Complete Newb Looking for Guidance on Emby/Kodi

[WannaTheater 0]

I have been using Kodi for many years.  My setup is as follows:

1) 12TB Unraid storage array- purely used as storage.  All movies, TV series, etc, are stored with NFOs, artwork, etc, stored locally (each movie has NFO, fanart, poster).  Movies are mp4s. mkvs (some HEVC), and DVD Rips (VIDEO_TS)

2) Movies are accessed by a HTPC (Windows7), and 3 Fire TVs.  The HTPC, and fire TVs all have THEIR OWN installations of Kodi.

3) I have a separate PC which I use for scraping new media (using Kodi scrapers).  I then export the metadata, fanart, etc, into individual files (in movie directories).  Then I copy those directories to the storage array.  ... but as you guess, now all individual Kodi libraries need to be manually updated.  It is basically a time consuming mess.

 

End goal:

1) Have a consolidated/centralized database

2) When I add media (with corresponding Kodi-generated NFOs), the consolidated Kodi library will be auto-updated so all FIre TVs will see the updated library to play media from

3) Be able to play movies from the other devices away from home

4) If possible, not kill the years of work that are in the existing NFOs... aka not rescan and have things be corrupted (i.e. files that I have created customer NFOs for, etc)

 

So far, I have installed the Emby server on a test PC, that has Kodi running on it.  The PC also has a small test library (10 movies, and some TV series).  I have installed the Kodi-Emby plugin.

I van get to the emby management interface.  When I restart Kodi, nothing happens (i.e. UI am not asked for an Emby server address, as I have seen in a youtube video).  Is there additional configuration I need to be doing?

 

Then once this server/kodi is setup, how would I link that "master database" to my other installations of Kodi?

 

Thank you!

[benbour 12]

First of all, I would let the Emby server handle all of your metadata; it does a good job of this. 

 

The Emby server will now be your central library, each instance of Kodi will sync to this on startup. After installing the addon it should ask you to connect to your Emby server, no additional config needed to get there.

 

If you don't see it right away, I would ensure it is installed (under video addons) and make sure you have the current version. You can always go into the settings and specify your server details.

Edited March 13, 2017 by benbour

[WannaTheater 0]

Thanks-  Kodi did ask me to connect to Emby server, and said it synced.  Trying to figure out why no movies are showing in either place now.

[Jdiesel 1331]

I think you need to reboot Kodi after the initial sync.

[benbour 12]

yes for sure reboot Kodi after first sync and everything should show up as it did with local database. You should start from scratch with Emby though, as in no previous libraries. 

 

If you're having a lot of library troubles, delete MyVideos99.db and start again.

[WannaTheater 0]

If I delete DB, then I just add media sources (directories) to Kodi as normal (assuming they already have existing NFOs?)  

[benbour 12]

If I delete DB, then I just add media sources (directories) to Kodi as normal (assuming they already have existing NFOs?)  

Delete the DB, reboot Kodi, then run Emby setup. You do not need to add your media sources in Kodi, this is what Emby does for you. You add your libraries to your Emby server, and Emby presents them to Kodi.

 

You can add a path in your Emby library later so that Kodi can play the file directly (not using Emby Server to transcode), but you can worry about that later after you have everything else setup properly.

[CBers 7121]

If I delete DB, then I just add media sources (directories) to Kodi as normal (assuming they already have existing NFOs?)

Have you read this: https://github.com/MediaBrowser/plugin.video.emby/wiki

 

The Kodi DB is wiped and updated by the addon sync process.

 

Make sure your libraries are set up in Emby and have been scanned into the Emby DB, before you set up the Emby addon in Kodi.

[xnappo 1608]

If I delete DB, then I just add media sources (directories) to Kodi as normal (assuming they already have existing NFOs?)  

Do NOT add the directories as Kodi media sources.  That will cause Kodi to try to scrape them. Emby server is now the scraper - it will import your NFO stuff - you can check that is successful via browsing via the web client.

[WannaTheater 0]

Thanks all-

So I have managed to get the Emby server set up, and pulled in previous NFO data from my test directory.  No images are pulled from the Kodi .actors directories. 

 

I did not see any movies in Kodi... until I go into Emby and either rescan (from internet), or edit metadata for a movie and then save... it then populates in Kodi.  Is there a better way to get the first sync done, then manual one-by one?

 

When I restart Kodi, I get a message in lower right from Emby welcoming me (i.e. machine name, as I haven't set up any accounts), and that Manual Sync Completed in:  0:00:00.

