Migrating from SQL

[jmh2002 1]

It should work inside the network as well. However all your usage will be redirected through your router which is not ideal.

 

The emby connect api automatically handles the address change. So it's relevance is that it handles exactly what you are describing. Check the android app for an example, it switches from WiFi/LAN to cell seamlessly

 

See angels post a few minutes back.... It's on the to do list

 

So, are you saying it should already work seamlessly? Or is it still on the to do list for kodi? Im a little confused by the posts from different developers...

 

My experience is that with my device configured for remote access (Primary Server Address: thenameichose.no-ip.biz) the device shows "Emby Server is Unreachable" on startup, then later its shows "Emby Server is Online" and starts a Sync. But the sync appears to hang (although it eventually disappears after maybe 10mins) and no media is visible within emby (but Channels, Favourite Shows, & Favourite Movies categories appear, unlike when the server is totally unavailable).

 

Do I need to configure something differently in emby for kodi, or on my home network, or in my modem/router? Or do I simply need to wait for this functionality to be added?

 

Also, some questions regarding my NAT settings in my modem/router:

 

- do I need to open both internal port and external port to 8096?

- do I need to set protocol TCP or UDP, or Both?

 

THANKS

Edited June 14, 2015 by jmh2002

[Angelblue05 4130]

For now, your best bet is to use separate profiles. We will eventually support Emby connect, but not for a while.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jmh2002 1]

Thanks Angelblue05

 

Are you also able to answer my other questions?

 

Also, some questions regarding my NAT settings in my modem/router:

 

- do I need to open both internal port and external port to 8096?

- do I need to set protocol TCP or UDP, or Both?

 

THANKS 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2015 by jmh2002

[FLHTHEMI 2]

Hi FLHTHEMI, nice to see you here too

 

If you remove the 'videodatabase' code from mySQL it wont sync the watch and resume status that i mentioned above. However I do agree in principle that it seems possible to run both, and mix and match some functionality, although Im not sure its useful. Are you sure you have favourites syncd via mySQL? I think that might be via path substitution instead?

 

With regards to having Emby work outside the home, I too setup this up and had it working in a few minutes, but i must admit I was familiar with the general idea from previous attempts with mySQL. Emby is 1000 times easier in this respect but there are still a few points to note:

 

* You need a static ip address to your home. Many internet providers provide a dynamic one (even if it seems static, it will change with a modem/router reboot, etc - you see many people say "I had it working and all of a sudden it stopped").

 

I found the easiest way to get a static ip address was to use the free service from no-ip. I set this up and gave it a name and i have an ip address called "thenameichose.no-ip.biz". THIS is what you should enter in the emby Settings > "Primary Server Address" in kodi (and 8096 as the Port Number) to enable remote access.

 

Now, no-ip is basically a redirect service. They check what your dynamic ip address is and redirect to that. So you either need to configure your router DynDNS to use "no-ip" (ie: to send the dynamic ip to them regularly - many routers have this feature built in) or you can download a free program to install on windows which keeps no-ip updated with your dynamic ip address.

 

* With most setups like this you also need to have a static ip to your server on your home network, although maybe emby is smart enough to figure this out (I thought i saw some mention of this). In any case I have a static ip set anyway.

 

* You need to open the relevant ports so that your remote device can enter your home network from a remote location. You do this by setting a new rule in the NAT section of your router to open port 8096.

 

* You need to have sharing of your media correctly enabled on your home network. Probably this is already setup if you previously used mySQL. If you have a Username and Password to access the computer where the media is stored then you need to enter this in Emby Settings > Playback > "Network Username" and "Network Password"

 

After which, reboot everything (computer, server, router/modem, etc) to make sure it's active, and remote access should work.

 

And yes, I tested it by running Kodi from my phone, with 3G, and I had access and could even stream a video. Emby seems very very good at easily enabling this remote access.

 

Also, dont forget to set Emby > Settings > Playback > "Play from http instead of SMB" to ON and set the video quality that you want to be streamed. Just for the test I set it to the lowest setting of 664Kbps SD, but please see Angelblue05's note below regarding this (Im new to emby and no expert in this regard, I'm just figuring it out as I go along).

 

Hope this helps

 

Here is my total content of my advancedsettings.xml"

 

 

============

<advancedsettings>

<splash>false</splash>

 

<pathsubstitution>

  <substitute>

    <from>special://profile/favourites.xml</from>

    <to>smb://192.168.1.92/Public/Software/XBMC DATA/favourites.xml</to>

  </substitute>

</pathsubstitution>

</advancedsettings>

 

=============

 

The watch and resume status is being maintained, somehow? Just prior to posting this I started a movie on machine A and went to machine B and it allowed me to resume the movie on machine B. All my movie watched status are being maintained as well. So...I'm wondering if that's a correct statement....

