Headless media server with *real* streaming + Kodi client (HowTo?) - Printable Version +- Kodi Community Forum (https://forum.kodi.tv) +-- Forum: Support (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=33) +--- Forum: General Support (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=111) +---- Forum: OS independent / Other (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=228) +---- Thread: Headless media server with *real* streaming + Kodi client (HowTo?) (/showthread.php?tid=359762)

Headless media server with *real* streaming + Kodi client (HowTo?) - nagmat84 - 2021-01-11 Dear all, I am looking for a solution which provides the following features: Clients which run Kodi and access a central repository for media description/browsing and stream the actual content from the server over RTP A headless server which provides A central repository which is queried by clients for available media and formats The repository shall be managed centrally, clients do not need write access and must not alter description, titles or other meta info Optional: Meta info about videos streams which have been started and paused on a per-user basis such that the same user, more precisely different client which use the same login credentials, can resume the same video stream across different devices (of course this requires some kind of login mechanism to the media server) A streaming server which provides real streaming, i.e. based on RTP/AVP, and transcoding of media at the server-side with negotiation of resolution/compression/bandwith based on available network bandwith/latency Side conditions: Streaming must work across a routed network Firewalling/routing/DNS is under my control, e.g. I can add DNS records if required for certain features Root access to the media server running Linux Question: Are there any good tutorials/howtos/wikis which explain what needs to be installed on the server and what must be configured where? To my understanding the following topics needs to be covered: Components required on the server (probably a server to browse the tree of available media (web server?), a database server, the trancoding tools and the RTP server, and alike) The configuration and interaction of these components, see 1. Required network support/configuration: router settings for proper multi cast support, required DNS service records (if necessary) Client settings Question: Can this be done with Kodi? Some people claim yes, other say no, Kodi is only a client software. I have no problem to use something else for at the server side, if Kodi was only a client. However, I would like to have some pointers, what is required for a Kodi-compliant streaming server. Finally, two remarks about what I would not prefer: Most solutions for a central media server, which I have seen so far or read about, use Kodi as client software and than access a central storage via NFS or SMB. These solutions are falsely called "streaming", but this is not true streaming. That's simply a file-based access over network. In particular, the whole video file must be transferred across the network, although progressive downloading is possible. However, there is no adoption to network bandwidth or similar. This is not what I am looking for. Given the premise Kodi might provide those server features, I would prefer a headless installation on the server. The default package from the official PPA for Ubuntu seems to be linked against a lot of X11 and other libraries and pulls in a complete X11 server as its dependency graph. Although disk consumption is not a problem, this feels wrong. A streaming server which only provides a repository with meta information and a transcoding service should not require a full X11 installation. Bests, nagmat84 RE: Headless media server with *real* streaming + Kodi client (HowTo?) - GavinCampbell - 2021-01-11 A lot of stuff in there but have you looked into running a server like Emby and then using the Emby4Kodi addon to sync the library? I can't say if it will meet all your needs, but most of them it should. RE: Headless media server with *real* streaming + Kodi client (HowTo?) - scott967 - 2021-01-12 I agree that the term "streaming" is much abused.  I guess if DLNA is considered true "Streaming" maybe Plex is a solution? but you also have the combo of providing local content and acting as an aggregator of outside streaming content.  I don't know to what extent Plex allows negotiation of streaming parameters. scott s. . RE: Headless media server with *real* streaming + Kodi client (HowTo?) - jmgibson1981 - 2021-01-15 https://opensource.com/article/19/1/basic-live-video-streaming-server https://ostechnix.com/streama-setup-your-own-streaming-media-server-in-minutes/ https://ostechnix.com/how-to-setup-linux-media-server-using-jellyfin/ this may be what you are looking for? to use Kodi you need to come up with an addon that can hit whatever you broadcast with this? found with a simple google search. the rest is likely out there as well. I'm curious why the need for so called "real streaming" though. is there a reason that is needed? if trans-coding is the issue then just use plex?