hansolo77 11 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 I've been a long time user of MB2 and really like it. I have a lot of media in the form of TV shows and Movies. Everything is nicely sorted and works brilliantly with the current (MB2) version I'm using. I have a full supporter's license as well as numerous plugins including a purchased license for the Neo Theme. Since it looks like the old Media Browser (2) versions are no longer being supported, I'm going to have to upgrade to this new version. I have a few questions though. How hard is it to do the upgrade? Will I have to repurchase the Neo Theme and the license for MB3? Do I have to do anything to my files and folder structure to make it compatible with MB3? I have the bare minimum as far as the system requirements.. what limitations might I encounter? ie; start up delays, rendering, etc Is it really worth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swhitmore 781 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 How hard is it to do the upgrade? Dirt easy. I recommend using the Trakt plugin to save all your playstates in MB2, then copy them to MB3. Will I have to repurchase the Neo Theme and the license for MB3? I believe you can use your MB2 key for Neo, but I highly recommend supporting and buying the new licences. The devs have put an insane amount of work towards MB3, and definitely deserve some beer money. Do I have to do anything to my files and folder structure to make it compatible with MB3? Nope, the recommended folder structure is the same as MB2. I have the bare minimum as far as the system requirements.. what limitations might I encounter? ie; start up delays, rendering, etc Can you describe your setup and hardware? If it ran MB2, you should be ok. Is it really worth it? Most definitely. I'm fairly certain everyone here will agree 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashkelly 62 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Is it really worth it? Absolutely 100% worth it I was a user of MB2 as well and while that was excellent software, I amazed by what MB3 is already doing and what the future holds for it. They, all involved in the project, have only begun to scratch the surface of MB3 potential. Take swhitmore's suggestions and go for it, you will never look back. Cheers P.S. The upgrade is so easy even I could do it, and did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abobader 2947 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Good day, I will only add 2 suggestion: 1 - No need to pay again NEO theme, no active dev for it anymore, so try the other active themes we have here that insure working with latest mb3 server. 2 - Regarding the folder structure best to read this: http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/674-media-files-folders-structure/ PS: Dev's team always welcome any support. My best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenH 16 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 (edited) hansolo77, on 06 Nov 2013 - 01:28 AM, said: Is it really worth it? Have had to move to MB3 on one of my PC's because of Win8.1. The answer to this depends on what you're using MB for. I just use Movie, TV Series, and fetch my own metadata; no interest in games, music, etc. MB2 suits me better in terms of menu entry points, not needing to refresh to show recently added items and a few other aspects. This I say as an old MB supporter and with the greatest respect to the MB authors who have done an excellent job with MB3 - the potential of which is clearly evident for more comprehensive users with multiple login users. The new interface, iOS, Android, Web pages, etc are all very professionally written. I do however look very forward to MB Theatre. Definition of theatre in English Oxford Enlish Dictionary theatre Pronunciation: Spelling help (for our American Friends) Remember that theatre ends with -tre (the spelling theater is American and is wrong). LOL Edited November 6, 2013 by WarrenH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swhitmore 781 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 (edited) Definition of theatre in English Oxford Enlish Dictionary theatre Pronunciation: Spelling help (for our American Friends) Remember that theatre ends with -tre (the spelling theater is American and is wrong). LOL So says the English Oxford Enlish dictionary. Edited November 6, 2013 by swhitmore 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansolo77 11 Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 Right now, I use MB2 as my go to place for TV Shows and Movies, plus the occasional Podcast. I don't have any use of Media Browser for Games (I use GameEx for that), Music (I like Media Center's version just fine), or the ability run on other devices. I just recently found out I could run ISO's through VLC directly without having to run it through a Daemon Tools hoola-hoop, and MB2 works swell with that too. For media info aggregating, I use Media Center Master. Everything works great. The only reason I see to upgrade is to have the benefit of continued support and new additional features I may or may not use. Switmore asked for some system specs.. My media is located on a custom built Windows Home Server Intel Celeron 420 @ 1.60 GHz 4 GB of Ram 11tb HDD's GigaBit Network My HTPC that I would use Media Browser on is Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Intel Core2Duo e6600 @ 2.40 GHz 6 GB of Ram GigaBit Network I don't have any other computers that would be using this. I do have a Sony BluRay player in the Living Room that my dad streams content from the server on, but we currently use Serviio for that purpose. I imagine if I were to go through with upgrading, that I would have to install the Server portion (just a SQL DB right?) on the HTPC since it has a better system spec. If Dad were to use the the BluRay player with MB3, I'd have to keep this computer on all the time too, and we don't like that idea. I have no problem giving support where it's due. I really liked the Neo theme and the way it displayed everything. I looked around a bit and it looks like there is a similar theme available