Kodi Community Forum

Hey all,

Apologies for any wrong usage of headless etc, I'm still dipping my toes into this part of Kodi and I'm totally new to Raspberry Pi's! I'm building a retropie for Christmas (well it's my gift from the wife)

For a while now I have wanted to run a database at the back end off my Unraid box to support the multiple Kodi installations around our house.
I tried playing around with advancedsettings.xml and doing it that way but I could not get the other kodi installs to pick it up, the main media PC was fine though.

Before someone suggests Emby I hated it. it messed up far too often especially on the Tv stick. Usually not updating/taking an age or just plain telling me a file wasn't there.

I also don't like Plex as my database, while I have used plex in the past. It lacks something for me, and Kodi ticked the right boxes.

I've got a couchpotatoe/sickrage set up that covers my scrapping to my unraid server.

I debated running a kodi headless from unraid but there have been a ton of issues from what I gather with it, and I wondered if my old old server running unraid lacked the power to keep it ticking over.

Which has brought me to the Raspberry Pi! I am torn between putting an RP3 behind the bedroom TV and letting it run all the time on an auto-directory update every few hours and running the others off the database it maintains.

So the way it all stacks up

Main TV - Media PC with Kodi
Study - PC Kodi
Bedroom - Amazon Fire TV Stick - Kodi
Server - Unraid

So the 2 ways I see it is:
RP3 Headless updating the database
RP3 on the Bedroom TV updating the database on a timer.

Everything is on Wifi (bar the main media PC)

Is there any benefit of one over the other?
Any suggestions where to start? Are there guides available? I've got lost trying to get into it, and thought I'd come to the best place for info!
Am I missing anything, or does it seem like I'm on the right path?

Thanks all!
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

A third option is to install Mysql (wiki) on the server and make that the database for all your kodi clients.

(2016-12-20, 14:21)Av3nged Wrote: [ -> ]A third option is to install Mysql (wiki) on the server and make that the database for all your kodi clients.

A that's kinda what I thought a headless/updater would do?
If I base the database on the unraid (fiddly at times but I'm willing to persevere) and use the RP3 to update it I guess?

All of your kodi installs will be using that database and you can add a new source or update an existing one on any of the kodi installs. The database will be updated and all the other kodi installs will reflect that.

(2016-12-20, 14:21)Av3nged Wrote: [ -> ]A third option is to install Mysql (wiki) on the server and make that the database for all your kodi clients.

^^^This. Then just use the XBMC Library Autoupdate addon from the main Kodi repository. It works seamlessly.

Excellent, that seems the best plan then.

Any opinions on a headless one left somewhere on the wifi just updating every so often or plugged into a TV? I'ev already got the amazon fire set up in the bedroom but it's fiddly as hell with Kodi.

(2016-12-20, 13:07)Rodimus Wrote: [ -> ]...

Main TV - Media PC with Kodi
Study - PC Kodi
Bedroom - Amazon Fire TV Stick - Kodi
Server - Unraid

...

If you turn the pc’s on and off all the time you could turn on the setting to update library on start-up. If you leave one on 24/7 already you should do the following.

(2016-12-20, 15:07)speedwell68 Wrote: [ -> ]^^^This. Then just use the XBMC Library Autoupdate addon from the main Kodi repository. It works seamlessly.

(2016-12-20, 14:50)Av3nged Wrote: [ -> ]All of your kodi installs will be using that database and you can add a new source or update an existing one on any of the kodi installs. The database will be updated and all the other kodi installs will reflect that.

(2016-12-20, 15:07)speedwell68 Wrote: [ -> ]

(2016-12-20, 14:21)Av3nged Wrote: [ -> ]A third option is to install Mysql (wiki) on the server and make that the database for all your kodi clients.

^^^This. Then just use the XBMC Library Autoupdate addon from the main Kodi repository. It works seamlessly.

(2016-12-20, 15:56)Av3nged Wrote: [ -> ]

(2016-12-20, 13:07)Rodimus Wrote: [ -> ]...

Main TV - Media PC with Kodi
Study - PC Kodi
Bedroom - Amazon Fire TV Stick - Kodi
Server - Unraid

...

If you turn the pc’s on and off all the time you could turn on the setting to update library on start-up. If you leave one on 24/7 already you should do the following.

(2016-12-20, 15:07)speedwell68 Wrote: [ -> ]^^^This. Then just use the XBMC Library Autoupdate addon from the main Kodi repository. It works seamlessly.

The main Study one is always on, but Kodi isn't not hard to leave a minimised window though.

Why not just use the "Trakt" addon on all your kodi machines? This will sync you're watched and progress status etc to an online database and sync it.

Then just activate the "update library on start up" or install the watchdog addon to update instantly as soon as something is added to your server.

Anyways, food for thought.

(2016-12-20, 18:50)loggio Wrote: [ -> ]Why not just use the "Trakt" addon on all your kodi machines? This will sync you're watched and progress status etc to an online database and sync it.

Then just activate the "update library on start up" or install the watchdog addon to update instantly as soon as something is added to your server.

Anyways, food for thought.

I'd not heard of this option, does the Trackt plugin do mid-episode updates? (Really a pipedream...rarely an issue)

Not sure mate, give it a go and see what you think.

(2016-12-20, 21:45)loggio Wrote: [ -> ]Not sure mate, give it a go and see what you think.

It looks really decent, and has to be less hassle than an sql database!
I think I might set a RP3 on the bedroom TV with the plugins to keep everything updating.

Go MySQL, don't depend on a third party for such essential functionality.

(2016-12-21, 11:13)nickr Wrote: [ -> ]Go MySQL, don't depend on a third party for such essential functionality.

^^^This in spades.

Agree - MySQL is the was to keep a number of kodi devices in the same house synced up.