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+---- Thread: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? (/showthread.php?tid=367999)
Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - Undertaker555 - 2022-04-24
Hi, I am trying to share my Kodi library from a Windows PC to an Android TV Box.
After researching I am now using UPnP, which works really great.
But now my question is: How can I share the artwork, playlists, etc. too?
It really would be great if I can just start my Kodi on the Android TV Box and see exactly the library of my Windows PC, with all that artwork, watching progress, etc.
If possible, I would like to only stream all these informations from the PC, and not allowing the Android TV Box to make changes in the library, because it could be used by people who don't have a clue of what they are doing, and could remove entries of my library, lol
What is the best way for my situation?
Thanks
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - PatK - 2022-04-24
Trust you've found this Syncing and sharing (wiki) and this SMB (wiki) which lays out a local lan connection pretty well and would be my first choice.
(2022-04-24, 14:13)Undertaker555 Wrote: How can I share the artwork, playlists, etc. too?Load up Kodi on the android device, set the sources for your PC and just scrape up the media. A slight word of caution, if the device doesn't have a lot of memory and the library is huge there may be issues. I have a Firestick as one of my external devices, and I find it convenient to have a limited source and access most everything using 'video file mode' but you don't get the nice functions of the library.
(2022-04-24, 14:13)Undertaker555 Wrote: a clue of what they are doing, and could remove entriesMight want to use 'Kiosk' mode (locks up your settings etc.) but in settings>media>general you can toggle file deletions & renaming, but doesn't preclude changing of settings.
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - jbinkley60 - 2022-04-24
(2022-04-24, 14:13)Undertaker555 Wrote: Hi, I am trying to share my Kodi library from a Windows PC to an Android TV Box.Since you are running uPNP now, you might want to look at this solution which will do what you want and more. It manages everything Kodi sees, syncs to the Kodi DB, allows for quick and simple playlist creation which is instantly shares with all clients, shares resume points, manages your artwork and more. With this setup you have full central control of what each Kodi client sees and the users can't change that. Even if they destroy a Kodi client database you'll still get the proper views and the database will be rebuilt automatically.
After researching I am now using UPnP, which works really great.
But now my question is: How can I share the artwork, playlists, etc. too?
It really would be great if I can just start my Kodi on the Android TV Box and see exactly the library of my Windows PC, with all that artwork, watching progress, etc.
If possible, I would like to only stream all these informations from the PC, and not allowing the Android TV Box to make changes in the library, because it could be used by people who don't have a clue of what they are doing, and could remove entries of my library, lol
What is the best way for my situation?
Thanks
I maintain the addon and am happy to answer questions. I have had this setup running for years with many Kodi and non-Kodi clients. I am curious what uPNP server you have running. Many of them don't do a great job with artwork and metadata management. I have most of them running in my test environment.
Jeff
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - Undertaker555 - 2022-04-24
Thank you both for the replies.
I think I will try the first suggestion by PatK at first.
But I have a question about it, before I try:
If I scrape the media, will it download all scraped artwork from IMDB again, or will it somehow "download" the artwork from the Kodi at the host PC?
I ask, because I needed to add many things manually, and it was hours of work. Now I hope, that I would never have to do that again.
So it would be best if it will just take my data from the Host PC, but is it actually possible?
Step 2 is clear. Kiosk mode would be the best decision in that situation I think.
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - Undertaker555 - 2022-04-24
(2022-04-24, 18:08)jbinkley60 Wrote: I am curious what uPNP server you have running. Many of them don't do a great job with artwork and metadata management.
Sorry for double post, but I wanted to reply about this one.
I am using the very basic settings:
Settings > Services > UPnP/DLNA > Enable UPnP Support > Share my libraries
I checked again about Mezzmo. It sounds good, but I tried to stay "vanilla" with my Kodi setup.
But if there is no good way of sharing artwork trough Kodi itself, I think I will have no other choice, I think.
So I will ask some questions already now:
- In that addon, can I keep my standard Kodi 19 UI?
- How will the media be added to the client? Do I have to scan it somehow, or will it instantly come up in my TV Shows and Movies tabs in the main menu?
- Can I import my artwork and data from the Kodi Host PC to the Mezzmo Host software?
I basically just want the same experience like I have on my Windows PC, without needing to copy any artwork or anything to the Client Android TV Box.
