Plex does not recognize them in terms of pulling down metadata but you can still organize them in folders and browse that way. I find the Plex route is a healthier way to engage with video content than platforms that just keep serving you whatever the algorithm thinks will keep you peeled to the screen. It's more intentional and less of a passive consumption kinda thing.
I'm from that generation too and as soon as I moved out of my folks' house I never subscribed to cable or watched broadcast TV because that constant onslaught of advertising was offensive and I didn't want it in my home.
They had premium light which gave you just a no ad experience and nothing else for about $7/mo. Totally reasonable, I was happy to pay it. Then right at the same time they started going nuclear on ad blocking, they killed that plan and forced everyone to move to a plan that costs about 70% more and added a bunch of stuff I didn't ask for and will never use. They had those added services available already prior to that change. If I had wanted them I'd already be subscribing. This was just a greedy cash grab.
They'll just keep jacking the price up and decreasing the quality of service and mining your data and annoying you with ads and algorithmic bullshit just up until they can't anymore and it stops being optimally profitable. A lot of people will just put up with it, but they lost me as a customer.
I guess a positive outcome of this might be people more seriously considering alternatives to Github. Something about MS owning the defacto developer platform never sounded good to me.
These tech articles on some new advancement are basically the same phenomenon of bullshit as articles ending in a question mark. The answer is always "nah"
Yeah I think an RPi is the best streaming box setup going forward unless you want to go ham and run an actual Mac Mini or PC.
The Apple TV is decent and runs well and doesn't hit you with ads, but they're a bit pricey, they're in the Apple ecosystem (could be a pro or con) and doesn't support as many apps.
The Nvidia shield is starting to cram in ads so that's a non starter as far as I'm concerned, especially for the price. The Amazon stuff is Amazon and is getting more aggressive with ads. Roku is getting worse every year and all their devices I've used sucked. Etc, etc.
Every one of these made-for-purpose streaming sticks/boxes/etc are all gonna go down in enshittification flames. Mark my words.
Edit: come to think of it, I'd say it's a safe bet that corporate America/etc is coming for any digital device or platform or service that feels nonabrasive and like a good value for the money/investment of your time. They're gonna make it more annoying, more ad filled, more data harvesting, and more privacy invading until they can't anymore.
Roku to me has always seemed like a bogged down, spammy platform. I've always been surprised at how often it gets recommended in cord cutting and self hosting sort of forums.
Yeah this is a walk and chew gum at the same time kind of thing. Both are valid issues and given the US budget, this is not a zero sum situation. The US could and should be doing better in both areas.
The Bell Riots story line is by far my fave DS9 arc. There’s a really good Terry Pratchett book with roughly the same concept that is also my favorite of his books. It’s called Night Watch.
No, no you are not. Words have meanings.