sharing media between multiple computers possible? (1 Viewer)

[Visuaguy]

Is it allready possible to use media portal on two computers and have them automatically share all media?
I would like to set up an extra set in my master bedroom and it would be best if both computers would seamlessly share all media.
for instance, if i would record some tv shows on one machine, would it appear automatically in the media database of another, or even better, is it possible to have a NAS storage solution with the mediadatabase together?

I saw some demonstration of mediabolic based hardware where all connected devices share all their media dynamicly, one media item added to one machine is dynamicly added in all other connected devices,
once you turn on an extra machine in the network, all its medxia is automaticly added to all others.

can media portal do something like this, or will it be future music for now?

 

[dpirs]

I like the idea. I use two PCs and would like to share media between them.

But I think there are lot of other, more important problems that have to be solved, and features that have to be implemented than this. New wishes and ideas will just have to wait...

 

[Lars E.]

I will ultimately need three machines running mediaportal.
The one at the ground floor will only run Mediaportal. The same goes for the one in my living room on the first floor, but in my office at the second floor I would like to use the PC as a PC with Mediaportal on the second monitor.
Guess this second monitor stuff isn't possible with DX9 as it is today. I believe I read something about that earlier.

So it would be excellent if it was built-in support for some kind of media sharing. But isn't it possible to do that today with just sharing of network disks?

 

[aasmund Nordal]

If this would come in the future, wil it be like therminals?

dreaming:

a mediaportal server with media, database, tv card, webiterface and when installing mediaportal client you are asked where your mp server is.

If 3 computers is sharing one tv-card, pherhaps that would require a lot of power to the server if it`s supose to stream, record, and another waching a movie.

but when tv signal is digital you could just have server as the recorder and each client as a wacher?
Wil it time be possible to connect your tv signal to a swith and recive anywhere? Is this possible today?

btw: i would like three mp client- bedroom livingroom and kitchen.
kitchen would be just for tv signal, recepies and kichen relevant stuf.

 

[diablomadman]

So it would be excellent if it was built-in support for some kind of media sharing. But isn't it possible to do that today with just sharing of network disks?

Yep. This is what I have set up. I scrounged an old clunker of a machine to run MP, added a Hauppauge 150 card and a cheap vid card with a decent composite video out. I have Music and videos residing on my main (larger hd's) machine. The two machines are networked. On the MP machine I set up mapped network drives, made the user names and passwords match, added these shared drives to MP as the primary sources for the various media and bingo... robert's your mother's brother. I use a local drive for TV recording / Hauppauge because I think the timeshifting recording needs quicker access than is available over the network. hmmm.. or maybe I just had the share set to read only now that I think about it...

With regard to multiple machines, I use only one. I send the composite vid to an RF modulator (a little black box that converts from composite to coax out on channel 3 or 4, if you don't know) and a cable splitter that goes to the two tv's in the house. Use a Snapstream Firefly RF remote.

Obviously, this sends the same thing to all TV's, but that's fine by me. I had to use a split off of the soundcard out and a long extension cable to run to my ent centre amp as the demodulation via the TV and a VCR downstairs made for some truly horrible audio.

The only real hassle I've had with MP so far derives from the scrounged computer being a piece of crap. Dual P2 600 processors - below min specs. But MP does actually run quite well. Which is more than I can say for Microsoft media centre (the xp license is MCE). Ran that set up to help calibrate my TV displays and gave TV watching a try for a laugh... saw about 3 seconds of a show before the entire thing locked up /beer to Frodo or whoever takes the time to write code as efficient as possible instead of taking the M$oft approach of just overpowering with hardware.

Anyway, thats way more rambly than I origianlly intended but hopefully there's some helpful bits in there for folks.

 

[CoolHammer]

I am using three computers with mp ... they all share same media files ...

All you need to do is map network drive to your file server and add that to MP.

CoolHammer

 

[aasmund Nordal]

so, if two computers installed mp to the same mapped drive, and I use fks my bedroom pc to start a recording, wil both computers start recording?

 

[diablomadman]

so, if two computers installed mp to the same mapped drive, and I use fks my bedroom pc to start a recording, wil both computers start recording?

Oh, I don't think you want to install MP that way. Install it on both PC's and then share your media sources.

 

[TimmyT]

but is it also possible to share the database? for example, when i record something on machine 1, is it possible that this recording will be visible in the "my recordings" view on machine 2?

 

[Khris]

but is it also possible to share the database? for example, when i record something on machine 1, is it possible that this recording will be visible in the "my recordings" view on machine 2?

No, because each installation of MP will use it's own Database, not a shared one.