By that I mean, without copying anything, I just want to "stream" movies and series, including their info, data and artwork to the TV Box.
There are like 2 parts of what I want to stream to the TV Box:
- The media files itself (already working fine trough Kodi UPnP)
- The artwork, media data, episode infomations, etc. (is it possible trough vanilla Kodi UPnP, or do I need Mezzmo for it?)
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - jbinkley60 - 2022-04-24
(2022-04-24, 22:11)Undertaker555 Wrote:(2022-04-24, 18:08)jbinkley60 Wrote: I am curious what uPNP server you have running. Many of them don't do a great job with artwork and metadata management.
Sorry for double post, but I wanted to reply about this one.
I am using the very basic settings:
Settings > Services > UPnP/DLNA > Enable UPnP Support > Share my libraries
I checked again about Mezzmo. It sounds good, but I tried to stay "vanilla" with my Kodi setup.
But if there is no good way of sharing artwork trough Kodi itself, I think I will have no other choice, I think.
So I will ask some questions already now:
- In that addon, can I keep my standard Kodi 19 UI?
- How will the media be added to the client? Do I have to scan it somehow, or will it instantly come up in my TV Shows and Movies tabs in the main menu?
- Can I import my artwork and data from the Kodi Host PC to the Mezzmo Host software?
I basically just want the same experience like I have on my Windows PC, without needing to copy any artwork or anything to the Client Android TV Box.
By that I mean, without copying anything, I just want to "stream" movies and series, including their info, data and artwork to the TV Box.
There are like 2 parts of what I want to stream to the TV Box:
- The media files itself (already working fine trough Kodi UPnP)
- The artwork, media data, episode infomations, etc. (is it possible trough vanilla Kodi UPnP, or do I need Mezzmo for it?)
Yes, with the addon it keeps the standard Kodi UI. It doesn't care what skin you use. See the library views on the Wiki to see what it can looks like with a couple of common skins. I can't answer your vanilla uPNP server question without knowing what uPNP server you have. While uPNP/DLNA are standards they are implemented differently amongst the uPNP servers. Artwork issues like you are experiencing are often an issue with many uPNP solutions but not Mezzmo. With Mezzmo you import your media into Mezzmo once. It scrapes it, hosts the artwork and serves it up to the clients. There are ways to use your existing artwork by leveraging Mezzmo's XBMC import mode. So you have one central place to manage everything. The clients are just that, clients. The ability to host artwork is one of the things which makes Mezzmo so unique. I have 90,000+ artwork files (poster, folder, fanart, actors etc..) in my library. All handling of the Kodi database is handled by the addon. You never need to touch it again on any client.
Yes, you should be able to import your media from your Kodi host PC by pointing Mezzmo at the current file shares. You can even use your Windows PC with Kodi as a Mezzmo server. I have a system running that way. Even with the XBMC import mode there will still be some artwork tweaking but with Mezzmo it can be very easy. I can help you here. I'd suggest looking around the Wiki and seeing all of the capabilities. That should help you decide how you want to proceed. Note, with Mezzmo you can run in parallel to your current setup but I highly recommend backing up your Kodi clients, just to make it easier to fall back if you want to.
Jeff
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RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - PatK - 2022-04-25
(2022-04-24, 21:03)Undertaker555 Wrote: If I scrape the media, will it download all scraped artwork from IMDB againOn scrape, Kodi checks to see if there's local meta-data, and will take this information first (plus the artwork). If you want to ensure only local files, you could use local only scraper and switch back to a full scraper of choice after the initial scrape.
(2022-04-24, 22:44)jbinkley60 Wrote: leveraging MezzmoMight be worth looking at, just not enough time in the day.
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - Undertaker555 - 2022-04-25
Scrape from local meta-data?
That sounds great!... in theory..
Because I just found out, that I can't scrape from Files > My UPnP device > "Media folder"
When I open the pop up, where usually it gives me the option to scan, it just offers me these options:
- Add to favourites
- Play
- Queue item
- Play next
Will I be anyway able to scan them, without any addon? And if, what I need to do?
Because "scrape from local meta-data" combined with Kiosk mode would give me exactly what I want.
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - Undertaker555 - 2022-04-25
Right now trying Mezzmo, because I am not sure if it will work with vanilla UPnP, but I will keep that option open, in case Mezzmo is not ideal.
