[tactlesscamel]

If all you want is to watch your videos over the net, you're better off not using either. Just put it on a shared drive and install VLC.

Complaining about a one-time payment for software backed by a team of lawyers in an age where farts are patented and opposing farts are sent CnD letters, is crazy.

Nearly a decade after my investment, I can stand up as many Plex servers as I want with free relay services, metadata aggregation, trailers, and extras. Not to mention access to all of my music in the same manner. Better yet, it's all curated in accounts for various family members near and distant.

Plex also takes me as long as it takes to install the OS and applicable software (+3s for ufw rule). –It just works.

Maybe Jellyfin has that now. But I hate plugins. Either have it or don't. F** your DLC.

[tristanj]

The primary benefit of Plex/Jellyfin over using VLC is realtime video resolution transcoding. I can save the files at 8K resolution on my NAS, then configure the output resolution depending on the client device. I can watch content at 8K on my living room TV, 4K on my laptop, and 1080p on my phone. I don't need to keep three copies of the same content at different resolutions.

Plex/Jellyfin also offer highly configurable mobile / TV companion apps. I can start watching a show on my phone, then continue where I left off on my living room TV.