[XBL.]

I'm afraid the problem is deeper than that when it comes to XBOX, because the MySQL feature hasn't been ported to that branch, and according to the developers it never will. But it is implemented for windows, osx and linux so far, and it's been reported to work on the three platforms without much problems. There was a bug that affected storage of local paths under Windows environments, but it was recently fixed by firnsy (the developer this feature), see ticket #9022 for more info.

Thanks for you info.

It's pitty that the Xbox branch is not updated anymore, since it's still a very nice and cheap solution. But I can understand, as no Xbox's are produced anymore (and scarcely available on Ebay).

So I guess point (3) is solved, if there's no problem with conflicting paths (really looking forward to testing this, with my living setup and my latop for instance - pitty I probably have to abandon the Xbox though).

Point (2) still stands: will it be possible to run some kind of 'master server' to populate the database? Is there anything in the works for this?

[charrua]

Point (2) still stands: will it be possible to run some kind of 'master server' to populate the database? Is there anything in the works for this?

I believe that it is possible indeed. You can run XBMC in the server without a monitor, and make it populate and refresh db contents through its HTTPAPI.
Another option (in the near future) could be Ember Media Manager, I've read somewhere that it may provide (in a future version) the possiblility to scrape movie and tvshows info and store it directly in XBMC database without XBMC intervention. We just have to wait and see for that one.

[RckStr]

As suggested before set XBMC in debug mode and analize the log or post it in the forum for others to analize and try to find the cause of the problem.

Ive been on easter vacation and havent had time to play more with this untill now. Ive set up machine 2 and it behaves as slowly as the first. I tried reading the log and im not sure what to make of it. It seems though xbmc is trying to cache all fanart and thumbs from the SQL server and thats whats making it slow. I dont seem to be allowed to attach the log here, but here is a quick cut and paste:

00:43:57 T:2959998976 M:527224832 DEBUG: Time for actual SQL query = 113
00:43:58 T:2959998976 M:526381056 DEBUG: Time to retrieve movies from dataset = 990
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526381056 WARNING: CRITSEC[0xbfffe0a4]: Trying to initialze initialized section.
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526376960 WARNING: CRITSEC[0x24df92c]: Trying to initialze initialized section.
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526368768 DEBUG: CDatabase: Connecting to database ViewModes at /Users/RckStr/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/Database:
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526364672 DEBUG: CDatabase: Connecting to database ViewModes at /Users/RckStr/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/Database:
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526360576 DEBUG: CDatabase: Connecting to database ViewModes at /Users/RckStr/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/Database:
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526360576 DEBUG: Saving fileitems [videodb://1/2/]
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526286848 DEBUG: -- items: 953, sort method: 23, ascending: true
00:43:58 T:2693182688 M:526278656 DEBUG: CDatabase: Connecting to database xbmc_video at 192.168.1.10:3306
00:44:03 T:2960531456 M:516050944 DEBUG: thread start, auto delete: 0
00:44:03 T:2956742656 M:516022272 DEBUG: DoWork - trying to extract thumb from video file smb://MEDIASERVER/E/1080/XIII.The.Conspiracy.2008.1080p.BluRay.x264-RESiSTANCE/xthcnsprcgrt.mkv
00:44:03 T:2693182688 M:520196096 DEBUG: ------ Window Deinit (DialogBusy.xml) ------
00:44:03 T:2960531456 M:523235328 DEBUG: OpenDir - Using authentication url smb://MEDIASERVER/E/1080/XIII%2eThe%2eConspiracy%2e2008%2e1080p%2eBluRay%2ex264%2dRESiSTANCE
00:44:03 T:2960531456 M:522948608 INFO: Caching image from: smb://MEDIASERVER/E/1080/XIII.The.Conspiracy.2008.1080p.BluRay.x264-RESiSTANCE/xthcnsprcgrt-fanart.jpg to special://masterprofile/Thumbnails/Video/Fanart/cad14663.tbn
00:44:03 T:2956742656 M:522944512 DEBUG: CFileSMB::Open - opened E/1080/XIII.The.Conspiracy.2008.1080p.BluRay.x264-RESiSTANCE/xthcnsprcgrt.mkv, fd=10000
00:44:03 T:2956742656 M:522895360 DEBUG: SECTION:LoadDLL(special://xbmc/system/players/dvdplayer/avutil-50-x86-osx.so)


