this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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I haven’t checked in on Jellyfin for a while now, but don’t they still have issues with hardware transcoding support?
Not to mention the lack of software clients on other platforms for just playback that Plex has been established on for years and even multiple device generations like with PlayStation, Roku, Fire Stick, etc.?
Also you have to configure your own reverse proxy / Tailscale set up to securely access a content library remotely, right - as opposed Plex’s relatively simpler remote access configuration?
What kinds of issues? I put an Intel Arc in my server and it's working fine AFAICT.
Like… say if someone hypothetically had an extremely high bitrate file that includes DolbyVision + HDR10+ on the video codec side… and Dolby TrueHD ATMOS or DTS-HD MA 7.1 on the audio side and an .ASS only forced subtitle track.
Let’s also then say someone outside of the original host network only has an older HD LCD panel with no HDR and no receiver to decode any modern / high-quality audio codec formats, so there would be a need to be able to transcode both the video and audio down to something like an SDR tone-mapped 1080p 20mb/s video track with those .ASS subtitle tracks hard-coded into the video stream and an AAC stereo audio track.
Can Jellyfin auto-configure for that or can someone manually choose some set of preferences based off of that…?
Also, would notably un-savvy users outside of that home network have to configure some esoteric set up with special side-loaded clients for playback and Tailscale so that they could securely access said media?
…Hypothetically speaking?
…Because if the answer is “no” or “it’s not THAT hard to set up” is even close to the answer to any of those questions, then it’s a non-starter.
I have an ~80GB movie that I can watch on a TV that can't even handle the data rate for that file, nevermind the codecs.
But if the couple minutes to click "this client can't handle anything over 60Mbps x264" is too much work, then by all means keep paying for Plex. Or "hypothetically" find a smaller copy of that movie.
I'm always amazed by the number of people who absolutely can't leave Plex because they've got 14 grandparents streaming 8k rips all day every day.
Surprise, surprise, a paid product with salaried developers has more features than a volunteer project!
More people using Jellyfin, more people who will contribute, through code or donations. It's worth a downside to swap over.
Hopefully that gets better - I run both side by side pointed at the same folders so the exact same media is available in both. I offer all my friends the choice and list every alternate app I know of, inevitably they all prefer Plex.
Because default settings arent always ideal...
Some goes for the TV they use and whatever codec they can digest.
What defaults are you talking about? If you meant to reply to my other comment, I'm talking about hardware transcoding codec support settings on the server, it has nothing to do with what codec is chosen for a client - that decision is made separately. Once the codec the client needs is chosen, the hardware transcoding setting only changes whether they codec is decoded using CPU or GPU/quicksync by the server - it has no effect on codec selection. The only reason you would disable hardware transcoding for a codec that your server is capable of hardware transcoding is if your hardware is faulty or produces undesirable output for that codec when using hardware transcoding - most people don't do this, it's a fairly uncommon edge case. And disabling it won't stop clients from accessing that codec, it just means that your server will CPU transcode it if requested instead of using hardware acceleration - so again it has nothing to do with client support or TVs because all it does is switch your server between hardware and software encoding / decoding. The only sane default for that setting is to hardware accelerate codecs that your PC is capable of hardware accelerating if hardware acceleration is enabled. There's no reason not to automatically detect hardware capabilities like Plex does, instead of the current "default" where you enable hardware transcoding and then have to figure out what your hardware supports to be hardware accelerated.
Like even if they copy pasted the quicksync codec support table from Wikipedia into the server hardware acceleration settings that would be miles better because then you wouldn't have to look up that information separately. Or, hear me out, just show next to each option which ones your computer is capable of hardware decoding vs CPU decoding.
Especially given the new "lifetime" price. More people will switch to Jellyfin. Plex lifetime might be shorter.
Doubt.
What about Emby? Why is that never mentioned?
Because Emby is a closed source application and Lemmy is an open source platform with community member who prefer open source solutions to closed source. Your out here screaming at Linux bros "why not choose apple??"
Ok. And sometimes closed source applications work better.
I guarantee that you’re using closed source software So let’s not throw stones.
I didn't suggest I wasn't using closed source software or even that one was better than the other. I said you are in a community of open source enthusiasts scratching your head as to why nobody recommends a paid closed source application that has a history of turning it's back on the FOSS community. I'm trying to give you a hint and you're trying to die on a very strange hill.
I have not personally experienced any issues with hardware transcoding. My server is an old Dell Optiplex and I use clients on Linux, Android, Roku and Shield.
Yes you are correct about remote access and if that was a priority for me, I would happily learn that part instead of paying for Plex.
Especially on non-GPU systems, Jellyfin is slower at transcoding than Plex. I don’t know the internals, but I have both running in the sam machine, and Plex is always noticeably more responsive. Not by a huge margin, but still it is.
I have zero experience with those two products but when it comes to transcoding there are various toggles that affect the quality and speed.
It looks also like commercial products generally optimize for speed while open source tends to be more concerned about quality.
Of course this could be completely wrong in this case but that's the general tendency I noticed. Do they allow to change settings?