On another site Emby vs. Plex lively discussion.

[BAlGaInTl 279]

I'm surprised no one brought up the size of the database, but maybe it's more of an issue for me being on a VPS.

 

Plex and Emby, same libraries, same settings.

 

Plex database: 39GB (and counting).

Emby database: <1GB (and staying that way).

 

Plex literally has millions of files which makes backups a pita, Emby only a few thousand.

 

Emby FTW in that respect!

 

Curious... is it possible that your Plex is saving all of the meta data and cover art as part of the database, and that Emby is saving it with the files?

 

Seems like you could get pretty big in Emby too if they are stored in the DB.

 

I'm not sure though.  Just a thought.

[Mkilbride 76]

Curious... is it possible that your Plex is saving all of the meta data and cover art as part of the database, and that Emby is saving it with the files?

 

Seems like you could get pretty big in Emby too if they are stored in the DB.

 

I'm not sure though.  Just a thought.

Nah. Plex is just huge for no resason.  a fresh install of both, a week later, Plex will be 10GB+ to Emby's around 4-5GB.

[Chyron 221]

Curious... is it possible that your Plex is saving all of the meta data and cover art as part of the database, and that Emby is saving it with the files?

 

Seems like you could get pretty big in Emby too if they are stored in the DB.

 

I'm not sure though.  Just a thought.

 

My parents' desktop PC, which is used as a Plex/Emby server, was complaining about the SSD being full. Turned out Plex was using tons of space (I don't remember the actual number). I accessed Plex and told it to delete the "video preview thumbnails", and the amount of free space on that drive increased significantly. This prompted me to move the Plex database out of that SSD (C:)  so it doesn't happen again.

Edited June 1, 2020 by chyron8472

[BAlGaInTl 279]

Nah. Plex is just huge for no resason.  a fresh install of both, a week later, Plex will be 10GB+ to Emby's around 4-5GB.

 

 

My parents' desktop PC, which is used as a Plex/Emby server, was complaining about the SSD being full. Turned out Plex was using tons of space (I don't remember the actual number). I accessed Plex and told it to delete the "video preview thumbnails", and the amount of free space on that drive increased significantly. This prompted me to move the Plex database out of that SSD (C:)  so it doesn't happen again.

 

Interesting.

 

I haven't used Plex in so long that I had nothing to compare too.  I ran them side-by-side for a while, but Emby won out.

[paulsalter 84]

such variations on size of the database between the two

 

my Plex one is 76 meg, Emby is 146 meg

 

Both point at the same data

[Perplexed 25]

Most already said it, but yeah Plex is just huge, period. I don't store the Emby metadata elsewhere, though I do save content images, thumbnails, subtitles etc with the media now. Even before I did that, the Plex database was dozens of time bigger and it never, ever, EVER goes down in size. And what do they need literally millions of files for? It just doesn't make sense... but that is Plex I guess 

[Gilgamesh_48 942]

Most already said it, but yeah Plex is just huge, period. I don't store the Emby metadata elsewhere, though I do save content images, thumbnails, subtitles etc with the media now. Even before I did that, the Plex database was dozens of time bigger and it never, ever, EVER goes down in size. And what do they need literally millions of files for? It just doesn't make sense... but that is Plex I guess 

Come on folks everyone knows "size does not matter."

 

Storage is so cheap that the size of the database never even entered  my thoughts when I was trying to decide between Emby and Plex. There were so many other negatives for Plex that the size of the database did not make the needle even wiggle further in the direction of Emby. When there are so many other very good reasons to use Emby over Plex the size of the database is nearly meaningless.

[Perplexed 25]

Edited June 1, 2020 by Perplexed

[Chyron 221]

Come on folks everyone knows "size does not matter."

 

When there are so many other very good reasons to use Emby over Plex the size of the database is nearly meaningless.

 

Unless the system drive, on which the Plex database is stored by default, is an SSD with only 250GB of space.

