unRaid and Kodi

[Smitty2k1]

So who else here is storing media on an unRaid server with playback to a Kodi HTPC? What are your experiences with it?

 

I've found it is best to add sources in Kodi as an SMB share. I've had no issues with read speed from unRaid affecting Kodi playback.

 

I do have issues with navigating my library. Whenever a hard drive spins up in unRaid, the Kodi interface hangs until all drives are accessible. Furthermore, if I begin playback, then continue navigating my library, then other drive spins up, playback hangs until the spin up of the new drive completes.

 

I also think that scanning my library takes a long time. I have a fairly extensive music, movie, and TV show collection but it still seems like the library should be able to scan for updates quite quickly. 

 

Does everyone have these issues? Have you found any tips and tricks with unRaid + Kodi?

[CHBMB]

I've found it flawless to be honest.  I do spin my disks down so there's a slight delay when I play media if the disks need to be spun up.

 

I also use SMB shares.

 

I've not noticed any problems navigating the library.  FWIW I use the Kodi Headless docker with a centralised MariaDB, now my media is all scanned in, the library update may take up to 3 minutes but it's much better now than it used to be on Jarvis.

 

I'm using LibreELEC v8.0.1 on 1 x x64 HTPC, 2 x Raspberry Pi3's, and Kodi 18 on 1 x Antergos Laptop and 1 x Windows 10 Laptop (That's my wife's laptop!) 

[burtjr]

I use Kodi on my Nvidia Shield and love it. I too spin my drives down so there's a delay, but I can change that if I wish.

[bally12345]

I use SMB shares on Kodi using my Fire TV box but to be fair I tend to use plex more these days.

When I used to use a RPi I'm sure I read NFS shares are better to use but cant remember why.

Only thing now is my setup has kinda changed as my server in a different location to where I live and to access libraries using FTP isn't advisable. Hence why I'm using Plex.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[CHBMB]

20 hours ago, bally12345 said:

When I used to use a RPi I'm sure I read NFS shares are better to use but cant remember why.

 

I know a few years ago I used to use NFS as I found the performance better, but haven't used anything other than smb for a long while now.  Including on my RPis

[DZMM]

I've switched to Kodi recently after giving up on audio issues with Plex.

 

I use the trakt plugin to keep my device libraries in check and with Plex for remote viewing.

[bally12345]

Iv never had any audio issues with plex. Kodi now has a plex add-on too.

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[kizer]

I use Plex on all my Portable stuff and XBMC aka Kodi on my Big screen in the living room. 

[DZMM]

53 minutes ago, bally12345 said:

Iv never had any audio issues with plex. Kodi now has a plex add-on too.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

There are some massive threads on fire TV and mi box ac3 issues on the Plex forums.  I'm glad I've gone back to kodi/xbmc (my whole media center journey started with xbmc back in 2004 with modded xboxs) as the better passthrough support means i have no audio problems.

[bally12345]

Ah yes Passthrough is an issue but that dissappeared for me when I moved and no longer had 5.1 set up. So no longer notice it.

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[DZMM]

20 minutes ago, bally12345 said:

Ah yes Passthrough is an issue but that dissappeared for me when I moved and no longer had 5.1 set up. So no longer notice it.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

BTW where in Notts do you live?  That's my home town

[bally12345]

BTW where in Notts do you live?  That's my home town

Small world!

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[DoeBoye]

Do you have cache_dirs installed? That should take care of the delays your are dealing with.

 

I have used Kodi (XBMC) for years running on multiple clients and pulling video from the server. I used to use mySQL (then MariaDB) to centralize, so watched status etc was shared between players, but I have since switch to using Emby on my server to manage my library. Why you ask?

1. Keeps the library clean and updated at all times (and keeps things synchronized).
2. Upgrading Kodi doesn't lead to a complete rebuild of my Kodi library like it used to.
3. I can transcode and stream to mobile devices without issue. No need for another software package.
4. Though I don't use it, it makes sharing your library outside of your network extremely easy (In fact, if you have upnp set up in your router, it does it automatically upon install - I don't love that.) Disabling that functionality is quite quick and easy though.

[kri kri]

6 hours ago, bally12345 said:

Iv never had any audio issues with plex. Kodi now has a plex add-on too.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

This is what I use, and I love it. Some people might not like the Plex kodi addon, but its great for the WAF. 

