[Kamikaze01]

Hello my friends...

I was on Kodi with two RaspPi and my qnap NAS.
I had my SQL Database and a shared Thumbnails folder - ALL WORKS LIKE A CHARME !!

But since i switched from my RaspPI to nVidia Shild, i have some troubles.

The nVidia Shield has its own Network share. So i do not have to specify my sources in KODI.
KODI recognise them as a normal storage...

I have 4 shared Folders on my nas, recogniced by kodi with no problem.
MOVIES
TVSHOWS
DOKUS
THUMBNAILS

I can add new movies to the DB and KODI adds them to the SQL DB, so i can access them from the other Shield. So far so good...

But i have BLACK Backgrounds.... KODI cant find the Thumbnails folder i thing...

*******************

I think the problem is, becaus i just copied my old advancedsettings.xml from the RaspPI to the Shield TV.
So the user, IP and Port for the SQL Database works fine...
But what to do with the Thumbnails folder!??!

<advancedsettings>
<videodatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>192.168.X.X</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>USER</user>
<pass>PASS</pass>
</videodatabase>
<musicdatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>192.168.X.X</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>USER</user>
<pass>PASS</pass>
</musicdatabase>
<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
<from>special://masterprofile/Thumbnails</from>
<to>smb://NAS-USER:[email protected]/Thumbnails</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>

The KODI Log say:
WARNING: Create - unsopported protocol(image) in
image://%2fstorage%2fKAMI-NAS%2fNAS-4000GB%2fMOVIES%2f....



Do i have to change some lines in my advancedsettings.xml?!?
<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
<from>special://masterprofile/Thumbnails</from>
<to>//storage/Thumbnails</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>


Some help would be fine

Thank u very much !!

Kind regards
Kami

[gibxxi]

The short answer is: You're doing it all wrong.

There are many posts / threads on this forum as to the pitfalls of sharing the Thumbnail cache on a network share using path substitution, as well as the Kodi wiki if memory serves. The Thumbnail cache is exactly what is says it is, a local cache for remotely stored artwork. While each Kodi install might create a thumbnail cache that's 99% similar to that created by another Kodi install, there's no guarantee they will be identical. Not only that, deletions on one install may later be referenced by another install which then can't find the files. The Textures13.db file which is also a local-only database, also contains references to artwork in the thumbnail cache, and changes to the hostname / device-name of a device hosting / sharing the thumbnail cache will also cause the very issue your experiencing - missing artwork. Also, since the thumbnail cache is supposed to be local, to speed up artwork access, by putting it on a network share, your going to be slowing down all of your Kodi installs, as they now have to access the cache over your weakest, highest latency link, the local network.

You should have enough storage space on your local devices running Kodi, to store the thumbnail cache sizes required, and share the source artwork on shared network locations. Then create additional shares / folders to store artwork types not stored alongside the media, using add-ons like Artwork Downloader or Artwork Beef to select and designate the locations / shares for these types of (source) artwork. Each Kodi install can then 'pull' that artwork from the shared location to it's local thumbnail cache for speedier access, while (in the main) avoiding re-downloading the same artwork from the internet for each install of Kodi.

So in short: Keep the cache local to the machine running Kodi, but share the source artwork. While the neither the Raspberry Pi or NVIDIA shield are going to blow anyone's socks off in terms of raw performance, both will run Kodi faster with a local thumbnail cache than a remote one, as local disk access is faster than Wireless or Gigabit Ethernet, under any circumstances. Leave the sharing for things that are less critical in terms of latency, like the actual media files and the source artwork.

[Kamikaze01]

Thank u so much for this long answer.
On my old systems I had no problems with a shared thumbnail folder... It happens only since I use a Nvidia Shield TV.

Anyway I get my problem sorted in a strange way.

I deleted (empty) the complete Thumbnail folder and then do a clean new install of KODI and refresh my whole DB via KODI.
Because of the Shield Power it tools about 10 Minutes for +1600 Movies...

But after that my Thumbnail folder remains empty - and so my background remains black...
Only when I click on the movie in KODI and load it's fanart, it get stored in my thumbnail folder.

LooL,... So I had to go through my whole Movie DB and let KODI show every single Fanart at least one time... Only then KODI renew my files in the Thumbnail Folder.

Long way short... The first advancedsettings.xml with the path to the SMB Thumbnail Folder is right.

Now every Background showing right !! Yeah )

((But clicking on more than +1600 Movies each, takes me loooong time *argh*))

Thanks for ur help !!!
Now everything is working fine and my thumbnail folder is full of my pictures (and shared over network).