Plex Warns of Potential Data Breach, Urges Users to Change Their Passwords

Think I might give 4K a try here soon. I got a 3070Ti that does my transcoding so it should be able to handle 4K if it can't direct play it.
 
Thanks to you both. I guess I'll keep an eye out towards BF for a new 10-20 TB (not joking) drive that I'll hook up to the new WiFi 6 router I got last year, plus finally getting an external 4K drive for ripping (I've been periodically looking at them over the years and saw the prices finally started dropping last year). Already got software so I'm covered there. Not too worried about watching remotely since I've already got a ton on Vudu from all the digital codes from all the other physical purchases. I've got some upload headroom (20+ Mbps) but even then that's not really enough without transcoding since I usually try to focus on releases that are higher bitrate (around 30-45 Mbps). Still, though it'll be nice to finally get that stuff taken care of.
 
If you are just watching stuff locally at home then you most likely have 1Gbps Ethernet throughout your LAN. So you wouldn't be limited.

Your ISP upload only matters if you intend to watch your library remotely.
 
So, in order to use plex, do you need a plex.com (or whatever) account, or can you manage the accounts 100% locally on the server?
 
Zarathustra said:
Yeah, I mean, I've seen Plex be very popular over the years, but I've never understood why.
Unless you want on the fly transcoding (which I don't) why would you install an extra layer of software when network file systems like SMB/CIFS and NFS exist and are built in to their respective operating systems by default?
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I think all the other responses missed the key driver. Go back 10 years ago and look at the TV landscape for HTPC. In one corner, we had Microsoft's MCE that handled cable card/DVR stuff but did zero streaming tricks. Sure, you could put a front end on it (RIP, Meedio) but then you lose the cablecard channels as you need an MCE Extender device. Netflix and other streaming services were starting to become mainstream as well.

Then, note that you have a family - a wife that things to "just work" and have the same user interface across the house (without having to switch inputs between the MCE Extender and Roku). Add some kids to that who want to watch Frozen in its entirety at least thrice per day on some screen (TV OR iPad). Let's not forget that any backup copy of the movies/TV that you have on your home server are all ripped in different video/audio encoding methods that may work on one device natively but not on another.

How did Plex solve that problem? Well, it was available as an app on Roku's platform, Android, iFruits and even worked on PC. It didn't care (much like the honey badger) exactly what codecs were used on the media as it would automagically figure out what to transcode it to on the fly to fit the device being served. Out of the house on limited bandwidth? No problem, it'll downsample things to fit that blazing fast 2.5G EDGE connection. It provided an identical user interface (that worked with remotes!) whether you were on Roku, iFruit, Android or whatever. It hoovered up the relevant box art and metadata based on the file name. It made things easy. Nothing else compared to it for quite a long time (and arguably, it still doesn't have much competition).

In short, it has generally made the media techhead of the family's life easy with its feature set, and that has driven its popularity (at least, in my opinion). We've been an all Roku household for a near decade across all of our TVs and I have zero ongoing issues that crop up. Those MCE Extenders were so bad, they still taunt me from the office shelf from under a layer of dust from time to time....

Ninja edit: While I'm at it, I offer a middle finger for Ceton for promising to fix MCE Extenders but never did.
 
Thanks, @David_Schroth! Your post alone may have finally sold me on finally setting it up. I was tinkering with the Kodi box yesterday and noticed that somewhere along the lines that with its updates it has now lost the ability to decode AVI streams (some ancient files and who knows what codecs they were using). Since that box has a huge HDD (A WD Red but I don't remember the size, something like 8-10 TB), a gigabit Ethernet port plus a bunch of USB 3.0 ports that surprisingly have shown to get full bandwidth in tests that I've run), it's basically a poor man's NAS waiting to be set up. Looks like a fun project for this holiday weekend! Once that is done all that will be left is getting a 2nd HDD and an external 4K drive this BF.
 
