Hello All,
Current, Sagetv user and getting an Ouya when released. Already looking to try XBMC. I'm used to the server/client where all the clients are sync'd with the server for watched and uniformed data. I've been looking around and found 2 options for XBMC (is there another way?)
- Headless: option http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=133434
- share libraries using mySQL: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...sing_MySQL
Do both do the same thing? Is there a difference?
On a different note: Is PLEX a bad word in this forum?
Seems the headless server is only for Linux server. Thought I saw for windows, guess I mis-read. Is there a pre-configured ISO with XBMC Linux?
UPnP is easier to set up, but requires unstable test builds to have watched flags synced. MySQL is more complicated to set up, but can be used with the stable XBMC v12.2.
Personally, I would try with UPnP first.
UPnP can only be served to a XBMC client from a XBMC host correct? In other words no third party UPnP server/host can be used, correct? If that's true that might be a factor on which to choose. Mysql can be setup on a NAS (ie unRaid) where a XBMC isn't possible (difficult based on hardware requirements of XBMC). Does the headless version support UPnP? Does UPnP support resuming from paused/stop location on all clients?
NED, Which build would you suggest? Alpha 4 build?
I am also trying PLEX server and used PleXMBC plug-in in XBMC. It doesn't seem to get the data to the XBMC. I have to go through the PleXMBC link to get to the videos, pics and music. + I doubt it would keep the watched and paused/stop location using XBMC client.
I'm going through a huge learning curve here. I'm doing a lot of reading and trying things out but just raises more questions.
In order of stability:
The most stable and well documented option at this moment is using MySQL but it can be a lot of work to set up. It works with the most stable version of XBMC, version 12.2 Frodo.
UPnP sharing between XBMC clients is way easier to set up, and it is getting better as development is done but currently is still not feature-complete. Because it is available in the Gotham releases (XBMC 13) the stability of the rest of the build may vary. If you want to try XBMC 13, go for one of the alpha builds as they are generally speaking a tad more stable than the nighly builds. UPnP sharing is definitely the future for library sharing with XBMC.
Headless setup is not even in beta but many development steps are being made (by different people) that will contribute to making it completely possible in the future. The thread you linked to is someone who saw an option and wanted to try it out. Extremely unstable, undocumented and your-mileage-may-vary. For the experienced and adventurous user.
Basic sharing will work in v12.2, but for shared watched and resume points, an Alpha v13 (Gotham) version will be needed.
I would start with Alpha 4, and if it crashes a lot, go to Alpha 3, etc.
(2013-06-11, 08:49)bnevets27 Wrote: [ -> ]UPnP can only be served to a XBMC client from a XBMC host correct? In other words no third party UPnP server/host can be used, correct? If that's true that might be a factor on which to choose. Mysql can be setup on a NAS (ie unRaid) where a XBMC isn't possible (difficult based on hardware requirements of XBMC). Does the headless version support UPnP? Does UPnP support resuming from paused/stop location on all clients?
Off hand, I'm not sure. I would need to poke our UPnP guy, alcoheca, about that. At least regarding resume points. Basic UPnP sharing and even metadata (summaries, cover art, etc) should be using UPnP AV standards that other servers can include.
Ok. Trying upnp in 12.2 first. I'm able to see the upnp library going through the file navigation. But is it able to see the files as an imported folder with fanart?
Using 12.2: Still playing with it and was able to setup movies on my central computer with Upnp enabled. But when I'm at a client, on the main menu, I push movies (have 0 movies), I have to go to files and click on the Upnp XBMC media share. Is there a way to just push movies from the main menu?
XBMC really needs its own headerless server version, I don't want to have to run XBMC on my microserver just to send metadata and share my media around devices.
People don't want to use the mysql setup because it looks unsuported and unstable, there are giant red warnings saying not to use the latest mysql, why has xbmc not updated to use later versions, Why would you want to go through the setup process if its not supported.
Also how do you update that mysql library when new media is downloaded? Do you have to run xbmc on the server again? This needs to be automatic.
What never was mentioned was what if you have 2 clients, but they never are turned on at the same time?
With this proposal, that requires both clients to scrape the data. (if mysql is used only one need to scrape data).
This problem also increases by the number of clients added, if you have a "master"-xbmc, that one is required to be turned on in order to other clients to receive the updates.
And since probably a great deal of users store their data in some kind of NAS, It will require them to have another device turned on 24/7 in order for new content to always be available to all clients.
With a NAS and a mysql-database, that other box is only required to be turned on when scraping new data, and can then be turned off.
For me personally, i would prefer the mysql-solution over this uPNP-proposal every day. And in my experience, i have NEVER had an issue with mysql being slow (since all data is stored in RAM if configured properly). I would even say that is outperforms sqlite on my clients by a mile even with the network-latency added.
If the videos are on something like an SMB share then XBMC could just store the SMB path, which would allow only one client to be on at a time. UPnP communicates those paths already, preventing wasted bandwidth.
Only one XBMC instance needs to scrape, because the metadata is transferred during the sync.
A server mode or version of XBMC that can run on any device that can run MySQL is another option we often talk about.