*** Official Kodi (née XBMC) Thread ***

[Metallifux]

I used this myself and added a couple of shares, tested some movies through SMB and NFS and they buffer in the exact same place - the first 1minute of Thor 2 does it in the same 3 spots

I've copied files locally and it plays flawlessly - so it def seems network related.

Nuc = connected straight to BTHomeHub 5 (latest one)
BTHomeHub 5 = connected to a Netgear 1GBit Switch (GS308)
PC1 = connected to Netgear Switch
PC2 = connected to Netgear Switch

Nuc = buffering from streaming from PC1/PC2
PC1 = no buffering from PC2
PC2 = no buffering from PC1

Not sure if it's the homehub connected to the switch which is causing an issue somewhere?

/edit

also using Frodo 12.2

It shouldn't be. Try Gotham Beta and set up the caching see if that cures your buffering. It's important to not just set a cache up but also how intensively it polls the data source.

 

[McDaniel]

It shouldn't be. Try Gotham Beta and set up the caching see if that cures your buffering. It's important to not just set a cache up but also how intensively it polls the data source.

I upgraded to Gotham and no luck, so I switched the cable with another and it now works fine - looks like the cable I was using was slightly damaged!

Hours of changing bits, and what not for a damn cable!

 

[EddScott]

So I finally got my home server/NAS up and running. Its not a proper NAS box just a rack case with spare gubbins inside and 2x 3TB drives striped. I have Win7 on a separate drive.

I have a NUC under the TV
The TV has a Plex app
I also have my gaming PC which currently has the drive with all my media on.


Couple of questions:-

Do I install XBMC on the server or just the NUC?
If the NUC boots and loads XBMC on start up is there a web browser app for XBMC or should I have it boot in 7 first?
Can I use the Plex app on the TV to access the media on the server if I have to put XBMC on the server too?
Do I have to create folders on the server to store the media - Pictures, Movies, Music or does XBMC do that for me?
If I set profiles up on XBMC (One for me, one for the kids) do I have to do anything with the files and folders?
Should I move the media off my gaming PC onto the server in one go?

 

[Confused]

Do I install XBMC on the server or just the NUC?

Your choice. I personally have XBMC installed on my server, and it's running all the time. This means that the database will always be up to date, and the client machine doesn't need to scrape for new media whenever it starts.

If the NUC boots and loads XBMC on start up is there a web browser app for XBMC or should I have it boot in 7 first?

There isn't a web browser in XBMC - you can use an addon like Advanced Launcher, or Chrome Launcher, to fire up a web browser.

Can I use the Plex app on the TV to access the media on the server if I have to put XBMC on the server too?

The Plex app will need a Plex backend. I'd personally leave this well alone, and stick with the NUC, which will be quicker, and will play more video formats, than your TV ever will.

Do I have to create folders on the server to store the media - Pictures, Movies, Music or does XBMC do that for me?

You will need to set up the shares on the server yourself. XBMC will just access the files in these folders.

If I set profiles up on XBMC (One for me, one for the kids) do I have to do anything with the files and folders?

You don't *need* to - the profiles can be configured with a number of smart filters. These could be genre, custom tags, or you could split the media up at the file/folder level and configure the profiles based on the paths.

Should I move the media off my gaming PC onto the server in one go?

Up to you - you may as well!

 

[StooM]

Do I install XBMC on the server or just the NUC?

Just the NUC, although if you wanted to use a mysql database for your library, you may want to put that on the server. Within the xbmc setup on the NUC you can set where the media sources are (i.e. \\server\share\Movies for example) - these can be set differently for each xbmc instance or profile

If the NUC boots and loads XBMC on start up is there a web browser app for XBMC or should I have it boot in 7 first?

I'm not 100% on this as I use a little usff dell machine as my 'client' which boots into windows, then starts up xbmc.

Can I use the Plex app on the TV to access the media on the server if I have to put XBMC on the server too?

Again, not 100% sure, but I assume plex can access media via the shares on the server so shouldnt be affected by xbmc setup

Do I have to create folders on the server to store the media - Pictures, Movies, Music or does XBMC do that for me?

Up to you on this one. Xbmc doesnt actually manage your media outside of its own interface - it aggregates all the media from the sources you set, indexes it and organises within its own library. That being said, for managements sake I would organise media so that I can keep an eye manually. For example, I have 4 shares on my nas:

Movies
- Kids Movies
- Movies
TV
- Documentaries
- Comedy (Stand Up)
- TV
- Kids TV
Music
Backup
- Pictures

This just makes my life easier as I can set the sources for specific profiles (kids tv & movies for the kids, everything else for adults)

If I set profiles up on XBMC (One for me, one for the kids) do I have to do anything with the files and folders?

Not necessarily (although I have.. as above) - you can manage the accessible media using smart playlists (essentially filters). To give an example, you can create a smart playlist that only has movies by Pixar, or from a certain file location, or a certain year etc.

Should I move the media off my gaming PC onto the server in one go?

Again, depends how you want to manage it - I find it easier to manage having all my media together. There is nothing wrong with setting all the different locations up as sources. Although you might run into some scraping issues if mixing movies and TV for instance.

