Frequently asked questions

A program you run yourself on your own machine, for example a NAS, a mini PC or a Raspberry Pi. It gathers your own films, series, music and photos in libraries and sends them to TV, phone and browser in your home. The files stay with you, not with a company.

Nielix works without an account with me and without internet. It has your own TV channels built from your own series and films, child profiles that the server enforces, messages to the TV screens in the house and Home Assistant, and the look is controlled from the server. On the other hand Nielix is young, has no plugins and no open source code, and the TV app is still on its way. Read the honest comparison, where I also say when you should pick another one.

Yes, if the machine can run Docker. The server comes as a container image for 64-bit x86 and 64-bit ARM (arm64), and under Download and install there are guides for Synology, QNAP, Unraid, TrueNAS, Raspberry Pi, Proxmox, Windows and macOS. On a small machine without a graphics card, transcoding may be too slow for HEVC in 1080p.

Yes. Everything on your own drives works without internet: set-up, users, libraries, playback and your licence key, which the server checks itself. Metadata lookups, weather, subtitles from providers, external channels and the update check wait until there is a connection again.

Your files are never changed, because the folders are opened read-only. Users, settings and watch state live in the server's data folder at your place. The server sends nothing to me unless you connect it to an account or turn statistics on yourself. There is no tracking in the app or the server.

Yes, for media you have the right to use. Nielix is only the player and contains no films, series or channels. You are responsible for having the right to what you put on the server or point it at.

Yes. There is a ready-made Home Assistant integration, and the server can talk MQTT with Home Assistant discovery, call webhooks and accept commands over REST. You can send messages and speech to the TV screens and control playback from automations. MQTT is off until you turn it on.

The web player works today on every device with a modern browser, and it can be installed as an app on a phone and tablet. The Android TV app has been sent to Google Play and is on its way, but not released yet. I have no app for iPhone or Apple TV.

The server and the apps are free. Premium is a monthly subscription per server, and the price is on the Pricing page. There is also a yearly subscription if it has been enabled.

No. The server works without an account and without talking to me. You only need the account here if you want Premium and let the server fetch its key automatically.

Unlimited users on the server, external channels, offline downloads, Watch together and guest links, recordings from the start and an automatic daily backup. Everything else is free.

The key is a piece of text that I have signed digitally. The server checks the signature itself without asking me, so it also works without internet. You can fetch the key automatically or copy it into the server admin.

A subscription covers one server. If you have more servers, each takes its own subscription and gets its own key.

You keep Premium until the paid period ends, and the key has a few extra days of slack. After that the free limits apply again. Your files, users and settings are not touched.

Stripe retries the card a few times. In the meantime the key keeps working and Stripe notifies you. If it does not succeed, the key eventually expires as with a cancellation.

It is not technically protected against sharing, but it belongs to your server. Read the fair use page to see what I count on.

Not on its own. If you connect the server to your account, it only asks for its key. You can turn on optional statistics, and then it sends the server version, number of users, number of libraries and days in operation. Nothing about your files, titles or users.

By card through Stripe. You can change card, download invoices and cancel in the Stripe customer portal, which you reach from the Subscription page.

Yes, both. Under Account you can download everything I have about you as a file, and delete your account. A running subscription is cancelled at the same time.

No. Nielix is only the player. You must have the right to what you put on the server or point it at.

Yes, if you withdraw within 14 days of the purchase. Then you get the full amount back within 14 days, and the key ends. You withdraw with the button Withdraw purchase (14 days) under Subscription or by email to support@nielix.net. The right of withdrawal applies to consumers, not to purchases for business. Read more under Right of withdrawal. Write to me if something does not work as promised and we will find a solution. Your statutory consumer rights apply unchanged.

Under Subscription you will find the button Withdraw purchase (14 days) while the 14 days run. You can also write to support@nielix.net. The subscription is cancelled right away, the first payment is refunded to the means of payment you used, and you get a confirmation by email.