[DaveBlake]

Yeap, did just that. Well copied the music library, thumbnails and sources.xml (otherwise things can get confused). I usefully had a backup of the userdata, taken before the Pi2 broke in the thunderstorm, as I couldn't see how to get that from the SD card directly (using a reader on a PC).

Tried out LE 7.0.2 (Kodi 16.1), but it seemed very slow to respond to my mouse clicks. Not sure that copying the thumbnails actually helped either, it was slowly populating them on screen. Was using a different SD card, perhaps that was causing the slowness?

Then thought what the heck let's get Krypton on there! Of course to use the music library improvements I need to re-scan anyway, so decided to start from scratch. LE 7.95.5 installed using the SD creator, switched back to Confluence (so the family won't notice) and it is busy re-scanning the music now.

The scraping of artist artwork and additional information is next. It is a good reminder that we need to look at easy ways to transfer scraped info from one installation to another rather than hammer the Musicbrainz servers for info I already have retrieved.

[popcornmix]

Not sure that copying the thumbnails actually helped either, it was slowly populating them on screen.

Remember that .kodi/userdata/Database/Textures13.db and .kodi/userdata/Thumbnails/ go together.
Only copy one if you are copying the other or you'll just have lots of orphaned textures and confused databases.

[DaveBlake]

Not sure that copying the thumbnails actually helped either, it was slowly populating them on screen.

Remember that .kodi/userdata/Database/Textures13.db and .kodi/userdata/Thumbnails/ go together.
Only copy one if you are copying the other or you'll just have lots of orphaned textures and confused databases.

Ah ha! Thanks for that, forgot textures database. I'll make a note for the future. I think the slowness of 7.0.2 was also down to it trying to use WiFi rather than lan to connect to my NAS drive.

Meanwhile it has been good for me to have the user experience of installing a fresh version of Kodi onto Pi, and having Krypton on family test makes sense too. All I need now is a new TV.

[Cloutian]

No relation to your question since it was answered by changing to LibreElec but just wanted to add I didn't know it was even a thing. Tried it on a spare SD card and I'm really surprised how much smoother it loads WITHOUT the need of an overclock. Visually it's about the same. I haven't tried any streaming yet but this is pretty cool for only being an alpha.

[skylarking]

Just found out that both my TV and the RPi connected to it running Kodi (15.0 on Openelec) have been nuked in a thunderstorm

So have been shopping for a new pi, and ordered a RPi 3 (Pi2 model B nolonger available). When it gets here can I just plug it all in, swap the SD card and expect it to work?

I swap my RPi2 uSD card into my RPi3 without issue.
But since your TV was killed during a thunderstorm, which isn't really a warranty issue , i'd claim the TV cost and RPi via your home co tents insurance and consider replacing the RPi with an android TV.
Of couser this assums kodi will work as well on an android TV as it does on the RPi2/3. The benifit is it gets rid of another (small) box and it's wall wart from being around/under/behind the TV

[herrmeier01]

Just found out that both my TV and the RPi connected to it running Kodi (15.0 on Openelec) have been nuked in a thunderstorm

So have been shopping for a new pi, and ordered a RPi 3 (Pi2 model B nolonger available). When it gets here can I just plug it all in, swap the SD card and expect it to work?

I swap my RPi2 uSD card into my RPi3 without issue.
But since your TV was killed during a thunderstorm, which isn't really a warranty issue , i'd claim the TV cost and RPi via your home co tents insurance and consider replacing the RPi with an android TV.
Of couser this assums kodi will work as well on an android TV as it does on the RPi2/3. The benifit is it gets rid of another (small) box and it's wall wart from being around/under/behind the TV

An Android TV running Kodi is never a replacemend of a Pi running LE. The functionallity, usability, stability and feature proof is so much higher with the Pi...

[DaveBlake]

Yes RPi3 replaced PRi2 no problem, but you need a Kodi version that works on RPi3 i.e. Jarvis or beyond. I whole heartedly recommend LibreElec, it really is so easy to install with the Card Creator app they offer.

I don't know for sure that the thunderstorm did it, there was no obvious strike (or burning!!) and the other electrical items in the house (and all the occupants) are all fine. But the first time I tried to use the TV and Pi after the storm they didn't work. I suspect that a voltage spike came down from the pole mounted transformer that serves just my house with power - rural location. It cut out briefly, but maybe not so cleanly. The TV should have been designed with sufficient protection, but maybe didn't. That took the Pi that was connected to it. But it is all conjecture on my part, and the timing could just be a coincidence. So going to use the warranty on the TV with a clear conscience.

Actually since owning a "smart" TV I think I would rather have a dumb one that started instantly. It is disturbing that using the TV is getting more like Windows Seriously, I like having things separate and replaceable/upgradeable separately. The size of my hifi amp make all the other boxes look tiny, and the Pi box really is tiny, so clutter not an issue.

And Kodi on Android.... There are a lot more people working to keep Kodi running well on the various Linux variants and hardware than there are on Android. This makes a huge difference. Hats off to all those that volunteer their time and skills to make Kodi work on such a variety of hardware and OS.

[skylarking]

Yeah, if in doubt about the cause of your TV issue, then warranty should sort it out.

I also use latest LibreELEC on my RPi3 connected to my old Pioneer TV. It works well but the TV is slow at channel changing though picture makes up for it.

As for Kogi on an Android TV, after reading this it seems such a solution is not as mature as i hoped... maybe in time...

And i'm all for having a well built monitor like large size display but sadly thats not common at affordable price points. As such, features go unused where other boxes take up the slack As do the countless 8open source developers that take up the slack left by comercial providers

Good luck with getting you system up and running again.