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Emby is not free – it is exactly the same, subscription based, proprietary system like Plex (with some open-source parts but not really relevant for end-users). “There are free alternatives to Plex like Kodi, OpenELEC and Emby.” Let us know your experience with Plex and what you use for your media sharing needs. Here is an article listing the best Linux media servers. There are alternatives to Plex like Jellyfin which is free but native apps are in beta and on road to be published on the App stores.You can also use a NAS with any of the freely available media centers like Kodi, OpenELEC or even VLC media player. That’s about all things you need to know for the first time configuration, go ahead and explore the Plex UI, it also gives you access to free online content like podcasts and music through Tidal. Note: Plex Meida Player is free on all platforms other than Android and iOS App. You can check out all the benefits of Plex Pass here. You can also create multiple users and set permissions with the Plex Pass which is a very handy feature. You can also individually activate your apps tied to a particular phone for a cheaper price. Plex Pass is a premium subscription service which activates the mobile apps and enables more features. Without activation you are limited to 1 minute of video playback and images are watermarked. But, the iOS and Android apps need to be activated with a Plex Pass. Plex apps provide a much better experience. The web browser experience is pretty good on computers and can be better on phones. You can access you media either by using the web browser (the same address you used earlier) or Plex’s suite of apps.
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Now you are all set up and ready, but how do you access your media? Yes you can access through your browser but Plex has a presence in almost all platforms you can think of including Android Auto. This means that you can be traveling and still access your libraries at home, considering you have your Plex server running all the time. If you have a public IP assigned to your router by the ISP you can also enable Remote Access.
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You can create new users( only with Plex Pass), adjust the transcoding settings set scheduled library updates and more. You can head over to the settings and configure some of the settings.
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