I’ve been putting off having a local copy of the series and movies I watch because I still can access them quickly and cheaply enough in some streaming service, I think it’s time to plan ramping up my selfhosted setup.
I’ve been putting off having a local copy of the series and movies I watch because I still can access them quickly and cheaply enough in some streaming service, I think it’s time to plan ramping up my selfhosted setup.
Even though many people suggest that, I don’t believe you can compare any off-the-shelf streaming service with a self-hosted Plex.
You have to find and download content to your Plex. You don’t get recommendations. You don’t get a built-in interface on your smart TV. You have to deal with network configuration, VPN, private trackers, seeding ratios etc.
How on earth is that comparable to pressing the Netflix button on your TV and selecting a recommended show? Even my boomer parents managed to do this on their own.
I think we gotta work on building community if we want to see people really move away from streaming services. One person with a NAS in a small apartment building could help a lot of their neighbors out with entertainment. It would be more work for the person hosting, but if the folks who benefit help their friend out too it might end up being less work overall.
I’d give someone access, teach them how to use the software, and download some of their favorite shows if they let me borrow their truck when I needed, shared dinner sometimes, or helped me clean house. I think a lot of folks would benefit from that kind of thing, but it would require us making friends with our neighbors. Which, on reflection, is actually really really hard. I imagine it would be kinda awkward to start the conversations around this, but you’d get around the step of everyone getting their own NAS at least!
I remember in the zeroes everybody knew a guy who sold burned dvd’s. At first they came as a bare dvd in an envelop, but eventually they came in an actual dvd case with a copy of the original sleeve as welll. Some guys would even sell from a stand in public markets.
I could see these guys sell local hosted streaming services to their neighbours, friends and anyone else through word of mouth.
If you take the time to RATE everything you watch in Jellyfin the recommendations start getting pretty good.
I have a built-in interface on my smart TV for Jellyfin, and I had one for Plex.
I didn’t have to deal with any network config, just login once.
Your concerns over obtaining the content are valid, but concerns around the user experience are not.