Hi All
I'm getting ready to buy another house, and set up a new server/set top box network. I'm curious to hear from anyone who has played with:
Headless/no installed XBMC server (basically just a document server, I guess), that just makes the files available to a set top box (rpi, amazon FTV, apple tv, whatever) that grabs meta data on the fly.
Server with XBMC installed on it (I think) that grabs all the files and maintains a database that it feeds the STB, taking some of that work off the STB.
Some form of standalone STB/SOC/full size HTPC that handles the collection as well as the presentation - one single raspberry pi (or similar) with a big external HDD, or a full HTPC that fetches and manages content, as well as displaying it.
I realize there are hybrids of these things, and I'm interested in whatever your network looks like.
My primary setup in the past was a headless download box with Sickbeard for postprocessing and metadata collection, any additional (show/movie/episode synopsis, etc) fetched by raspberry pi on each tv.
There doesn't appear to be a sticky about this, and there doesn't appear to be a Poll option on this board. I suggest that people new to distributing media might be interested to see how others are putting the network together, because it can be easy to get overwhelmed when you see some of the guides (not necessarily here) suggesting you need to learn to work in a terminal and build an unraid server just to get started.
unraid to get started? no way.
I'm not a noob but also no need to go that far yet.
I have had both server and client in same pc (HP All-in-one) with a 1tb hdd for sometime when i started. Now i also own an Asus chromebox,an android box and a 3tb HGST HDD.
I've installed many things to the chromebox so i've played enough with it.
Before i had and was using the chromebox with openelec and the 3tb hdd plugged in in the livingroom, but i really needed full chrome browser support so i kept playing with it installing other OS's and testing. The android box took it's place and again i plugged in my 3tb hdd directly, i was then happy and used it for months without problems but then i wanted to be able to finish watching or start watching something in my room so it was time to re-use the chromebox again.
Right now i have it as a server in my room with Ubuntu server, XBMC, PMS,etc installed with my 3tb hdd plugged in and i do use XBMC ocasionally to watch videos. My android box on the other hand is the star in the livingroom with SPMC (custom XBMC build), Plex client, etc installed and streaming from the server. It works great, i have it all wired.
I still have more than 1 tb of free space in my hdd, in the right time i'll get a 2bay NAS with up to 8tb of storage. That should last a long time. By the time i need to upgrade better solutions may come up but for now my plan is to get a 2bay NAS.
Also planning to get a new GBit router with usb ports, then i'll connect the hdd to it and test speeds, if it's reliable then that will become the new centralized solution and the chromebox may or may not go back to openelec.
Every user is different but to start there are many solutions available as you can see and they all work. I also think that depending on many factors like budget, amount and size of tvs, audio system,etc the user will have to pick the one that adapt best to his needs.
If i have a huge tv and 'm an audophyle and own a top notch audio system then i''ll want my movies with excelent quality and hd audio which are huge files of 30+ GB each, that means that user will fill up hard drives way faster and so the need of a more complex setup to start of.
For the average user the type of setups i mentioned will suffice for a while.
Server:
OpenMediaVault 1.0.x with 1x 32GB SSD (system) - 5x 2TB Data - 1x 2TB Snapraid-Parity
PlugIns: SnapRAID, Downloader, autoshutdown, MySQL for the Kodi-DB
Clients:
2 Raspberry Pi's, 1 PC and 1 VU+Duo for "TV" in Kodi
Intel NUC N2820 with 128GB SSD running XBMCBuntu. I have my 3TB Seagate Ext HDD plugged in and powered off
I use
- Transmission for torrents downloads
- Move movies that are watched to a different folder using AfterWatch plugin
- Have my small 20GB music library on SSD and shared via Subsonic server
- Use FolderSync to Android app to sync photos from my and wife's Android phone to SSD
- Turn on Ext HDD once a week, run a script that moves watched movies, syncs my images to Ext HDD.
Basically SSD on NUC is my ongoing storage for movies, music and images, while my Ext HDD is the backup, taken once a week.
Server with mythbuntu - acts as file server, mythtv backend, mysql server. Stores all media and also the XBMC database. It does NOT need XBMC installed on it, the client XBMC machines can scrape and the data appears on all clients.
If I wasn't using mythtv I would do the same with ubuntu server.
If you want data integrity add snapraid.
You don't need a grunty machine for this, you are only serving files and running a very low level mysql database.
If you want to distribute media you really should be thinking about a NAS, either build your own based on a low powered x86 (eg. HP N54L) with FreeNAS, UnRAID etc. or buy a Synology/ReadyNAS type product. Then stream from this server across a wired network, making storage of local media at each client largely unnecessary.
