Any other Plex to Emby migrants?

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IamSpartacus

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Mar 14, 2016
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With Plex's recent privacy policy changes going into affect today, I've taken my Plex server offline indefinitely and most likely permanently unless they make a serious course correction (very unlikely given their investors). So I've completely migrated my media serving services over to Emby. While Emby is certainly not as mature, mainly on the client side, it seems like a viable alternative for those who want to maintain most of the Plex features while not having to deal with the ridiculous requirements of needed an internet connection to access your own local media (yes I know their are workarounds to that but...really?) to say nothing of the outrageous data collection practices Plex has adopted.

Wondering if anyone else has/is thinking about making the move to Emby and would like to discuss their experience with the transition. Emby is def. rougher around the edges but sacrifices must be made for the greater good.
 

vl1969

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Feb 5, 2014
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I am not so much a convert but rather an inquiring mind searching for a good media server.
I am still in the process of building out a virtualization platform to run all of this on, but have narrow down to Proxmox VE 5.
so the next step would be to set it up and build a media server on it.
so the question is, how do you like Emby in comrare to Plex, all other issues aside?
 

rubylaser

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Jan 4, 2013
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I have considered it, but for right now, I'm just using DNS records to block their data collection (metrics.plex.tv). I don't relish the idea of trying to talk all of my non-technical users into learning a new client :(
 
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T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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With Plex's recent privacy policy changes going into affect today, I've taken my Plex server offline indefinitely and most likely permanently unless they make a serious course correction (very unlikely given their investors). So I've completely migrated my media serving services over to Emby. While Emby is certainly not as mature, mainly on the client side, it seems like a viable alternative for those who want to maintain most of the Plex features while not having to deal with the ridiculous requirements of needed an internet connection to access your own local media (yes I know their are workarounds to that but...really?) to say nothing of the outrageous data collection practices Plex has adopted.

Wondering if anyone else has/is thinking about making the move to Emby and would like to discuss their experience with the transition. Emby is def. rougher around the edges but sacrifices must be made for the greater good.
That completely kills the use-case for me too...aside from privacy issues too.

I don't understand how these companies simply eliminate people who don't have Internet, I mean that's why my family uses PLEX in the first place :rolleyes:

I'll be NEEDING a replacement :(
 
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ttabbal

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Mar 10, 2016
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It's really quite annoying. I finally got Plex running nicely and they pulled this crap. I even pay for it. I'm interested to hear how things compare with Emby. I considered it before, but decided Plex looked like it would be easier to work with and has more client apps etc..
 

ttabbal

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Oh, blocking the DNS is easy enough and I'll probably do that for now. But there's nothing stopping them from sending all the same data over the standard domain they use now. Add in HTTPS and you can't even tell it's there without MITM attacks on the connections.

Looks like Emby needs internet as well, so that's out if the connection requirement is a problem.

I'm also not impressed by the user-hostile moves they have made recently to try to push people into paying. It's not a big jump from there to selling your data like Plex tried to. Note that Plex rolled it back, so it's less of an issue than it was.

I'm not seeing a lot of options for client/server style streaming setups. You can always fall back to XBMCs direct CIFS/NFS type setups, but that eliminates the live transcodes which is a nice option to have, even if Plex goes overboard with it sometimes.
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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I just went to my OpenDNS dashboard and added metrics.plex.tv to my block list. Problem solved :)
Does that fix the 'working offline' part too? Or only stats?
What about 'stats' when using a plex 'account' and accessing shars?
 

nitrobass24

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Dec 26, 2010
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Does that fix the 'working offline' part too? Or only stats?
What about 'stats' when using a plex 'account' and accessing shars?
Cant comment on the "offline" part since mine is always online for remote users. I am not following your last part about status when using a plex account and accessing shares.

At the end of the day I would still use plex even if they tracked all my usage. Its simply the best platform. That said I am going to take simple precautions to limit what people track on us.
 

sth

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Oct 29, 2015
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I was pretty annoyed at the recent privacy move so took installed Emby and more recently added a lifetime subscription. I technically run both in parallel but the more I use Emby the more I actually prefer it. The fact that theres a simple and direct connection to my home network or local LAN is preferable and I don't find any major functional differences worth complaining about - theres even a few things in Emby I actually prefer too.
 

K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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If you are using Kodi then then the emby plugin is very good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

IamSpartacus

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Mar 14, 2016
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Just so you all know, blocking metrics.plex.tv does not solve all or even most of your problems. The data collection (and partial opt-out) is on a PER USER basis. That means every one of your shared users would have to block it as well. This is really what forced my hand because that's just not possible. And they are collecting not only metadata on the video files being streamed, but what servers they are linked to as well.

