My good ol 2+ year Plex server host has been banned again. I have given up on this, I do not have access to an obscure server with few customers that will avoid future bans.
What’s the platform of choice moving forward? Need wife-approval factor. Emby and Jellyfin? Where can I source servers? Reddit has made these hard to find and I haven’t found a good community here.
Banned? Why
Plex are banning Hetzner IPs because libraries are hosted there and shared with thousands. I see people are moving to Emby/JellyFin because Plex is trying to become the next Netflix app OS trying to clean up what they see as pirated content
Thats not being banned from Plex tho. Maybe just host your server elsewhere.
Yeah just host the server elsewhere. You don’t need all the media files to reside on the actual server either, you can just mount the external data using FUSE/rClone or something and cache the most requested data.
Received an email from Plex:
“We’re contacting you to let you know about an upcoming action that is likely to affect your Plex Media Server setup. You’re receiving this notice because the IP address associated with a Plex Media Server on your account appears to come from a service provider that hosts a significant number of Plex Media Servers that violate our Terms of Service.”
I pay a few Euro a month for access to Plex with a lot of content. That content is hosted on Hetzner
AFAIK it’s not about pirated content, but about giving people paid access to one’s server, which is against Plex’s TOS
And literally how you get yourself in hot water with copyright cops. They’re willing to turn a blind eye to pirates who don’t profit from their ventures, but the second you get money involved, you’re boned.
Sorry for this maybe very naive question, but how can you possibly use Plex with only legal content? Can you actually purchase content within Plex? I always thought its just to play the content you provide, which almost always means its illegal since ripping your own discs is mostly piracy too, legally speaking.
depending on where you live. in some places its legal to make copies of disk for personal use or as “backups”. Same with music, or do you think apple would include a “cd ripping feature” in itunes if the usage would be illegal ?
Yes, I know thats the case, but at least in the case of Germany where you are allowed a private copy, its still illegal to break DRM to do so. So most stuff you could rip for private use is made illegal, since it comes with DRM.
But you can always use the DVR, you dont violate any DRM-Laws. As its included in many settop-boxes or even TVs. Plex even has a feature to automatically record for you based on EPG data
Thanks, you are the first person to actually provide a real argument. I did not know Plex can connect to a DVR.
plex can be a dvr. I have my cableTV directly pluged into my server and use plex for recording, as well as watching tv
Jellyfin can work as a DVR too. You just need some extra hardware like a TVHeadend or a TV tuner card to hook it up to your cable/satellite/antenna feed
I don’t disagree with your definitions of legality, but I do disagree fundamentally that ripping a movie should be under the same umbrella of piracy if the intent is not to distribute.
Even blurays that offer a bonus “digital copy” are redeemed through a third-party that packs it with DRM so you can’t use it for your own media server. How are they even supposed to enforce this absolute assanine law that I can’t watch the damn movie that I bought on my own terms?
Just to be clear, I don’t support this definition either, its stupid.
Technically often making a copy is not illegal, but breaking DRM is. Unfortunately almost everything comes with DRM so in consequence rippping becomes indirectly illegal. At least in Germany this is the case.
I mean if you want to go full technical here, your dvd/bluray player is breaking the DRM as well.Edit: Ignore this, I am a dumbass.
No it is not. Those players usually come with a purchased license to unlock the DRM. If you try and play them on a laptop you need a player software that has the same type of license. Try opening a disc like that on your PC with a freshly installed VLC player, it won’t work. There you need to break DRM by adding the famous libraries like libdvdcss and what else they are called.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. My brain is not a good brain.
Is this actually the case?
Hasn’t been tested in this context. But if you’re sharing it, that puts you in another set of legal cross hairs.
So I clarified this in another post, and I admit I only know German law on this but ripping is technically legal for a private copy, but you are not allowed to break DRM for it. So indirectly it makes it fully illegal since almost nothing comes without DRM anymore.
In the US it is more breaking the DRM is applicable to the software/hardware used to break DRM. Against US citizens that break DRM for their own personal use hasn’t been tested and most legal experts seem to argue it is fair use as long as you don’t share.
Plex got in bed with the devil when they started moving to hosting content with their free stuff. Now content creators have leverage over them.
Yeah content creators have leverage over them because they give Plex money. I would wager the vast majority of Plex users don’t have Plex pass. Also the fact that they have a lifetime subscription means there are people who could be paying but aren’t anymore. So they need some sort of way to get more recurring revenue.
I’d much rather they include some free programming I can ignore than do something like take away my lifetime pass and make me start paying monthly again like a lot of places have done.
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I’m assuming the blanket hetzner ban