Help finding a Media server/player solution

[pitchinwedge]

Being able to display my photos while also sharing music was always great when entertaining guests.  With Windows Media Center on my HTPC, I was able to do this.  I played slideshows of photos located on my unRaid server while simultaneously playing background music from files also located on same unRaid server.  Even though the WMC interface became quite slow, as my library got larger, I never managed to find a better solution.

 

Now that I've had to reinstall Windows on the HTPC, I no longer have WMC (MSFT no longer supports?!) so I need to find another solution.  I've tried messing around with PLEX, Kodi, and Media Portal but they just don't seem to do what I want.  What's worse, I've been having issues with video playback with Plex.  Kodi and Media Portal seem to just choke when I introduce my media libraries.  Not sure what to do.  Any suggestions?

[METDeath]

I think with Kodi you could use the Photo Slideshow screen saver while playing music. I have never used the music portion of Kodi because I use Logitech Media Server and Raspberry Pi units connected to powered studio monitors for music.

[pitchinwedge]

The ability to select specific folders or pictures to be included in a slideshow is an important feature.  A screensaver selecting files for me isn't exactly what I had in mind. 

 

Also, Kodi seemed to choke after adding the libraries.  Don't know if it's something with my PC or my unRaid, or what.  On the other hand, Plex seems to have the most responsive interface in this regard.

 

Edit:  I started playing around with Kodi again - this time with a fresh Windows installation.  Introducing the media library in small pieces seemed to prevent the seizing I had experienced in the past.  Photo and Music file navigation now works very well and I am able to play both at the same time.  Cool. 

 

The big remaining issue is, once again, video playback.  Although Kodi seems to be able to play every type of video file, the playback freezes after a second or two until buffering (I think, that's what's happening) is complete.  The freeze can last just a second or even minutes depending on the file size.  I've Googled this issue and did not find what seemed like a reliable solution.  Any advice on how to reduce the buffering?

 

 

 

[fschris]

KODI is pretty amazing.  You can also try Emby.  You should be able to tweak KODI as I use with unraid and have no issues and will play anything you throw at it.

[CHBMB]

I think we need to know more about what sort of files you're trying to stream and your home network topology as well as client specs.

 

I've been using Kodi for years and haven't seen any issues like you've decribed, so it sounds like a network issue tbh. 

 

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

 

[S80_UK]

I use Kodi for music streaming using AAC, 2-channel FLAC, 6-channel FLAC, Apple Lossless, as well as FLAC and ALAC streams with embedded AC3 or DTS 5.1 surround (ripped form DTS CDs or music concert DVDs, etc.  Kodi can do this quite happily while playing slideshows of photos.  As they say, it just works.  Brilliantly.