PearCinema

Do I need my own server?

Not necessarily. You need a library, and it can belong to a friend or a family member who lets you in. If that is your situation, install the app, scan the code they show you and you are done. If you want to run your own, any computer that stays on and holds the films will do.

How hard is it to set up my own?

On an Umbrel it is an app you install from the PeerLoom app store, and the platform keeps it running for you. On a Mac, Windows PC or Linux desktop there is an installer that puts PearCinema in the menu bar or system tray and starts it with the machine. On any other computer it runs as a container.

Do I have to open a port on my router or set up a VPN?

No. That is the point of PearCinema. Your phone and the machine holding the films find each other and connect directly, without anything on that machine being reachable from the internet. There is nothing to configure on your router.

Do I have to move, rename or convert my films?

No. PearCinema reads your existing files where they already are. Point it at a folder and it works out films from shows, sorts episodes into seasons and picks up whatever descriptions and posters are already on the disk. Or connect it to a Jellyfin or Emby server you already run and it uses that. Nothing is copied, renamed or re-encoded on your drive.

My films are on an external drive. Does that work?

Yes, and that is the normal case for video. It also works for a drive you plug in after the library is already running.

Will my files play on my phone?

Most will play exactly as they are. Where a file is in a form your particular phone cannot open, the machine holding the films repackages or converts it as you watch, using that machine's graphics chip so it costs very little. Your original file is never changed.

Can I watch without the app?

Yes. The library's own dashboard is a player, so any computer on the same network can open it in a browser and watch, with nothing to install.

Can I watch on my television?

You can send a film to a Roku or a Samsung television on the same network and use your phone as the remote, including from the lock screen. When an episode ends the next one is offered.

A Roku needs one thing first: the free Media Assistant channel from the Roku channel store. Open the channel store on the Roku, search for Media Assistant, add it, and the Roku appears in the app's television picker on the next look. Until then the picker names the Roku and says it is waiting for the channel.

Can I watch on a plane, or somewhere with no signal?

Yes. Download a film to the phone beforehand and it plays with everything switched off. If that film would need converting for your phone, it is converted before it is stored, so it plays offline too.

What about mobile data?

It works away from home. When your phone cannot reach the library directly, which is usual on a mobile network, playback is held to a lower quality so that watching does not quietly consume a data plan.

How do I let someone else into my library?

Open the dashboard on the machine running the library and start a pairing. It shows a code to scan and a link you can send if they are not with you. They appear as their own person, with their own devices and their own viewing history. You can also hand out a guest pass that expires by itself.

What happens when I remove someone's access?

They are cut off straight away, including if they are watching at that moment, and including a television they had started. Anything new is refused: browsing, artwork, the rest of the film and reconnecting. Whatever the phone had already received of the film may finish playing, which is deliberate so that moving between wifi and mobile data does not interrupt a film, and then it stops.

Can I use more than one library at once?

Yes. Add as many as you have been let into and the app blends them into a single library, so one search covers all of them. You can also filter to one library at a time when you want to.

Does the server have to stay on?

To stream, yes, the same as any media server. Anything you have downloaded to the phone plays whether the server is on or not.

Does PearCinema provide films?

No. PearCinema is a player for files you already have. It hosts nothing, indexes nothing and has no catalogue of its own, and there is nothing in it to search for or download.

Which devices does PearCinema run on?

The app runs on Android and iPhone. The library software runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, and as an app on Umbrel.

How do I contact support?

Email peerloomllc@proton.me or open a GitHub issue.