But right now I am trying to get Mezzmo working, as I said, but I need some assistance.
You said that I can use the Kodi plugin of Mezzmo itself as a server. But where can I actually set it up as a server inside Kodi?
Also I am getting an error message on both, host and client: Something like "Mezzmo Data not cleared Kodi DB"
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - Undertaker555 - 2022-04-25
Triple posting, but well.. if there would be an edit function, I would definitely use it
So, I decided to go full Mezzmo.. It works fine.
I downloaded and installed the Windows software, too.
But now there are a few things:
- How will I watch the Mezzmo media on the Media server PC itself? Do I need to UPnP trough the whole router and back, just to get Kodi to play my media from the HDD that is attached to it's own USB?
- I have very low thumbnail quality on all entries. Are these just placeholders while updating or what do I have to do?
Now something kind of problematic, I guess:
I am actually using 2 HDD's, but not both at the same time - I use either one of them. And for each of these I had in Kodi a profile.
The point of these 2 HDD's is, that one of these is big and contains much media, but includes also the media of the second, smaller one.
The small one is like a lite version of my big HDD, which contains just a few things from the big one.
Obviously, I don't want to have dozens of entries in Kodi, that lead to files that are not on the "lite HDD".
My question is now, how can I use Profiles in Kodi, when I am using Mezzmo?
Step 1 I would again create 2 profiles, one for the big and one for the lite HDD.
Step 2 On my host PC I would scan the complete big HDD.
Step 3 Then in my "lite profile" I would delete all media that is not included in the small HDD. But that exactly is my worry, because I fear that when I delete the things from my small HDD, it will completely delete it from the host PC library, too.
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - jbinkley60 - 2022-04-25
(2022-04-25, 03:03)Undertaker555 Wrote: Scrape from local meta-data?
That sounds great!... in theory..
Because I just found out, that I can't scrape from Files > My UPnP device > "Media folder"
When I open the pop up, where usually it gives me the option to scan, it just offers me these options:
- Add to favourites
- Play
- Queue item
- Play next
Will I be anyway able to scan them, without any addon? And if, what I need to do?
Because "scrape from local meta-data" combined with Kiosk mode would give me exactly what I want.
Mezzmo will start with your media files and it does the scraping / scanning. See here . I'd start by pointing Mezzmo at a folder in your library but prior to doing so, set the Metadata retrieval options by disabling the Get Internet option and ensuring the XBMC option is enabled.. Scraping is done by Mezzmo, not Kodi. The addon will take care of anything Kodi needs.
Jeff
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - jbinkley60 - 2022-04-25
(2022-04-25, 05:20)Undertaker555 Wrote: Right now trying Mezzmo, because I am not sure if it will work with vanilla UPnP, but I will keep that option open, in case Mezzmo is not ideal.
But right now I am trying to get Mezzmo working, as I said, but I need some assistance.
You said that I can use the Kodi plugin of Mezzmo itself as a server. But where can I actually set it up as a server inside Kodi?
Also I am getting an error message on both, host and client: Something like "Mezzmo Data not cleared Kodi DB"
Sorry, if I wasn't clear. The Mezzmo addon isn't a server. You need to install Mezzmo for that. The addon will work in what you call "vanilla uPNP" mode with your current Kpdi uPNP server but it doesn't do data sync and similar like it will without a Mezzmo server. So you won't be able to get everything you what you want with the artwork. That error is fine because without a Mezzmo server there won't be any Mezzmo data for the addon to clear.
Jeff
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - jbinkley60 - 2022-04-25
(2022-04-25, 07:07)Undertaker555 Wrote: Triple posting, but well.. if there would be an edit function, I would definitely use it
So, I decided to go full Mezzmo.. It works fine.
I downloaded and installed the Windows software, too.
But now there are a few things:
- How will I watch the Mezzmo media on the Media server PC itself? Do I need to UPnP trough the whole router and back, just to get Kodi to play my media from the HDD that is attached to it's own USB?
- I have very low thumbnail quality on all entries. Are these just placeholders while updating or what do I have to do?
Now something kind of problematic, I guess:
I am actually using 2 HDD's, but not both at the same time - I use either one of them. And for each of these I had in Kodi a profile.
