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[Amleth]

I just upgraded my MC19 to 20 and am about to get around to switching over to the new software, but I've not been fully satisfied with how I had MC19 set up, and I'm hoping to do it "right" this time. I assume the software is capable of what I want to do, but I don't know how to go about it if so. Any input would be appreciated.

I have one Windows PC with a large RAID array containing all my audio and video media. This media is shared on the local LAN and is accessible to all PCs on the network. Three PCs total have JRiver installed (the server, the cinema HTPC, and the TV HTPC in another room). I want the software to work such that when I create/edit/delete a playlist on any station in the home (including the numbered shortcut playlist buttons, which I've set up as currently-watching lists for TV, movies, study vids, music, etc), that playlist change propagates to the libraries of all the other PCs without me having to manually do anything. Similarly if I update library tags for a file, re-order or re-size columns in the main display, etc, these changes would be reflected at all JRiver stations. Is this possible?

I figure the solution is probably to have all stations using the same library on the server, but if I create a library on the server it's accessing the files directly through the local file system, but on other machines the same media is only accessible over Windows shares, which means the paths won't be the same. Is this a problem? And would this make the shortcut playlists 'follow' me too, or just the ones in the interface tree on the left? I'd really like both.

[JimH]

Please read the wiki topic called Media  Network.  Yo can use MC'S Library Server.

[Claude Lapalme]

You have to map network drives using the same drive letters on all PC's and make sure that "play local file if one that matches library server is found" is checked (somewhere in the library client options of Media Network). It works beautifully.

[gvanbrunt]

There are 2 main ways and whole lot of variations on them: You can have all clients access the files shared on a network, or you can have a "library server" and access the files through the server. As for variations you can do things like sharing the actual library DB over the network as well so each client uses the same db. Or you can periodically copy that DB to the client computers. There are pro's and cons to each method.

Given what you say you want to do, I would use a central server. And have the clients connect there and not worry about having the files themselves shared as the server will stream them. I would test this type of setup and see how it works for you.

[dtc]

I am not an expert on this, but I will raise some issues that you need to be aware of. If someone wants to correct me, feel free.

If you have each system access the files on the server without using the Library Server, then each system will have its own library. The systems will be able to share tags, but not playlists. Playlists and views are part of the local library in that case. Which means you pretty much want to use the Library Server.

If you use the library server approach, there is only one main library (presumably on your server), so tags, views, playlists would be common across all three systems. The problem, I believe, comes for your requirement that everything update automatically across all three systems.  Some things will sync, but others may  not. For example, I do not think view changes will automatically sync across systems. I do know that if I make changes on the server, I usually unload the library on the clients and reload it just to be sure everything is the same, even with Library Sync on. the Just checked the Wiki and it does have a list of things that are not synced, including view changes and playlist deletes. Not sure if that is sill the case or not. No idea about the playlist shortcut buttons. Maybe somebody else can address some of those specific issues. But I think there are issues.

[gvanbrunt]

Like many wikis it isn't always kept up to date. Not sure if the things you mentioned are accurate or not as a lot of work has been done to syncing. Also some of the things that don't sync are "by design". I think they would cause issues if they did.  I would suggest giving it a try and seeing if it works for you use cases.

In the past people have shared the actual db of the server over the network. The first MC running gets a read/write copy. The others get a read only one. I don't think this is necessary any more. I would try the "client/server" set up.

[glynor]

The Media Network part of the wiki could certainly use a cleanup and content refresh.  I've beat on it a little a while back, but I kinda lost steam.

[Amleth]

Please read the wiki topic called Media  Network.  Yo can use MC'S Library Server.

Thanks all, I'll have a play with that, then. However, I'm still unclear whether the button playlists are derived from the connected library or local configuration? Will they be identical and editable at each station if I go the Media Network route? There didn't seem to be a consensus either way in the responses, and those playlists constitute about 90+% of my JRiver use, so being able to painlessly access them everywhere, even if I add new stations, would be a great convenience.

[Arindelle]

There are a lot of topics you have indirectly brought up. But a very simplistic response which might help get you started (or confuse you more ?)

The majority of your set-ups, smartlists etc should be ported over Server to client, BUT many (most) have to be done on the PC running media server. So Client to server will not work (there are some exceptions but ...) If you set up a view on the client it will be considered a local view (by design).

Eg. You make a view or smartlist which is identical on client and server pc .. you decide to change the view on the client -- it works like you want great.  The next day you turn on the client and the server view has overwritten your changes. A brand new view with a different name will stay on the client, but will not be copied over to the server (again by design)

Radio buttons (Car Radio right?) are smartlists in a way (or can be) -- they must be turned on on each machine in features fo course. But as said above you have to have mapped the drives (or use UNC paths which doesn't work as well for me personally, depends I think on the hardware) to avoid confusion with local drives. Make sure to change your autoimport options to this network drive (eg. if your main data path is D:\Media create a mapped network drive with read and write permissions - of course you could have multiple drive's too) and call it say Z:\Media .. this will show up on all your clients on the network. The client will load this path (not the D:\) so your smartlists buttons etc. will all be reading from the Z: virtual drive.

Note: The syncing is for tagging and certain admin tasks you can do from a client. You are loading the main Library temporarily (and virtually) on the client. It is the metadata that is getting synced, not the Views and GUI stuff. You are not writing directly to the server's library.

What I often do, is I set up my server views like I like them. Backup the library. Then restore the library to a new client (you will have to redo some of the settings for local playback, zones). Select all the tracks and remove them from the local ("Main") library and you will have a copy of the original UI and views etc. Subsequent changes can be done using TeamViewer or another remote program to access the Media Server PC from the client. On multiple clients they would have to be rebooted I believe -- don't think server changes to the UI happen in real time .. can't check right now.