UPDATED 23/01/2016: Centralised KODI Database - Emby Server and KODI Plugin


danioj

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Ok. Thanks. Got it working on new Kodi setup without predefined paths in Kodi itself but only via Emby Server.

 

New question  ;D

My Path Substitution:

From ---------- To

/mnt/movies - nfs://10.1.0.12/mnt/user/movies

/mnt/music -- nfs://10.1.0.12/mnt/user/music

/mnt/photos - nfs://10.1.0.12/mnt/user/photos

/mnt/TV ------ nfs://10.1.0.12/mnt/user/TV

 

Kodi paths:

smb://embydummy/dummypath1/

smb://embydummy/dummypath2/

 

If I understand this correctly, connection between Emby Server and unRAID shares are via NFS, but connection between Kodi (client) and Emby Server are via SMB?

Is there a way to change Kodi <-> Emby Server connections to NFS? Changing SMB to NFS (smb://embydummy/dummypathX/ > nfs://embydummy/dummypathX/) is not working  :)

 

BTW, why are there 2 dummy paths?

I set up 2 different users on Kodi. First is syncing movies, TV and music; second is syncing only movies and TV. Both have 2 dummy paths.

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Does Emby keep track say if you watched the first 28 minutes in a movie on one HTPC, will it resume at the same spot on a second htpc? I have relied on the centralized mysql/Maria solution for years now.

yes. I regularly kill the browser in the dining room machine and continue watching on the projector system downstairs.
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Sorry for the post up above, I was typing on my phone.  Anyways, what I was trying to say is that you don't need to setup any paths in Kodi.  Just configure your paths in the Emby server and then install the emby kodi plugin.  The plugin will find the server and then it will all work from there.

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@pcgirl

I understand that Kodi will communicate with Emby Server via Ebmy add-on. I am just wondering what is the type of connection between Kodi (client) and Emby Server (docker within unRAID server). I was searching and found that it uses SMB connection and Emby add-on on Kodi can be manually set up for direct use of HTTP instead of SMB.

Because I use RPi B (1. generation) on one of TVs, I am interested in using NFS instead SMB connections. At first (KODI-Headless + MariaDB) I was using SMB and RPi had many problems (freezing, etc). When I changed to NFS problems were gone.

 

Kodi paths:

smb://embydummy/dummypath1/

smb://embydummy/dummypath2/

 

These are set up by Emby add-on.

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I had the same setup basically before switching to Emby.  Except I am using SMB network sharing.  I am also using unraid server with Emby docker.  I don't think that it makes a difference which sharing platform you are using as long as the paths are set correctly in Emby.  I had some trouble getting it to work at first but I finally did.  I am on my phone right now but I will look up my settings and let you know what they are and maybe that will help.  You could also go back a few pages on this post and see what I posted as I posted my settings once I got them working.  You would just change SMB to NFS.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry but I have to ask. When I tried Emby Serveras a Docker, and tried playing something in my Kodi (with the Emby add-on installed). It seems like Emby server was trying to stream rather than let Kodi play the file natively.

 

Is there a special way to configure this with path substitutions? Any guidance is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

H.

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I too had this issue. I found it was because I was using some of the Emby additional features such as Cinema Mode (whereby which trailers would be played prior to a movie based on what the movie was) and this could only be achieved by streaming so it could put the two video files together.

 

There is actually no loss of quality and or functionality by the file streaming (as it is not being transcoded). E.g. fast forward, chapter skip etc etc all work just as if it was being played natively.

 

In order to fix this you need to ensure that all the additional features are turned off and also checked the option with respect to relative paths. Also you need to ensure the option in the plugin settings is selected to not stream. Then all should work ok.

 

TBH though, I think the additional features are cool, I find streaming from the Emby web server is no different than from a SMB share. Plus it also gives me transcoding options in the future if I want them. All works perfectly for me. But thats just me.

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In order to fix this you need to ensure that all the additional features are turned off and also checked the option with respect to relative paths. Also you need to ensure the option in the plugin settings is selected to not stream. Then all should work ok.

 

 

Thank you Danioj... Any chance you can elaborate on the above? I do not have any plugins installed in Emby. How does one setup the relative paths? I have my media collection showing up properly in Emby Server and Kodi with the Emby addon.

 

My server is not quite able to do the streaming properly. I have powerful enough htpc's to handle the native playing.

 

Thanks again,

 

H.

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In order to fix this you need to ensure that all the additional features are turned off and also checked the option with respect to relative paths. Also you need to ensure the option in the plugin settings is selected to not stream. Then all should work ok.

 

 

Thank you Danioj... Any chance you can elaborate on the above? I do not have any plugins installed in Emby. How does one setup the relative paths? I have my media collection showing up properly in Emby Server and Kodi with the Emby addon.

 

My server is not quite able to do the streaming properly. I have powerful enough htpc's to handle the native playing.

 

Thanks again,

 

H.

 

Sure thing. You don't need any plugins installed in Emby to have some of these features enabled, some of them are packaged with Emby by default. As I mentioned above, one of them is CinemaMode but there are also features such as transcoding etc. The settings for this can be found under the Tab: PlayBack>CinemaMode. Anyway, I don't "think" it is turned on by default so if you haven't been in there to turn it on, you should be good.

 

Anyway, I digress ....

