Kodi Community Forum

I'm debating on getting a 251+ Qnap and am wondering about the pre-installed kodi experience....can it do everything? Can I load good skins?

I would personally keep the two separate to be honest.

(2015-11-20, 20:21)bry- Wrote: [ -> ]I would personally keep the two separate to be honest.

+1. Use NAS for your media, and ideally scape & save with your media your posters, fanart & metadata (.nfo) for each movie or TV (I use TinyMediaManager for example), but let the Kodi box you're using do everything else.

uhm. forgive my ignorance but i'm totally new to as/router/media streaming world. I had a boxee and ext hdd before. so I'm flying blind.

so uh scape & save? kodi box?

how do I separate? don't I need to have an htpc then or chrome box I guess attached to each tv if I do that? Not sure best way to do it for simple avi/mkv movie watching.

soon many options I just want to stream my movies to my tv, auto download torrents, have everything super pretty organized with metadata and fan art, etc. and stream music/movies to my iproducts. and backup stuff.

You don't have to use a tool like TinyMediaManager (tMM) or EmberMediaManager, but it helps if you do.

Here's a screenshot of how my movies live on my NAS. Each movie has its own folder. Now, here's a screenshot of what's inside each movie folder. I used Ember to scrape all this (and have now switched to tMM).

If you do above, then in Kodi, you just add each of your movie/TV sources, choose 'local only' scanning option, and let Kodi scan and add your libraries.

If you don't wish to do above, just name your movies & TV shows properly, choose online scan in Kodi, then scan. Kodi may incorrectly identify some movies & TV shows, but you can bring up content menu (right-click) for each and fix right from within Kodi.

As for Kodi skins, just go into Kodi's Settings > Appearance & install the skin you want. This is separate from above, but each skin renders your movie/TV collection differently (so, choose the skin whose design/views you like best).

+1, separate the two.

These days the popular choices are a NAS + a set-top-box media player.
For the NAS, it all depends on your requirements and budget. This device will have all your media files.
For the Media player (this device will play all your media from the NAS), don't spend more than $200. There are plenty of options, from the Fire TV stick, Google Nexus player and Pi2. which are less or around $50, to mini PCs and android boxes under $200 such as Chromebox, Wetek, Nvidia shield, , Zotac BI320, HP Stream Mini, ASrock Beebox, Tronsmart Ara X5, etc. All have threads out there.

Added bonus, if you have a NAS with all your media, you can watch/play from any device... A phone, tablet, PC, Kodi player, etc.

So (don't kick me for being dense), the Kodi uh I guess database of metadata (not sure what it's called but the info attached to my movies)...it wouldn't be stored on the chrome box for example But on the Qnap. And you use Kodi on the chrome box to just go find all this info and display it and then watch it. Ok I Think I have it.

If so, then I guess I don't need a quad core with 4gb nas that has Kodi preinstalled. I guess a dual core w 2gb could do it.

And maybe a Synology might do then instead of a Qnap since Ive heard it communicates more easily with W Mac.

And I am so researching those two - ember and tmm...thanks so much.



I've been back and forth all week on my choices, and just realized today I'd need a gigabit router. Ugh. And maybe transcoding features of Qnap ts-519.

Take things slow and buy things one at a time.

First, choose a media streamer. Shabuboy listed several options. Reformat one of your external HDDs and connect it to the USB port of your router so you can cheaply get used to network storage. Play around with your streamer to get familiar with Kodi and get it set up how you like. Decide on your storage solution ($$$) last.

Other than streaming to iDevices, even a lowly Raspberry Pi can do everything you want. Fight the urge to jump into the deep end with both feet. Simplify and spend as little as possible.

P.S. You don't need a gigabit router to stream Blu Ray quality media. It's only necessary if you stream high bit-rate media to 2+ players simultaneously. It'll also save your sanity if you transfer large files (e.g. Blu Ray rips) across your network frequently, such as from your computer to your NAS. If your NAS is a external HDD connected to your router, you can just plug the HDD into your computer when necessary.

Oh wow, ok. That's a good idea. I assumed nas first, to transfer movies on there before I dabble w Kodi.

I'm so scared by what I don't know, what I might be missing.

If you haven't already, install Kodi onto your normal computer. You can explore every nook and cranny of Kodi without spending a dime. Your current computer is already an awesome Kodi box. Buying new stuff is an exercise of figuring out where your current computer is overkill so you can downgrade and save $$$. Heck, a Raspberry Pi is weaker than a Pentium 4(!) and works just fine.

The first step is to get used to the file structure Kodi uses. Create a new text file on your desktop and rename it from "newfile.txt" to "movie.mkv" (i.e. make you computer think its a movie file by changing the extension). Copy and paste that file and rename the copy to "S01E01.mkv" Next, create a folder on your desktop labelled "Media." Create two folders inside of this "Media" folder and label them "Movies" and "TV Shows".

Create a folder in the "Movies" folder with the title and production year of a random movie. If you choose Avatar. the folder would be labeled, "Avatar (2009)". Place your "movie.mkv" file into this folder.

Create a folder in the "TV Shows" folder with the title of a random TV series. If you choose The Simpsons, the folder would be labelled "The Simpsons". Create a folder inside "The Simpsons" and label it "Season 01". Place your "S01E01.mkv" file into this folder.

Open Kodi and follow this guide to add your newly create "Movies" and "TV Shows" folders as media sources. Congratulations, you've just figured out 90% of what makes Kodi great! You can make new folders and files just as above for any movie or TV show you can think of. You can even create a 5,000 movie & 30,000 episode imaginary media library if you want.

Another +1 to separate the two.

Kodi on a small box (even running on a inexpensive RaspberryPi) near the TV.
A NAS that can be as powerful and noisy as it needs to be placed somewhere else.