Possible to set up kodi on server?

    Hi im wondering if anyone has done this.

    I have 4 thin clients, i want to use them with all the tv's in my house, and have a server pc with all my hard drives and tv tuners doing the hard work, graphics and processing.

    is there a way to do this?

    the main reason is that i currently have big htpc's connected to every tv and it uses up way too much power.

    i have heard that hotels have used kodi in this way but im not sure how true this is.

    would love to get this done.

    if anyone could help that would be great.

    i dont really want to fork out the $400+ for 4 rpi4's

    i also already have the thin clients and the dvi to hdmi adaptors and 3.5mm to optical cables as they do optical from the 3.5mm

    thankyou so much

    Quote from Anewkebab

    Hi im wondering if anyone has done this.

    I have 4 thin clients, i want to use them with all the tv's in my house, and have a server pc with all my hard drives and tv tuners doing the hard work, graphics and processing.

    What you really want to do is quite easy using docker services installed on a linux server.

    The main services that I use are:

    • linuxserver/tvheadend to distribute TV to Kodi or other clients
    • drakkan/sftpgo to implement SFTP/SSH, FTP and WebDAV storage servers with a wonderful client manager that includes fail2ban-like protection
    • linuxserver/wireguard to implement a private network with client devices
    • pihole/pihole DNS server to filter unwanted access

    in addition to other ancillary services:

    • linuxserver/webtop to have a complete linux remote desktop on an android tablet or remote PC
    • linuxserver/syncthing for real-time backup of smartphones and PCs
    • zyclonite/zerotier as an alternative private emergency network to WireGuard
    • ... and others

    These docker services work without problems on any x86_64 mini PC, although I would not recommend it on any ARM device, nor does it need great graphics power when an ARM android client device of just over 20 euros works perfectly at 4K resolution.

    The operating system that I would recommend for the server is Linux, anyone works, even LibreELEC. For client devices I use Kodi (and WireGuard) installed on Android or CoreELEC, this allows me to make client devices work anywhere in the world.

    I've interpretted the original request as thin-client to server with GPU work being done on the big server; similar to how game streaming works between a small thin-client device and a 'big' computer with the fancy GPU. There is no equivalent to this for video playback.

    If you just want client/server behaviour with some NUC-like thin clients this is simple. Setup a MariaDB database on the server, and share files over SMB or NFS to clients that share a common library maintained in the central SQL database. Doing this in the same house does not need wireguard, file sharing over SFTP/FTP/WebDAV, or any of the pirate shitware that @elonesa described (which has been edited from his post).