Overview

How to use centralized data: catalog and artwork (covers, fanart, etc) on a network with multiple client PCs.

Using Centralized Data

If you have several client PCs on a network, you may wish to centralize data so you only update the movie data (including the artwork) once and have it available to all clients.

The centralized data (catalog file and artwork folders) can be in any location accessible from each client. You may even choose to centralize only artwork, only catalog(s). or both, based on your needs and configuration.

Server Setup

The setup and usage of My Films is the same as for any other setup (just follow the instructions in these Wiki pages) with the following customization:

When specifying paths (i.e. for catalog(s) or artwork) use UNC paths (like

,

, etc.). Then the setup can be identical for each client.

Client Setup

1. Install My Films
2. Copy the

   MyFilms.xml

   config file from the server MediaPortal data folder to the local MediaPortal data folder of each client

This gives you immediate access to all catalogs/configs/artwork.

The central data can be maintained either from a workstation (using a catalog software like Ant Movie catalog) or from any client using My Films.

Multi-User watched status and ratings

My Films can track the watch status of multiple users on different client PCs in your central database. See \\PC-name\share\MyFilmsData\catalog\\PC-name\share\MyFilmsData\fanartMultiple Users. 

There are several ways to setup Multiple users to suit your preferences. The user name(s) you setup determine how MyFilms tracks multi-user states/data, not which system you use:

1. Auto sync to all Clients - use the same user name with either a central confg or separate configs on each client. When you play (or rate) a film on one client it will automatically display as watched, and display your rating, on all client PCs.  
2. Different users for each Client - use a different config and set a different default user name as the Active User Profile Name in Update Setup for each client - the watched status (and ratings) will be tracked separately for each client.
3. Multiple users on all clients - use the same config (or sync it using a Central Config) - MyFilms will sync the watched status and ratings for all users to each client on your network. Of course you must switch user profiles to track or display the watch status and ratings for that user.

Note: If you sync your config to Trakt on the Trakt tab in Setup, MyFilms will automatically display your Trakt user names. MyFilms will also sync watched status to your Trakt account, no matter which local user you select. However if you have multiple Trakt accounts it will sync to the account that matches the user selected in MyFilms before you watch or rate a film. The same options outlined above apply - you can sync from all Clients to one Trakt account, sync each client to a different Trakt account or sync different users to different Trakt accounts from any client.

Limitations

1. My Films does only support limited “locking” mechanisms, so if two clients try to update the central database at the same time, you may run into problems,

Performance

My Films internally caches catalog data after first loading. Catalogs up to 5K movies have been tested without significant degradation.  The initial load may a bit longer than local setups as all data has to be loaded over SMB/network.

Artwork is loaded async and thus there is hardly a noticeable difference between storing artwork locally or on the network. However, depending on the network quality and NAS or Server load, the loading of artwork might be a bit slower.

For movie covers and person images, cache images will be generated locally, so the more complete your artwork is, the faster My Films will be, as it does not need to search on the network for missing artwork.

If artwork is loading slowly you could choose to have only artwork stored locally.

Synchronizing Data

If you find performance is a problem on your system, you may choose to auto synchronize your data using a tool such as SyncToy (free) instead.

SSD (for Speed Fanatics!)

You can also choose to store your catalog or artwork, or both, on a SSD instead of a NAS or Server.  Then you may either access the data directly from all client PCs or sync the data quickly to each Client. The speed boost is remarkable! 

Related

• Network Setup