The point of these 2 HDD's is, that one of these is big and contains much media, but includes also the media of the second, smaller one.
The small one is like a lite version of my big HDD, which contains just a few things from the big one.
Obviously, I don't want to have dozens of entries in Kodi, that lead to files that are not on the "lite HDD".
My question is now, how can I use Profiles in Kodi, when I am using Mezzmo?
Step 1 I would again create 2 profiles, one for the big and one for the lite HDD.
Step 2 On my host PC I would scan the complete big HDD.
Step 3 Then in my "lite profile" I would delete all media that is not included in the small HDD. But that exactly is my worry, because I fear that when I delete the things from my small HDD, it will completely delete it from the host PC library, too.
If you have Kodi on your Media PC with the addon you can watch your media from Mezzmo. The addon will find the Mezzmo sever wherever it is at. The thumbnail size can be adjusted here . I've never used Kodi profiles with Mezmo because Mezzmo has full control of what each client sees. I'd point Mezzmo at just what you want it to see on both drives and get it into the common library then sort out what you want the clients to see with Mezzmo. Once you are running the Mezzmo Kodi addon the client won't know about any local media files because everything they know about will come from the Mezzmo server.
Jeff
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - Undertaker555 - 2022-04-25
First of all, huge thanks for your detailed answers!
They made things really clear now.
About that thumbnail size I really did fail, because I was all the time trying to experiment with the "Streaming" option, and changed the size there for a while. Meanwhile I was literally just a few clicks away from what I needed..
You reduced my dozens of questions into just 3:
- There is some kind of limit to the thumbnail size. It is limited to 600 x 600 maximum. How can I avoid this limit and set it higher? I mean, the background looks so nice, in 1920x1080, I really don't get the point why the thumbnail of the cover is limited to just 600x600....
- If I delete media on my Kodi library, will it be deleted from the Mezzmo server? Because that would fix my problem with the 2 profiles.
- If it doesn't delete the media from the Mezzmo server, all would be fine, but how would I prevent the Mezzmo plugin from always adding that media? Basically, is there a setting in the Mezzmo Kodi plugin that could stop Mezzmo from adding media automatically?
RE: Best way to completely share Kodi Library inside home network? And how share Artwork? - jbinkley60 - 2022-04-25
(2022-04-25, 09:10)Undertaker555 Wrote: First of all, huge thanks for your detailed answers!
They made things really clear now.
About that thumbnail size I really did fail, because I was all the time trying to experiment with the "Streaming" option, and changed the size there for a while. Meanwhile I was literally just a few clicks away from what I needed..
You reduced my dozens of questions into just 3:
- There is some kind of limit to the thumbnail size. It is limited to 600 x 600 maximum. How can I avoid this limit and set it higher? I mean, the background looks so nice, in 1920x1080, I really don't get the point why the thumbnail of the cover is limited to just 600x600....
- If I delete media on my Kodi library, will it be deleted from the Mezzmo server? Because that would fix my problem with the 2 profiles.
- If it doesn't delete the media from the Mezzmo server, all would be fine, but how would I prevent the Mezzmo plugin from always adding that media? Basically, is there a setting in the Mezzmo Kodi plugin that could stop Mezzmo from adding media automatically?
You'll need to ask the Mezzmo folks the maximum thumbnail size question. The support forum is here. No, if you delete something from your Kodi database Mezzmo will not know or care about it. If it is something Mezzmo knows about (i.e. Mezzmo data), the addon will add it right back as part of the sync process. Most of what you see when running the addon isn't coming from the Kodi DB but from the Mezzmo server. The Kodi DB data is only used for things like actor / actress searches and integrating into the Kodi skins.
The Kodi The Mezzmo addon syncs to Mezzmo and doesn't care about anything scraped by your Kodi DB. In fact, in an ideal world you start out by deleting what is in your Kodi DB (after a backup) and let the Mezzmo addon manage everything. The key is that the Mezzmo addon only cares about what it gets from the Mezzmo server. It tracks it by entries in the Kodi DB path table which are unique to the Mezzmo server.
For Mezzmo adding things to its library it is typically automatic for folders that have been imported into its library. Folders which haven't, it won't know or care about.
I presume you have the Mezzmo Kodi addon running, even for testing ? If so, how do you like it ?
Jeff