2021-12-23, 22:14
Hello everybody,
I started a thread about this topic in the german kodi-nerds forum and it turns out that there seems to be no such function or plugin yet, so i would like to place this feature request here.
We have a NAS-Server in my family which is connected over a 100/40mbit DSL-Line. The familymembers can access this fileserver with their devices (HTPCs, Laptops, mobile phones oder tabletes) over a VPN + SMB/CIFS shares. In general, playing media files with Kodi over this connection and shares works quiet well, especially with a big cache size against sporadic high latency or paket loss.
It becomes problematic when bandwith is low and bitrates of the mediafiles are higher than the available bandwith. This can happen if there is to much traffic on DSL-line because of downloads/uploads, QoS-rules for online gaming/VoIP, bad WiFi-environment or a bad connection between the DSL-line and the device.
So, here is the feature request.
If you know the "download" function in spotify to play music when you are offline or when you have bad mobile connectivity, you know what i would like to see in Kodi.
It would be nice to see such a function native in Kodi to download/cache whole media files from the library on persistent device-storage like the local HDD/SSD/Flash. At the moment, there is only a cache which is rather a playback buffer which is emptied when the media file gets stopped.
There should be a option to enable persistant video cache on a local storage for the following scenarios:
- If one starts a media file, the file should start and also should be downloaded into the cache instantly in a background task. This would be helpful in situations with less bandwith, but with enough bandwith to wait some minutes till the cache is filled to playback the whole media file.
or
- If one selects a single media file or maybe a whole Season/Album/whatsoever in the medialibrary for offline playback. This would be helpful in scenarios where you know that you will not have proper connecitivy or where you will be offline. For example, during a flight or when you are on vacation and you know that all guests will be online if it rains or in the evening.
For better usability, following options would be nice:
- there should be a information, which projects if the cached size in relation to the current bandwith is enoughh to playback a file until the end. This would be nice to know for instand playbacks.
- A download cue for this caching function would be nice
- It should be possible, to delete/sort/pause the background download tasks/cue
- A option to priorize downloads which are initiated from instant playbacks
- It should be possible to set a cache folder and maximum cache size.
- It should be possible to delete cached files manually
- A option to automatically delete files would be nice. For example the oldest files when cache is full (like a proxy does it) , but also a automatic delete option for viewed files (maybe with a delay, not immediatly) / unseen cached files which are older than ...
- A option to allow downloads only when device is connected with unlimited quota (which might be a bit tricky over a VPN-connection...)
What do you think about this feature request?
WatchDog
I started a thread about this topic in the german kodi-nerds forum and it turns out that there seems to be no such function or plugin yet, so i would like to place this feature request here.
We have a NAS-Server in my family which is connected over a 100/40mbit DSL-Line. The familymembers can access this fileserver with their devices (HTPCs, Laptops, mobile phones oder tabletes) over a VPN + SMB/CIFS shares. In general, playing media files with Kodi over this connection and shares works quiet well, especially with a big cache size against sporadic high latency or paket loss.
It becomes problematic when bandwith is low and bitrates of the mediafiles are higher than the available bandwith. This can happen if there is to much traffic on DSL-line because of downloads/uploads, QoS-rules for online gaming/VoIP, bad WiFi-environment or a bad connection between the DSL-line and the device.
So, here is the feature request.
If you know the "download" function in spotify to play music when you are offline or when you have bad mobile connectivity, you know what i would like to see in Kodi.
It would be nice to see such a function native in Kodi to download/cache whole media files from the library on persistent device-storage like the local HDD/SSD/Flash. At the moment, there is only a cache which is rather a playback buffer which is emptied when the media file gets stopped.
There should be a option to enable persistant video cache on a local storage for the following scenarios:
- If one starts a media file, the file should start and also should be downloaded into the cache instantly in a background task. This would be helpful in situations with less bandwith, but with enough bandwith to wait some minutes till the cache is filled to playback the whole media file.
or
- If one selects a single media file or maybe a whole Season/Album/whatsoever in the medialibrary for offline playback. This would be helpful in scenarios where you know that you will not have proper connecitivy or where you will be offline. For example, during a flight or when you are on vacation and you know that all guests will be online if it rains or in the evening.
For better usability, following options would be nice:
- there should be a information, which projects if the cached size in relation to the current bandwith is enoughh to playback a file until the end. This would be nice to know for instand playbacks.
- A download cue for this caching function would be nice
- It should be possible, to delete/sort/pause the background download tasks/cue
- A option to priorize downloads which are initiated from instant playbacks
- It should be possible to set a cache folder and maximum cache size.
- It should be possible to delete cached files manually
- A option to automatically delete files would be nice. For example the oldest files when cache is full (like a proxy does it) , but also a automatic delete option for viewed files (maybe with a delay, not immediatly) / unseen cached files which are older than ...
- A option to allow downloads only when device is connected with unlimited quota (which might be a bit tricky over a VPN-connection...)
What do you think about this feature request?
WatchDog