This goes on for awhile, as you can see :


00:44:37 T:2960531456 M:538882048 INFO: Caching image from: smb://MEDIASERVER/E/1080/The.Lord.of.the.Rings.The.Return.of.the.King.2003.1080p.Bluray.x264-CBGB/cbgb-lotrrk1080p-fanart.jpg to special://masterprofile/Thumbnails/Video/Fanart/37b5bff7.tbn
00:44:37 T:2960531456 M:538882048 DEBUG: CFileSMB::Open - opened E/1080/The.Lord.of.the.Rings.The.Return.of.the.King.2003.1080p.Bluray.x264-CBGB/cbgb-lotrrk1080p-fanart.jpg, fd=10000
00:44:38 T:2960531456 M:538681344 DEBUG: CFileSMB::Close closing fd 10000
00:44:38 T:2960531456 M:538681344 DEBUG: OpenDir - Using authentication url smb://MEDIASERVER/E/1080/The%2eLord%2eof%2ethe%2eRings%2eThe%2eTwo%2eTowers%2e2002%2e1080p%2eBluray%2ex264%2dCBGB
00:44:38 T:2960531456 M:538681344 INFO: Caching image from: smb://MEDIASERVER/E/1080/The.Lord.of.the.Rings.The.Two.Towers.2002.1080p.Bluray.x264-CBGB/cbgb-lotrtt1080-fanart.jpg to special://masterprofile/Thumbnails/Video/Fanart/959f5a50.tbn

I see others have issues with fanart and thumbs. My second machine automatically gets all fanart from the server but no thumbs.

Any suggestions? Will deleting all the tbn files in the movie folders on the windows box maybe make it quicker?

[jmarshall]

All the fanart and thumb caching stuff is happening in a separate thread - it won't effect the time to list things at all, and shouldn't effect the speed of the GUI to any major effect while it's running.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[AlsoKnownAsJazz]

I just discovered XBMC this weekend, and I'm configuring my third box with XBMC, and hearing that I can tie it into a SQL database is just superb! I'm blown away at the quality of this software, especially compared to Windows Media Center (which I'm migrating off of now, except for the odd recording of live tv here and there).

Anyway, is there a way to use SQL 2000 in place of MySQL? I already have a SQL2k installation, and would just as soon use that. If I'm not mistaken, they both use T-SQL, so the basic commands and syntax are the same, no?

Thanks in advance.

[charrua]

I dont seem to be allowed to attach the log here, but here is a quick cut and paste.

You can use http://pastebin.com/ to paste a full log, and then link it here.

I see others have issues with fanart and thumbs. My second machine automatically gets all fanart from the server but no thumbs.

Try this:

Another option suggested by MrDVD in a different thread is to replace the local thumbnails folder of each XBMC client by a hard link to a shared folder in the server. That way you won't even have to rsync all the folders. The only cons that I find in his solution are:
1- A lack on speed accesing the networked image cache (anyway be aware that two people reported that the lack of speed is none in their tests while I observed a noticeable slowdown in XBMC screen openings)
2- If you loose connection to the networked shared folder XBMC won't show any posters or fanart.
See this thread for more details.

Any suggestions? Will deleting all the tbn files in the movie folders on the windows box maybe make it quicker?

As pointed out by jmarshall, the image caching processes in XBMC take place in asynchronous separated threads, so they don't affect GUI speed. Also, the caching is only done once (the first time you access a media file) so if that was your problem, you wouldn't have it every time you use XBMC.

For what I see in the portion of the log you've pasted, I don't think the MySQL access time is the problem either, because in my case the time to retrieve movies from dataset is 1669 (against your 990), and in my case the GUI speed is ok. Try to paste a bigger portion of your log, and we'll see if there's anything else that can cause the GUI sluggishness you've described.

