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I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - Printable Version

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RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - KodiUser1138 - 2025-09-17

This is another tutorial on how to acces your JF outside your LAN. Haven't watched it all yet but another bit to research.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhlo4zK2nvo&ab_channel=TechMadeEZ


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - kotton - 2025-09-17

Thank you for your reply guys. Really appreciate it.
My setup is a mini pc running Linux Mint which I just have Jellyfin and tailscale installed. I have a share to a Synology NAS that I'm now going to use as storage. The NAS is also setup to download from a seedbox that I have. The NAS is 8 years old so instead of upgrading it, I decided to get the mini pc as a server that could transcode if needed. 

I really don't know what level of security I need. I mean there's nothing on the server or NAS other than my media files.

I'll watch the videos suggested and decide. As long as there's a guide to follow I have no problems with using terminal and command line

Will update. Thanks again.


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - kotton - 2025-09-20

OK. This shit is infuriating! So after spending 3 hours trying to get this shit to work it can go fuck itself.

I've been following this guys guide https://youtu.be/1Ejobytuh5s?feature=shared and I can't open any ports. I'm not behing CGNAT. I have a brand new tplink AX3000 modem/router. No matter what port I open, when I go somewhere like portcheker.co it says they are closed.

I just want to connect remotely with my phone and be able to cast it to a chromecast. I don't give a fuck about security. I just want it to work.


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - tomstephens89 - 2025-09-20

(2025-09-20, 06:12 AM)kotton Wrote: OK. This shit is infuriating! So after spending 3 hours trying to get this shit to work it can go fuck itself.

I've been following this guys guide https://youtu.be/1Ejobytuh5s?feature=shared and I can't open any ports. I'm not behing CGNAT. I have a brand new tplink AX3000 modem/router. No matter what port I open, when I go somewhere like portcheker.co it says they are closed.

I just want to connect remotely with my phone and be able to cast it to a chromecast. I don't give a fuck about security. I just want it to work.

Long time network guy here....

What IP address does your routers WAN interface show? (Blank out the last 2 octets for privacy before posting). You have said you aren't behind CGNAT, how have you determined this?

Have you configured a reverse proxy in front of Jellyfin or are you just using it on its own via plain HTTP?


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - kotton - 2025-09-21

I've managed to open the ports by using the Synology NAS's router configuration. They don't list under port forwarding on the router, but under UPnP. Non the less they are open.
Tried setting up Caddy buy wouldn't work. Tried setting up nginx but can't install the python3-certbot or add the repository for it with the latest Linux mint.
It's just one fucking roadblock after another.

Opted out of CGNAT because I had to open ports for the NAS.

Only way I can connect remotely is using Tailscale, which is useless for what I need.


IP address 111.220.12x.xx dynamic, so need something like duckdns. Tried following a video to do that and make it automatically update but can't connect.


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - Efficient_Good_5784 - 2025-09-21

(2025-09-20, 06:12 AM)kotton Wrote: I just want to connect remotely with my phone and be able to cast it to a chromecast. I don't give a fuck about security. I just want it to work.
The issue (which I assume you already figured out) is that the phone does not actually send the stream to the casting device. All it does is tell the casting device to go retrieve the stream from the server (which is located back at your home). It looks like you first assumed the phone would act as a proxy (middle-man) and just share the stream to the device which is not the case.

If the casting device allows for you to stream the phone's display and audio over to it, then you can "bootleg" stream your videos that way.
Otherwise, the casting client will need to have direct access to your home server either by being added into your Tailscale tailnet, or you figuring out how to set up the reverse proxy.


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - kotton - 2025-09-21

I just cast the phone screen to a monitor that has a chromecast. I've been doing it for years just connecting directly to my NAS with a file browser app on the phone and playing the videos with VLC player.

The NAS is 8 years old and can't transcode and now my internet is faster, no data limits and 4k videos are the norm. So instead of spending $1000 on an upgraded NAS that can transcode, I got a mini pc to do the hard work and the NAS is used for downloading and storage.

Using jellyfin I can transcode remotely if necessary. I don't need all the artwork and bullshit that it has, I just need to see my files, and play the video and, if necessary, have the mini pc transcode the video when I'm away from home and my internet connection remotely isn't great.


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - kotton - 2025-09-27

OK so to end this fucking saga.

I completely wiped Linux mint and did a fresh install. Instead of using all the guides and videos on YouTube that fucked me up, I just used ChatGPT from start to finish. There were a few hurdles but it got me over them.

I now have jellyfin installed and running and I'm using Caddy as a reverse proxy. I've only got open the ports I need for that and I no longer have UPnP running on my NAS.

It's the future. No need to come to forums or search the internet for answers.

Thanks to those who replied to my post.


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - MrFusion - 2025-09-27

(2025-09-27, 07:14 AM)kotton Wrote: It's the future. No need to come to forums or search the internet for answers.

As a reminder, the reason chatGPT could step you through it is because it scraped forum posts.


RE: I feel like I've wasted my time with jellyfin - kotton - 2025-10-01

So I'm back to go back to my initial statement. I feel like I've wasted my time with Jellyfin.

After finally getting it working it now won't see new shows added to my library. I've rescanned manually, (which BTW takes less than a second) restarted everything, searched everywhere for the answer but nothing.

It also won't play files it doesn't find metadata for. For example, The latest episodes of Tulsa King and Peacemaker. Both of which play just fine with any other software. Both these files sit in their library without a picture, just the name of the file is displayed. 

For fuck sake how fucking hard is it? Why the fuck can I access the files with every other piece of software I have but not this shit.

Seems like Jellyfin is just trying to be too smart. Who gives a shit about metadata and pictures from imdb? What am I going to do, sit there looking at that or watch the fucking video? Why do I have to make all the libraries mixed home movies so I can see shows and movies in the same folder. They are my own files I know what they are. I just want a player that I can access remotely, play the files and can transcode if required. What's the point if I can't see anything added to it?

Fucking thing won't even cast to chromecast in the correct screen size.

As far as accessing files, a simple file browser shits on jellyfin. Does plex have all these bullshit issues? Happy to pay for something that will reduce my stress levels and just fucking work.

Edit: will try Universal Media Server. Seems much simpler. I've wasted enough time on this bullshit.