Regarding the headless Kodi server, IMHO you should forget that for now as it's still a work in progress, and running that kind of service on a NAS is usually a lot more trouble than it's worth.
My advice would be to use a Raspberry Pi with OpenELEC (or Raspbmc) as your Kodi "server" - you can even power it using one of the USB ports from your NAS.
The headless Pi can manage a shared MySQL media library just fine, and be controlled using JSON. If you're able to write scripts you can entirely automate your library maintenance, scanning new media and caching artwork as it appears etc. Maintenance (upgrading etc.) is a breeze as you're running a "standard" (supported) Kodi build.
I also run Sickbeard (Sickrage) on a second Raspbian-based Pi which works fine, the postprocessing copies the new downloads to the NAS then triggers a Kodi library scan on the Kodi "server" - there's nothing left for me to do these days but watch the new episodes on whatever Kodi client I happen to choose!
Note the Kodi Pi "server" doesn't have to be headless, it could equally be one of your TV connected clients - you just want an "always on" (or WOL enabled) Kodi instance somewhere on your network for postprocessing duties etc.
Milhouse yes, exactly right. I don't use pi clients, but I never turn my clients off, so they are always available to do a 'scrape'. Sickbeard and Couchpotato trigger the scrapes. Anything else I have a curl script to trigger an update.
Interesting thread. I like hearing other people's setups as it educates me on the different bits of software / hardware you can use to improve setups. I have already learned of sickrage (thanks millhouse). I have a modest set up but think it has more potential.
I have HP N54L running whs 2011, along with sabnzbd, couch potato and nzbdrone. I could not get in with SickBeard but have noticed recently nzbdrone is failing to find certain shows. Couch potato is a mess as it seems to watch random movies and adds them to sabnzbd without me wanting it too. I'm going to give sickrage a try.
I use 3 X 3tb drives and it stores all my movies, TV shows and music. Along with some backups of pictures and documents from my laptop. (nothing too important)
I have 3 clients running openelec but looking to consider xbmcbunutu or Ubuntu desktop as I'm looking for them to do more than just play xbmc.
I tried to make a xbmcbunutu boot stick but the image I downloaded from the xbmc website was not recognised by the LiLi programme thing that creates the boot stick. Any ideas.
I'm also looking to sync all my clients music streaming. Can you advise some tips on software combinations to help this.
Thanks
(2014-10-02, 09:22)Mark142 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm also looking to sync all my clients music streaming. Can you advise some tips on software combinations to help this.
Thanks
This is definitely a job for squeezebox, not XBMC. It has by far the best audio syncing abilities. Install logitechmediaserver on your server, then Xsqueeze addon on your clients.
I run logitechmediaserver on the Raspbian Pi.
Actually I must confess my XBMC is never hardly ever used for music:
1. Hate having to turn the TV on to listen to music.
2. Hate having the TV showing some visualisation - it just turns everyones heads in that direction, and music should be more sociable.
I have a number of squeeze devices. If I am having a party and ant more speakers I will use XBMC Xsqueeze addon, but at my age, parties are less common LOL.
Spot on (Squeezebox G2 and Controller here).
Hi nickr ,so to confirm if I install Logitech media server on my N54L and then Xsqueeze Kodi add on on my Openelec clients I can sync the boxes if they are all running Zsqueeze plugin. The boxes would send the stream to the speakers right? But to control it the tv would need to be on to select the add on etc and browse or can you run it all from an app on phone? Thanks
I run OE (Milhouse build) on a RPi with a USB speaker and Yatse remote.
Works great to play my local music (USB HDD connected to a Router) and web radio.
Love it
Main server in living room running Ubuntu 14.04 with dual graphics output fed to PC monitor (also acts as my everyday PC) and Pioneer plasma. Audio is s/pdif into Pioneer amp and B&W speakers with a Mission sub. 3x 3TB Seagate drives hold the media which is served via SMB (stuff for kids) and NFS (everything else). MySQL database to which most clients connect. Server runs 24/7 and handles all scraping/serving/downloading of media.
Clients are :-
2x Rasp Pi running openElec, one in kitchen and one in eldest sons room.
Custom built HTPC in our room running Ubuntu 14.04 minimal. Pioneer amp with pioneer speakers.
These three clients are all hard-wired, on static IP addresses, and connect to the main MySQL db.
Daughter has a laptop that she can connect wirelessly with. This has its own sqlite db but can only access SMB shares. Same for my youngest sons tablet.
XBMC runs 24/7 on main server and streams local radio most of the day.