We are also changing how remote playback works for streaming personal media (that is, playback when not on the same local network as the server). The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature. This—alongside the new Plex Pass pricing—will help provide those resources. This change will apply to the future release of our new Plex experience for mobile and other platforms.

      • @Sabin10@lemmy.world
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        04 months ago

        When I stream from my plex server it’s a direct connection between my device and the server. The only time it proxies through plex is if your server isn’t directly accessible, like ports are blocked or not forwarded properly.

      • DaGeek247
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        04 months ago

        Directly to the clients from the already self-hosted server, exactly like all the other media hosting software does. Lmao.

    • Unruffled [they/them]
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      04 months ago

      They aren’t, all their server does is handle the login authentication afaik, and then streaming happens directly from the server to the user.

      • @fishpen0@lemmy.world
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        04 months ago

        They actually also can relay. I’ve been stuck in an apartment with managed internet and no NAT or UPnP and my media streams over plex relay instead.

        This is also useful for countries and communities that are double natted

        Lots of people in this thread are confusing direct streaming and plex relay as the same thing

    • @Vent@lemm.ee
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      04 months ago

      They typically don’t. They do proxy it if there is something preventing a direct connection, but the proxy bandwidth is super limited and results in pretty terrible playback quality.

    • LostXOR
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      04 months ago

      If you’re not on the same local network as the server and it’s not configured to be accessible from the general internet, you need some sort of proxy to access it.