[tycoonbob]

Hello everyone. I have a few basic questions (or at least I think) and while I'm sure they are answered elsewhere, my questions will likely evolve into other questions.

So to start, I bought my first house a few months back. I built a NUS (Network Unified Storage) server, using the Norco RPC-4224 chassis (24 hot swap bays) and an LSI MegaRAID 9261-8i SAS Controller and an HP SAS Expander. While it's not full of drives yet, this is my new storage server. It will be used both for SMB and iSCSI (2 node Hyper-V Cluster -- Most VMs are local storage, but some are run from iSCSI Target). I will be soon running STP Cat6 throughout my house, and will be building an HTPC for the living room. The HTPC will be powerful...will have a dedicated GPU. I want to use it for streaming content from my NUS primarily, which I know XBMC can do. However, I want do emulation gaming (anything from NES, GB/GBA, Wii, N64, Genesis) as well as PC gaming (not as much...but would be like CS: GO, SC/SC2, D3, etc). Lastly, I want my HTPC to be able to provide online content (browser, Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, etc). Now I am pretty sure that XBMC can do all this without a problem, right?

What is the setup process for XBMC in my scenario? Do I have a backend server running XBMC and have my clients (HTPC, etc) that connect to the central XBMC? Ideally, I would like to spin up a VM and have that do the cataloging, etc. while my HTPC is just a frontend device (and it would be likely that I would get Raspberry Pi's for the bedroom and home office to run XBMC as well).

Also, I have DirecTV. If I still had cable, I would consider getting a Hauppauge, and do the PVR thing...but that's not an option with DTV. Is there anything XBMC can do with DTV (not in recording, persay)...like plugins that do something in regards to DTV?

[thrak76]

Welcome to the forums, tycoonbob.

Sounds like you have a well thought out server/delivery system going on! Congrats on sorting that hard bit out first!

XBMC is first and foremost a media center for local content (or network-attached). So that is where it's real strengths are. However, plugins and addons can extend the functionality of XBMC greatly. There are a lot of addons that deliver online content, but the experience is not nearly as refined as local media playback, or proprietary apps for content providers (netflix, hulu, etc.). That being said, you can easily launch external programs from within XBMC, and afterwards return to XBMC. It's a mostly seemless process... mostly.

In it's current state, XBMC does not have a server/client setup. Each machine would have to run its own instance of XBMC. You can have a centralized library though, with a database populated by MySQL, and each machine can have access to the same library/database and its associated metadata.

I cannot advise one way or the other regarding DTV. I use WMC for an OTA PVR (enough acronyms for ya? ). Perhaps someone else will contribute their thoughts regarding DTV.

[tycoonbob]

Welcome to the forums, tycoonbob.

Sounds like you have a well thought out server/delivery system going on! Congrats on sorting that hard bit out first!

XBMC is first and foremost a media center for local content (or network-attached). So that is where it's real strengths are. However, plugins and addons can extend the functionality of XBMC greatly. There are a lot of addons that deliver online content, but the experience is not nearly as refined as local media playback, or proprietary apps for content providers (netflix, hulu, etc.). That being said, you can easily launch external programs from within XBMC, and afterwards return to XBMC. It's a mostly seemless process... mostly.

In it's current state, XBMC does not have a server/client setup. Each machine would have to run its own instance of XBMC. You can have a centralized library though, with a database populated by MySQL, and each machine can have access to the same library/database and its associated metadata.

I cannot advise one way or the other regarding DTV. I use WMC for an OTA PVR (enough acronyms for ya? ). Perhaps someone else will contribute their thoughts regarding DTV.

Luckily, I am used to acronyms. I haven't thought about getting an OTA Antenna for PVR use...then again, I don't watch much on those channels.

So does each XBMC install use a MySQL DB? Meaning that if I install XBMC on a VM as my "primary" install, then other XBMC "clients" could share (or replicate?) the same DB?
Online content is not a priority, nearly as much as streaming on my LAN. Currently, I use Serviio for video streaming on my LAN (to my Logitech Revue) and SubSonic for my music (LAN/WAN) and video over WAN. I've used a plethora of DLNA software (Tversity, Plex, Serviio, MiniDLNA, Mezzmo, JRM, etc, etc) and each have their strengths and weaknesses. With building a HTPC, I want to get rid of transcoding.

[thrak76]

So does each XBMC install use a MySQL DB? Meaning that if I install XBMC on a VM as my "primary" install, then other XBMC "clients" could share (or replicate?) the same DB?