[RckStr]

Thx for your replies, both jonathan and charrua. I deleted all tbn, nfo and jpgs I had exported from the SQLite before I read your replies though, to see if that were to speed things up. As you both are suggesting, it doesnt. Ill have a go at setting it up a clean MySQL and set up a new library pretty soon and upload the log in the pastebin if I keep having trouble. Im not giving up! Thanks alot for your patience

[RckStr]

Another thing. Will using SQL allow for sharing of the library over WAN? Providing the BW to stream the movies is there, that functionality would be awesome. My dad currently stream 1080p movie from me over internet using ftp as source in xbmc. This works decent with our 30 mbps fibres. If we upgrade to 50 mbps im sure it will work flawless. However, it has him browse in file mode. Library mode would be alot nicer

[charrua]

Another thing. Will using SQL allow for sharing of the library over WAN? Providing the BW to stream the movies is there, that functionality would be awesome. My dad currently stream 1080p movie from me over internet using ftp as source in xbmc. This works decent with our 30 mbps fibres. If we upgrade to 50 mbps im sure it will work flawless. However, it has him browse in file mode. Library mode would be alot nicer

Yes, it works over WAN. You need a low latency connection for it to work smoothly though.

[charrua]

Thx for your replies, both jonathan and charrua. I deleted all tbn, nfo and jpgs I had exported from the SQLite before I read your replies though, to see if that were to speed things up. As you both are suggesting, it doesnt. Ill have a go at setting it up a clean MySQL and set up a new library pretty soon and upload the log in the pastebin if I keep having trouble. Im not giving up! Thanks alot for your patience

No problem. Let us know if you find any solution that solves your speed issue.

[eweber1969]

I was able to configure xbmc to use mysql. Both databases have been created. The problem i'm having is that I can't get "Library Mode" activated/enabled within xbmc. I looked at the log file and see the following...

00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757327360 NOTICE: Contents of special://profile/advancedsettings.xml are...
<advancedsettings>
<videodatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>VEGAS</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>xbmc</user>
<pass>xbmc</pass>
<name>xbmc_video</name>
</videodatabase>
<musicdatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>VEGAS</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>xbmc</user>
<pass>xbmc</pass>
<name>xbmc_music</name>
</musicdatabase>
</advancedsettings>
00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757319168 WARNING: VIDEO database configuration is experimental.
00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757319168 NOTICE: Getting hardware information now...
00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757319168 NOTICE: Checking resolution 12
00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757319168 NOTICE: Default DVD Player: dvdplayer
00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757319168 NOTICE: Default Video Player: dvdplayer
00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757319168 NOTICE: Default Audio Player: paplayer
00:22:10 T:2776 M:1757319168 NOTICE: Loading media sources from special://masterprofile/sources.xml
00:22:11 T:2776 M:1743347712 NOTICE: initializing playlistplayer
00:22:11 T:2776 M:1743339520 NOTICE: DONE initializing playlistplayer
00:22:11 T:2776 M:1743261696 NOTICE: load default skin:[PM3.HD]
00:22:12 T:2776 M:1729060864 NOTICE: CApplication::UpdateLibraries - Starting video library startup scan
00:22:12 T:2776 M:1729036288 NOTICE: initialize done
00:22:12 T:2776 M:1729036288 NOTICE: Running the application...
00:22:12 T:5352 M:1729052672 NOTICE: My Videos: Scanning for video info using worker thread, operation took 00:00
00:22:12 T:2776 M:1728946176 NOTICE: ES: Starting event server
00:22:12 T:4560 M:1728839680 NOTICE: ES: Starting UDP Event server on 127.0.0.1:9777
00:22:12 T:4560 M:1728790528 NOTICE: UDP: Listening on port 9777
00:22:42 T:2776 M:1731731456 ERROR: SQL: Undefined MySQL error: Code (1064)
Query: select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\'
00:22:42 T:2776 M:1731706880 ERROR: CVideoDatabase::GetPathId unable to getpath (select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\')
00:22:42 T:2776 M:1731706880 ERROR: SQL: Undefined MySQL error: Code (1064)
Query: select path.strContent,path.strScraper,path.scanRecursive,path.useFolderNames,path.strSettings,path.noUpdate from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\'
00:22:42 T:2776 M:1731698688 ERROR: CVideoDatabase::GetScraperForPath failed
00:22:42 T:3712 M:1720496128 ERROR: SQL: Undefined MySQL error: Code (1064)
Query: select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\A Christmas Story (1983)\'
00:22:42 T:3712 M:1720492032 ERROR: CVideoDatabase::GetPathId unable to getpath (select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\A Christmas Story (1983)\')
00:22:42 T:3712 M:1720025088 ERROR: SQL: Undefined MySQL error: Code (1064)
Query: select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\A Perfect Getaway (2009)\VIDEO_TS\'
00:22:42 T:3712 M:1719992320 ERROR: CVideoDatabase::GetPathId unable to getpath (select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\A Perfect Getaway (2009)\VIDEO_TS\')
00:22:42 T:3712 M:1720262656 ERROR: SQL: Undefined MySQL error: Code (1064)
Query: select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\Annie Hall (1977)\VIDEO_TS\'
00:22:42 T:3712 M:1720123392 ERROR: CVideoDatabase::GetPathId unable to getpath (select idPath from path where strPath like 'D:\Movies\public\Annie Hall (1977)\VIDEO_TS\')
00:22:42 T:3712 M:1720197120 ERROR: SQL: Undefined MySQL error: Code (1064)

