Playing over HTTP vs folder substitution/SMB

[twistedLucidity 2]

Trying out the Emby add-on for Kodi for the first time, and on two separate installations it wasn't working. Checking the local kodi.log file I could see it trying to play the movie using the server's local path:

10:44:22 T:139806944999168  NOTICE: -->Python Interpreter Initialized<--
10:44:22 T:139806944999168  NOTICE: plugin.video.emby started
10:44:22 T:139806944999168  NOTICE: Parameter string: ?filename=Avengers.Age.Of.Ultron.(2015).m4v&id=ad84685376c1bf373b5a0d823445b9e5&mode=play
10:44:23 T:139806944999168  NOTICE: plugin.video.emby stopped
10:44:23 T:139808972884032  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: /home/shared/Videos/Ripped/Movies/Avengers.Age.Of.Ultron.(2015).m4v
10:44:23 T:139808972884032 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
10:44:23 T:139807745464064  NOTICE: Thread DVDPlayer start, auto delete: false
10:44:23 T:139807745464064  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
10:44:23 T:139807745464064   ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening [/home/shared/Videos/Ripped/Movies/Avengers.Age.Of.Ultron.(2015).m4v]
10:44:23 T:139807745464064  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()

The reason is obvious, "/home/shared/" only exists on the server, not the local client. That confused me for a bit, but then I put in a substitution from "/home/shared/" > "smb://servername/" on the server and it started working.

 

I then remembered there was a "Play from HTTP instead of SMB" setting in the add-on and tried that. This also worked and I could remove the substitution above (I actually want to ditch the SAMBA shares).

 

My questions are:

1. Are there any disadvantages in using HTTP vs SMB? and
2. Does the add-on only support SMB? Could I use NFS or something else instead, should HTTP cause me problems?

[Angelblue05 4130]

The add-on defaults to using SMB, so you can simply do the following for your path substitution:

\\servername\path

NFS you can just use nfs:// in your path substitution.

No disadvantages to using HTTP. If your video quality setting is high enough, it should direct stream all your content without making your server work too much. The only thing is external subtitles are named unknown instead of what they actual are, but they function just the same.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Angelblue05

[twistedLucidity 2]

Great. Thanks!