As for Emby, I've been pleasantly surprised so far. It's definitely rougher around the edges and the clients are lacking in some features but overall my experience so far has been good. The Live TV/DVR integration is far superior to Plex's as well. There are even some nice server settings that I'm finding that just weren't configurable on Plex.

The biggest plus is that you don't need to connect through any of their servers/services to connect clients locally or externally to your server once you setup a custom SSL cert. Gone are the days of needing an internet connection just to connect to my damn local media server.
 
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Kybber

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May 27, 2016
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And they are collecting not only metadata on the video files being streamed, but what servers they are linked to as well.
May I ask what your primary concern with this logging is? I may be a bit naive, but I am honestly curious why I should be concerned with them logging metadata from my server. From their explanation, there is no way anyone can identify which files are being served.

I don't mind trying out and potentially switching over to Emby, but it'll be yet another hassle that I'd rather avoid.
 

IamSpartacus

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Mar 14, 2016
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May I ask what your primary concern with this logging is? I may be a bit naive, but I am honestly curious why I should be concerned with them logging metadata from my server. From their explanation, there is no way anyone can identify which files are being served.

I don't mind trying out and potentially switching over to Emby, but it'll be yet another hassle that I'd rather avoid.
Look, we all know that just about every internet service is collecting our data. Mainly the ones that are free, but even some that we pay for. But to me, there is a huge difference between me streaming a movie from Netflix which is PROVIDING said content to us or doing a Google search where we using a publicly accessible service, and being forced to send data about what you are doing on your own local "private" network.

Here's an analogy I saw over on the Plex forums that rings true:
Example:
You are a taxi company. Because you have to transport people from A to B you can collect and use this data. It's your's anyhow as long as you don't add client-specific data (name, ...)
But if you are a car manufacturer ... you can't track the routes your clients are driving with the cars you sold them. Because that would be spying on your clients.

Plex is doing the later and that puts them in direct violation of pretty much every privacy law of every country other than the US (they are - together with some 3rd world nations - the only country without a clear and common privacy law).
IMO Plex (or any other service) has no business tracking what I'm watching on my TV when the content is stored locally. The only reason this is even an issue is because Plex spent the past few years pretty much making it a huge PITA to use their PMS and their clients without those devices being able to talk to plex.tv. I've been growing more and more pissed about needing an internet connection just to access my own local media. Well this is the straw that broke the camels back.

No one should be FORCED (remember, no opt out) to provide information on what data they have stored on their local network and how that data is being used on their local network. It may be just a matter of principle, but without principles we might as well just open the flood gates and remove the word privacy from the dictionary.

Emby allows me not only to completely remove my media server from the internet and act as only a local server, but even allows me to share my server with remote users without ever needing to the server or clients to speak to Emby. That's how it should be and with the recent developments at Plex crystallizing my PoV, I can't seem myself ever going back.
 
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T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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May I ask what your primary concern with this logging is? I may be a bit naive, but I am honestly curious why I should be concerned with them logging metadata from my server. From their explanation, there is no way anyone can identify which files are being served.

I don't mind trying out and potentially switching over to Emby, but it'll be yet another hassle that I'd rather avoid.
My primary concern is logging.

It's why I don't use security cameras that require cloud management or storage, it's why I don't use WiFi AP's that require cloud management, it's why I don't use NEST, it's why I don't use ECHO, it's why I don't use SIRI, it's why I don't use many apps, it's why I don't use... well you get the idea.

Not many people outside the gov. or marketing/advertising actually comprehend how much of their private life is available let alone if you start combining data sources together.

Obviously we can't avoid it 100% if we conduct business in this day and age but I personally try to avoid putting as much info as I can "out there".

It's a principal of privacy.

I know the younger generations really don't care about this so things are changing, and will be changing drastically in the years to come too... the more info out there, the more devices tracking you, the more devices listening to you, etc, the easier it will be turning into a police state. Maybe that's a bit paranoid and extreme but so was thinking you could target e-mails for advertising 15 years ago, or thinking you could target 1 specific person on LinkedIn or Twitter, etc... So while we don't have police state a subpoena could still get your very private life... it's not about "hiding something" it's about being an individual, and keeping your own life to your self. Some of us still highly regard privacy.

The general population still doesn't understand why when they look at a hammer on home depot's website why they see ads on facebook, and other sites for that hammer and related items. The general public is extremely naive about being tracked, and their personal data going all over and the younger generation that knows a little could care less.

/rant
 

IamSpartacus

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Mar 14, 2016
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And one more thing. While the Plex team, in the very limited response they've had, has said they will be "rounding" some of this metadata to make it harder to identify the exact sources, it won't be hard at all given the right algorithm to write a program that you can import these massive data dumps into in order to analyze and identify them. It's just such a bad idea for Plex to be having this data stored. All it takes is a slight shift in legislation and a court order and bye bye Plex.
 
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