I am that guy. I got pissed off that there was no way to buy all of the episodes of Good Eats legally. Next thing I knew, I had a dual xeon server and 60TB of hard drives. Of the 50 or so people using my server I think 6 have servers of their own.

I can't say how many people are trying to make money on it, but there are plenty of folks running Plex or Jellyfin servers that they'll allow friends and family to access. And I would estimate that a fairly low percentage of those have no pirated content on them. So even for the small-group servers, discussions of piracy are often relevant.

I do run a Jellyfin server, but only locally on my own network.

I’m a Plex server guy for friends and family, I have about a dozen users and maybe 3-4 at a time at the peaks. I charge nothing, it’s just a hobby. We’re out there.

I’d switch to Jellyfin but my users need transcoding and Plexamp is my favorite audio player since Winamp.

Depends what industry you're in, I guess

I'm in tech and there are more Plex guys than people looking for Plex guys

I am Plex Guy, my friend is Plex Guy, between the 2 of us we share our servers to over a dozen people. My mom and grandma use my server in another state, I don't charge anyone access. In total I have 8 users on my server, my friend has probably the same on his, with both of us giving access to a different friend meaning he has access to double the amount of content.

I got absolutely fed up with subscription services raising prices and removing content (I only ever had Hulu and Netflix) so I just built my own service. My only subscription now is a Tidal family plan for myself, my wife and my mom.

Also it's interesting how between these 2 servers, they're built differently. I built mine using TrueNAS and housed it in a dedicated PC case large enough for all the drives, my buddy made his as a Windows server, and has everything wall mounted with custom 3D printed brackets.

Also, when I go to Brazil for vacation, my content isn't region locked, it's at home in a box on my living room that I just access with no VPN or any bullshit needed.

I have a Plex server guy. He is one of my oldest and best friends although we don't get to hang out much anymore. I know he has other friends he shares the Plex server with but I have no idea who or how many. I've been using it since Plex was new, not sure how long exactly but more than a decade. I occasionally buy him nice hard drives because the library is ridiculously huge and always growing. As someone who loves weird and obscure shit, it's my favorite streaming service by far and he's my hero for running it.

👋

Most of us run systems for friends, family, even a few coworkers; but there are those out there that sell access to their systems to anyone willing to pay. This is explicitly forbidden by the TOS of Plex/Emby, and I'm pretty sure Jellyfin as well (haven't checked that one), but it still happens.

There's even tools like Ombi to automatically manage requests from users passing them to Radarr/Sonarr to be retrieved.

!selfhosted@lemmy.world

I run an Emby server, but just for family. Two of my kids use it, one doesn't. I posted previously that my daughter doesn't have anything that can play a DVD, but she still gets them and I add them to my server so she can watch them.

I added my parents to it, and they watched some stuff, but they can't remember how to use it. Every time I show them, my dad will watch things for a few days, then he forgets how.

I appear to be unique among the people running streaming servers in that I only add things if I own the DVD (or if they're in the public domain). I also only have about 1300 movies.

I visit thrift stores to get cheap DVDs. There's one near me that charges $1/DVD, but they have a 50% off sale on the last weekend of every month.

I'm trying to be more particular about what I add. I had started thinking that for 50¢, I can buy a shittier movie, but now I'm only getting the movie if I know it's worth it, or if it's got > 7 IMDB rating.

Today's haul included True Grit (the remake), Capote, and Ready Player One.

I have a Plex guy. He runs a server and invites anyone he considers a friend, but also gives access to most who ask. He has a giant rig that costs him a lot in electricity bills. But he doesn't mind and doesn't want any money, because he's a sweet person and it's just something he does.

Edit: I'm in Europe; also he always honors requests.

I'm a Plex guy. I share my library because it's a bit of fun and scratches my IT interest itch. I actually run Plex and Jellyfin in parallel but pretty much everyone prefers the Plex interface (and most smart TVs have it ready to go, even the silly ones with off brand app stores).

Mostly it's just an excuse to play with cool toys, and a reason to work out how to run things I wouldn't otherwise bother with.

I've always downloaded stuff, since the dialup days. Originally it was for things that were region locked / "unrated" in Australia and thus not available... but now it's just so much more convenient than paid options that it's a no-brainer. Like I literally can't pay any legit service for the level of access and convenience I have now.