 

You are correct about my favourites in Kodi being kept by pathsubsitution! My mistake in my old age I get things mixed up

 

I did get it to work using the Android app on 4gLTE!

 

I have AT&T Uverse I know the IP isn't static but in over a year it hasn't changed and if I did have a problem that would be the 1st thing I would look at. But I did play a movie to my Samsung S4 phone. This was only after I entered my external IP and port into the Android app when asked for it. I had already opened the port on my router for the server. So now that my wife is out of town and I kinda know what to do I'll try to get her to put the app on her tablet and see if we can make it go from the network she's connected to 600 miles from home.

 

I have not tried it from within Kodi using the Kodi addon....don't have Kodi on the phone.

 

[jmh2002 1]

Here is my total content of my advancedsettings.xml"

 

 

============

<advancedsettings>

<splash>false</splash>

 

<pathsubstitution>

  <substitute>

    <from>special://profile/favourites.xml</from>

    <to>smb://192.168.1.92/Public/Software/XBMC DATA/favourites.xml</to>

  </substitute>

</pathsubstitution>

</advancedsettings>

 

=============

 

The watch and resume status is being maintained, somehow? Just prior to posting this I started a movie on machine A and went to machine B and it allowed me to resume the movie on machine B. All my movie watched status are being maintained as well. So...I'm wondering if that's a correct statement....

 

You are correct about my favourites in Kodi being kept by pathsubsitution! My mistake in my old age I get things mixed up 

 

 

 

Im guessing that the watch and resume status is being maintained for MOVIES because now you are using Emby server for these Movies? Is this maybe what you mean? (and also because there is now no mySQL settings in your advancedsettings.xml at all, only path substitution, so it can't be that)

 

But earlier I was talking about video clips from other addons (that are not added to your library or hard drive) such as YouTube, PBS, etc.

 

I have maybe 6 or 7 legal addons such as this from kodi for streaming video clips, and its a real benefit if the watched status for all these clips are also maintained across multiple devices. Resume is not so important because the clips are normally shorter, however its saved in MyVideos90.db anyway too so it can be useful sometimes.

 

There are over 300 of these type of legal streaming video addons available from kodi, so Im sure Im not the only person using them...

 

Anyway glad you got the remote access working

Edited June 14, 2015 by jmh2002

[Deihmos 147]

Only certain routers allow you to do this, but I forget the name of the feature that is required

Most routers made in the last few years have an option for dynamic dns. Dlink routers give you a nice free dns. Edited June 14, 2015 by Deihmos

[Vidman 589]

I am talking about the ability to use the same dynamic dns within the home lan and have it still connect, all the routers i have tried this does not work, but i have heard some will allow it

[Vidman 589]

Im guessing that the watch and resume status is being maintained for MOVIES because now you are using Emby server for these Movies? Is this maybe what you mean? (and also because there is now no mySQL settings in your advancedsettings.xml at all, only path substitution, so it can't be that)

 

But earlier I was talking about video clips from other addons (that are not added to your library or hard drive) such as YouTube, PBS, etc.

 

I have maybe 6 or 7 legal addons such as this from kodi for streaming video clips, and its a real benefit if the watched status for all these clips are also maintained across multiple devices. Resume is not so important because the clips are normally shorter, however its saved in MyVideos90.db anyway too so it can be useful sometimes.

 

There are over 300 of these type of legal streaming video addons available from kodi, so Im sure Im not the only person using them...

 

Anyway glad you got the remote access working

the purpose of the emby for kodi addon is to sync all kodi instances with the emby server media, kodi addons cannot be installed to emby server so i don't see how what you're asking for its possible within the scope of this addon

[Deihmos 147]

I am talking about the ability to use the same dynamic dns within the home lan and have it still connect, all the routers i have tried this does not work, but i have heard some will allow it

That's weird. You can use the dynamic dns at home or outside. It makes no difference once the port is forwarded. If you cannot connect using the external ip at home then something is wrong with the network setup.

[Vidman 589]

That is not true. ..your router must support hairpinning for this to work...and as i said i have never been able to get this to work with my router...hence the reason i know this

Edited June 14, 2015 by Vidman

[Deihmos 147]

I don't know what hairpinning is but I have a router from 2002 and I can use my external IP and it works just fine. I didn't think that it be limited by the router. If that does not work for you then that's too bad. Maybe you should consider a new router.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Deihmos

[Vidman 589]

Its not am issue for me now. ..emby connect does this for my mobile devices now, i was just clearing up your misinformation for others reading this

Edited June 15, 2015 by Vidman

[Angelblue05 4130]

Sorry! I missed that part:

 

 

- do I need to open both internal port and external port to 8096?

