XBMC and unraid
#1
Hi gang,

I read a recent post where a guy highlighted a media system he set up; an unraid server provided space to an ubuntu system that ran sickbeard and etc, and then his HTPC drove the TV. I am still researching all of the XMBC plugins but definitely need to be able to download TV shows and the like.

My next project is an unraid server to provide space, however, over in the unraid forum, there are folks talking about running sickbeard (etc) on their unraid servers.

I am curious what you all think of this...

I'd like to have two XBMC systems driving a bedroom and family room TV, but I want them to pull from the same media pools (my unraid server). Curious about your thoughts with:

1. Having each HTPC running the necessary software to search, find, download, catalog, and transfer media
2. Having the unraid server do this in addition to its fileserving duties
3. Employing a very low power (dual Atom or even the new 7W AMD (C60?)) dedicated system for media collection

Comments?
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#2
I do the downloading and processing on my server because the server stays on 24x7. If I did it on the HTPC I'd find myself having to leave the HTPC on. This wastes electricity, and I'd probably forget to do it anyway.

Doing library updates on the server is tricker because you need to run XBMC, and I'd guess that your server like mine is hidden away somewhere. I do library updates on the HTPC.
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#3
Is that a complicated process or is there a way to automate it?
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#4
i set up the unraid server with plugins for sab, sickb and couchp. It is pretty much set it and forget it. All my show are automatically downloaded and whenever I fire up xbmc, it does a library update and adds the new content to the library.

check out the unraid forums for how to set it up with the plugins.

on the xbmc side, you're gonna have to set up mysql as the database. search the xbmc wiki for how to do it.

unraid has a mysql plugin that is very easy to set up, so you can host your xbmc database on there and all the xbmc clients will access that
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#5
If you want the databases synced up, you'll need to set up MySQL on the server and have XBMC point at that.

I opted to let each device maintain a local database as my file server is designed to be low power. As long as you check the box for "Update library on startup" in both the video and music settings you can keep the client boxes off (or in standby/hibernate) all the time and they will update as soon as you turn them on. If syncing watch flags is important for you, there's a plugin for that.

Definitely have the unRAID box do the SABnzbd/Couchpotato/Sickbeard work for searching/downloading files. Just be careful about where you point the logs so that you don't kill your flash drive.
HTPC 1 - Zotac ZBOX ID80U | 4GB RAM | 64GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
HTPC 2 - Zotac ZBOX ID41U | 4GB RAM | 60GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
Server - unRAID Server | 3 x 2TB WD Green HDD, 1TB WD Black HDD (Cache) | Sabnzbd | CouchPotato | Sickbeard
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