Hello
I currently have PMS installed on a powerful fully fanless HTPC (Win 10). Files are stored on a NAS. I’m currently using PMP (running on the same PC, HDMI connection) to send videos to a receiver that is connected to a Sony 4K projector. All files are MKV’s.
I’d like to know:
- can I transfer current PC PMS database to the shield?
- Is there a way to do a regular backup of the database and store it on a network share?
- The shield would be connected to the receiver. Is there a benefit to use the shield client instead of PMP? Are there better options?
Thanks a lot for your inputs
@number8.1 said:
Hello
I currently have PMS installed on a powerful fully fanless HTPC (Win 10). Files are stored on a NAS. I’m currently using PMP (running on the same PC, HDMI connection) to send videos to a receiver that is connected to a Sony 4K projector. All files are MKV’s.
I’d like to know:
- can I transfer current PC PMS database to the shield?
- Is there a way to do a regular backup of the database and store it on a network share?
- The shield would be connected to the receiver. Is there a benefit to use the shield client instead of PMP? Are there better options?
Thanks a lot for your inputs
I am looking into this also, as I want to move away from tinkering and have a much simpler off the shelf solution, can you let me know how you get on with this.
I found this a while back, it seems doable but bit hacky.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201370363-Move-an-Install-to-Another-System
expect some tweaking to get it working smoothly.
@MattTwinkleToes
Thanks, I’ve done this in the past (NAS to PC) without any issue. This time, the target is the shield. I’m ready to tinkle, but I want to make sure it is doable. My lib is 30Go.
@richarddc79 : I will
On the Shield you have no access to the Plex data directory and you cannot move the Plex data directory to adopted storage so there is no way to import any part of the Plex data from any other system into Plex on the Shield.
Your only option is an install and setup from scratch but once the install completes and you tweak it how you want it works quite well.
For me The Shield Pro (Do NOT use a 16gb Shield as a server it works poorly) is a very good and stable Plex server with some limitations.
Answer is no, you cannot transfer the DB from anything to a Shield.
There is no access to the folder where Plex is installed
Maybe a good hacker can get in - but !
Many have asked and it is wanted by more. Both Plex and Nvidia say its the others issue and this has been going on since about June 2016.
I changed from PMS on Synology NAS to ShieldTV pro & my primary concern was
keeping watched status of library.
I achieved this using Trakt
I installed Trakt via webtools on Synology, plexkodiconnect on Shield &
Trakt for Kodi on Shield
Now setup, both my PMS’ keep in sync for watched status, although
occasionally I have to open Kodi on Shield to refresh
@Elijah_Baley does that mean there is no way to perform a backup and even more importantly restore it in case of disk crash?
@number8.1 said:
@Elijah_Baley does that mean there is no way to perform a backup and even more importantly restore it in case of disk crash?
Yep. There does not seem to be. I think there may be a backup option from inside Plex on the Shield but I have not really looked for it BUT there is clearly no way to restore. I do not really know what good a backup would be if there was no restore but…
@stuart0001 said:
I changed from PMS on Synology NAS to ShieldTV pro & my primary concern was
keeping watched status of library.
I achieved this using Trakt
I installed Trakt via webtools on Synology, plexkodiconnect on Shield &
Trakt for Kodi on Shield
Now setup, both my PMS’ keep in sync for watched status, although
occasionally I have to open Kodi on Shield to refresh
Hey Stuart - once you did the Trakt thing does the Shield DB now have your watched info or it it only/still on trakt?
You see where I am coming from ? If the new DB on the shield has the info via your NAS/trakt/Shield then trakt is no longer need!!
Yes, the shield DB then has the updated watched info but I like to keep
them all running anyway so both PMS’ (Shield & NAS) & my Android TV/Movie
tracker app (seriesguide) stay up-to-date automatically. But if you’re only
concerned with Shield PMS watch info, you no longer need the other bits &
bobs.
