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XBMC "Server" - centralized XBMC management for multiple XBMC devices/platforms?
Thanks blacklist. I was able to setup the mysql and access the data from client. You mentioned about thumbnails and fanart

"The only other trick to making this work is to share the fanart and thumbs directory from xbmc so that all the clients can pull from there. Otherwise getting fanart etc is a big of a piano, since the local clients don't scrape it themselves."

How do you do that? I shared the Thumbnails folder on server side. Now what configuration is required at the client side to access these thumbnails and fanart?

Thanks,
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The XBMC Server idea rocks, maybe it can be developed in Java, so we can run it in almost any OS available.

IMHO, the ideal setup would be a mixed schema, with a remote repository of all movie/music info served by a Java SQL server like HSQLDB and the thumbs served by a HTTP server, and a local synchronized version of it's data.

In that way, we could have the speed of local stored data and centralized server distribution.
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Would it be possible to....

Build robust Server box running either windows home server or 2011 server, using a robust quad or hex core and 3 video cards to run 3 instances of XBMC by running them on individual VMWARE machines and then going the route mentioned above about sharing the SQL DB and art/thumbnails? Would be running the outputs of each VM w/ its own card to a HDMI matrix swtich (from there going out via hdmi extendeders) to play diffferent streams on different TVs throughout the house. I would prob run the XBMC "server" instance on the actual server OS that would be fed to onboard video for admin.

Possible?

90% of my content is 1080p mkvs's between 10gb and 20gb apiece....

Would like to be able to control the VM copies of XBMC from the tablet remote apps currently available on the android market...

I am more worried about the XBMCs talking to each other properly and if anyone has put a processor through the paces of dealing with decoding streams. I know I have will network/HD bandwidth covered, as well as the the video distribution outside of the server itself.
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For Windows 7:

Has anyone tried running the exe remotely using Windows 7 homegroup? I know it doesn't make this a true client/server set of applications but at least it resolve installing and configuring xbmc on all the computers.
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(2012-04-30, 21:31)TheMonkeyKing Wrote: For Windows 7:

Has anyone tried running the exe remotely using Windows 7 homegroup? I know it doesn't make this a true client/server set of applications but at least it resolve installing and configuring xbmc on all the computers.

I installed Office 2007 over Homegroup. Didn't seem to take much time either, about the same as installing it on the same computer
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(2012-03-14, 21:09)stang725 Wrote: Would it be possible to....

Build robust Server box running either windows home server or 2011 server, using a robust quad or hex core and 3 video cards to run 3 instances of XBMC by running them on individual VMWARE machines and then going the route mentioned above about sharing the SQL DB and art/thumbnails? Would be running the outputs of each VM w/ its own card to a HDMI matrix swtich (from there going out via hdmi extendeders) to play diffferent streams on different TVs throughout the house. I would prob run the XBMC "server" instance on the actual server OS that would be fed to onboard video for admin.

Possible?

90% of my content is 1080p mkvs's between 10gb and 20gb apiece....

Would like to be able to control the VM copies of XBMC from the tablet remote apps currently available on the android market...

I am more worried about the XBMCs talking to each other properly and if anyone has put a processor through the paces of dealing with decoding streams. I know I have will network/HD bandwidth covered, as well as the the video distribution outside of the server itself.

I don't think I would run multiple VM's, but it can be done that way. Instead, I would make one VM a Win Server with Terminal Server. Let it run your Myth install. Then do separate RDP sessions into that box. Let VMWare manage the processor and you'll be better off. The problem with this solution, you have to use a mouse. Individual RDP sessions do not have their own IP address.

Let's say you go the route of building multiple VM's. VM's are not known for having amazing graphic performance. Even with their nVidia partnership, it is not up to the standard your data is.

So in the end, I see it like this. Doing it your way, you would need to purchase a dual processor server with about 16GB RAM, your choice of Win flavor (I assume), 3 high end graphics cards, adapter card for the server to handle multiple video cards. I'd say you're looking at about $9k in hardware. This might seem high, but I've been pricing servers for a few years now.

But, you could also build a barebone box to host your myth install on, then build 3 amazing client boxes. Probably closer to $4k.

If you can deal with a mouse, the first suggestion would run you about $1500

(I'd love to long term have a beefcake server backend with an iSCSI SAN, the wife is getting upset with the number of drives there are around)
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(2012-06-16, 09:00)theeagleguy Wrote:
(2012-03-14, 21:09)stang725 Wrote: Would it be possible to....

Build robust Server box running either windows home server or 2011 server, using a robust quad or hex core and 3 video cards to run 3 instances of XBMC by running them on individual VMWARE machines and then going the route mentioned above about sharing the SQL DB and art/thumbnails? Would be running the outputs of each VM w/ its own card to a HDMI matrix swtich (from there going out via hdmi extendeders) to play diffferent streams on different TVs throughout the house. I would prob run the XBMC "server" instance on the actual server OS that would be fed to onboard video for admin.

Possible?

90% of my content is 1080p mkvs's between 10gb and 20gb apiece....

Would like to be able to control the VM copies of XBMC from the tablet remote apps currently available on the android market...

I am more worried about the XBMCs talking to each other properly and if anyone has put a processor through the paces of dealing with decoding streams. I know I have will network/HD bandwidth covered, as well as the the video distribution outside of the server itself.

I don't think I would run multiple VM's, but it can be done that way. Instead, I would make one VM a Win Server with Terminal Server. Let it run your Myth install. Then do separate RDP sessions into that box. Let VMWare manage the processor and you'll be better off. The problem with this solution, you have to use a mouse. Individual RDP sessions do not have their own IP address.

Let's say you go the route of building multiple VM's. VM's are not known for having amazing graphic performance. Even with their nVidia partnership, it is not up to the standard your data is.

So in the end, I see it like this. Doing it your way, you would need to purchase a dual processor server with about 16GB RAM, your choice of Win flavor (I assume), 3 high end graphics cards, adapter card for the server to handle multiple video cards. I'd say you're looking at about $9k in hardware. This might seem high, but I've been pricing servers for a few years now.

But, you could also build a barebone box to host your myth install on, then build 3 amazing client boxes. Probably closer to $4k.

If you can deal with a mouse, the first suggestion would run you about $1500

(I'd love to long term have a beefcake server backend with an iSCSI SAN, the wife is getting upset with the number of drives there are around)

On the other hand you could spend a few hundred dollars on a server and fill it with hard drives. Install some sort of linux (ubuntu server?) with mysql. Then buy 3 ION based zotac or revo machines and install xbmcbuntu on them. Much cheaper, no windows licensing, great video decoding and well capable of those high bitrate x264 files.
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XBMC "Server" - centralized XBMC management for multiple XBMC devices/platforms?0