I'm in a bit of a rush, so might not be quite right above but will have another look later

 

[trentlad]

nm

 

[EddScott]

Thanks for the help guys.

So I'll create folders on the storage drive and share them. I want to create 3 profiles - one each for the kids and one for me. Would it make any difference to create 3 folders for each profile and then add the media/genre folders within those 3 folders?

Dad
Movies
TV

Child 1
Movies
TV

Etc.

Would it make a difference to have genre folders in each of the media folders? - Movies>Horror, Movies>Sci Fi, TV Shows>Comedy etc

Is there anything else I should put on the server before tucking it away in the cab? I'm going to run the server headless and access it via team-viewer from the gaming PC. Do I need to make a changes to Windows to run headless or is it just a case of starting it up and then removing the screen and kb?

I got a quiet day in work so want to set up the server before taking it home and setting up the NUC tonight.

 

[Confused]

Think *very* carefully about what you may be storing in each of those folders, and how much administration it will take later. With that in mind, don't go storing your media in folders by Genre - what about a comedy horror? Do you store that under "comedy" or "horror" - plus, anyway, you won't be browsing by folders anyway.

You can do most of it with smart playlists - for example, you could restrict any films with a rating of 15 from the kids' profile.

I would suggest keeping your actual file storage as simple as possible - what if there's a show that's suitable for kids and adults - do you store 2 (or 3) copies of it, or just have a single copy?

 

[StooM]

I guess how well you want it segregated may well come down to silly things like how old the kids are - mine are 4 and almost 2, so I separated the kids stuff not only to manage it better, but to make sure that when I set backgrounds for the menus they weren't greeted by a gruesome background. silly really, but it works for me.

Simple is best though, I've got all movies organised in one main folder, all TV shows in one folder etc - I've not automated any of the filing as I like to keep an eye on it, but have a nested VM to manage/update libraries without disrupting the actual instance of xbmc playing at the time.

As above there is no real need to split it by genre etc as XBMC does all of that when it scrapes the info - it has several default sections (year/genre/actor etc) and anything missing can always be sorted with a smart playlist.

 

[EddScott]

have a nested VM to manage/update libraries without disrupting the actual instance of xbmc playing at the time.

What does this mean?

I'll go with 3 profiles as theres a big age gap between my girls (12 yrs and 18 months)

I'll stick to the basics Movies, Music, Pictures, TV Shows and see how it works out.

Quite chuffed today I got the server to sleep, wake and reboot using TeamViewer. I know its simple to most but quite satisfying.

 

[StooM]

I have my PC that runs XBMC setup as a virtual host running a single virtual machine.

Basically I RDP to the virtual machine to tinker with the server/download updates/administer everything without needing restart, close xbmc or distrupt playback - again, not really necessary, but handy for me.

 

[robfosters]

For an NUC, what CPU is required for 1080p rips? No 3D required. I use Aeon Nox.

Also, if I have an NUC, what kind of storage would you recommend?

 

[FerretBoy]

Any cpu id imagine, but for pure 24p you need the latest i3 minimum. Note that most people wouldn't notice the very tiny frame drop all older intel cpus have.

 

[booyaka]

i use a E8200 and it's more than plenty for 1080p blu ray rips with dts track etc, Ati 5450 card and 4gb ram. cheap p35 board as well.

 

[Tackle_Berry]

Would updating to the Gotham Beta 3.0 loose all my settings and Aeon Nox skin?

Currently on Frodo 12.3

 

[EddScott]

I've managed to solve my streaming issues but now I'm faced with another smaller but infuriating issue.

When I first installed XBMC and added my music, I did something that made a pic of the artists appear when the album cover was selected (Aeon Nox) I didn't included these pictures, it found them itself.

I've now re-installed XBMC and can't work out what I did in order to get these pictures to appear again.

Any ideas?

Edit - If I go into each album the picture appears but it doesn't show up when flicking through each album.

 

[FerretBoy]

Would updating to the Gotham Beta 3.0 loose all my settings and Aeon Nox skin?

Currently on Frodo 12.3

Probably not, assuming Nox is available for gotham. Aeon MQ5 skin survived the move intact.

 

[Flying_V]

I've managed to solve my streaming issues but now I'm faced with another smaller but infuriating issue.

When I first installed XBMC and added my music, I did something that made a pic of the artists appear when the album cover was selected (Aeon Nox) I didn't included these pictures, it found them itself.

I've now re-installed XBMC and can't work out what I did in order to get these pictures to appear again.

Any ideas?

Edit - If I go into each album the picture appears but it doesn't show up when flicking through each album.

From memory, bring up context menu on music folder and scan to library. Then turn on library mode on sidebar on left?

As a sidenote, I've just deleted all my thumbnails for movies and tv shows as part of a purge. Not sure how to get them all to rescan again - clean library?

 

[StooM]

I would just run the artwork downloader add-on - that should scan the library and download the lot

 

[Attu90]

Would updating to the Gotham Beta 3.0 loose all my settings and Aeon Nox skin?

Currently on Frodo 12.3

Im using Aeon MQ5 and it was fine but for the life of me I couldn't get wake up on lan to work with Gotham so went back to Frodo which again downgraded just fine.