this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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Literally 10x the price I paid for mine
Early adopter club ππ
Early rejector club. Jellyfin gang.
I have underwear older then jellyfin. Plex was the only option for some time
Edit: Alright, alright, it wasn't the only option, but it was the cleanest/easiest way to make a home server feel like a streaming service that I knew of at the time
It was?
I started streaming video in around 2001. Over SMB. Using VLC as the client.
Then I switched to using iTunes as a server.
Then came XMPP/Kodi.
And eventually, Jellyfin.
Every few years, Iβve tried Plex, and itβs never done quite what I wanted, and required security/privacy compromises. About the only thing it has going for it is that the client and the server will run on just about anything.
I think you mean XBMC.
I do indeed :D
Although I still use XMPP.
Y'all half a step from star wars over telnet over here if you're using xmpp to steam movies.
EDIT: looks like someone kept it alive.
As I said in a different comment, I think "only one of its kind" was probably a better fit, at least in terms of collected features and sharing capabilities
And plex still does some things better.
I was using MythTV long before Plex came around.
I guess what I should have said was "only one of its kind". As far as I knew, it was the only one that did all the metadata stuff to give it the "streaming service" feel. Being able to share my library to others outside my home without hassle was also big
That was before the streaming services or most of the current VPN recommendations existed and Myth was mainly competing with TiVo. So, you could set up a front end remotely, but it would have been painful.
They've always done metadata collection though. What Plex added was the connection so you don't need to set up a VPN for remote access.
XBMBC (later Kodi) gang present!
There were and are plenty of alternatives to Plex. Plex was never, "the only option".
What about Emby?
The scary part and the reason I never paid is because I think they will shut down plex soon. No one is paying for streaming services anymore and those giants will start coming down on the gov to do something about it. EU is coming down pretty hard on IPTV and torrent sites already.
The EU shouldn't because most of those streaming services are American. So it's only good for us if people pirate. It offsets some of the tariffs Trump has levied.
And it's those services' own fault. They offered a decent value for money for years. Now they keep wanting more and more. Rising fees, content disappearing to other platforms but still asking for more money. Adding ads and then asking for money to remove them. Eventually people are sick of it and go like π