to MB3, so I would probably do that. Is MB3 free, the MB2 license transferrable, or would I be required to purchase a new license? Thanks for all the nice responses so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc_G 92 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) MB3 (both Server and MB Classic client) are free. Download and enjoy. I donated to become a supporter, and salute you for donating in the past. I'm unclear as to whether supporter keys transfer (others will chime in), but it's not necessary to have a supporter key. You do get goodies with it, though! I recommend you try the ROC theme. I tried it and got hooked; quickly paid to keep it. I reluctantly moved to MB3, due to some odd problem with MB2 that was going to cause me to reinstall anyway. I was in "inertia mode." IF it ain't broke, don't fix it. But within minutes (literally) I was a convert. Seriously: follow the guide. Basically, uninstall MB2, install MB Server, install MB Classic. PRetty much done. Start playing with themes. Good luck to you, and join the party! Marc PS: My HTPC specs are not much different from yours. No problem running the server + client on it. Edited November 7, 2013 by Marc_G 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yardameus 220 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 If you're still unsure, you can install MB Server and tinker around with it on the webclient before you uninstall MB2. That way you can also ensure your library and watched status and all of that is up to par without having lose MB2. Once you know that's all set, uninstall MB2, install MB Classic and voila! I went through the same thoughts as you, and I was very glad I upgraded. I'm running a low/middle of the road pc, and performance went up for me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansolo77 11 Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 Thanks guys, I'm getting more and more confident that an upgrade won't be that bad.. just one more question I can easily think of.. What about all those "ImagesByName" folders/files that store stuff like Actor Images, Ratings, Studio Images, etc. Does the new MB3 have all this included now or would I need to go back and try and remember where I saved that folder and point MB3 to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tharnax 49 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Thanks guys, I'm getting more and more confident that an upgrade won't be that bad.. just one more question I can easily think of.. What about all those "ImagesByName" folders/files that store stuff like Actor Images, Ratings, Studio Images, etc. Does the new MB3 have all this included now or would I need to go back and try and remember where I saved that folder and point MB3 to it? Noticed you said you're running a custom WHS, which version v1 or v2011? I have a over 1000 movies and approximately 40 TV shows most with full season episodes, as well as music and books attached the MB3. I recently found that MB3 server install uses up about 10GB of OS hard drive space. If you are on WHS2011, that's about 1/6 your Out-of-the-box partitioned OS drive space. It's even more if you keep your Images By Name directory also within that install, I moved my IBN directory to the available extra partition space on the OS drive but that only gave me a some short term relief Therefore before you begin, you might want to look at extending the size of the OS drive. Personally, I think it's better to do it before installing MB3 then doing it after when your OS partition is basically full. You can point the IBN folder to any folder on your server as well as contain it within the actually movie/series folders. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansolo77 11 Posted November 9, 2013 Author Share Posted November 9, 2013 Would I have to install the server ON the server? Also, why wouldn't it support .net 4.5? You should be able to just install it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swhitmore 781 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 I made the move a while back to WHS2011 from v1. It was a little painful, but I didn't loose any data, and it is a crap load more stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansolo77 11 Posted November 9, 2013 Author Share Posted November 9, 2013 I have a public folder (all users can edit files, and have read access) on my Shared path that houses the ImagesByName. It's also configured to be duplicated so I have a reduncany backup incase a drive fails and that folder is affected. I put it in the public folder only because I was originally going to use Media Browser on 2 computers, and needed to have the IBN folder viewable by both computers (as opposed to having it in a private folder). Things changed and that never panned out. But it's full of stuff and don't really need it to be public anymore. I suppose if I do an upgrade to MB3, I can move it to my private folder (to eliminate possibilies of it getting altered) and just point MB3 to it as you suggest. I'm running the original v1 of WHS, not the new one. I didn't see any major reason to upgrade to the 2011 version. Especially since everything I read said it needed to be installed on a CLEAN computer, and I already had like 9tb of stuff on the current one. I didn't to start over from scratch because of an upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37116 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 You won't be able to install the server on whs v1 because it doesn't support version 4.5 of the .net framework. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14930 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 You won't be able to install the server on whs v1 because it doesn't support version 4.5 of the .net framework. Look on the bright side - now you have a reason . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37116 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 No you can install the server app anywhere you want. As for .net 4.5 on whs v1, I can't speak for Microsoft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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