Hacker News Reader

The thing I do not understand is that both Kodi and Jellyfin require a server.

With Kodi the server is directly connected to the display (Kodi) and Jellyfin is headless and is accessed via the web, an app, ...

VLC is indeed serverless (it is an app that depends on files being hosted somewhere) bit it has little to do with the others

View on HN

I think I left enough context clues in my post to understand that by "serverless" and "no server, thick client", I meant "the client also handles the server function" or "closing the client suspends operation of the server". But in case I didn't, just to clarify, when I said "serverless", I meant Kodi and things like Kodi, and when I said "server", I meant Plex and things like Plex, including Emby and Jellyfin.

Typically for that you have "headless server" - a server that has no display connected, and to which you access though other means (a web browser, an app, ...) → this is Jellyfin & Co.

Then you have "servers with a display", a desktop or workstation → Kodi. Kodi does not have a client, nor a client-server architecture.

All of these applications are primarily servers.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com