Peter_Brosdahl said:
Thanks, @David_Schroth! Your post alone may have finally sold me on finally setting it up. I was tinkering with the Kodi box yesterday and noticed that somewhere along the lines that with its updates it has now lost the ability to decode AVI streams (some ancient files and who knows what codecs they were using). Since that box has a huge HDD (A WD Red but I don't remember the size, something like 8-10 TB), a gigabit Ethernet port plus a bunch of USB 3.0 ports that surprisingly have shown to get full bandwidth in tests that I've run), it's basically a poor man's NAS waiting to be set up. Looks like a fun project for this holiday weekend! Once that is done all that will be left is getting a 2nd HDD and an external 4K drive this BF.
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Well, it's not without its flaws - that's a different post! My main axe to grind these days is that they are pushing their built in "free" streaming channel junk so hard that you can't separate out emails about the product vs about what shows you never want to watch are now on it. Sure, they're trying to make a few bucks, but I have other services that has content I actually want to watch...
 
Brian_B said:
Good question. I had to look it up because I can’t remember.

The answer is no

support.plex.tv

Do I need a Plex account to stream locally?

I’m required to sign in? The short answer is: “No.” The longer answer is: “No, it’s not required, but you...
support.plex.tv support.plex.tv
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Looks like you need it for remote use though, and for some platforms (like Xbox)

I don't understand why they do **** like this, and don't just allow people to manage their own firewalls and open their own ports.

(actually I do. Accounts make collecting monetizeable user data easier)

I am fundamentally opposed to ANYTHING that asks you to create an account on someone else's server when it isn't strictly necessary for the tech to work.
 
You still have to open your own ports for Plex to work outside your network. Unless things have changed since I last setup my PMS.

As for the account creation, I don't mind it here. They don't keep anything important saved on their servers anyway. Except maybe your email, but I'm sure that's been leaked a decade ago anyway.

I forgot about the cable card issues back in the day. Those were the fun days indeed. Wonder if I still have my HDHomeRun network turner somewhere.
 
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
You still have to open your own ports for Plex to work outside your network. Unless things have changed since I last setup my PMS.
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I think this is true — you just don’t need to set up a DNS or track your IP - the login tracks your external IP for access.

I’m sure that isn’t an issue for the Zara’s of the world, but most people who just want to pirate stream content from their neighboors local servers probably don’t.

I see lots of Plex and Kodi accounts bartered around
 
Brian_B said:
I think this is true — you just don’t need to set up a DNS or track your IP - the login tracks your external IP for access.

I’m sure that isn’t an issue for the Zara’s of the world, but most people who just want to pirate stream content from their neighboors local servers probably don’t.

I see lots of Plex and Kodi accounts bartered around
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That's exactly it. Plex's way of doing DDNS.
 
Riccochet said:
That's exactly it. Plex's way of doing DDNS.
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If you rolled your own VPN you wouldn't need an account at all even for remote access. It's the long way around to take a principled stance, but some people are ... principled.
 
Brian_B said:
If you rolled your own VPN you wouldn't need an account at all even for remote access. It's the long way around to take a principled stance, but some people are ... principled.
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Working in IT I have to assume that the majority of people using Plex aren't skilled enough to setup VPN services on their home router....if it even supports it. Most likely not if they are using the ISP provided hardware. Even then you'd still need some kind of DDNS service if you don't have a static IP.

Plex is kind of a techy solution. But I know some non-techy people that use it.
 
Riccochet said:
Working in IT I have to assume that the majority of people using Plex aren't skilled enough to setup VPN services on their home router....if it even supports it. Most likely not if they are using the ISP provided hardware. Even then you'd still need some kind of DDNS service if you don't have a static IP.

Plex is kind of a techy solution. But I know some non-techy people that use it.
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I kinda assumed that if you were rolling your own VPN you kinda knew how to access it.

Yeah - very techy indeed. It was a comment for a very particular audience, not General Population.
 
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