[Smitty2k1]

23 hours ago, DoeBoye said:

Do you have cache_dirs installed? That should take care of the delays your are dealing with.

 

I have used Kodi (XBMC) for years running on multiple clients and pulling video from the server. I used to use mySQL (then MariaDB) to centralize, so watched status etc was shared between players, but I have since switch to using Emby on my server to manage my library. Why you ask?

1. Keeps the library clean and updated at all times (and keeps things synchronized).
2. Upgrading Kodi doesn't lead to a complete rebuild of my Kodi library like it used to.
3. I can transcode and stream to mobile devices without issue. No need for another software package.
4. Though I don't use it, it makes sharing your library outside of your network extremely easy (In fact, if you have upnp set up in your router, it does it automatically upon install - I don't love that.) Disabling that functionality is quite quick and easy though.

 

 

Interesting about cache_dirs, I'll have to try it out. If my drives are spun down and I start Kodi, how does Kodi scan my library for new media without spinning them back up?

 

Also, RE: Emby. I'm using TinyMediaManager now. Here is my 'workflow'

1) Copy file to unRaid server from a desktop PC

2) Open TinyMediaManager on said desktop PC, scan for new files, scrape metadata

3) Open Kodi on HTPC and scan for new content

 

Is Emby a better way to streamline this? That would be great. I do have a 2nd Kodi client (ShieldTV) and controlling the watched status would be nice!

[DoeBoye]

1 hour ago, Smitty2k1 said:

Interesting about cache_dirs, I'll have to try it out. If my drives are spun down and I start Kodi, how does Kodi scan my library for new media without spinning them back up?

 

Here's a quote from Joe L, the brains behind the original script, that explains it quite well:

 

On 10/15/2009 at 2:27 PM, Joe L. said:

The Linux kernel keeps the most recently accessed disk buffers and directories in memory, and flushes out the least recently accessed entries. If we can 'trick' the kernel into keeping our directory entries in that memory cache, then directory scans will find what it is looking for is already in memory, and not need to access the physical disk to get it.

 

When the file is accessed, obviously the drive will then need to spin up, and you will have a bit of a delay before the video plays (if the drive is not already spinning), but otherwise, navigation is pretty seamless. As far as library updates, see below!

 

1 hour ago, Smitty2k1 said:

Also, RE: Emby. I'm using TinyMediaManager now. Here is my 'workflow'

1) Copy file to unRaid server from a desktop PC

2) Open TinyMediaManager on said desktop PC, scan for new files, scrape metadata

3) Open Kodi on HTPC and scan for new content

 

Is Emby a better way to streamline this? That would be great. I do have a 2nd Kodi client (ShieldTV) and controlling the watched status would be nice!

 

The beauty of Emby is that it does that sort of housekeeping automatically for you. As soon as I add new content to the server, Emby picks it up on the next scan (I believe the scan for new content is set to run every few minutes), generates a db entry and the associated thumbnails, nfos etc., and saves them to the correct directory. On the Kodi side of things, once you install the Emby plugin ("Emby for Kodi"), as soon as you wake up/boot your media player, Emby feeds the updates to the Kodi db and away you go. It is extremely fast and completely automated. No more "scanning for new content"/"Cleaning the DB" in the Kodi interface.

 

The only downside to the Emby for Kodi plugin is that it is not in the official Kodi repository because to be as fast as it is, it makes modifications directly to the db structure of Kodi and that is against their usage policy. This means you need to install the Emby repository first. Though it sounds a bit scary (the modifying the Kodi db), it's really a non-issue, because all of your meta data etc for your files are now stored outside of Kodi. You can format your media player, reinstall Kodi, and have your library back in action in minutes.... And of course, multiple Kodi media players will share viewed status and content updates.

 

Hope that helps!

Edited April 4, 2017 by DoeBoye

[Smitty2k1]

That sounds like what I need. I'll give it a go. Thanks for the clear and concise info!

[DoeBoye]

1 hour ago, Smitty2k1 said:

That sounds like what I need. I'll give it a go. Thanks for the clear and concise info!

My pleasure!

[Smitty2k1]

23 hours ago, DoeBoye said:

My pleasure!

 

So I spent some time yesterday getting this all setup. A little bit more complicated than I would have thought.

 

1) Created an Emby account and Installed the Emby docker. Just kept everything default. Added ALL my media to Emby. This took a few hours.