@Elijah_Baley I found since then that backup can be performed from the plex interface but no way to restore it! This platform seems to be the best one in terms of performance but two deal breakers: No way to transfer from an existing install and no way to restore a backup (which in essence is the same problem). I don’t even understand how a company can market a product in such conditions. A real shame
I’ll stick to the current setup until it improves
@stuart0001 said:
Yes, the shield DB then has the updated watched info but I like to keep
them all running anyway so both PMS’ (Shield & NAS) & my Android TV/Movie
tracker app (seriesguide) stay up-to-date automatically. But if you’re only
concerned with Shield PMS watch info, you no longer need the other bits &
bobs.
Thanks Stuart - now the deal breaker!
I have 3 local and 2 remote! Can trakt do ALL their watched media
@Elijah_Baley said:
On the Shield you have no access to the Plex data directory and you cannot move the Plex data directory to adopted storage so there is no way to import any part of the Plex data from any other system into Plex on the Shield.
Your only option is an install and setup from scratch but once the install completes and you tweak it how you want it works quite well.
For me The Shield Pro (Do NOT use a 16gb Shield as a server it works poorly) is a very good and stable Plex server with some limitations.
I´ve never done this on a shield however I have read write access to all of my android devices and I know of no reason why you could not simply root and access the file system on a shield too ( a cursory google search indicates that this is something that others already do).
As long as you have root access then you can do it.
Can you clarify, do you mean you have 5 different PMS’?
If so, I see no reason why not, as long as you can install webtools or Kodi you should be fine
@MattTwinkleToes in case we can have write access to Plex database directory, are there any potential issues regarding file format or anything else? Would it be transferable using regular network transfer?
@stuart0001 said:
Can you clarify, do you mean you have 5 different PMS’?
If so, I see no reason why not, as long as you can install webtools or Kodi you should be fine
I do have 5 or 6 PMS but that’s not the issue.
1 PMS DB is where my watched and unwatched media is kept.
And there are 3 local users and two remote friends!
Will trakt store the watched and unwatched information of all users? (on my win10 PMS)
And if yes how does that information get to the other (Shield) PMS?
i.e. how does Trakt talk to the my Shield PMS
Is that where plexkodiconnect comes into play - I install that on kodi on my Shield?
@number8.1 said:
@MattTwinkleToes in case we can have write access to Plex database directory, are there any potential issues regarding file format or anything else? Would it be transferable using regular network transfer?
Essentially, under the hood, Android is just another linux distribution. If you treat it as such then you should be able to proceed as normal.
Of course, just like a linux server, you will need to means to transfer files, be is an smb, nfs, ftp share or something like that.
I see no reason why you would have any file format issues but as i said, I have not done this on a shield but i am willing to bet that you wont have a problem.
edited to add: you will most likely have file system permissions to contend with but this is the same with any linux distro.
@spikemixture said:
@stuart0001 said:
Can you clarify, do you mean you have 5 different PMS’?
If so, I see no reason why not, as long as you can install webtools or Kodi you should be fine
I do have 5 or 6 PMS but that’s not the issue.
1 PMS DB is where my watched and unwatched media is kept.
And there are 3 local users and two remote friends!
Will trakt store the watched and unwatched information of all users? (on my win10 PMS)
And if yes how does that information get to the other (Shield) PMS?
i.e. how does Trakt talk to the my Shield PMS
Is that where plexkodiconnect comes into play - I install that on kodi on my Shield?
I’m not sure if you could do it with webtools install but should be able to with plexkodiconnect on all machines.
So Trakt is an online account for tracking your watch history. Every user will need a separate account.
plexkodiconnect makes Kodi use your PMS database, so when Trakt Kodi plugin updates Kodi, plexkodiconnect syncs PMS too.
You’d have to set-up a Kodi user profile for each user & in each put the relevant Trakt account & Plex username, I’m not sure that works with remote users but users on the main account certainly.
Hope that helps.
@MattTwinkleToes I agree with you. What concerns me as well is the disk that is not SSD
