Hi, I’m fairly new to the self-hosted universe but I like the idea of self-hosting media (I’ve looked at Jellyfin and Plex). But as I understand this requires quite some money and a lot of work. I don’t think it’s worth it if I put in all that effort just for myself but I’d love to build a small private streaming between me and my friends. We used to share and swap blu-rays after all, so it would be cool to build a shared collection.
My question is if that’s possible and if anyone has experience with this? I’ve read that Jellyfin and Plex are meant as home-media-servers and I’m not sure what limitations that implies. Can people access the library from outside networks and will that affect the streaming quality/speed? What specs would the server need to ensure it can handle a bunch of users? Is there a software that is better suited for this use-case?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Top comment, really. Comprehensive and accurate
+1 for Jellyfin, all the features of Plex (that matter to me), none of the subscription costs.
I installed Jellyfin on my parent’s and sibling’s TVs and use direct play. I don’t get anything above 1080, lowest common denominator and all that. I set up kid’s shows and movies in separate folders and set up an account for my nieces and nephews, so my siblings can let them watch shows unmonitored without worrying what they’ll find. (I don’t trust the show ratings to work correctly) Meanwhile we can watch stuff like The Bear without the kids learning all of the Swears
Also i picked up a 16TB hdd for $250 a couple years ago so there’s that