Media Center
Hardware
- 2x Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+
- 1TB USB Disk
Services
- Arch Linux
- NFS
- Owncloud
- Kodi (XBMC)
- Transmission
Arch Linux
Arch is most up to date system which I used for my RPIs. Arch has systemd and pacman which makes arch powerfull swiss knife.
NFS
NFS is most common service for sharing files between my computers. Its easy to configure server and connect clients as well. I have created Salt Formula which is published under tcpcloud namespace.
I recommend awesome tutorial in Arch Wiki.
My fstab which uses systemd for waiting to network connection.
192.168.0.15:/mnt/seagate /mnt/seagate nfs4 noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
Also other params could be used such as udp,read/write buffers etc.
Kodi
Kodi is best opensource media center wich huge plugin ecosystem and long term growing up.
Cache / Buffering
If you play files from NFS or USB which is under heavy I/O you could set bigger cache for video files
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<advancedsettings>
<network>
<cachemembuffersize>157286400</cachemembuffersize>
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
</network>
<video>
<defaultplayer>dvdplayer</defaultplayer>
<defaultdvdplayer>dvdplayer</defaultdvdplayer>
</video>
</advancedsettings>