# Run Jellyfin on Home Assistant OS for old TVs and Fire TV sticks

> Jellyfin as a Home Assistant OS app on a Raspberry Pi 5, serving older Samsung TVs over DLNA and Fire TV sticks through the Jellyfin app. Includes the bind-address fix that makes DLNA visible.

Guide · Published 2026-10-14 · Updated 2026-10-14  
Web page: https://blog.jacq.cc/guides/jellyfin-home-assistant-os-old-tvs/

I wanted our films and shows on the TVs. The Raspberry Pi 5 that runs Home Assistant OS is on all day anyway, so Jellyfin went on it as an app. The Fire TV stick gets the Jellyfin app. The Samsung TVs use DLNA, the old UPnP media-server standard that nearly every smart TV still speaks. The 2016 one is too old for the Jellyfin app, which Samsung only offers on 2021 and newer models.

[Image: A drawing: a TV plays a big purple play button, with a streaming stick in its side, a remote, a bucket of popcorn and a small Raspberry Pi sending it the film]

Three things took the time, and I couldn't find them written down together:

- The DLNA plugin announced the server on 127.0.0.1 only, so no TV could see it.
- The Samsungs hid one of my libraries.
- The Pi 5 has no hardware video encoder, so video conversion has to stay off.

:::note[Status, October 2026]
Running since 10 October 2026, on Jellyfin 12.2.0 in the "Jellyfin NAS" app. Works: a 2016 and a 2021 Samsung over DLNA, and the Jellyfin app on a Fire TV Stick 4K Max.
:::

[Image: Diagram: the Samsung TVs find Jellyfin with SSDP multicast, then browse and play over HTTP. Fire TV sticks and phones find it on UDP 7359 and use the same HTTP port. A browser reaches it through Home Assistant's ingress and the app's own nginx, which talks to Jellyfin on 127.0.0.1. Jellyfin reads the media from a USB drive.]

*Who talks to whom. Dashed lines find the server, solid lines browse and stream.*

## What you need

- A Raspberry Pi 5 with Home Assistant OS (HAOS). Jellyfin idles at about 300 MB of RAM.
- A USB drive for the media, formatted ext4 with a label. Below, the label is `media`.
- TVs on the same network and subnet as the Pi. DLNA discovery is multicast, and it doesn't cross subnets or VLANs.
- A fixed address for the Pi (a DHCP reservation is fine).

About an hour, plus copying the films.

[Image: A Raspberry Pi 5 in its white and red case, and below it a black WD Elements 2 TB USB disk plugged into it]

*My Pi 5 and the 2 TB WD Elements disk that holds the media.*

## Step 1: Install the Jellyfin NAS app

In Home Assistant's app store, open the ⋮ menu → **Repositories** and add alexbelgium's repository:

```text
https://github.com/alexbelgium/hassio-addons
```

Then install **Jellyfin NAS**. Pick this one because it runs on the host network. DLNA discovery is multicast on UDP 1900, and from the Docker bridge network the Community Apps Jellyfin uses, that multicast doesn't reach the TVs.

On the Configuration tab, point it at the drive:

```yaml
localdisks: media
data_location: /mnt/media/jellyfin
```

`localdisks` takes the drive's label, and the app mounts it at `/mnt/<label>`. `data_location` moves Jellyfin's database and posters off the SD card. Neither is in Home Assistant's backups.

## Step 2: Libraries

Add the libraries in **Dashboard → Libraries** (mine: `movies/`, `tv/` with one folder per show, and `downloads/`). In each one, turn **real time monitoring** on, and **trickplay** and **chapter image extraction** off. Both decode every video to make preview pictures, which is CPU the Pi doesn't need.

Then put an empty hidden folder, `.keep`, in each library folder. **Jellyfin skips an empty library folder** when it scans ([on purpose](https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/blob/master/MediaBrowser.Controller/Entities/Folder.cs): an unplugged drive shouldn't wipe the library). It then doesn't watch the folder either, so new files only appear at the next scheduled scan. The hidden folder counts as content, and Jellyfin doesn't list it. I ran into this on day two.

## Step 3: A Family user, and no video conversion

- **Admin:** strong password, **Hide this user from login screens** on.
- **Family:** no password, not an administrator, no media deletion. Every shared screen signs in as Family, so nobody on the sofa can delete a film.
- **Both:** **Allow video playback that requires transcoding** off.

[Image: Flow chart: if the screen can decode the video and subtitles, the file plays as it is, or is repackaged into a new container (remux) with the audio converted if needed. If it can't, the video would need transcoding, which is off, so the file doesn't play: XviD rips give sound with no picture, and PGS subtitles don't work.]

*With video transcoding off, a file plays as it is, gets repackaged cheaply, or doesn't play at all.*

With no hardware encoder, converting video would mean software encoding on all four cores, next to Home Assistant. With it off, a file plays as it is or gets repackaged without re-encoding, which is cheap. Two side effects: picture-based subtitles (PGS, from Blu-ray rips) don't work, and old XviD `.avi` rips play sound with no picture. They're rare, so I convert each one once, by hand, to H.264:

```bash
ffmpeg -i 'Film.avi' -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -crf 20 -c:a aac -b:a 160k -movflags +faststart 'Film (Year).mp4'
```

## Step 4: DLNA, bound to the Pi's address

Since Jellyfin 10.9, DLNA is a plugin: **Dashboard → Plugins → Catalogue → DLNA**, install, restart. Set its **Default user** to Family, because DLNA has no login.