 

Yes, size does still matter.

Edited June 1, 2020 by chyron8472

[Mkilbride 76]

Yeah. Storage space is cheap; but when Plex is 2-3x the size for no actual reason, it's still a waste.

[paulsalter 84]

Yeah. Storage space is cheap; but when Plex is 2-3x the size for no actual reason, it's still a waste.

 

Not for everyone

 

My Emby database is double the size of Plex's

[Mark Norville 0]

Although I have not been using Emby nor Plex but they are both installed on my cinema PC, and both auto update my library when I add new files.

 

Emby is 100 times faster than Plex, for updating movies, if for example I add 10 new movies, Emby is done in seconds, Plex takes ages to scan the library. I have a feeling that Plex is not looking inside of the directory for artwork that is already in there and scrapes it's own.

 

So Emby wins hands down on speed

Plex wins hands down for free movies and TV shows

 

Emby really should not be the same price as Plex and should be a lot lower than it's current price. If Emby was cheaper then it would be a much better purchase, however due to the free movies on Plex, Plex smashes it out of the park for value.

 

The developers really do need to think about their pricing.

[BAlGaInTl 279]

Although I have not been using Emby nor Plex but they are both installed on my cinema PC, and both auto update my library when I add new files.

 

Emby is 100 times faster than Plex, for updating movies, if for example I add 10 new movies, Emby is done in seconds, Plex takes ages to scan the library. I have a feeling that Plex is not looking inside of the directory for artwork that is already in there and scrapes it's own.

 

So Emby wins hands down on speed

Plex wins hands down for free movies and TV shows

 

Emby really should not be the same price as Plex and should be a lot lower than it's current price. If Emby was cheaper then it would be a much better purchase, however due to the free movies on Plex, Plex smashes it out of the park for value.

 

The developers really do need to think about their pricing.

 

To the bold....

 

What you see as a positive, I (and others) see as a defacto negative aspect of Plex.

 

Those movies are "free as in beer."  Somebody is paying for them. It's likely that you are paying for them in other ways. Most likely with your information.  When you use Plex, YOU don't have any users.  Plex owns them all.

 

It's for these reasons (and others) that I choose Emby over Plex.  It's also why I think that Emby is fairly priced.  I only pay them once (or periodically) and don't have to continue to pay with my (and my users') data on top of that.

[Mark Norville 0]

Huh, you have adverts, that is how that is paying for it, you also have people paying subscription or one off fee's. The movies and TV shows are not top notch, so they are the runt of the movie industry that if someone can make 1p then it is something better than nothing.

 

Adjust your tin foil hat, it is showing your paranoia.

[BAlGaInTl 279]

Huh, you have adverts, that is how that is paying for it, you also have people paying subscription or one off fee's. The movies and TV shows are not top notch, so they are the runt of the movie industry that if someone can make 1p then it is something better than nothing.

 

Adjust your tin foil hat, it is showing your paranoia.

 

It's not a tin-foil hat.  

 

I never said it was inherently bad.  It's just one of the ways that Plex monetizes.  They got a lot of money from investors.  Those investors want a return.  Ads are placed, and then metrics on those ads (i.e., user data) is shared with "partners" to determine what ads are most relevant/effective. It may or may not be in aggregate, but it's still collected and shared.

 

I have nothing personally against Plex, or Plex users.

 

My original statement didn't have anything false in it, and I stand by it.  For my use, Emby has more value than Plex.

[Chyron 221]

I haven't used Plex in so long that I had nothing to compare too.  I ran them side-by-side for a while, but Emby won out.

I use one as a backup for the other.

 

Additionally, I can't use Emby natively for audiobooks on my phone, nor at all for audiobooks on my nVidia Shield.

[Gilgamesh_48 942]

I use one as a backup for the other.

 

Additionally, I can't use Emby natively for audiobooks on my phone, nor at all for audiobooks on my nVidia Shield.