- do I need to set protocol TCP or UDP, or Both?

 

If you want to have external access, you need to open the 8096 port in your router (both TCP UDP). You also need to make sure the port is open in your server firewall for your home network.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Angelblue05

[jmh2002 1]

the purpose of the emby for kodi addon is to sync all kodi instances with the emby server media, kodi addons cannot be installed to emby server so i don't see how what you're asking for its possible within the scope of this addon

 

I understand. But I was hoping that Emby for Kodi would be a complete replacement for mySQL from a Kodi users perspective. Unfortunately at this point it is not. This is why I am asking these questions - not in any way to demean Emby server, which seems extremely feature rich (except for this feature) I can only see this as a benefit and selling point to potential Emby users.

 

I was hoping this feature would be possible by having Emby for Kodi read all of the MyVideos90.db file, as this is where all of this information is recorded, both for genuine Movies saved to the local hard drive, as well as streaming videos from other addons. Im sure you are aware of this of course.

 

I see that Emby for Kodi already interacts with the MyVideos90.db file, because I see new such entries such as "plugin://plugin.video.emby/movies/764..."

 

Is Emby for Kodi only writing to this .db file? Or is it reading it too? I'm assuming both, because I'm assuming that when a Movie is played on one device, the MyVideos90.db entry is updated (written) on all the other devices for that Movie? Please correct me if Im wrong?

 

If this is the case I was hoping that it would therefore be possible to also read and sync all of the other entries, such as "plugin://plugin.video.youtube/play/?video_id=-XOc..." to the Emby Server too?

 

Im not asking that these be playable via Emby Server (or even visible) but simply syncd in the background to keep all Kodi instances up to date.

 

I hope that you will consider this feature as being extremely useful for users with multiple Kodi devices (the users that need Emby Server in the first place), and I hope that it will be possible to add without too much work on your side. It would appear that most of this same work is already being done for Movies anyway, why not for other videos too?

 

Thank you for your time and understanding

Edited June 15, 2015 by jmh2002

[Angelblue05 4130]

Are you able to create strm files for those extra streams? That's what I do with the netflixbmc. It creates strms which I then import into my Emby library and the Emby for Kodi addon will sync it to Kodi. I have no idea how it will behave with other add-ons, but it's something to try.  Then it will sync the playstate (maybe not resume point, to find out?).

 

Example of netflixbmc path in Emby .strm file, if I mark it watched in Emby, it will be marked as watched in Kodi and vice versa:

Edited June 15, 2015 by Angelblue05

[jmh2002 1]

 

Are you able to create strm files for those extra streams? That's what I do with the netflixbmc. It creates strms which I then import into my Emby library and the Emby for Kodi addon will sync it to Kodi. I have no idea how it will behave with other add-ons, but it's something to try.   Then it will sync the playstate (maybe not resume point, to find out?).

 

 

In general - no (or at least not automatically). There are other (non- legal) addons that can do that automatically, however that's out of the scope of this discussion.

 

Also in general its not really necessary to create strm files for these videos, because they are not normally something to be 'added to library'. Rather they are streaming clips from within that addon.

 

Also I would say that creating strm files is unnecessary from the users point of view. All of the work is being done already in Kodi, and the data is being saved already in MyVideos90.db.

 

There are over 300 of these addons available from Kodi, but Im starting to get the feeling that nobody here knows what Im talking about, or even uses these addons (and maybe its why Im seeing these "why do you need this" type of replies...)? Are the Emby developers/users here not really intensive Kodi users too? Maybe that's my mistaken assumption - sorry.

 

Aside from all the other addons which might be more particular for individual users, the YouTube addon is one of the most popular and basically an essential/integral part of Kodi for many users (hence why Im using it as a good example).

 

But there are many more. You can see the list here: http://addons.kodi.tv/category/video/

 

So basically Im asking: "please make it possible for your Emby Server database to sync ALL of the entries from MyVideos90.db - not just the plugin://plugin.video.emby/movies/764... entries.

 

All of the information is already there, Emby just needs to use it.

 

This would solve everything for kodi users with multiple devices.

 

THANKS

Edited June 15, 2015 by jmh2002

[Angelblue05 4130]

Oh I see.... Errr, I can't say I use them, even as a long time Kodi user. Are they like channels? And it's a constant live stream or something?

[jmh2002 1]

Oh I see.... Errr, I can't say I use them, even as a long time Kodi user. Are they like channels? And it's a constant live stream or something?

