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Hello guys, I come today seeking for help stepping up my XBMC setup. So far I have used XBMC in one HTPC in my living room, with the media files spread between 3 internal drives and 1 external drive, using a local library and running XBMC 11 Eden on Windows 7 Ultimate. The structure I have used up until now is as follows:

D:\Movies (each movie in its folder)
D:\TV SHOWS (each show in its folder with Season subfolders containing the episodes)
same thing on drives E,F,G

The thumbnails reside on the userdata folder, not on the folders of the movies, and some movie folders have an .nfo file I have created to force them to belong to a certain movie set.

The idea of this project is to move all the media from these drives to a Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra Plus 4. I have been reading a bit on what to do to move the media to the NAS and recreate the library, but it seems there is some outdated info regarding this (Lifehacker guide to centralize the library, for example), so I preferred to create this thread to ask for help. I also want to make the library shared (from what I read I need to use MySQL).

My first step will be to backup my userdata folder including the library just in case, and then proceed to copy the files to folders in the NAS named MOVIES and TV SHOWS, trying to keep the existing structure.

The first question is Should I set the share as NFS or SMB? I read the best way is NFS as it is more optimized.

Second, How do I proceed to move/modify the library and make it a shared library on the NAS and re-add the files? From what I've read the first step is to export the library as separate files, is this correct?

Third, How to setup the shared library through MySQL? No clue on this although I will read the Lifehacker guide to at least have some idea. Since I have 3 other computers the idea is to install XBMC in them to access the shared library too, as well as mobile devices.

Fourth, I need to keep the thumbnails and fanart I currently have, not re-scrape from the internet. This is crucial as I have painstakingly picked different covers, tvtunes and fanart for each movie than what is selected automatically when you add/update the library. Although keeping the watched status would be great, the priority for me is the thumbs and fanart.

Lastly, what should I do with/clean from the userdata folder that currently is the main one I used in the living room HTPC? This will be after all my main HTPC for XBMC.

Apologies beforehand for the long post, but wanted to be as clear as possible, and thank you in advance...

MADSAT

Most of what you're looking for can be found with this guide: MySQL (wiki)

Thank you Ned, I have read the link and some other forums, but I still don't have 2 things clear:

- When first exporting the local library, should I use single file or separate files? The guides Ive read vary, the Wiki mostly says single file, the guides say separate files, which is better? Keep in mind each of my movies reside in its own folder... and depending on which method I choose then the rest of the process will be different.

- Still haven't found a clear solution to the thumbnails, the idea is to move all thumbnails to the NAS, but it is important that all the thumbnails are kept exactly as I have them now on the local machine.

- If I generate a single library on export then that means I have to import the library once it is on the NAS, but if separate files are exported then it means it will have to do a re-import/re-scrape of the whole NAS source. Again, which methos is recommended?

Thank you all for your help and patience,

MADSAT

(2012-11-30, 21:45)MADSAT Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you Ned, I have read the link and some other forums, but I still don't have 2 things clear:

- When first exporting the local library, should I use single file or separate files? The guides Ive read vary, the Wiki mostly says single file, the guides say separate files, which is better? Keep in mind each of my movies reside in its own folder... and depending on which method I choose then the rest of the process will be different.

you should export into seperate files. this will cause xbmc to write the info files and thumbs from its internal sqlite database into the folders of the media

Quote:- Still haven't found a clear solution to the thumbnails, the idea is to move all thumbnails to the NAS, but it is important that all the thumbnails are kept exactly as I have them now on the local machine.

frodo beta and above supports thumbnails with the mysql database, earlier versions did not. those frodo beta 1 and forward will snyc the thumbnails with a mysql database. the thumbnails and banner images and fanarts should be in the folders of with the videos (or in the appropriate subfolders) and if I remember correctly the mysql database will store links to the images. Thus if your media is moved to the NAS the images will go with it, and mysql will store the links (or paths) to the appropriate artwork.

Quote:- If I generate a single library on export then that means I have to import the library once it is on the NAS, but if separate files are exported then it means it will have to do a re-import/re-scrape of the whole NAS source. Again, which methos is recommended?

you should do the export as individual files then clear all entries from your source list. Make the appropriate advanced settings file, then on one of your clients you will still need to set sources, however smb and not local paths. This will cause the sources to be scanned for the info files and artwork and the database entries will be written. all other clients should only have an advanced settings xml and no sources added. when new material is added, the machine with the sources list will find the new material and update the database.

Quote:Thank you all for your help and patience,

MADSAT

hope this helps

slithers

I would export to a single library, then adjust the paths using a find/replace in textedit.

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

Exporting to multiple files is probably easiest, as it doesn't require the find/replace in a text editor. Personally I don't like having NFO files scattered about my library, so I use the single file method to move my library. If you're unsure, multiple files will have less chance for error.

The instructions change a little bit for multiple file export. When you set up MySQL with multiple file (NFO) export you skip the part that says to import the library. Instead you just add the video source, set the scraper, and do everything as if you were scanning the files in for the very first time. Except what happens is that XBMC looks for NFO and local art files first before looking to the internet, so you end up with an identical library. Either way, XBMC is rescanning the same amount of information, it's just organized in different files instead of one file.

You don't need to do anything for thumbnails for XBMC v12 "Frodo", and I highly recommend just jumping on the beta for that as it is now usable on a day-to-day basis (keeping in mind that it is still possible for major bugs to crop up). If you don't want to jump to Frodo, you're free to try the Path substitution method found on the advanced page of the MySQL (wiki) guide.

How about if you want to maintain the 'watched flags' across the conversion? (unlike the original poster, this is the main reason I use a media center as it makes it easy to keep track of many shows)

Create an advancedsettings.xml and use the <importwatchedstate> tag. When you import again, it will also import your watched state.

Thank you guys for the help. I think I will try the single file method, but I'll postpone the library centralization for a week since I am returning the Readynas and getting a Synology DS1512+ NAS. The Readynas unfortunately has a horrid interface plus it gave me some errors installing some of the packages. So my choices were QNAP or Synology and of the two Synology looks more dedicated on the software side at least plus better customer service.

In the meantime I think I'll follow Ned's advise and jump into Frodo whih should make the thumbnails process easier, although it's been such a long time I don't update xbmc that I forgot if I can just install it on top of the previous one... any suggestions?

Yep, you can just install it right on top of the old install. However, it's always a good idea to backup the userdata folder (wiki).

Ok perfect, I have executed a clean library command, exported the library to a single file and backed up the userdata folder, while i backup the video files to an external drive to transfer once I get the new NAS. I will install Frodo today, any known incompatibilities for add-ons? Or any playback issues? I do mostly HD mkv files...

Thank you for all your help!

Addons are still few and far inbetween for frodo because either they are unmaintained or not updated/submitted to frodo repo. (specially skins because ppl always moan about lack of skins) Though whoever has git probably already did something frodo wise, some have NOT (probably MIA or unmaintained)

Playback is fine as long as your XBMC settings are correct for your machine. If you have a nvidia have a gander at last link on my sig for clews how to setup xbmc for perfect playback with 23.976Hz and 24Hz.

uNi