2) Reinstalled Kodi on my HTPC to get rid of previous library

3) Installed the Emby add-on for Kodi. Required unknown sources, installing the repository, and THEN installing the add-on itself. Figuring out I actually needed the add-on took a while

4) Tried to setup my Emby library on Kodi. This didn't work out great. I realize now that Emby isn't the best for my music library, nor is it the best for my folders of concerts, documentaries, and stand-up comedy shows since it can't scrape those and I like just browsing by folder structure.

5) Removed said music/concert/documentary/comedy folders from Emby's server. Added the folders to Kodi's library using the built-in library viewer.

6) Added Emby for Kodi to my Shield TV. This was easier since I already figured out the quirks on my HTPC. Confirmed watched status transfers between devices.

 

All in all I think I really just wanted Emby to run on the back end to automatically fetch my metadata - although having it installed in Kodi does seem to refresh the library MUCH quicker upon boot-up. Also got the cache_dir plugin for Dynamix installed. Seems to work as intended.

 

We will see how the WAF goes over the coming weeks

Edited April 7, 2017 by Smitty2k1

[DoeBoye]

Hurrah! Glad to hear you're set up! Post back and let us know how it goes over .

 

I never made an Emby Connect account. I just made local users. I'm not entirely sure what extra functionality you get with Emby Connect... I did buy a lifetime Emby Premiere membership though. Especially because I'm sure the price will be going up to match Plex in the next year or two...

 

It's nice that you can re-install Kodi now without the hassle of re-scraping your library though, isn't it?

 

re: Music: I didn't like the music functionality that much either. I also removed it from the Emby library. I know other people use and love it for music, so I figure I just wasn't setting it up properly, but for my collection, I usually just navigate to a folder and click on an album. I don't really want any fancy music library functionality... Movie and TV Show management is really all I care about.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that Emby also does Parental controls quite well, if that is a concern. That feature is even available in the free version of the app.

[trurl]

Spinup delays are why user share split level settings were invented, so you might take a look at that. It mostly helps when watching tv episodes or listening to an album (remember those) or with any other sorts of files that you expect to access together.

[praaphorst]

I am using Kodi on a rpi3 with PlexKodiConnect which synchronizes Kodi's media libray with Plex. . I've set it to use SMB shares.

 

Updates from the plexmediaserver seem to arrive pretty quick, i can not force it on the Kodi though (through the update library button).

 

The only issue I've seen so far is that opening the same file for the second time  in a short period of time (seconds) seems to "hang"on busy. Stop playing and retry solves it.

 

All in all i am content with this solution.

[Smitty2k1]

On 4/7/2017 at 0:22 PM, DoeBoye said:

Hurrah! Glad to hear you're set up! Post back and let us know how it goes over .

 

I never made an Emby Connect account. I just made local users. I'm not entirely sure what extra functionality you get with Emby Connect... I did buy a lifetime Emby Premiere membership though. Especially because I'm sure the price will be going up to match Plex in the next year or two...

 

It's nice that you can re-install Kodi now without the hassle of re-scraping your library though, isn't it?

 

re: Music: I didn't like the music functionality that much either. I also removed it from the Emby library. I know other people use and love it for music, so I figure I just wasn't setting it up properly, but for my collection, I usually just navigate to a folder and click on an album. I don't really want any fancy music library functionality... Movie and TV Show management is really all I care about.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that Emby also does Parental controls quite well, if that is a concern. That feature is even available in the free version of the app.

 

 

What is Emby Connect? I don't think I'm using that

[DoeBoye]

6 minutes ago, Smitty2k1 said:

What is Emby Connect? I don't think I'm using that

Among other things, I believe it works kind of like a dynamic dns service, in that when you're outside your network, you don't need to connect via IP address. You login to a website (https://app.emby.media ? ), and then depending on your user name and password, you are presented with the server/servers that username is linked to.

 

Very handy if you plan on accessing your media from outside your network (Or are sharing your media with others), but as I do not access my media from outside the network, I didn't bother....

 

Here's more info.

[megna22]

I run kodi with my Unraid server and I also use smb to access it. What I do tho is have all the meta data stored on the server instead of downloading in from TMDB as it would take forever. I use a separate computer running windows and a program that writes kodi meta data files directly to the server. I then tell kodi to pull all meta data from my server this saves lots of time as it is local. Drive spin up is still an issue as it does pause.