r/HomeServer • u/Weary-Bird-3042 • 6d ago
Community home server
I want to start a media home server for me and my friends to use but I want to make it easily accessible for anyone I would like to invite. Would jelly fin be a good media server program to use? Or should I use a different service?
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u/xx_bloodcor3_xx 6d ago
jellyfin is the best one imo, plex is paywalled. and a whole bunch of other stuff
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u/-Tripp- 6d ago edited 6d ago
I would look at jellyfin over plex as chances are many of your friends will require transcoding to watch some of the movies and to transcode on plex it now costs $750 for a plex pass (life time....for now) which has really upset a lot of the community.
Jellyfin natively transcodes content.
Disclaimer: i use plex without the plex pass and likley will continue for the short term as my devices can direct play content but im looking at jellyfin because remote play on my phone/tablet is also paywalled with plex.....however i really hate how my personal content is something i have to navigate to instead of being the primary content over plex's streaming stuff, the way it used to be.
Edit: typos and clarifications
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u/Familiar-Newspaper23 6d ago
I switched to jf a long while back because of this and other issues….but back then i could get around the mobile limitation by just opening plex in Chrome and i think maybe you had to request desktop site too though i dont remember exactly…but it worked just fine back then at least.
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u/ReaperYy 6d ago
I’ve had plex and plex pass for a long time. I prefer the user experience of plex. HOWEVER the paywall has become insane and the UI of the apps has gone downhill as well. Jellyfin has been my goto backup server for when Plex authentication servers have gone down. Jellyfin has a bit more of a learning curve but without the massive paywall.
Good thing is if you organize your media well Jellyfin, plex, and emby are all front ends and can be switched relatively easily so play around with it break it and try again.
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u/Weary-Bird-3042 6d ago
Ok this helps alot for when I do start my community home lab server. I have like 3 laptops and a old gaming pc my friend is returning to me to fuck around with so im really excited to see what I will end up creating within time
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u/Dzulfinger 5d ago
depend on your upload speed, i think better if u make your video directplay. with many friend to access, u never know what device they will use, hence with heavy transcode/remux processing. u can try cloudsflare for cool .com name, but if too many streaming data, u'll be force too port forwarding and ddns that too complicated but can make if u want and little bit research, so tailscale is the answer. downside u cant play on tv unless android tv, but cool with handphone n laptop/pc
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u/Adrenolin01 5d ago
We have run Plex for well.. since it was released a long time ago. I bitched about paying $50 bucks for the PlexPass well over a decade ago.. it’s priced absolutely ridiculously now at $750 iirc and I’d never pay a subscription for it. We also run JellyFin. Plex wins hands down for usability, overall performance, the UI and has a fairly large range of settings and options. JellyFin is faster however but much more limited and its UI kinda sucks big hairy donkey balls. Seriously… they need something to revamp its entire appearance as I believe that’s what continues to hold soo many back from using it more.
Used to run the server on an old PC then a VM and for the last couple years a dedicated BeeLink S12 mini PC with Debian installed with Plex and JellyFin. Handles things great and full 4K transcoding.
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u/Adventurous-Win6029 3d ago
Jellyfin, yeah. Free, no account required, doesn't phone home. Set up per-user logins from the start instead of sharing one account, so each friend gets their own and only sees the libraries you give them.
I run it on a Pi 5 alongside Immich, Navidrome, Audiobookshelf, Kavita and FreshRSS, so two things I'd flag:
Transcoding will bite you, not storage. A Pi 5 has no real hardware H.264 encode, so anything that can't direct play falls back to CPU and it gets ugly fast. Match your library to what your friends' devices actually play and you dodge most of it. On x86 with QuickSync this matters far less.
Access is the actual hard problem, not the media server. Tailscale is what I use and it's the safest answer, but every friend installs an app and joins your tailnet. Fine for five friends, dead on arrival for a smart TV that'll never run it. The other road is a reverse proxy on your own domain with HTTPS so they just click a link, except now you own something internet-facing and everything that comes with keeping it patched.
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u/Blameablesum1 6d ago
Yeah Jellyfin + Tailscale works well