- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
We are also changing how remote playback works for streaming personal media (that is, playback when not on the same local network as the server). The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature. This—alongside the new Plex Pass pricing—will help provide those resources. This change will apply to the future release of our new Plex experience for mobile and other platforms.
Why are they proxying the stream through their server though
They aren’t, all their server does is handle the login authentication afaik, and then streaming happens directly from the server to the user.
If you’re not on the same local network as the server and it’s not configured to be accessible from the general internet, you need some sort of proxy to access it.
Not necessarily. Tailscale uses their own servers in order to do the negotiation, but once the connections are opened on both ends you should be directly connected to each other. All without port forwarding or any config on your end.
https://tailscale.com/blog/how-tailscale-works
Right, but IIRC anyone can go on the plex.tv website and use shared servers due to the “proxy”
The self-hosted servers use UPnP and NAT-PMP to automatically forward the port used for media streaming.
They actually also can relay. I’ve been stuck in an apartment with managed internet and no NAT or UPnP and my media streams over plex relay instead.
This is also useful for countries and communities that are double natted
Lots of people in this thread are confusing direct streaming and plex relay as the same thing
They typically don’t. They do proxy it if there is something preventing a direct connection, but the proxy bandwidth is super limited and results in pretty terrible playback quality.
How else would it work?
Port forwarding, tailscale…
Directly to the clients from the already self-hosted server, exactly like all the other media hosting software does. Lmao.
When I stream from my plex server it’s a direct connection between my device and the server. The only time it proxies through plex is if your server isn’t directly accessible, like ports are blocked or not forwarded properly.