multi-seat plugin - how should it work? (1 Viewer)

MageMinds

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January 29, 2007
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I know it's an old post, but recently I added second MP to my house and I was wondering exactly what you're talking about in this thread.

For me about the user problem I would create a set of flag ... Let say that the living room and the recreation room share the same flag set while the kids rooms each have their own flagged state.

The kids could listen to something on one of "my" tv, but they would have to put back the flag... Unless they would get their viewing privilege on "my" tv revoked. When they listen in their room they would not have to bother with resetting the flag.

But really, just having a sync database between two MP would be a great start. Do the database absolutely need to be sqlite? We could use Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition on a central computer.

Edit: I wanted to add that the possibility to have a service process running on the server importing show details thumbnails and everything would be awesome... My Home Server is up 24/7 and as soon as a show get added it would be great to have it indexed right away. That way all MP would have all the information without waiting for indexation. On my Home Sever I'd rather not be running the full MP installation as that takes a lot of RAM. I don't mind the ram MP takes when I'm in front of the TV, but I do mind when it's running in background while I'm working with my PC/Home Server.
 

dim_n

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December 4, 2007
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I would like to have a feature like that. For Starting as simple as a replication over the network. I have 2 media portal installations and i would like to synchronize the data of tv-series plugin (not only tv series but this thread is for that).

For me these are the solutions:
1. Application to synchronize the databases (i search for an already application that synchronize sqlite databases with no luck)
2. Application on each installation that will listen to a specific port or a web service. When the episode updates as true will "talk" to the other installations to inform the that this episode is watched. There are is a main issues in this approach. The other pc's should be open (in order to update them) .
3. And if it could be it would be the greatest solution. Use the tvdb to set visibility. It wold work in the same way that "mark episode watched if rated online" .I think that there is no visibility flag for each user in thetvdb, but maybe it can be used a "dummy" value for rated like -1 or something would be the solution. With this approach in each installation you just import the files and visibility would be updated automatically. Of course you have to provide with a username of thetvdb, but this is very common.

That's my approaches to that issue, and i would like to see something in that direction.

Thanks
 

hakuna

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October 15, 2004
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Just FYI, I'd really like multi seat version of My TVseries! The only thing not working with this one is the posibillity to have two MP running at the same time.

I used to have the db on a shared drive, but it crashed every now and then.
Now I have the db in my dropbox folder.
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTEyMzMzMDE3OQ?src=global0

I can still only run one MP at the time, but it does not seem to crash as often.

Niclas
 

Surferosa

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September 2, 2009
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A workaround for multiple instances running at the same time is to have additional clients 'pull' the media portal files at the time of launch via use of a very simple batchfile. So I have a master mediaportal client (in the lounge) that is used the most (ie more than half of all media played). However, there are now 5 other clients that run (2 bedroom clients, 3 PC clients). These all pull the database files every time mediaportal launches. This is the batch file in case its of use (so run this on the clients instead of the main mediaportal exe);

Code:
xcopy \\My MP Database Network Location\*.db3 "C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\database" /y /d /c
start "MediaPortal" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\MediaPortal.exe"

This copies any changed database file according to date- meaning I only have to update the master client (as per the Central Database wiki posted above)- onto the default local drive. The thumbs, images and files are still held on the server (as, again, per that wiki).

On a couple of the clients, I also have pauses in the script to make sure the computer has a chance to start all services before running- so if you have any problems you can do that too;

Code:
ping -n 10 127.0.0.1

Where '10' represents the length of the pause you want (so approx 10 seconds).

Of course, the downside of this is that anything watched or marked as watched is overwritten on any client other than the master (which is obviously retained). I think I requested if anyone with sql skills could write something (which could be called via the same batch file) that copied across any watched flag changes- then it would be a complete solution. Alas I never got any help :(

Still, that apart, its working fine as a solution for 6 clients that can all run simultaneously- so may help you- especially if you are having the problem of shared drive crashes :)

Edit- I was going to add this into the wiki- but the entry is closed I think. If anyone that can amend reads this it could be tagged in there as I found it as a solution purely by accident in searching some old threads.
 

funkstar

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    Which Wiki was that?

    The MP wiki on here is going through a complete overhaul and the old one has been locked. The new wiki is available read only for the time being, see this news item for more details: New Wiki Public Beta Test - MEDIAPORTAL

    Thanks for the idea though, this is something I'll look into when I set up further clients :)
     

    Surferosa

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    September 2, 2009
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    Ahhh- I had noticed the wiki changes (I was referring to the page on Central databases linked by zicoz above)- but I hadnt seen that news post. If noone else does, Ill update the page once the wiki comes out of read-only mode then.

    Cheers :)

    Edit: This was the thread where the possibility of using sql to update watched flags was proposed (by Rochess), and a proposed work-around solution for copying watched flag changes back into the 'master' client. Just in case a sql-guru happens across this post and wants to help...

    https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...databases-sync-across-multiple-clients-74285/

    If a solution could be found for MovingPictures and TV Series databases- it would be a complete multi-client workaround solution for MP1.
     

    seppi2204

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    December 8, 2010
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    Hi,
    I found this thread by chance and thought it could be a opportunity to sue for the SyncMP-Tool developed by jojo1411 and me.

    We coded this little third party tool from the same necessity that you all have experienced - the missing multiseat option of MP1. At the beginning of development it was just a simple copy&paste script, very much the same as SurferSofa did as batch file. But till today it becomes a more powerful tool, which keeps your databases up to date, without touching the userspecific data (e.g. watched_flags).

    You simply have to designate one of your MediaPortal clients which is connected to the network as the Master. On the Master you have only to keep your databases up to date.
    The other Machines would run the SyncClient executable. Thr Synclient.exe grabs everytime the Client starts up Windows or wakes up from Standby the new data from the master's database. Thereby it does not simply copy the whole database, it can read and write single SQL-tables (you can configure which tables has to be copied) so you will never loose your watched_flags or other settings. They all can can be unique on each client!

    If you like to update Moving-Pictures, TV-Series and Web-EPG databases automatically, you need additionally the automation tool SyncServer. With SyncServer you can manage time-controlled updates of some plugin databases and synchronization events on your Mediaportal server. It's also possible to Wake up the clients via WakeOnLan after a sucessful update has been made.
    SyncServer is not essential to benefit of the SyncClient features!

    I hope you can understand the manner how this tool works otherwise have a look at the original thread or at the Google.code page, there is also a (outdated) wiki that could be helpful.

    Greets
    Seppi2204
     

    funkstar

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    Thanks Seppi, that looks like a really useful tool. I'll look into it further when I get a chance.
     

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