It's not even about money anymore. Between the purchase price and power consumption of my dual Xeon rack server and JBOD, the 1000/400Mbps fibre connection, and the time I spend on it I'm paying enough to cover half a dozen subscriptions or so with change... But the convenience! I can watch anything, anywhere, on any device. No jumping between services to find stuff, no episodes/movies going missing, no login restrictions, no player that won't work because your HDMI cable is lacking a decimal place or whatever the hell they're doing now.

Anytime someone we know in real life complains about having issues with their legitimate streaming service I offer access to Plex. I think there's 40ish users, but only a dozen or so that use it with any real frequency. Maybe 4-5 concurrent streams at peak times, outside of that is usually occasionally the work from home "workers" / the night shift people, or me streaming music at work or similar. I think the most I've had is 7 or 8 at once.

I mean, Kaity and I run a Jellyfin server for our family to access, as well as a couple of friends. But that's about as public as it gets...

In a lot of countries, you could legally share copyrighted content to your "private and relative" circle. So it's not actually illegal. Your theory seems correct, even if we do have ftp-siblings too

I'm a plex guy and I know a bunch of other plex guys. There is dozens of us!

I'm a jellyfin guy. I share with roughly 6 friends just for fun.

I am the Plex guy in my group of friends and family. I think there's probably a bit of confirmation bias at play. Being on Lemmy alone puts you into a niche area of Internet already, which is going to make hearing about geeky things like home labs more common.

So yes, they exist.

I just wanted to be able to watch my movies on the TV. And then…I have like a dozen users with only 1-3 accessing the server at any given time. Now it is something special. I seriously need to get a NAS.

i love this post

I've ditched all streaming services in favour of a friend's 40tb Plex server, running from the server room of the university where he works. It's rock solid and has everything I want to watch.

Anything he can't find, or that I personally want my own access to goes in my own Jellyfin server.

It's great. Better than spending £50 a month on a couple of services.

My ex is 'the guy' for mine and my sister hooked me up with her friend so now I have two of them. It's glorious like the old days of copying Netflix DVDs and buy-copy-resell at Hastings. I haven't paid for streaming in forever.

Me and a relative jointly host and manage a server. Over the years we've slowly allowed in a handful of trusted friends and family. By now we probably have 20ish connected. Most use it as a supplement to their main streaming services, primarily used for exclusive content like the star wars shows. Some, like those of us hosting, have cancelled every streaming service and use it exclusively.

Yes, there's even a subreddit dedicated to people advertising their Plex servers. Lots of them are paid, it's wild.

There was a community when I first moved to Lemmy where people could advertise their Plex/Jellyfin servers that they were willing to share, either for a fee or free. No idea if it is still around or active.

Dated a guy last year who had access to a giant plex library. He just told me a friend let him log in tob theirs. So ya, plex guys do exist.

I'm that guy. I run my own plex server and administer one remotely for a freind.

yes but usually at the family and friends distribution level

I prefer the term “dude”, but yeah, if you’re not on one, you just don’t have the right friends. It does take a fair bit of work, but I don’t really mind sharing the fruits if I’m doing it for myself anyway.

I am a Plex guy and host Jellyfin along with other various services that aim to de-Google my family members and friends.

I give out Plex access pretty readily and don't charge for it. Honestly, companies and governments are more focused on the "big fish" IPTV private providers than randos like us hosting media servers.

Still working on de-Googling people...

I am a Jellyfin server guy, and I Iet family and friends use it for free. I also am not shy about telling people that I do this, as I don't see any moral issue with it and will happily defend piracy as not only completely fine, but a net moral good. I see it as a tiny bit of anarchist calisthenics.

Why would people do that? People don’t do that.

I run a Jellyfin server for anyone who has VPN access to my internal network.

However, there’s “plex server” posters with QR codes on them on telephone poles in my area, that seem to have a subscription portal you have to go through to get an account.

So there are definitely people attempting to make some money off of pirate plex servers.

Sounds like a solid theory. Most are probably Jellyfin servers, but "I have a Jellyfin Guy" doesn't have the same ring.

I would probably be this guy if I ever got around to doing the research into how to make my Jellyfin available over the internet safely.

I really need a better *arr setup. Mine keeps breaking with the VPN setup and indexers that don't find shit

Seems like a good way to implement massively distributed piracy. The comapnies can't possibly make a case against all of them, there are too many. I like it.