That is the one real weakness of Emby for me. But I find Plex little better. It has reached the point, over a year ago, that I have totally given up on either Emby or Plex being a reasonable choice for me for my audio books. I will not go into details but I have dedicated a small computer that runs MediaMonkey to all my audiobook. I have it set up so it runs audio throughout my home and can be controlled from almost everywhere. If either Emby or Plex had good audiobook support including play/pause and resume abilities I might well have used one of them for audiobooks but not a single client has that ability and also I cannot control most clients using multiple keyboards and remotes.

 

I had a Roku almost working with Plex but Roku ruined that when they changed things so that a paused app exits back to the home screen in it is paused for a while and, for my use, an app needs to, at times, be paused for hours at a time and then resume without having to be reloaded on any other intervention except pressing play.

 

I "think" I might be able to make my old Fire TV work but I am quite unsure it would be worth it. Right now the only device that must be "up" is my MediaMonkey computer as my audiobooks are on a drive that is attached to it but to use either Emby or Plex my server would had to be "up" as well as my network and whatever client I use as well it simply seems overly complex for the way I listen to audiobooks. I want to be able to listen anywhere in my home regardless of the current status of my network or server and I do not want to have to wear headphones. I listen when doing other things or moving through my home.

 

That got rather long but it does show that for me neither Plex or Emby can fill all my media needs at this time and that it is unlikly that either ever will.

[C.S. 60]

due to the free movies on Plex, Plex smashes it out of the park for value.

 

I'm not sure you understand the market you're addressing. If you want a streaming service, just get netflix and chill your ass off. The crap plex started adding on for "free" is a big part of why I left that mess. While I can't speak for anyone else, I'm sure there are lots of people like me who don't need "free" movies - we just need a way to organize and present what we've got, without a bunch of "free" stuff in our faces.(Was that enough scare quotes?)

 

Although I have not been using Emby nor Plex but they are both installed on my cinema PC, and both auto update my library when I add new files.

 

Yeahhhh... And I'm not using the English language nor a computer right now, but that's what pops up on the screen when I type on this keyboard.

[Perplexed 25]

To the bold....

 

What you see as a positive, I (and others) see as a defacto negative aspect of Plex.

 

Those movies are "free as in beer."  Somebody is paying for them. It's likely that you are paying for them in other ways. Most likely with your information.  When you use Plex, YOU don't have any users.  Plex owns them all.

 

It's for these reasons (and others) that I choose Emby over Plex.  It's also why I think that Emby is fairly priced.  I only pay them once (or periodically) and don't have to continue to pay with my (and my users') data on top of that.

 

Funny enough the "free crap" is the exact "last straw" that made me leave Plex for good (up to then I sort of used both with a slight preference for Plex)... and yes I told him so even recently. I'm now strictly Emby, in fact I recently removed Plex altogether from my server... though I still have the backup. I don't expect to go back, but won't burn all bridges either of course (have a lifetime licence for both).

[Mkilbride 76]

I gotta agree. Emby Premiere is too expensive @ 120$. Plex offers much more in general a the same price and often goes on sale for like 75$.  I've been coming to regret my premiere, it's not even more than like 2 weeks old...but Plex just got skip intros, watch together, and it's playing a lot of files Emby is having issue with - without issues.

[Chyron 221]

I gotta agree. Emby Premiere is too expensive @ 120$. Plex offers much more in general a the same price and often goes on sale for like 75$.  I've been coming to regret my premiere, it's not even more than like 2 weeks old...but Plex just got skip intros, watch together, and it's playing a lot of files Emby is having issue with - without issues.

Here's the thing: Premiere doesn't really pay for the software itself. Premiere pays so we can have endless updates. At no point has the Emby pricing model been "Purchase Emby for $49.95; Upgrade from Emby Server v3.x to v4.x for $34.95." That's not a thing they do.

