There is a new feature already implemented in XBMC(since svn r28142) that lets you use a central MySQL database for all your clients.
The basic steps you need to do in order to use it are:
1. Setup a MySQL server (a database server) accesible from all the machines running XBMC. Even some NAS support running MySQL server, so an option is to run the database server directly on your NAS (if you have one that supports it) or run it on any machine that you want (MySQL server is freeware and supports lots of OSs).
2. Modify your
advancedsettings.xml located in the
userdata folder of XBMC adding this lines:
Code:
<videodatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>localhost</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>xbmc</user>
<pass>xbmc</pass>
<name>xbmc_video</name>
</videodatabase>
where:
host is the network address of the server running MySQL
port is the port used by the MySQL server (default is 3306)
user and
pass are the credentials used to connect to the MySQL server
name is the name of the MySQL database you want XBMC to use (it must be all lowercased)
(you don't need to create the database, XBMC will create it for you the first time you run it after modifying the
advancedsettings.xml).
You can also setup a central database for music albums, you need to add these additional lines to your
advancedsettings.xml:
Code:
<musicdatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>localhost</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>xbmc</user>
<pass>xbmc</pass>
<name>xbmc_music</name>
</musicdatabase>
The same explanation given for videodatabase applys here, just one more thing: you can't share the same database for music and video, so just pick a different name for each database (also all lowercased)
Remember to modify the
advancedsettings.xml of each XBMC you intend to share the MySQL database with.
Some advantages of this setup:
Every PC or MAC running XBMC can access that central database even simultaneously (instead of using a local database for each instance of XBMC), avoiding the need to scrape movie info once per each XBMC. Also sharing the info of watched/unwatched movies/tvshows/musicvideos and any other info that XBMC stores in the media library database (like stop/resume bookmarks).
For more info, trobleshooting and details you can check
this thread (readers beware: it may be a bit technical (it's in the developers area of the forum)).