 

The section you want for your path issue is under the Tab: Library>Path Substitution

 

The description there for this setting is "Path substitutions are used for mapping a path on the server to a path that clients are able to access. By allowing clients direct access to media on the server they may be able to play them directly over the network and avoid using server resources to stream and transcode them."

 

I haven't used this. As I mention in my previous post I am quite happy playing them over the server via http. However it looks simple enough. You get to enter a substitution with a From and a To. Looking at the examples they give I would say it would go as follows:

 

From (Example: D:\Movies (on the server)): \mnt\user\nas\Movies

To: (Example: \\MyServer\Movies (a path clients can access)): \\nas\Movies

 

Then you need to ensure the Emby Kodi Plugin (Required for all this btw so I hope you have it installed on Kodi) is configured (under Plugins>Emby Plugin>Configuration) to play media direct and not stream. You would also need those file paths added to the Library in Emby too (But I assume that is already done).

 

Hey presto I think that should do it.

 

Hope this helps.

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Path Substitution.

 

Go to the library in Emby and each media library added has an icon with 3 things under it, the name you gave it, the type of media and the path. The path shown on this tab is the path you use for the "from" path on the substitution page.

 

Typically, if you go to a PC and browse to the share you can copy the "to" path from the windows explorer browser address bar.

 

An example I have is from = /tv  and to = \\MEDIASERVER\TV_Shows

 

To test - go the Emby web interface and pick a TV episode or a movie. Scroll down and the path is listed at the bottom of the page. Copy this path. Go to your favorite media player and do a file - open and then paste the path. The player should open the TV or movie and begin playing it. If not, you did it wrong.

 

 

 

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Sorry but I have to ask. When I tried Emby Serveras a Docker, and tried playing something in my Kodi (with the Emby add-on installed). It seems like Emby server was trying to stream rather than let Kodi play the file natively.

 

Is there a special way to configure this with path substitutions? Any guidance is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

H.

 

I had the same issue too and had to set up "Path Substitutions" in Emby.  Here are mine...

 

From                       To

/mnt/user/Movies/       \\unraid\movies\

/mnt/user/TV/               \\unraid\TV\

/mnt/user/Music/         \\unraid\Music\

 

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Yes, the from is the format that allows your playing device to find the file on the network.

 

Remember, according to the Emby server the file is stored in the directory /mnt/TV or /TV or whatever. So, the player can't find the file if Emby tells it the file is stored in /mnt/TV. Hence, the path which Emby uses to tell the external players where they can find the files.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Why is my Kodi not updating when I add new content to my Emby library?  It seems like I need to restart my Kodi machine a few times.  I am using Openelec btw.

 

Not to worry. This is my setup too and I am happy to help. This probably happens at the moment as the only setting that is enabled is update library on startup. Which I have enabled too but I also do other things as the 4 Openelec boxes I have rarely get turned off. So here goes ....

 

Within Emby:

 

In Admin:

 

manage server>settings>library>advanced

 

There is a setting called "enable real time monitoring". Switch this to "Yes".

 

Also, install "incremental sync" plugin:

 

In Admin:

 

manage server>settings>extras>plugins

 

Within Openelec:

 

Enable it (once installed on Emby Server) in Openelec add-on settings under the "Sync Options" tab.

 

Within unRAID:

 

I also use Dynamix Cache Dirs (as well as pretty much all of the Dynamix range as they are awesome - and as close to LimeTech supported Plugins as you're going to get) see here: https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=36543.0

 

 

If anything is unclear post back and I'll reply. Saturday night here and I'm having a wine waiting for arrival of the Mrs!! Time to spare!!  :)8)

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I can't see why a that would happen.  I wonder if you have the config files in an area that it is erasing them when it restarts?

 

i am about to do the latest update after starting all again and re scanning my entire library again!!! :o

 

any suggestions to the update [i am using a docker]

i do know to shutdown and then do the update..

 

is there any way besides paying for the emby premiere to backup the whole scanned database and re-import into emby if it goes wrong?

 

thank you

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DanioJ....I have very similar setup as you.  However, I am using Emby docker and it works great.  I actually have Emby, Sonnar, Couchpotato all setup as dockers.

 

Me too. Sorry if that was unclear hun!

 

a question.

when i do an update to the docker i seem to loose all my settings and all my library scans.

am i doing something wrong?

i just do an update request from the gui nothing more...

 

thank you

 

Sounds a bit like your settings are not persistent. Where are you storing your config folder. Array? Cache Drive? Seperate Drive (via Unassigned Devices Plugin as I do)?

 

If you're not sure - screenshot us man! Lets have a look at your settings for the docker!!

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DanioJ....I have very similar setup as you.  However, I am using Emby docker and it works great.  I actually have Emby, Sonnar, Couchpotato all setup as dockers.

 

Me too. Sorry if that was unclear hun!

 

a question.

when i do an update to the docker i seem to loose all my settings and all my library scans.

am i doing something wrong?

i just do an update request from the gui nothing more...

 

thank you

 

Sounds a bit like your settings are not persistent. Where are you storing your config folder. Array? Cache Drive? Seperate Drive (via Unassigned Devices Plugin as I do)?

 

If you're not sure - screenshot us man! Lets have a look at your settings for the docker!!

 

yup :-[

 

that's it my config was not set :o

still trying to get my head around the docker concept

thanks for the point in the right direction ;D

 

thank you

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