[nordicguy]

Hello,

I have two separate Kodi installations. one on Windows machine and one on Android tablet.

Both are using my library located on NAS Synology.

I would like only to share the watched status between the two Kodi installations, but I want to keep Kodi on the android to minimal so I don't want to sync anything else (i.e. installed apps, skin, Kodi settings, etc.)

so what's the best way to syncs just the watched status?

thanks
nordicguy

[jbinkley60]

I have two separate Kodi installations. one on Windows machine and one on Android tablet.

Both are using my library located on NAS Synology.

I would like only to share the watched status between the two Kodi installations, but I want to keep Kodi on the android to minimal so I don't want to sync anything else (i.e. installed apps, skin, Kodi settings, etc.)

so what's the best way to syncs just the watched status?

Best is a relative question but one option, used often here, for your ask is TrakT.   You can search the forums to find out more.  A number of folks use it.  I don't.  There are other Kodi sharing solutions which will do a bit more like syncing your library so you don't have to maintain it twice and they will sync your play counts and resume pointers between Kodi instances. Some move you closer to fully automating your Kodi environment for minimal maintenance and provide many many other features, including syncing information to non-Kodi devices.  All have strengths and weaknesses, including TrakT, hence my best is relative  comment. 


Thanks,

Jeff
.

[nordicguy]

Hi Jeff

thanks for your suggestion. I took a look at Trakt and a few other add-ons

I couldn't find a decent way to synch my library without relaying on external website so I went for using Emby server (which I installed on my NAS.. hopefully I won't regret that in the future) so also I could benefit from watching my movies while I'm traveling.

I don't know how Emby does it, but after installing it on both devices, it synched the watch status. I am sure it does other things in the background but for now it does what I want. 

if someone know a better or simpler way, please help.

nordicguy

[crawfish]

Hello,

I have two separate Kodi installations. one on Windows machine and one on Android tablet.

Both are using my library located on NAS Synology.

I would like only to share the watched status between the two Kodi installations, but I want to keep Kodi on the android to minimal so I don't want to sync anything else (i.e. installed apps, skin, Kodi settings, etc.)

so what's the best way to syncs just the watched status?

thanks
nordicguy

I think you may mean something different than most when you say the two Kodis are "sharing your library on the NAS," because if they were using the same Mysql or MariaDB database, they'd already be sharing watched status (and resume points). Have you looked at the wiki for this?

https://kodi.wiki/view/MySQL

[nordicguy]

 

...if they were using the same Mysql or MariaDB database, they'd already be sharing watched status (and resume points). Have you looked at the wiki for this?

https://kodi.wiki/view/MySQL

I think you are right that this isn't the accurate way to describe that. I meant both kodi installations are using same media files i.e. music and video files, but each has its own kodi databases. I have looked into MySQL wiki and then some discussions. many had negative things to say about it. many mentioned that it is complicated to implement and usually had issues with it. Have you used it yourself? What's your experience?

what I am hoping to find is like (thinking out loud now) a small add-on that you can install on both Kodi instances and then allows you to for example make a local account on it without need for external website and log into it with same user on both devices and then it's able to magically copy the watched status among the different devices.

So far all the solutions I found were too complicated to the simple task that I need so I went for Emby server because it was nice and fast to implement and also -in theory- allows watching my videos anywhere. Although I suppose the sync of watched status happens in the background as I was not able to find any setting that mentions it, but it just happens.

sorry for the long reply  

nordicguy

[wags1]

@nordicguy I have used a central library DB (MariaDB) on my Synology NAS for years. I run Kodi instances on 2 Nvidia Shield Pros and have no problems with them sharing the library DB. I had no prior experience with MariaDB and did not find it difficult to implement. Honestly it will be the easiest way for you to do what you are trying to accomplish.

[nordicguy]

thanks I'll give it a try. I do have NAS and now it seems more efficient to use it for centralized kodi db.

Aside from experimenting with Emby server, I also tried to use WatchedList add-on and share its DB for both Kodi. then I stopped my Emby server to see if the WatchedList trick would work and it actually did. I am yet to test the effect of accessing the same WatchedList.db from both devices and see ho it behaves.

I remember there was a way to write the watched status to the .nfo file I will try to find how it's done and test that as well.

nordicguy

[jbinkley60]

@nordicguy I have used a central library DB (MariaDB) on my Synology NAS for years. I run Kodi instances on 2 Nvidia Shield Pros and have no problems with them sharing the library DB. I had no prior experience with MariaDB and did not find it difficult to implement. Honestly it will be the easiest way for you to do what you are trying to accomplish.

The main drawback of MariaDB and MySQL approaches is that you need to upgrade all Kodi clients at the same time in order to maintain information sharing,  if the videodb increments between versions, which it often does.   Some of the other Kodi sharing solutions  can abstract that away within the client making seamless upgrades / downgrades easy.  MariaDB and MySQL don't use clients so version abstraction isn't an option. 

There are pros / cons for each sharing solution.  I find that when talking of sharing it starts with play counts and resume pointers and then quickly goes into a number of other areas.  At least it did for me.

Again, hence my original best is relative comment.


