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Plex Launches Movie Rental Store
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Long time Plex fan here, but in more recent years I feel it's slowly morphed somewhat into data-mining bloatware. I opt out of data sharing my local library but it still feels like I'm under surveillance. You can't even login to the server these days without a WAN connection - or if you can then I'm yet to find the option toggle.
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Worse, even if you 'purchase' content in digital-only form there's a risk it will be robbed from you at some time in the future. See Playstation for more information. Digital convenience, like all convenience, is the downfall of man. You can convince anyone to do anything if you can convince them it makes their life easier. The inexorable march to all-digital is a classic case of be careful what you wish for. I long for the return of the halcyon days of physical book, movie and record collections on actual wooden shelves.
J.A.K.
macrumors regular
Interesting. I'm all for competition and new options so don't see a downside to this. It's not like anyone is forced to use it and if it tanks, it tanks. I think Plex will live on regardless and if it doesn't, oh well. Something else will come along to take its place.
I just wish the Discover option for watching Coming Soon trailers would preload the damn trailers better. I almost always get like 240p for the first ten to thirty damn seconds of a trailer, even the big budget ones. If Plex can't even get that right then I'm a little nervous about paying for anything above SD through the app...
I just wish the Discover option for watching Coming Soon trailers would preload the damn trailers better. I almost always get like 240p for the first ten to thirty damn seconds of a trailer, even the big budget ones. If Plex can't even get that right then I'm a little nervous about paying for anything above SD through the app...
page3
macrumors 6502a
No. The point of Plex is to bring all media in to one central place, with a decent configurable UI. Easily discover content, proper categorisation and search, flexible configurable layouts and a wide range of playback options to give the user, not the provider what they want. Mix in to that live TV and DVR capabilities. Ability to stream or download as you choose.
Unlike the usual suspects, it also provides accessibility options rather than excluding a subset of your customers.
This is all something the streaming services seem unable or unwilling to do.
ackmondual
macrumors 68020
Isn't Plex selling user data and gathering info on what you stream? You'd think that would rub some folks the wrong way
I moved from Plex to Jellyfin and haven't looked back. It's what Plex used to be - just direct access to your own media, no frills and works. There's a great iOS client in Swiftfin on iphone/ipad/atv etc and the server is super lightweight when running compared to plex.
Thanks I’m gonna look into this and may migrate at some stage. Not happy with the direction Plex has been heading in for ages. It’s morphed into a big-tech-esque behemoth that leaks user privacy like a sieve. Just the fact you can’t use it without a WAN connection is all anyone needs to know about its integrity.
ApplesAreSweet&Sour
Suspended
All streaming but especially "digital rentals" and digital purchases of movies is absolute trash value pr. dollar.
The prices should be a fraction considering it's all just sitting in servers, no brick and mortar stores, physical movie theaters, or employees that eat profits.
This will only serve to push people back to finding ways to watch movies for free, and keep the free movies on big harddrives to watch whenever they want.
laptech
Suspended
The natural order of things, renting physical VHS cassettes, renting DVD's and now renting video on demand (streaming). The good ole days of walking down to your local Blockbuster store to rent the latest movie that had just come out or the latest video game. It was great for weekends movie night, visit the store in the morning/early afternoon, pick out the movie(s) you wanted, buy the snacks you wanted, the drinks you wanted (many stores sold snacks and drinks) ready for the evening. Watch the movies over the weekend and return them on Monday.
There was a local store near to where I worked. I would pop in after work, pick out a movie, buy some popcorn and a drink, leave the store with goodies in hand, watch the movie that night and return it the next day after work. It was cheap and easy to do. It is just not the same sitting on the sofa at home, scrolling through Netflix or Amazon to see what movie you want to watch, there is no excitement too it. you had to experience to know what I am talking about.
Remember the song Video Killed the Radio Star? Well I think in Blockbusters case it is Video on Demand Killed the Blockbuster store. (as well as other things causing it's demise).
There was a local store near to where I worked. I would pop in after work, pick out a movie, buy some popcorn and a drink, leave the store with goodies in hand, watch the movie that night and return it the next day after work. It was cheap and easy to do. It is just not the same sitting on the sofa at home, scrolling through Netflix or Amazon to see what movie you want to watch, there is no excitement too it. you had to experience to know what I am talking about.
Remember the song Video Killed the Radio Star? Well I think in Blockbusters case it is Video on Demand Killed the Blockbuster store. (as well as other things causing it's demise).
Enjoy. It's barebones compared to plex even as far as "settings" go - but if you just want direct play of your own media without any shenaningans it's perfect. No internet required either - i had an internet outage a few nights ago and it worked just fine the entire time.
Abazigal
Contributor
I imagine the cost assumes that the movie will be watched by an entire family, and you can rewatch or replay it as many times as you want within that time frame. Possibly a good deal if you have 4-6 people at home (and you don't have to pay for overpriced popcorn), sucks if you live by yourself. 😛
Rentals and subscriptions have been a popular way content has been sold and “consumed” for ages whether it be newspapers, magazines, cable/satellite television, premium channels, movie rentals, music rentals, book rentals (libraries), etc.
As a long time Plex user, I can't remember the last time I worried about any of that. I do, on the other hand, really enjoy the polished interface of Plex (and Infuse on my iPad) and it would be a downgrade, for me, to go to Jelly or Emby. Curious -- why aren't Jellyfin and Emby more polished with regards to how it looks? It's not rocket science.
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Apple_Robert
Contributor
Nugget
macrumors 68020
For what it’s worth, Infuse works with Jellyfin the same way it works with Plex, so your iPad experience would remain unchanged. Same for tvOS.
If you’re not (yet) concerned with privacy and truly offline use then the upsides will matter less to you.
This is what pushed me over to Jellyfin: https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/28/plex_privacy/
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Theyre doing this as a hedge because they know eventually theyll get sued or attacked for being effectively a piracy platform.
And potentially be compelled to hand over the metadata of users' own media files to the feds. Metadata which they assuredly possess, particularly if the user hasn't explicitly opted out in the privacy options. At some point in the future, it's not beyond imagination that hapless Plex users are gonna have SWAT smash their door in have their computers and storage media confiscated lol.
Maybe SWAT should focus on KODI users first.
Curious what metadata would be in a ripped mkv file that would say that it wasn't something I produced at some point in time?
Original file names are often found in mkv metadata. File names that readily indicate where they came from. Or so I’ve heard.
In any case I wasn’t being especially serious. Just pointing out the potential hazards of all this data collection.
Lol, even buying content is no longer an ownership. Recently I moved to another country and changed my apple ID region. I had like 200+ purchased movies in my library. Now I have 95 - and no dubbing language selection anymore - only subtitles.
Now, I watch movies on bootleg streaming services or buy Blu-rays (watching on the PS5) from Amazon. I know that this is not a big loss for streaming services, but I'm done with it. Want to re-watch your favourite movie you bought in the Apple movies - go f* yourself; this movie "is no longer available" please pay 10 euros to buy it again.