 

But Kodi only shows the 3 movies that I have manually manipulated in Embry, not the full list that was imported into Kodi.

 

Also, I am running Kodi 16.1, if that matters.

Edited March 13, 2017 by WannaTheater

[xnappo 1608]

Thanks all-

So I have managed to get the Emby server set up, and pulled in previous NFO data from my test directory.  No images are pulled from the Kodi .actors directories. 

 

I did not see any movies in Kodi... until I go into Emby and either rescan (from internet), or edit metadata for a movie and then save... it then populates in Kodi.  Is there a better way to get the first sync done, then manual one-by one?

 

When I restart Kodi, I get a message in lower right from Emby welcoming me (i.e. machine name, as I haven't set up any accounts), and that Manual Sync Completed in:  0:00:00.

 

But Kodi only shows the 3 movies that I have manually manipulated in Embry, not the full list that was imported into Kodi.

 

Also, I am running Kodi 16.1, if that matters.

 

Sounds like something got messed up.  Do a database reset in the Emby menu.

[WannaTheater 0]

*Edited*

 

I removed the media source from Emby, then re-added it.  Now things seem to be appearing OK in Kodi.

Edited March 13, 2017 by WannaTheater

[xnappo 1608]

If you added a media source you are doing it wrong and it will acrew up.

[WannaTheater 0]

I removed the media source from Embry, then re-added it to Embry-  Is this not correct?

 

Once I did this, Kodi populated correctly.

[benbour 12]

I think I know what you're saying: you re-added you Emby library?  

 

you no longer need to deal with media sources in Kodi though. If everything looks good in the Emby dashboard (media shows correctly) then you are ready to run Emby for Kodi.

[xnappo 1608]

I removed the media source from Embry, then re-added it to Embry-  Is this not correct?

 

Once I did this, Kodi populated correctly.

Yes, that is okay, but you shouldn't have had to do that..

 

xnappo

[WannaTheater 0]

So in doing some additional testing, I am noticing the following:

1) All of the actor images that are locally stored in Kodi .actors directories (one directory for each movie) are not recognized

2) Movie sets already defined in Kodi NFOs are not being recognized, i.e. pulled into Emby "Collections"

 

I have read about both of these issues, but cannot determine a way to easily overcome.  I am trying to avoid the following:

1) Use Emby to rescrape every movie (very large library, dozens  NFOs create manually because movies cannot be found on scraper sites, etc) 

2) Re-download actor images (or download on demand when a movie plays, etc), since I already have them stored locally.

 

Thanks, this is looking great and will hopefully get me to my 1st goal of having sync'ed DBs across all of my individual Kodi installations!

[xnappo 1608]

So in doing some additional testing, I am noticing the following:

1) All of the actor images that are locally stored in Kodi .actors directories (one directory for each movie) are not recognized

2) Movie sets already defined in Kodi NFOs are not being recognized, i.e. pulled into Emby "Collections"

 

I have read about both of these issues, but cannot determine a way to easily overcome.  I am trying to avoid the following:

1) Use Emby to rescrape every movie (very large library, dozens  NFOs create manually because movies cannot be found on scraper sites, etc) 

2) Re-download actor images (or download on demand when a movie plays, etc), since I already have them stored locally.

 

Thanks, this is looking great and will hopefully get me to my 1st goal of having sync'ed DBs across all of my individual Kodi installations!

Both of these are server issues - you should post this over there.

 

I don't know the answer to either...

[benbour 12]

I'd try this:

 

Get the movie sets plugin, and let Emby do the sets for you.

Test on a single movie first for nfo stuff, but let Emby download the actor images, and maybe once it starts to download them, it will pass over existing stuff and import it then.

[WannaTheater 0]

Thanks-  The cleanest way would be to have Emby rescrape all media.  But this would cause me countless hours of work for the items for which custom NFOs have been created.  I've got NFO investment since the XBMC days  

 

Regarding collections-  All the information is already in the Kodi-generated NFOs-  Perhaps it would be a good enhancement request.

[CBers 7121]

I've got NFO investment since the XBMC days

 

 

Emby should read existing NFOs.

[WannaTheater 0]

Yes, it does... to a point.  It does not appear to handle the links to actors correctly/consistently.  Everything else appears to read in OK. 

[yardameus 220]

I thought there was a way to redirect people images to a custom folder, you could search around for that, or make sure all of your actor images are in the location similar to this:

 

C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\metadata\People