[FearDamhan]

Hi All

Long time Kodi user. Multiple devices in the house. Finally gotten around to creating a shared mysql library. Seems to work but I have a couple of niggling issues that I'm looking to resolve. Hoping someone can shed some light

Note: I tried this with the mysql database running on a RPi2 as well as a much more powerful Windows 7 box (both running MySQL 5.7) and have same issues on both, so dont think its the horsepower of the mysql system. Kodi boxes and mysql server connected to same 1Gb switch.

1. Posters noticeably take longer to render when you enter the Movies or TV source. You see the the generic movie reel image and the title for a while, and then the poster (if you happen to be near the bottom of the list alphabetically when you enter the source, this takes several seconds
2. Refreshing metadata on a given item seems to exaccerbate the above condition regardless of where it is on the list alphabetically.

Can anyone shed any light on the above?

Thanks
Ken

[Klojum]

The MySQL database only handles data, as in links to posters on external websites. Once a poster (or any other graphic) is cached/stored on the local device, it will also be rendered locally. Large posters may take longer to cache on a slow RPi device, especially when using a poor Wifi connection.

[FearDamhan]

Thanks for the reply. Let me ask some further detail by providing some detail.

All my media is stored on a shared NAS device. All the scraped metadata is stored on the NAS drive with the media. All the source in Kodi are setup to use Local Information Only. 

I would have thought in that case that once all media is scanned, that rendering of the posters etc would be the same as if the database in question was on the kodi box itself? Or am I misunderstanding?

[Martijn]

Rendering could be delayed if one or several of the images are not available and it times out on those and then continues

[Klojum]

There are basically two databases: the MySQL video database, which includes links to external URLs for posters, backgrounds, etcetera.
The other one is a local SQLite database that checks the caching of all graphics (thumbs/posters/backgrounds/actors/album covers,usw...).

Scanning of videos starts with the (meta)data. Caching all graphics is a secondary 'process'. Rendering to me means displaying on screen.
If the thumb is already in the cache, the thumb should be displayed instantly. If it needs to be downloaded (and cached) from whatever website, that will take more time, of course. Writing bigger thumbs onto an SD card in a Raspberry Pi can be a slow process.

[FearDamhan]

OK. So when I create a MySQL database and configure it in advancedsettings.xml then the kodi client will read all data from the NFO files into the MySQL database (on the server) and cache all images into the SQL Lite database (on the client itself). Thereafter, the images should be local to the client and instantaneous.

My issue is that its not instantaneous. Even after the full scan is complete, every time I open the Movies folder it takes time to render the images (and I take the same meaning of render mentioned above). This suggests to me that it is not in fact caching the images locally at all when a MySQL database is configured but is in fact reading them directly from the NAS drive each time. Supported by the fact that the ones at the bottom of the list alphabetically are the last to render.

It only seems to cache the images locally when not using an external MySQL database.

Is this a bug or a configuration issue on my part? Is the some bit I need to flip to have it cache image locally?

[FearDamhan]

Update:

I've found that regardless of the spec of the Kodi machine (have it running on Shield/Mi Box/Mac) once you move over to a MySQL database, the performance of thumbnails from the local cache is always inferior to performance of thumbnails when they are moved to a NAS drive and referenced using path substitution. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, especially in the case of the mac which is a lightning fast machine with SSD etc, but the UX doesn't lie.

My tip. If you use MySQL, move your thumbnails to external NAS storage.