MediaPortal - Centralised Databases - Help (1 Viewer)

[csapollo]

Hi all.

I'm looking for information on the client only installation of MediaPortal.

I currently have MediaPortal installed on my HTPC as a SingleSeat installation. My HTPC is also my file server thus all my movies and TV shows are stored on this box. I am wondering if it's possible, to install MediaPortal on another computer on my network, using the MovingPictures and MyTVSeries plugins, but using the plugin databases on the primary MediaPortal server. Or if the client install will automatically do this?

It would be too much effort to have to configure a client side MediaPortal install but then reconfigure the plugins I use over mapped drives..

Make sense?

Thank you in advance.

 

[rekenaar]

Hi there

It is possible and I am currently using it like that.
Read this guide for for detail.

Good luck and remember to give us your feedback

 

[csapollo]

Good luck and remember to give us your feedback

Hi rekenaar.

I finally got around to doing this tonight. I first did a clean MP1.0.1 installation, configured everything on there including MovingPictures/MyTVSeries (as well as letting the plugins download all data/information from my folders).

Locally, on the server (single seat installation), I was able to move the database/thumbs directory to another drive (F:/), and map them in the MediaPortalDirs.xml file as described in the documentation. Locally on the server, when I load up Mediaportal, everything appears to work.

On the client end, I did a clean install of MP1.0.1. I did what is described in the documentation (including using the modified MediaPortalDirs.xml file that maps the database/thumbs folders via the share) but when I load Mediaportal on the client PC, MyTVSeries is empty, and MovingPictures shows the list of my movies (700+ movies), but does not have artwork for them. If I try to play on, it has an error about it not being available.

If I open the movingpictures database that is on the server using an SQL browser, I see that the import path for all of the movies is listed as G:\example.avi..

Is this causing my grief? IIRC you're running a centralised database, so how did you get your client end to work?

Thanks

Just a thought - is it possible that I have to delete the MovingPictures/MyTVSeries databases and Thumbs folders, and re-configure the plugin on the server and add my files using share names instead of the local paths? ie. on the server "test", instead of adding G: as my movie folder i'd have to add a manual path "\\test\movies\" with movies being the share name for G:?

I have noticed problems the same issues with my movie artwork on the server now. Is the artwork location also mapped in the moving pictures database? Given that I configured these plugins before they were moved and remapped that might be the source of my problems..

 

[rekenaar]

I am not using MovingPicture on my other client, but TVSeries is working great on both.
My TVSeries files is definitely configured as \\server\directory

I remember a while back when I looked, it was not yet possible to configure MovingPictures as \\server\directory, but it was planned back then by the devs. Have not checked lately if it can be done now.

I will therefore only be able to assist you with TVSeries if you still struggle.
So give some feedback after configuring the file location as \\server\directory

 

[csapollo]

I re-configured both the MyTVSeries and MovingPictures plugins this morning from scratch (ie fresh database, fresh Thumbs folder).

I added folder locations via \\server\share and my experience is:

MyTVSeries - works fine using the method described in the documentation. The database and thumbnails/fan art load up fine but slightly slower than having the database/thumbs/fan art on the local PC. Happy with it because it makes it easier to manage and saves having to configure the plugin on each PC.

MovingPictures - this is where disappointment settles in. Mediaportal struggles. The database loads up ok, all of the titles are there and you can play them but the covers/fan art is very slow to load, the Mediaportal interface freezes every few seconds as it is trying to load everything up.

In the thumbnails directory to give you an idea of how much needs to be pulled over my network (10/100 cabled ethernet on both server and client PC), MyTVSeries is about 100mb, MovingPictures is about 1.3GB. I have about 700+ movies in MovingPictures.

If I disable the MovingPictures plugin in Mediaportal on the client PC, everything else works ok. So my thought is simply that because of the size of the Thumbs folder for MovingPictures, it cannot work efficiently.

So now, I'm not sure what to do because, to make the MovingPictures plugin use a local database/thumbs folder on the client PC and just manage them separately I'd have to do the same for MyTVSeries too. Fun Times