Jeff

[wags1]

@nordicguy I have used a central library DB (MariaDB) on my Synology NAS for years. I run Kodi instances on 2 Nvidia Shield Pros and have no problems with them sharing the library DB. I had no prior experience with MariaDB and did not find it difficult to implement. Honestly it will be the easiest way for you to do what you are trying to accomplish.

The main drawback of MariaDB and MySQL approaches is that you need to upgrade all Kodi clients at the same time in order to maintain information sharing,  if the videodb increments between versions, which it often does.   Some of the other Kodi sharing solutions  can abstract that away within the client making seamless upgrades / downgrades easy.  MariaDB and MySQL don't use clients so version abstraction isn't an option. 

There are pros / cons for each sharing solution.  I find that when talking of sharing it starts with play counts and resume pointers and then quickly goes into a number of other areas.  At least it did for me.

Again, hence my original best is relative comment.


Jeff

Good points. Definitely depends on your environment and the clients you need to support. In a fairly homogeneous environment with the same standard clients, like I have, it’s a very good solution. If not it may not be the ideal solution.

[jbinkley60]

@nordicguy I have used a central library DB (MariaDB) on my Synology NAS for years. I run Kodi instances on 2 Nvidia Shield Pros and have no problems with them sharing the library DB. I had no prior experience with MariaDB and did not find it difficult to implement. Honestly it will be the easiest way for you to do what you are trying to accomplish.

The main drawback of MariaDB and MySQL approaches is that you need to upgrade all Kodi clients at the same time in order to maintain information sharing,  if the videodb increments between versions, which it often does.   Some of the other Kodi sharing solutions  can abstract that away within the client making seamless upgrades / downgrades easy.  MariaDB and MySQL don't use clients so version abstraction isn't an option. 

There are pros / cons for each sharing solution.  I find that when talking of sharing it starts with play counts and resume pointers and then quickly goes into a number of other areas.  At least it did for me.

Again, hence my original best is relative comment.


Jeff

Good points. Definitely depends on your environment and the clients you need to support. In a fairly homogeneous environment with the same standard clients, like I have, it’s a very good solution. If not it may not be the ideal solution.

It really depends upon your needs and what you are comfortable supporting.  There is no "one size fits all" or "best" solution, just what's best for the particular needs.  That is one of the attractive things about Kodi in that there are many ways to solve similar problems without being locked into a single solution.

Jeff

[crawfish]

I think you are right that this isn't the accurate way to describe that. I meant both kodi installations are using same media files i.e. music and video files, but each has its own kodi databases. I have looked into MySQL wiki and then some discussions. many had negative things to say about it. many mentioned that it is complicated to implement and usually had issues with it. Have you used it yourself? What's your experience?

After using local libraries for 10+ years, about eight months ago, I consolidated my PC and Android Kodis to use the same MariaDB hosted on my PC. It's been working great. The one glitch I've run across involves updating libraries. Kodi caches directory information to speed it up, and part of this involves hashing timestamps. Android and PC do this differently, and when you update library on Android after last updating on PC and vice versa, it can take many times longer, e.g. several minutes. See this thread for more on that:

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=374496

Best practice would be to settle on one device type to use for updates and perhaps not even to define the sources on the other types so you can't make a mistake and use them to perform updates. The libraries will still be available on all the devices. It's what I'm doing now.

[nordicguy]

 

Again, hence my original best is relative comment.

I don't understand this statement you said twice and I am not sure if that's suggesting something what is a relative comment mean?

nordicguy

[jbinkley60]

I don't understand this statement you said twice and I am not sure if that's suggesting something what is a relative comment mean?

I was referring to my original response above about the "best" question. For me Mezzmo is the "best" option right now but as we've seen in this thread MariaDB and Emby are "best" options for others. Likewise others might say Jellyfin or Plex are their "best" options.

My point is "best" is relative to the needs of the problem and the range of possible solutions.


Thanks,

Jeff

[nordicguy]

oh ok. I didn't get that. but now I see your signature. I will try Mezzmo then

[jeffreestar]

I think you are right that this isn't the accurate way to describe that. I meant both kodi installations are using same media files i.e. music and video files, but each has its own kodi databases. I have looked into MySQL wiki and then some discussions. many had negative things to say about it. many mentioned that it is complicated to implement and usually had issues with it. Have you used it yourself? What's your experience?

After using local libraries for 10+ years, about eight months ago, I consolidated my PC and Android Kodis to use the same MariaDB hosted on my PC. It's been working great. The one glitch I've run across involves updating libraries. Kodi caches directory information to speed it up, and part of this involves hashing timestamps. Android and PC do this differently, and when you update library on Android after last updating on PC and vice versa, it can take many times longer, e.g. several minutes. See this thread for more on that:

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=374496 Spend Elon Musk Money
 
Best practice would be to settle on one device type to use for updates and perhaps not even to define the sources on the other types so you can't make a mistake and use them to perform updates. The libraries will still be available on all the devices. It's what I'm doing now.

To sync just the watched status between your two Kodi installations while keeping the Android installation minimal, you can use a service like Trakt.tv. Trakt.tv is a platform that allows you to track your favorite TV shows and movies across multiple devices.