wireguard port was opened by me using the Comcast Android app. All he had to do was connect his TV to a new wifi network. That wasn't easy, but he ultimately succeeded.
Ok, so you didn’t walk someone through it; you shipped them something preconfigured.
That’s not going to scale as I share out my server.
How many mothers do you have?
None of your business, insensitive clod.
[email protected] wrote:
Are you incapable of recognizing that in this context my comment was a joke? What the fuck is wrong with you?
How are you complaining of someone not recognising a joke when you failed to recognise that the response was a joke, as well?
Seriously. I hate when people assume default settings are the only option. You don't even need a Plex account to set up Plex. It will just be less seamless and user friendly. Never adopt the server, configure these via localhost (ssh tunnel works) and then set up your networking. Don't even need to update it, it will run for as long as the database stays stable. Which should be years or more.
If #3 is your use case, then yeah, pony up the fees. Or learn to code I guess.
So, like every other jellyfin fanboy, no real actual answer.
Thanks.
One of my pet peeves is when people immediately jump to whatever their fanboy program of choice is regardless of if it’s actually the right program to run in the situation given.
It's also always the Jellyfin fans that get emotional about this. Liking Plex is like a cardinal sin to them and I should be happy to migrate my entire viewership to a new solutions that requires them to install a vpn client on their device.
Every post I see here about Plex is some variation of Gotcha! or Schadenfreude where they expect everyone to say, "oh no, guess I'll pack it up and start fresh"
The condescension in your first point is brutal. I suggest you apologize.
And I would suggest learning how to configure your software before coming here and stirring shit. But we can't always get what we want
I'll add to #2 (IDK if it's open source, though):
Give Stremio a try. Once you set it up (basically just add the Torrentio plug-in then whatever content catalogs you want), the workflow is much better and simpler than Plex.
You just browse it like Netflix: see something you want to watch, select it with your remote, then stream it immediately. No server to run, you don't have to build libraries, you don't even have download the content beforehand. Just select and watch. Could not be easier.
Is it torrenting in the background? Because, if it is, then you need a VPN and I don’t know how to set one up on my LG TV. Would you happen to have a guide?
If you live in an area where you need a VPN to keep your ISP off your ass, well you're in luck because the Torrentio plug-in is compatible with Debrid services (Real-Debrid is a good one). They're cheaper than a VPN (less than €3/mo) and get you direct downloads which ISPs don't care about since you're not distributing files like you would with a torrent client. What's nice is that they work with any torrent—not just video—so you can download wherever you want at 1gbps speeds so long as the torrent has at least one seed. Since you're not actually interacting with the torrents themselves, there's no need for a VPN.
Setup is easy. The only thing you need to do is install the Stremio app on your TV, then open it and install the Torrentio plug-in. From there you configure your preferences like preferred resolution, language, etc, enter your Debrid service credentials if you have them; after that you install additional plug-ins for the kind of content you want. I'd recommend starting off with the Streaming Catalogs (lists popular content from Netflix, Amazon, Disney HBO, etc.)and Trakt.tv plug-ins (recommends content based on your viewing habits). There's also plug-ins for anime if that's your thing. Once you install the plug-ins you like, the only thing left to do is pick something to watch and enjoy. :)
You can also download the Stremio app to your phone and configure everything from there if you don't want to fumble with doing all of this with the TV remote. I'd recommend doing it this way so that all you have to do on the TV is fire up the Stremio app and enjoy.
Uploading copyrightes material is illegal pretty much everywhere I know of.
Many places don't enforce those laws for simply torrenting.
Some countries (US) ask the ISP to send warning letters and might disable the internet. In other countries law firms get personal details from the ISP and send a costly letter of a thousand Euro for a single infraction like in Germany.
That's true, but ISPs have logs. And if something happens that makes the police change their mind about enforcing the law, you might be fucked, retroactively.
For #3, subnet routing.
https://tailscale.com/kb/1019/subnets
Where do I find Wireguard for my LG TV?
You can’t expect my relatives living 100+ miles away to start monkeying around with their router. That be like asking you to set the spark plug timing correctly using a timing gun.
Did you even read the link? You don't need it on every device. It's not really that difficult to understand.
I AM A 48 YEAR OLD FORMER FUCKING TRUCK DRIVER FOR FUCKS SAKE, and yet, I still managed to set up tailscale on my phone and a computer, and then access my stuff that ISNT running tailscale in any way, shape or form, from my phone, simply because I decided to figure it the fuck out.
Stop being so damned lazy.
I am so fucking tired of this "cater to the lowest common denominator" bullshit.
Stop being so dam lazy and do all the things you pay someone else to do.
Mow the lawn. Fix the plumbing. Run new electrical. Neuter the cat. Clean your teeth. Do your taxes. Properly segment your network into several VLANs so that your IoT devices can’t talk to your internal network.
Actual answer for 3:
All the fear-mongering about exposing jellyfin to the internet I have seen on here boils down to either
(Not saying YOU say that; just preempting the usual folklore typically commented whenever someone suggests hosting jellyfin publicly accessible)
@smiletolerantly @AtariDump
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate/_Transparency
Makes sure bots will hit you as soon as the certificate for your domain is issued
OK, add step above: use wildcard certificate for your domain.
Terminating the TLS connection at your perimeter firewall is standard practice, there's no reason your jellyfin host needs to obtain the certificate.