 

You pay $120 once, as the server owner, and your whole dang family have unlimited updates and support forever.

 

I don't know about you, but I'd pick the Emby support team over the Plex support team any day of the week and twice on Sundays. I might be frustrated that the Emby devs can't fricken work on audiobooks to save their lives (and for which I would legit pay extra to have), but otherwise it's amazing. With Emby, I recall submitting a bug report for something, and in less than 10 minutes I got a reply from Luke. Luke actually fricken works on development of the actual software, and I got a reply from him in minutes. Just 2 or 3 days later, there was a bugfix. Whereas, when I submitted a recent bug report with Plex, there has been no response whatsoever---not even from a Ninja (who doesn't work on the software), not to mention there's no fix and it has literally been months.

 

So yeah, Emby's support is head and shoulders better. And I didn't even get into the topic of Plex implementing Plex News while completely ignoring the whole Feature RequestsSuggestions section.

 

If you told me you want Emby to implement a curated streaming web news clip library, and initially not allow people to disable it---just like Plex has done---I think I would facepalm so hard I would have a concussion.

Edited June 4, 2020 by chyron8472

[Chyron 221]

Plex's support help is ridiculously lacking.

 

On March 30th, I posted this on Plex's forum:

Quote

I listen to A LOT of audiobooks, but on Plex they often stutter really badly.

Example: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d4xOSRBLLPzgcxZPJCOxCWONkR87I0ud 1

This can happen when starting a track from the beginning, and when resuming. It can also happen both when first queuing a track and when a new track starts to play aften finishing the previous one. I don’t know if it happens with my Music library, but it happens very frequently with my audiobook library. Both with (track-split) m4bs and mp3s. If I skip to the next/prev track, it may resolve the issue, but seeking within the same track does not. Also, it happens with both synced and non-synced tracks; and both while local and remote.

In addition, it happens both on my nVidia Shield TV Pro, and on both my and my wife’s Android phones.

[uploaded logs]

EDIT: In trying to recreate the issue, it seems to be happening with Friend accounts. I don’t have Managed Users for my family; I set up normal accounts that are Friends. I was not able to recreate the issue on the admin account.

 

Today, I posted this:

Quote

Last week I was using Plex to play the Ori and the Blind Forest OST in my Music library for my daughter as bedtime music. After a while, I heard a horrible noise coming from the tablet playing said music, and it was experiencing the exact same issue I have reported.

So Plex has still done nothing about this. No reply. No status update. No fix. No nothing.

 

That was the fourth reply in that thread, all of which were by me trying to bump it.

I do not expect a fix. Plex has terrible product support.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Chyron

[WilhelmStroker 96]

Yup plex support is terrible. 2 examples:  they never responded to a massive thread on the windows store app, and the massive buffering on xbox thread got a flippant response from the CTO saying its a Microsoft problem. It's always good to see Luke and ebr responding to most threads on the forum. 

[nanohits 18]

I have also just bought Emby Lifetime. HAve it up on my mac but I am finding its taking up too much CPU resources. Its flatlining at 100% so not good at all.

It is the ffmpeg thats doing it. When I shut the server everything goes back to normal. MInd you I am not even playing back files. It is sitting idle.

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by nanohits

[Riggs 300]

On 6/1/2020 at 8:18 AM, BAlGaInTl said:

 

Curious... is it possible that your Plex is saving all of the meta data and cover art as part of the database, and that Emby is saving it with the files?

 

Seems like you could get pretty big in Emby too if they are stored in the DB.

 

I'm not sure though.  Just a thought.

Plex does that, I have tried making artworks and including them in my library without publishing them in Fanart or TMDB. That said, it has happened to me that if I do an installation a few months later, that art is available, I still have no idea where Plex takes the artworks with certainty, you never know anything about size, quality, font. Nothing. Nada.

The funny thing is that now my arts are available in the Plex scrapper 

 

Plex is the devil

Edited July 11, 2020 by Riggs