Then the step that made the TVs see the server. In **Dashboard → Networking**:

| Setting | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Bind to local network address | The Pi's LAN address, and `127.0.0.1` |
| Enable IPv6 | Off |
| LAN networks | Your LAN (e.g. `192.168.x.0/24`) and `172.30.32.0/23` |
| Allow remote connections to this server | Off |

- **The LAN address** is the fix ([why, below](#why-dlna-was-stuck-on-loopback)).
- **`127.0.0.1`** stays for the app's page inside Home Assistant: its nginx talks to Jellyfin there.
- **`172.30.32.0/23`** is HAOS's internal Docker network, where Home Assistant's requests come from. With remote connections off, Jellyfin blocks every address that isn't a LAN network.

Restart Jellyfin, then look for this line in **Dashboard → Logs**:

```text
Registering publisher for "urn:schemas-upnp-org:device:MediaServer:1" on "127.0.0.1"
```

If it says `127.0.0.1`, the TVs can't see the server. Fixed, it names the Pi's LAN address.

## Step 5: Watch

| Screen | How |
| --- | --- |
| Samsung TV | **Source** → your server name |
| Fire TV stick | Install **Jellyfin** from the Amazon Appstore. It finds the server by itself. Tap **Family** |

[Image: A black Fire TV Stick plugged into the HDMI port on top of a white projector mounted on the ceiling]

*My older Fire TV Stick, plugged straight into a ceiling-mounted projector. It runs the Jellyfin app.*

## Why DLNA was stuck on loopback

The DLNA plugin picks the addresses to announce in [`DlnaHost.cs`](https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plugin-dlna/blob/master/src/Jellyfin.Plugin.Dlna/Main/DlnaHost.cs). It takes Jellyfin's bind addresses and keeps only IPv4, multicast-capable, non-loopback ones. If none are left, it falls back to 127.0.0.1. With the default "every address" bind, none were left, so it announced on 127.0.0.1 and answered no one.

[Image: Two flow charts side by side. Left, the default: Jellyfin binds to every address, the DLNA plugin keeps only IPv4, multicast-capable, non-loopback addresses, none are left, so it falls back to 127.0.0.1 and no TV sees the server. Right, the fix: the bind list is the Pi's LAN address and 127.0.0.1, the plugin keeps the LAN address and announces there, and ingress still uses 127.0.0.1.]

*The same filter, two bind lists. Only the one with a real LAN address gives the TVs something to find.*

The [forum threads](https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-no-dlna) with that log line end unanswered. They're on Docker or Windows, so I'd expect the same fix there, but I've only tested it on HAOS.

## The Samsungs hid a library

My third library started as **Downloads**, type **Home Videos and Photos**. Both Samsungs showed Movies and Shows, but not Downloads. The plugin reported it as a folder with no children, though it held videos, and Samsung's DLNA browser hides empty folders. Movies and Shows libraries always show, because the plugin gives them fixed sub-folders (Latest, Genres and so on).

[Image: Table: Movies, type Movies, reports 6 child folders and shows on a Samsung. Shows, type Shows, reports 7 and shows. Downloads, type Home Videos and Photos, reports 0 though it held 3 videos, and is hidden. Downloaded, type Movies with online lookups off, reports 6 and shows, as Downloaded, then Movies, then the file.]

*What the DLNA plugin reported at the top level, and what the Samsungs made of it.*

The fix: a new library, **Downloaded**, type **Movies**, with every metadata downloader off, so files are listed by name and nothing goes online. On a Samsung it's then **Downloaded → Movies** → the file.

The catch: **you can't change a library's type by removing it and adding it again under the same name.** Jellyfin keeps the old entry, old type included. Give it a new name.

## Sources

- [alexbelgium/hassio-addons, Jellyfin NAS](https://github.com/alexbelgium/hassio-addons/tree/master/jellyfin)
- [jellyfin-plugin-dlna, `DlnaHost.cs`](https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plugin-dlna/blob/master/src/Jellyfin.Plugin.Dlna/Main/DlnaHost.cs): which addresses DLNA announces on
- [jellyfin, `Folder.cs`](https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/blob/master/MediaBrowser.Controller/Entities/Folder.cs): the empty-library-folder skip
- [Jellyfin networking docs](https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/networking/)
- [SamMobile, February 2026](https://www.sammobile.com/news/jellyfin-app-samsung-tv-launched-plex-alternative/): the Samsung app needs a 2021 or newer TV

## Change history

- 2026-10-14: First published.

Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Credit "HomeLab Guides (blog.jacq.cc)" with a link to https://blog.jacq.cc/guides/jellyfin-home-assistant-os-old-tvs/. Code downloads: MIT. Details: https://blog.jacq.cc/licence/