Tips for media sharing/streaming

[jonathan1107]

Thanks a lot. Another question about Disc Partitions.

If I use my 3tb green drive (just realized since it's a green, raid 0 would be kinda pointless)
How do disc partitions affect my future projects?

For instance: If I divide my current 3tb hdd into say 2 or 3 disc partitions (one for pictures, another for movies and another for music). What is there to gain with creating disk partitions? is it better not to have em or is it better to have em?

What about the future, let's say somewhere down the road (I expect I'll buy another 3tb drive in maybe 1 or 2 years). Can I export all my movies (for instance) to the new drive and keep the pics and music on the old drive and then remove the "movie disk partition" ? (because then I won't need it and that partition will be created on the new drive)

 

[rtwjunkie]

I think you can. It should be a simple matter of telling whatever program you are using to run your movie watching experience where to find the movies.

As to the RAID of any kind, for this purpose, I agree with @Kursah just keep it simple. Yes it takes a long time to put your movies back on an HDD if it dies, but it's still not critical enough to need the intricacies of RAID. What I have done is make backup copies of my 5 2TB HDD movie drives, with all file structures the same, with "Backup" added to the first part of the disk name. I've already tested it, and by inserting that disk in for it's parent and removing backup from the name, and giving it that drive letter designation, it gets treated just like the original, because the movies for that disk are in the same place they were. That way I've got my backup, but a simple operation, even if the intitial work is alot to do.

 

[newtekie1]

Don't bother partitioning, there is no benefit for what you are doing. Just use folders.

 

[jonathan1107]

Don't bother partitioning, there is no benefit for what you are doing. Just use folders.

ok guys. I've setup my HTPC and am ready to install something like KODI. I've run through some youtube videos introducing people to the basics of KODI but I haven't quite got the feeling that I know how to use it (the way I want to)

Here are my questions about KODI:

• Unless I'm mistaken KODI seems to be a sorta Huge Media playing software (kinda like Windows media player) I've seen countless videos on youtube where people ADD repositories (http links and whatnot) to STREAM a bunch of internet based stuff. That's all good but my focus is going to be MUCH more on LOCAL content (my pictures,movies,music etc.) What are the MAIN features of KODI one needs to be aware of?
• How can I customize KODI so that it has all the apps I want? (Like facebook/youtube/web browser/movie player) Can I get different Skins and/or wallpapers? How do I add CoverArt for Movies/music? Is it kind of like Itunes?
• Can I use KODI as a "user friendly" platform for many devices in my house? such as my Android Cell Phone, my Desktop PC (other room) and my laptop? If so, what steps must I take to make all of them communicate together? I can already send my music and pictures from my cell phone to my smart tv... but my videos don't have the "share button" that shows on pictures and music...
• Does KODI interfere with the way files are played? Can I play DTS HD master movies? Do I need to download PLUG-INs ?? (is Kodi versatile like VLC media player?)

Those are the questions floating in my mind right now, and I've been searching youtube, but what I find is constantly stuff about tv shows which I 100% don'T care about. Thanks again for your input you guys. Very much appreciated

 

[newtekie1]

Unless I'm mistaken KODI seems to be a sorta Huge Media playing software (kinda like Windows media player) I've seen countless videos on youtube where people ADD repositories (http links and whatnot) to STREAM a bunch of internet based stuff. That's all good but my focus is going to be MUCH more on LOCAL content (my pictures,movies,music etc.) What are the MAIN features of KODI one needs to be aware of?

Kodi is a media player. It doesn't particularly care where the media is coming from. It works very well with local content, you just point it to your local files.

How can I customize KODI so that it has all the apps I want? (Like facebook/youtube/web browser/movie player)

This is a PC(hopefully running Windows), you do all that stuff on the PC part of it. You use Kodi to play your media, you use the internet browser of your choice for facebook and youtube and obviously browsing the web.

Can I get different Skins and/or wallpapers?

Yes, you can download them through Kodi I believe, but I find the skin it comes with to work the best. You can set the background to whatever picture you want though. However, I leave it to the default because a lot of times when you are browsing media the background is replaced with artwork anyway, so I find changing the background rather pointless.

How do I add CoverArt for Movies/music? Is it kind of like Itunes?

For the most part, it does it automatically for you. You just add the media, tell Kodi what it is(Movies, TV Series, Music) and it scans through and retrieves the artwork and information(ratings mostly).

Can I use KODI as a "user friendly" platform for many devices in my house? such as my Android Cell Phone, my Desktop PC (other room) and my laptop?

Yes, you can install Kodi on pretty much anything. If all your media is being stored on your "HTPC" then you can enable the Kodi media server on that computer. Then you can connect to that computer with Kodi on the other devices and view your media. Again, though, this is using DLNA/uPnP which can be hindered if you are using a wifi connection.

I can already send my music and pictures from my cell phone to my smart tv... but my videos don't have the "share button" that shows on pictures and music...

You are probably going to have to do this the old fashioned way, by connected the phone to the computer and transferring the movie files.

Does KODI interfere with the way files are played? Can I play DTS HD master movies?

Yes and no, depending on how you set up Kodi.

Video wise there are several options you can adjust. You can set it to stretch 4:3 images to 16:9 if you want.

You can also set it so that videos that aren't exactly 16:9 are stretched to fit your 16:9 TV. This setting has an adjustment to it that lets you control exactly how much difference is allowed. It goes from 0%-20%. Say you have it set to 5%. If the video you play is 5% or less different in aspect ratio, Kodi will stretch the video to eliminate the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. If it is more than 5% it will leave the video alone(or maybe it will only stretch it but not all the way, I forget).

Either way, you can play around with these settings to see what you prefer.

Audio wise, there is an option for audio passthrough. When this is enabled, the DTS or Dolby Digital audio stream will be output directly to the audio output device you pick. If you don't have passthrough enabled, Kodi will decode the stream for you and output it to your speakers.

Do I need to download PLUG-INs ?? (is Kodi versatile like VLC media player?)

For the most part, if you are playing standard formatted/encoded video, Kodi will play it. I haven't found anything Kodi won't play. It isn't as versatile as VLC, it won't play flash videos and crap like that AFAIK, but for standard movie files it is pretty close to VLC. I haven't had to download any codecs or plugins.