Run Quven from install to playback.

Start with the names. Put the year in, as in "Avatar (2009).mkv", and for episodes use "Show Name S01E01.mkv" or season folders. Then check that the account the server runs as can actually read the folder. If one item matched the wrong title, open its detail page and use Change match to pick the right result from the search. Unless a Pro account watches the folder, a scan runs when you start it, so after renaming anything, run one again.

No. Several files for the same title, whether 4K and 1080p, different audio languages, or a theatrical and an extended cut, all sit under one library entry. Alternate editions on the title's menu names each version by what actually differs between them (length, resolution, dynamic range, audio layout, video codec) and plays the one you pick.

Only if you have asked it to. Folder watching and scheduled scans sit in the Automatic scanning card under Settings and come with Pro or higher. On a Free account nothing touches your disks until you start a scan yourself; the progress is shown live either way, and a scan you cancel can pick up where it left off.

Yes. Issue an integration key from Settings, on the desktop or in the browser, and send it with each request. The key can only read: no route that changes anything accepts one, and a key cannot issue another key. What it reports is the server, the libraries with their counts, and the sessions in progress. By design, it never reports which folders your libraries live in or who is watching. The integration guide covers the endpoints and both ways of sending the key.

No. A browser cannot decode every container and codec, so when it cannot play the file directly the server transcodes it on the fly into an HLS stream the browser understands. The native desktop apps drive a desktop-class output chain with the HD audio untouched, and the Android and iPhone/iPad apps concentrate on broad codec and subtitle playback on a phone or tablet.

Direct play sends the original file untouched, which gives you the lowest latency and costs the server no extra CPU. It happens whenever the client can handle the video, the audio, the container and the subtitles as they are, and the native apps can handle far more than a browser. When the client cannot, the server transcodes with FFmpeg and uses hardware acceleration where it has some.

Yes. An administrator asks for a subtitle in the player, on the desktop or in the web client, and the server transcribes the dialogue itself, then saves the result as an ordinary track that will be there next time too. The audio never leaves your machine, and the recognition runs on your own processor or GPU. Asking for one comes with Pro; once a track exists, every plan and every profile can play it. An administrator installs the speech model once, when asked; it is close to half a gigabyte, so it is downloaded only the first time it is needed.

Away from home, the ceiling is your home upload speed. Lower the quality in the player settings, or watch in the native app, which can play the file directly where a browser would need a transcode. The managed relay (Pro) takes the network setup off your hands, but it cannot provide more bandwidth than your connection has.

Yes. Every client, on desktop, web and mobile, starts from a Quven Account. Sign in or register first, then pick a server the app found on your network, connect to a remote server linked to the account, or finish setting up a new one.

Yes. Playing your library is free for personal use, forever: the native clients, hardware transcoding, library matching, several files per title, unlimited profiles, and remote access you set up yourself. Pro adds the managed services, automatic scanning and subtitles written from the audio; Max adds subtitle translation, the cue editor and the repair of damaged files. The plans page lists that free floor, which does not move. Personal use means you, your family and the guests you invite; the licence does not allow selling other people access to your library.

Pro and Max follow this published path: through 6 October 2026: Pro €2.99 a month or €29.99 a year, Max €5.99 a month or €59.99 a year; from 7 October 2026 through 15 November 2026: Pro €3.49 a month or €34.99 a year, Max €6.99 a month or €69.99 a year; from 16 November 2026 through 31 December 2026: Pro €3.99 a month or €39.99 a year, Max €7.99 a month or €79.99 a year; from 1 January 2027: Pro €4.99 a month or €49.99 a year, Max €9.99 a month or €99.99 a year. Lifetime includes every Max capability for a single payment: €99 through 6 October 2026, then €129 through 15 November 2026, then €149 through 31 December 2026, then €199 through 30 June 2027. Its next price after 30 June 2027 has not been announced. In the United States, the same figures are charged in dollars. Every Founder seat is taken, so the €69 Founder price is closed to new accounts; the hundred that hold it still do. Purchases are open.

Quven Account keeps your identity, your linked servers, and the profile data it needs to sync watchlists, ratings, reviews and resume points. Your media files and library folders stay on your server. Diagnostics are on by default, for stability and security, with the disclosure up front and an opt-out in settings, and crash and playback reports have file paths, addresses and emails stripped before they go anywhere.

The Windows and macOS desktop clients, the hosted Pro web client, the native iPhone and iPad app, the native Android app for phone, tablet and Android TV, and the Fire TV app on the Amazon Appstore are available today. macOS ships signed and notarized for Intel and Apple silicon, while on Linux Quven runs as a server for x64 and ARM64, as an AppImage or a signed Docker image, with ARM64 verified on a Raspberry Pi 4, and a Linux desktop client is planned. One Google Play listing covers all three Android form factors, and the same television app is published for Fire TV; apps for Apple TV and for Smart TVs are planned.

Yes. The folder layout works the same way, so point Quven at the media folders you already have and it scans and matches them. If the old server is Plex or Jellyfin, Quven can also import your history straight from it: it finds the database, shows what it is about to bring over, then transfers watched state and playlists. Titles are matched by catalogue identity, so a library reorganised since then still lines up. The old server is only read, never changed, so the import can run while the old server keeps running.

Music arrived in 1.2.0 and is free on every plan. On Desktop you point Quven at your album folders: tags come first, with folder names filling in what a file leaves out, and covers and lyrics can come from the files or their sidecars. Playback between tracks is continuous, although a browser that needs to re-encode can add audible padding. Desktop listening over your own VPN or reverse proxy stays free, even away from home; hosted Web and the managed relay require Pro.