 

They vary, depending on the addon. Some will have a continuous live stream, some will have clips, some will have an entire episode, some have everything. 

 

The YouTube addon does almost everything that it does on the web, ie: Your Subscriptions, Playlists, Search, History, Browse, etc, etc.

 

PBS is a good example, with a HUGE catalog of video clips available. But there are many others. As an example, personally I use YouTube, PBS, DIY Network, HGTV, GQ, etc. Plus the various News addons are popular too.

 

So of course, after you watch any of these streaming videos from any of these addons, you then you want them to be marked as watched across all your Kodi instances. I currently have mySQL doing this and its the only feature missing that is holding me back from finding Emby to be a complete replacement for mySQL.

 

Using your netflixbmc addon as an example, it should work too. Every time you play a video from this addon it should be written to MyVideos90.db, and the Watched (and also maybe Resume) data stored there. If Emby was to utilise this, then it would be shared across all of your Kodi instances for that netflixbmc addon. You dont need to manually create strm files.

 

Like i said before. Kodi is currently doing all this work already, Emby just needs to use it

Edited June 15, 2015 by jmh2002

[jmh2002 1]

EDIT: I just double checked with the YouTube addon and in addition to the Watched status I can confirm that the Resume point is being saved by Kodi too. 

 

NB: I think per normal in Kodi the Resume point being set is dependent on the length of the video, and the % that you have watched (ie: on very short videos this doesn't work). I tested on a 13min video, watched 6mins, and the Resume point was instantly set via mySQL to all my other devices (even via remote access to mySQL )

 

In my skin (CCM - based off Confluence) instead of the watched check mark I instantly get the small triangle play type icon on all my devices to show this video is in progress and has a Resume point set. If I try to play it, I get the choice to 'Resume from 06:11' or to 'Start from the Beginning'.

 

So even though its a streaming video from an addon, Kodi still reads the data from the MyVideos90.db and you get the same features as if the video was media on your local hard drive. In my case mySQL is syncing it across all my other devices too.

 

I would expect that your netflixbmc should be able to work in the same way, writing both Watched and Resume status to the MyVideos90.db 

Edited June 15, 2015 by jmh2002

[Angelblue05 4130]

No, because of the way it works, it's using chrome launcher to actually open a tab in netflix to the correct video. the resume point is kept in netflix.

[jmh2002 1]

Ah yes I understand (I don't use that addon myself). None the less, what I described works for all the other addons that use the standard Kodi method.

 

Hopefully Emby will consider this

Edited June 15, 2015 by jmh2002

[Vidman 589]

I understand what you are saying but i don't think you understand what im saying, this addon atm is design to allow kodi to be emby clients. ...as apposed to emby functioning as a central database for multiple kodi instances

[jmh2002 1]

Ah yes, thats a fair way to explain it, I understand, thank you.

 

Having said that, as you say, that is the design at the moment, and it would be great if this feature could be considered for the future by Emby.

 

Im sure it would encourage more and more Kodi users, with multiple devices, who currently use mySQL, to make the switch to Emby Server.

 

Because without this, us mySQL users are missing a very big missing useful function - synchronization of Watched and Resume status for Kodi Video addons.

 

Additionally I would say that those type of users (with multiple devices and mySQL) probably have a more elaborate kodi setup, and would be more inclined to pay for Emby Products and Services in the future.

 

I for one have become interested in Emby because of the cloud sync integration. I want this. And I want to pay for Emby.

 

But unfortunately it's simply impossible for me to consider losing synchronization of Watched and Resume status for Kodi Video addons which mySQL currently provides. And it's not possible to run both mySQL AND Emby either, because both interact differently with the MyVideos90.db.

 

So you can see that I'm kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. For the moment I must stay with mySQL and hope that Emby will add this functionality in due course.

 

THANKS

Edited June 15, 2015 by jmh2002

[xnappo 1593]

Again - the equivalent Emby feature is channels - so if you have some content you want supported in Emby, that would be the way it would work.

 

Emby does also support .strm files.

[jmh2002 1]

Thank you, but unless I am mistaken I only see a very limited selection of Emby Channels, so unfortunately this isn't really 'equivalent' from a user's perspective. At least not yet anyway.

 

I'm sure you are trying to expand your Channel line up over time, however at present I can't even find a YouTube channel (please correct me if I'm wrong?)

 

With a little more assistance from the Emby side to enable synchronization of Watched and Resume status for Kodi Video addons, the final barrier would be removed for current Kodi mySQL users, and we would be able to seamlessly switch to being Emby customers.

 

Ultimately isn't that beneficial for Emby? More users? More paying customers?

 

Thank you

Edited June 16, 2015 by jmh2002