Database choice and some random questions

[Firejack]

Tonight I installed RC1 using the deploy tool and selected MySQL for my database. I've found it quite sluggish and timed out a few times. I was wondering if I should of chosen Microsoft SQL server instead. Whats everyone else's database of choice?

Also is there anyway to toggle the OSD to stay on/off while watching TV? Would be really useful when I forget the keyboard shortcuts!
If possible it would be nice to have a picture of the layout of a keyboard and mouse labelled with the functions bound to each key currently when you hold down F1 or something. A sort of cheat-sheet to remind you.

In the EPG can I change the text size? Letters seem a bit big and cramped in the box's.

Would I be right in thinking formating the hard disk with 64K clusters would great improve performance over the default 4K?

I presume I don't need to configure paths to my pictures/music files on a network drive for each of the computers I want to install the Media Portal client if I'm using a TV-server setup. The clients will pull the path information from the server right? Or do I need to invidually configure each client?

[charli181]

Originally Posted by Firejack

I presume I don't need to configure paths to my pictures/music files on a network drive for each of the computers I want to install the Media Portal client if I'm using a TV-server setup. The clients will pull the path information from the server right? Or do I need to invidually configure each client?

For multiple clients, each machine needs to be configured. Currently there is no supported centralised database storage. There is however a cheat sheet to setting this up although it is not officially support but does work well. I have never had a problem but others have. Basic store your media (Music/Pictures/Movies) on shared drives and use unc connections to connect (i.e \\computername\sharefoldername). this then eliminates setting up mapped drives on each client. The link below has full details on setup and how to configure each client.

the link to the centralised db on the wiki is UserGuides/CentralisedDatabases - MediaPortal Documentation

As for databases, I wuse MSSQL but I think you will find it is all personal preferences more than for performance.