How To Build A Movie Server Using Kodi?
#1
Hello,

I just created my account and I am extremely new to this kind of technology but I have been reading about it and I'm not actually sure how to accomplish my goal. I know what I want and how I want it to operate, but I have very little resources as to how to build it successfully. Will someone please help me figure out what equipment and software I'm going to need to build my home movie server?

I want to have a huge amount of storage space, so I wanted to go with at least 28TB.
I want the ability to store all my DVD/Blu Ray movies, as well as 4k when I do decide to add them to my movie collection. And as I buy new movies and play them, I want my server to automatically copy its contents as I'm watching it.
I want to also be able to store all my personal family picture albums and vocational videos, so we'll have those to look back on when we have gatherings.
I would also like to have my movie server networked so it can be viewed on multiple TVs in my home as well as any device; such as phone, tables, etc.

If it's possible to build such a server, I would greatly appreciate any input as to how I can make my dream system a reality.....

Thanks in advance for anyone's comments and guidance.
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#2
You can build such a server and then point Kodi at it.
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#3
I have a dedicated server for our media. It is a hp n54l microserver which is cheap, reasonably quiet and energy efficient (server is on all the time) although you could just use an old pc. I run nas4free as the operating system (which is free and easy enough to set up). This server lives in our storage room and connects to our home network (does not have a monitor / keyboard attached - there is no need). I just used the cheapest HDDs I could get and haven't really had any issues (others will suggest the more robust HDDs but in my case the cheapest have worked fine). Make sure it has gigabit Ethernet and u use cable not wifi.

You can't really rip movies while u watch them. I use makemkv to rip my Blu-ray discs (which is free in beta) and HD Decrypter / Video Coder (also free) for DVDs. I do this on my pc and transfer them to the server over the network (pc isn't on all the time).

If u have more than one TV / projector, In nas4free, you can setup mysql so that you can share you Kodi library settings ( so it remembers where you stopped watching a show and u can resume on another device).

For each tv or projector, I have a Kodi device ( raspberry pi and nuc) which actually plays from the server.

Hope that helps - you don't have to get too fancy or expensive
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#4
Okay, so how do I point Kodi to it?
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#5
In Kodi, you just go to videos - add source and select where u store the files.
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#6
Thank you very much woronczak! The information you provided me was very insightful.
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#7
No problems. I didn't see that bit before, but we also have our photos and music on the server, all accessible through Kodi in the same way as videos
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#8
Great! I forgot to mention music, so I'm actually glad you brought it up because I've got tons of music.
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How To Build A Movie Server Using Kodi?0