I'm only receiving errors for movie folders that contain sub-folders. I'm not seeing errors for folders like "D:\Movies\public\Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)\The.Fantastic.Mr.Fox.mkv"

Any help/direction would certainly be appreciated. Thanks!

[eweber1969]

Apologies...didn't realize I was posting in the Mac area. I'm using W7. I can repost elsewhere if that is preferred.

[charrua]

I was able to configure xbmc to use mysql. Both databases have been created. The problem i'm having is that I can't get "Library Mode" activated/enabled within xbmc. I looked at the log file and see the following...
I'm only receiving errors for movie folders that contain sub-folders. I'm not seeing errors for folders like "D:\Movies\public\Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)\The.Fantastic.Mr.Fox.mkv"
Any help/direction would certainly be appreciated. Thanks!

Currently there is a bug in the XBMC MySQL functionality when storing local paths (within windows), see this for details.

Apologies...didn't realize I was posting in the Mac area. I'm using W7. I can repost elsewhere if that is preferred.

Here is the thread in the windows support area related to XBMC MySQL connection setup and troubleshooting.

[eweber1969]

Thanks Charrus for the reply.

Being new to the open-source community, I'm confused about the status of the bug fix. The change history comments seem to indicate that the bug is still open, however, I see a couple of patches in the attachments section.

What are my options at this point?...

1. install the patches
2. wait for the bug fix
3. is there a workaround? Would it help if I removed all of my coverart/fanart files from the movie folders and then let xbmc re-scrape? Am I seeing this bug because the paths to my coverart are trying to be stored in the db? If I let xbmc discover the coverart on its own then would the path problem go away?

Thanks again for your help!

[charrua]

Thanks Charrus for the reply.
Being new to the open-source community, I'm confused about the status of the bug fix. The change history comments seem to indicate that the bug is still open, however, I see a couple of patches in the attachments section.
What are my options at this point?...
1. install the patches
2. wait for the bug fix
3. is there a workaround? Would it help if I removed all of my coverart/fanart files from the movie folders and then let xbmc re-scrape? Am I seeing this bug because the paths to my coverart are trying to be stored in the db? If I let xbmc discover the coverart on its own then would the path problem go away?
Thanks again for your help!

You're most welcome. Regarding the bug:
It's not solved yet, the patches posted in the bug report don't solve the problem under windows environments. firnsy (the developer of the XBMC MySQL feature) is waiting for an upcoming db redesign to look for a solution regarding this bug after the implementation of the new db. I think his choice is reasonable because probably the db redesign may even solve the bug for itself, but for now the only solution that I see to add local paths is to share the path in the network first, and then choose it as a source in XBMC using its networked path instead of the local one... Let me know if that option worked for you. Good luck!