[thunder2k]

Hi,
for the network share bit of your post, I have the exact same configuration and this is how I did it:

Code:

mkdir /mnt/networkShare
chmod 777 /mnt/networkShare
sudo mount -t cifs //YOUR_ROUTER_IP_ADDRESS/SHARED_FOLDER /mnt/networkShare

If it worked, you should see the files from your hard drive connected to the router in your pi /mnt/networkShare folder.

If you want to automatically mount it at reboot go ahead with the following:

Code:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

in the file, add the following line

Code:

//YOUR_ROUTER_IP_ADDRESS/SHARED_FOLDER /mnt/networkShare cifs username=root,password= 0 0

Save changes and exit
This works for me as I don't have authentication on my internal network shared hard drives.
Test the configuration with

Code:

sudo mount -a
cd /mnt/networkShare
ls -lth

If it worked, you should see the files from your hard drive connected to the router.
Then execute:

Code:

sudo raspi-config

From the grafical menu select 3 Boot Options > B2 Wait for Network at Boot > Yes
Exit selecting Finish.

Now basically your shared hard drive is mounted into /mnt/networkShare folder.

You can point your PMS libraries to this folder :)