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Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

jellyfin.org

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Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#281

Post by shiroiushi »

lukevp wrote: post #7

Jellyfin is pretty good, and I've been using it in place of Plex for the last few years. However, I feel like there are some underlying limitations that I just can't get past: 1. the UI jank. The thumbnail tiles are slow to load, even on a local network. Searches and filters flicker as you type and take a while to return. Scrolling fast in the web UI gets choppy/laggy. 2. The native app (at least in the case of Apple…

I have to agree on #7: it's pretty annoying, especially for series where there's both TV shows and movies related to them. For instance, The X-Files: there's 11 seasons of shows, but also 2 movies. A better example is Star Trek, with a bunch of different TV series, plus a bunch of various movies related to the different series.

You can put these into "collections", but it'd be nice if my library could just have a "Star_Trek" directory and then subdirectories with all those things inside, and have it automatically sorted out by JF.

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#282

Post by TheDong »

danparsonson wrote: post #244
TheDong wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS etc have wireguard clients, but I personally have found it much easier to configure a long random path as part of the server URL and use that as a "password". ( https://server.com/$randomPath/ It's not ideal, since the password's obviously saved in any user's browser history, but it's less of a pain than dealing with a VPN, especially since I let friends use the server, and it's secure enough for my threat model.

The trouble with that is that you still have to make 80/443 public, which means you have to trust that your web server will stand up to 24/7 probing. I guess I'm a bit more paranoid than I really need to be but if the port isn't open then the chances of a bad guy getting in that way because of a zero-day or because I forgot something should be zero. Hopefully you at least have something like fail2ban installed?

If someone is going around popping up-to-date nginx servers, then they have much bigger targets than my media server, and I also have much bigger problems.

My threat model does not include someone using an nginx zero-day to find out what movies I'm watching.

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#283

Post by BizarroLand »

robotburrito wrote: post #21

I’ve tried a few times to use software like this but nothing for me competes with the simplicity of a shared file folder and VLC.

For my personal watching? Almost agreed. Jellyfin does make it a little more interaction free to watch on multiple devices and to binge watch without interruptions an entire series.

But I can live without that.

The one thing it offers that folders do not is a simple way to interact with the video library when guests are using it.

They can grab a mouse and meander over the available shows with no explanation and watch what they want within minutes of being shown the link without exposing my nas to them or giving them the ability to alter my media files without my knowledge.

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#284

Post by danparsonson »

TheDong wrote: post #282
danparsonson wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble with that is that you still have to make 80/443 public, which means you have to trust that your web server will stand up to 24/7 probing. I guess I'm a bit more paranoid than I really need to be but if the port isn't open then the chances of a bad guy getting in that way because of a zero-day or because I forgot something should be zero. Hopefully you at least have something like fail2ban installed?

If someone is going around popping up-to-date nginx servers, then they have much bigger targets than my media server, and I also have much bigger problems. My threat model does not include someone using an nginx zero-day to find out what movies I'm watching.

You don't need to be targetted deliberately; there's a whole load of automated scanning that happens. If they get in then it's more likely they'll be interested in using your server to DDoS someone else, or serve up objectionable and/or illegal content. Protecting yourself is not just about your data.

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#285

Post by TheDong »

danparsonson wrote: post #284
TheDong wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone is going around popping up-to-date nginx servers, then they have much bigger targets than my media server, and I also have much bigger problems. My threat model does not include someone using an nginx zero-day to find out what movies I'm watching.

You don't need to be targetted deliberately; there's a whole load of automated scanning that happens. If they get in then it's more likely they'll be interested in using your server to DDoS someone else, or serve up objectionable and/or illegal content. Protecting yourself is not just about your data.

I understand that, but my point is that an nginx config to just allow one path is easy to get right, and so for someone to get in, it wouldn't be automated scanning but rather a targeted attack with an nginx zero-day..... and if you have such an attack, there are a ton of banks and other companies you'd go after first.

If you don't have the confidence to open up port 443, that's fine of course, but I have the confidence in my abilities and setup to open up 443 and know that it's secure enough for my threat model.

Like, the nginx config is a single location block with a 30-character-plus random string in the path as the password, it's running on nixos with an automated `nix flake update` bot that updates and redeploys the server every week so nginx and linux get updated over time, I get an email if the `nixos-rebuild build` fails after the automated update so I know to fix it.

I'm not particular worried about automated scanners.

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#286

Post by mavamaarten »

TheDong wrote: post #285
danparsonson wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to be targetted deliberately; there's a whole load of automated scanning that happens. If they get in then it's more likely they'll be interested in using your server to DDoS someone else, or serve up objectionable and/or illegal content. Protecting yourself is not just about your data.

I understand that, but my point is that an nginx config to just allow one path is easy to get right, and so for someone to get in, it wouldn't be automated scanning but rather a targeted attack with an nginx zero-day..... and if you have such an attack, there are a ton of banks and other companies you'd go after first. If you don't have the confidence to open up port 443, that's fine of course, but I have the confide…

It's exactly the automated scanners that I'm scared of. But there I feel the same: an up to date nginx server, Serving some pages over port 80/443 doesn't feel like a huge target on my back.

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#288

Post by defrost »

akho wrote: post #287

I wish it only transcoded things on explicit request, not based on its opinion. The LG TV profile it ships with is incorrect, and it's not at all clear how to stop it transcoding.

Probably by choosing Transcoding: Direct Play in the admin account settings options for the Server.

https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/transcoding/

I recently setup Jellyfin pretty thoroughly on a small form media centre with 4 x 2TB SSD drives for the media and went through all of this for direct to TV, via client to iPhones and to an XBox etc.

I passed that on three weeks back to a son for his household so I don't have local server to log into anymore and double check (the documentation online tends bear an approximate resemblance to current versions).

This might also shed some light : https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-purpose-of-force-transcode-in-u...

as it talks about the manual editing of the preference | option files for servers and users.

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#289

Post by Refusing23 »

I like jellyfin

but it still lacked some of the features that made me stick to plex (over VLC)

It'll become better over time, and probably much better than plex. plex dont do many new features, and there's still a ton of issues with it (like... audio is at like -50 dB and you cant hear shit)

Re: Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System

#290

Post by akho »

defrost wrote: post #288
akho wrote: post #287

I wish it only transcoded things on explicit request, not based on its opinion. The LG TV profile it ships with is incorrect, and it's not at all clear how to stop it transcoding.

Probably by choosing Transcoding: Direct Play in the admin account settings options for the Server. https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/transcoding/ I recently setup Jellyfin pretty thoroughly on a small form media centre with 4 x 2TB SSD drives for the media and went through all of this for direct to TV, via client to iPhones and to an XBox etc. I passed that on three weeks back to a son for his household so I…

Your first link is a not a list of settings, it's an explanation.

You can disable transcoding for a specific device (or user). However, it just means that the client will not show some videos, even though it can play them in reality.

This is determined by the device profile shipped with the DLNA plugin (!). You used to be able to replace that, but that broke for me with the recent changes wrt DLNA.

I don’t even mind transcoding, except that it also maps hdr to sdr, which is just awful.

So I now use jellyfin on computers and mobile, and a minidlna setup on my main tv. That's ridiculous, but seems like the only way to make it work within the hour or two I had for that.

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