With building a HTPC, I want to get rid of transcoding.

Each XBMC instance will use the same MySQL db housed on the "server" machine. Through the use of an advancedsettings.xml (check my signature), you can direct each install - including the "server" - to the database. This keeps things like watched statuses and thumbnails in sync on each machine. It also means that an update of metadata on any machine will be reflected across all the instances. It also allows pause/resume across installs. Pause in the living room, pick it back up in the bedroom... Oh, and no transcoding required. All libraries point to your samba shares.

[live4ever]

Maybe tie this into XBMC Advanced Launcher:
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/di...directv2pc

But I've read old reports that it doesn't work that well (ie. using same MCE remote).

[Diggs]

Welcome aboard tycoonbob,

Since you are just getting started with XBMC, you should REALLY look at the wiki for synching multiple instances of XBMC.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW..._libraries

I was where you are at now this past January. The only real pain with the MySQL install was the fact I had an existing library. Starting from scratch makes it a much simpler process, although it isn't that difficult with an existing library. But if you are going to synch them, do it from the start. Also, since your building a beefy HTPC, I would suggest looking at Windows 8 for the OS. Your PC games should run well on it, but the other advantage is the tile interface on the start page. You can navigate through the tiles easily with a remote unlike other flavors of windows which pretty much require a mouse. Sounds like you will have a KB and Mouse ready for gaming possibly, but while on the couch it's tough to beat a simple remote control. There are also apps for Netflix and such for Windows 8.

I love XBMC but from what I have read the biggest complaint I seem to find have to do with the addons like for Netflix. I can't comment on that myself since I don't utilize Netflix or Hulu or really any streaming, but I do see complaints about those addons. Mostly due to the fact they aren't "official" or "endorsed" by the provider. When a change is made by the provider, the addon developers have to react to those changes since they typically aren't informed of the changes prior to them going live. So while those changes to the addon are being worked out, the addon itself doesn't function. Having alternatives like apps for your OS is a good thing to have.

Good luck moving forward.

[tycoonbob]

Yeah, I haven't put much thought into the OS yet, but will more than likely be Win8 or Server 2012 (configured as a workstation, with Modern/Metro). Netflix and Hulu is not all that important as I don't currently have them...but I want the option to. Thinking about Modern/Metro apps, that is an excellent idea.

Yes, I will have a remote that is primarily used (with a full keyboard on the back, ideally) and WiiMotes and 360 Controller as well. If I do PC gaming, I will also have a full KB/Mouse available, but I do most of my gaming on my PC (Eyefinity with 3 22" monitors).

Thanks for the link, that's definitely what I need. I want to go ahead and set up the VM so everything is ready to go.

[tman12]

Some people may disagree with this, but what I find to be the best solution is to dual boot Openelec and Windows 7. I have a ReadyNas Ultra with 12TB filled with over 400 non compressed (HD Audio, Full bitrate, 20+GB files) Bluray Rips made using MakeMKV and about 40 TV shows that I encoded to smaller 720p files. I built what I thought was going to be the ultimate HTPC (extremely powerful, good processor, etc) and XBMC with Windows never really worked exactly the way I wanted it. I'm not saying people aren't doing it, I'm just saying I seem to see a lot of users in the community discussing playing 1080p when they are really using encoded down rips. My thought is, if you put all this time (and $) into the storage I don't think you'd want to sacrifice quality in terms of video and audio. Openelec really amazed me, the setup is super easy and quick and it just works (or at least it does for me). I spend almost a month trying to get XBMC to work well on Windows and just when I was about to give up I found Openelec. You can boot from a USB stick or an external HDD (preferred) to Openelec for main movie/TV/Hulu/Netflix/etc and boot to Win 7 for gaming.

Specs:
ASRock MB-A75M Socket FM1/ AMD A75 FCH/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ Micro ATX Motherboard
SilverStone Aluminum/Steel Micro ATX Media Center/HTPC Case ML03B (Black)
AMD A8-3870K APU with AMD Radeon 6550 HD Graphics 3.0GHz Unlocked Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Processor - Retail - AD3870WNGXBOX
Seasonic SS-400ET 400W 80 Plus bronze ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-4GBXL
HIS Radeon HD 6670 1GB (128bit) GDDR5 HDMI DVI-D (HDCP) VGA PCI Express X16 2.1 Low Profile Graphics Cards H667FN1G
Crucial M4 64GB SSD