Home media server software/Plex alternative?

Software & Operating Systems BSD
,
1

I’ve recently install TrueNAS on a old PC i’m no longer using and I’m planning to use it, in part, as a home media server. I’m looking for suggestions on some alternative to Plex. I’ve seen Emby which is mildly better (as it stayed open source), but both rub me the wrong way:

  • Pay money to stream to YOUR device from a server YOU host
  • Register with our site in order to use YOUR home server
  • I feel a bit sketched out about how what Plex does privacy-wise and being closed source doesn’t help

That said, the things I’m looking for include:

  • Server MUST be installable on FreeBSD. Doesn’t need to be a plugin; I don’t mind installing it myself.
  • MUST have an android app and allow streaming/downloading to it (these mean my wife will use it lol)
  • If it specifically supported audio-only as well would be nice, but not needed.
  • If it didn’t offer 3rd party video services like Plex (or whatever they are) would be a positive; I really only want to see my own media
  • Would be nice if I didn’t need to use the awful poster sizes. Most of what I plan on putting there are ripped YouTube videos, so it doesn’t really jive with thumbnails from it.
  • Open source is greatly preferred, but I’m not going to turn down good software on that alone.
  • I’m also not totally opposed to paying money (even with Plex), but the idea of paying a monthly premium to receive literally no services I’m not just providing myself seems asinine.
2

Jellyfin

I dont think truenas has a jail for it but you can run it in a VM instead which is how I run it.

2 Likes
3

As Adubs says: Jellyfin is your way to go.

Using it in a VM on Proxmox. IDK if it works under FreeBSD, you need to check that yourself.
Has an Android App and you can download your content, BUT its a really rudimentary implementation atm. That SHOULD change at some Point, but for now it is like it is.
Its free, open source and doesnt come with a lot of Bloatware or Telemetry like Plex.

4

I wouldn’t say “rudimentary”, it works reasonably well since it’s an emby fork.

It still has a lot of bugs though (not sure when exactly they forked from emby), and it depends a bit what kind of media you are running. Some codecs just don’t work properly or at all.

5

It’s specifically about the jellyfin android app. They rewrote it recently, and it is not mature yet.

1 Like
6

OOohh, the app… yeah OK that makes more sense :slight_smile:
I thought the new one was just supposed to be a webapp though?

7

Yes (ish), but the android layer to run the app still has bugs. ExoPlayer profiles don't always work as expected - unnecessary transcoding, broken transcodes · Issue #28 · jellyfin/jellyfin-android · GitHub

1 Like
8

Works on my machine?

2 Likes
9

Actually i just mean the Download function, not the rest. Jellyfin itself works well for me, since 10.6.4

1 Like
10

“Note that this project is supported on all major operating systems except FreeBSD, which is still incompatible.”

Yes, but no. You can use it in a VM just fine, inside of TrueNAS, but it doesnt work on bare metal BSD.

11

Bhyve is perfectly capable of running linux.

12

minidlna + vlc

13

I used Serviio before. Simple system (DLNA), but works on only local network unless you pay for an license for external access ($25) But i think it is worth it.

Free vs Pro (serviio.org)