[dalben]

I'm hoping there is an easy way to set up 3 instances of xbmc around the house, off a central db, but have each device only show certain media. I tried profiles but this either doesn't do it or I did it wrong.

Basically I want:
xbmc 1 to have movie types 1,2,3, TV type 1,2,3
xbmc 2 to have movies type 1,2 and TV type 1,2,3
xbmc 3 to have movies 2,3 and TV type 1,3

Device 1 and 3 are pivos Xios running Linux. device 2 is a htpc. All units connected to an unraid server for MySQL and media.

Is there an way to achieve this ? I'll then hunt for a skin that will allow me to add menu items like TV 3 (or rather Kids TV) to make it easier for everyone. I'm also happy to rearrange the folder hierarchy and structure I have to accommodate this set if need be.

Tia

[Kib]

It can probably be achieved with a combination of folder structure and smart playlists.

What are you trying to accomplish exactly, and how are your folders set up currently ?
Do you have all your media added to the database already ?

[dalben]

I'm trying to limit what can be viewed where. I.e. kids don't need to see adult movies. Kids room doesn't need my sports shows Main bedroom doesn't need kids TV and movies tough may have movies no,other room has.

Currently adults stuff is stored in movies or TV folder. Kids stuff is in Kids folder u I need to separate the movies from TV shows soon.

Sports under sports. Other stuff under other somewhere deep,in a folder structure. I hae just doubled my nas capacity so I'm fine to move stuff around.

Current db only has movies and TV working correctly.

[Kib]

This can be done with Smart playlists (wiki) which requires everything to be scraped / added to the library.

Either use a requirement for paths in your smart playlist or use custom tags. You might need to make several smart playlists to get everything the way you intend.
Most skins allow you to add custom home screen items which can also point at smart playlists.

If you search the forum for 'parental controls' there are several threads on this subject as well.

[dalben]

Thanks Kibje, I'll look into it.

[Kib]

Also look at video library tags (wiki).

Tagging certain items when you 'allow' them for the kids, and setting up smart playlists that require tags to be set might be another way to tackle this.
This would require running a nightly build of XBMC 13 'Gotham' though.

[dalben]

Gotham would be fine for the HTPC but I'm restricted to the Pivos Xios Eden builds in the kids room for now.

I'm glad there are a couple of ways. Il do some reading and see what makes sense for my situation.

[Kib]

If you use a central Mysql DB than you need to use the same XBMC version everywhere.

If you don't care about a central database you can use different versions, but in that case you have no issue, just add the correct folders as sources in the different locations and let every machine build its own database.

[Ned Scott]

Gotham will work for the time being since the video library DB hasn't been bumped yet. It most likely won't stay that way for long. I think the music library might have been bumped, but not the video one yet.