# ADR 011: Jellyfin media server

- HTML version: https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/adrs/011-jellyfin
- Project: Home Lab (https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab.md)
- Status: Proposed
- Date: 2026-08-02

# Context

I want to serve TV shows and movies to my Fire TV Stick from the home hub,
so the media I actually own has a proper home instead of sitting as a pile of
files. I already pay for Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV,
and still end up rewatching things — the library I've bought deserves a
better player than the streaming apps I pay for repeatedly.

This is **Proposed**, not Accepted, for reasons that aren't about scope:

* It's strictly for local use in my own home — it will never be a public
  service, so there's no exposure or multi-user internet angle to design for.
* The UX has to be good enough to switch to from the streaming apps, and
  playback latency has to be low enough to not be noticed.
* Adoption is the real test: it only gets built out if it's tested with my
  family and they actually use it.

# Decision (proposed)

Run **Jellyfin** on the Mac mini to serve my media library to the Fire TV
Stick.

Jellyfin is free, open source, self-hosted, and has a first-class Fire TV
client. The library lives on the hub's storage (the same machine that already
holds the photo backup), served only over the home network/tailnet — not
exposed publicly.

# Alternatives

## Plex

* **Pros**: Polished clients, easy setup.
* **Cons**: Closed source, account required, and its newer features keep
  pushing toward the paid tier.
* **Decision**: Rejected. For a home-lab library, open source with no
  account wins.

## Keep using streaming subscriptions only

* **Pros**: Zero maintenance, content discovery built in.
* **Cons**: I already pay for Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and Apple
  TV, and still end up rewatching things; my own library stays a pile of
  files.
* **Decision**: Rejected as the only mechanism. Jellyfin serves content I
  already own; it doesn't replace the subscriptions.

## Emby

* **Pros**: Mature, close to Jellyfin.
* **Cons**: Closed source core; Jellyfin is the actively forked, open-source
  evolution of the same codebase.
* **Decision**: Rejected. Jellyfin is the open, no-account choice.

# Consequences

### Pros

* **Own library, self-hosted**: free, open source, and account-free on the
  Fire TV Stick.
* **Strictly local**: served over the home network/tailnet only, never
  public.
* **Better use of the library I already own**, instead of rewatching the
  same titles on the streaming apps I pay for.

### Cons

* **Media library management** (curation, metadata, storage growth) becomes
  an ongoing task.
* **Storage pressure** on the hub alongside the photo backup.
* **Adoption risk**: if the UX or latency isn't good enough for the family,
  it won't get used — the reason it stays Proposed until tested.

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