Kodi 21.0 "Omega"(kodi.tv)
kodi.tv
Kodi 21.0 "Omega"
https://kodi.tv/article/kodi-21-0-omega-release/
33 comments
Former Plex user and current Jellyfin user. Never tried Kodi however happy to see more options in this space.
Kodi evolved from XBMC, which is the OG of this genre.
In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the early Plex codebase was a fork of XBMC.
The original announcement mentions it as a split: https://www.plex.tv/ja/blog/announcing-plex/
Apparently there was an interim OSXBMC project as well.
Apparently there was an interim OSXBMC project as well.
What's the home media server landscape look like these days? I used Kodi about 10 years ago I think, but I hardly ever hear about it on HN, just Plex and I think Jellyfin? Why would someone choose one over the others?
They're all different things.
Kodi, as you may recall from a decade ago, has its roots in the old Xbox Media Center. It grew beyond that OG Xbox a long time ago and runs on just about anything these days, although things like Raspberry Pi 4s are a common (and performant) choice for dedicated hardware. It is open source. Kodi is primarily a media player (load files from local or regular-ass SMB NAS, and play them), and it is very good at doing that correctly (correct screen resolution and refresh rate, correct audio format selection and output -- that sort of thing). It generally operates in a largely standalone configuration.
Plex also has its roots in XBMC, but it went in a different direction: It is split into two parts: The Plex client, and the Plex server. It's a very different beast: While Kodi can play whatever you throw at it on your own LAN, Plex can let someone three continents away play that same thing over your WAN -- with official Plex client apps from the usual official app stores [from Apple or Google or Roku or whoever], so it's very approachable. But the server can be heavy (it does video transcoding), and that server also has features that want to be paid for, and it is not exactly cheap.
Jellyfin, meanwhile, is a fork of Emby. Both Jellyfin and Emby exist because Plex is neither free nor open. They do many of the same things that Plex does, and also have a client and a server component.
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I use Kodi in my living room because it is the thing that works most-correctly with my particular home theater gear.
At my parents' place, they use Plex, because it is easy for them to use (the interface is easy, and I maintain the Plex server) and they aren't as picky as I am: They're happy if there are moving pictures on the screen and sound coming out of speakers. (I have the bandwidth to support remote Plex usage, because it does transcoding, but I do not have enough bandwidth for them to run Kodi with my video library.)
I don't use Jellyfin (or Emby) because by the time I learned of either those, I'd already paid for Plex.
Kodi, as you may recall from a decade ago, has its roots in the old Xbox Media Center. It grew beyond that OG Xbox a long time ago and runs on just about anything these days, although things like Raspberry Pi 4s are a common (and performant) choice for dedicated hardware. It is open source. Kodi is primarily a media player (load files from local or regular-ass SMB NAS, and play them), and it is very good at doing that correctly (correct screen resolution and refresh rate, correct audio format selection and output -- that sort of thing). It generally operates in a largely standalone configuration.
Plex also has its roots in XBMC, but it went in a different direction: It is split into two parts: The Plex client, and the Plex server. It's a very different beast: While Kodi can play whatever you throw at it on your own LAN, Plex can let someone three continents away play that same thing over your WAN -- with official Plex client apps from the usual official app stores [from Apple or Google or Roku or whoever], so it's very approachable. But the server can be heavy (it does video transcoding), and that server also has features that want to be paid for, and it is not exactly cheap.
Jellyfin, meanwhile, is a fork of Emby. Both Jellyfin and Emby exist because Plex is neither free nor open. They do many of the same things that Plex does, and also have a client and a server component.
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I use Kodi in my living room because it is the thing that works most-correctly with my particular home theater gear.
At my parents' place, they use Plex, because it is easy for them to use (the interface is easy, and I maintain the Plex server) and they aren't as picky as I am: They're happy if there are moving pictures on the screen and sound coming out of speakers. (I have the bandwidth to support remote Plex usage, because it does transcoding, but I do not have enough bandwidth for them to run Kodi with my video library.)
I don't use Jellyfin (or Emby) because by the time I learned of either those, I'd already paid for Plex.
Kodi for use on a Raspberry Pi is best deployed in the form of LibreELEC. This has HDMI-CEC support and GUI configuration built-in.
LibreELEC is indeed slick: Their motto is, IIRC, "Just enough Linux to run Kodi."
It is absolutely ideal if what one wants to have is a dedicated media player appliance and -- like any other cromulent video playing appliance -- it Just Works.
But there's a ton of other ways to get Kodi running on Raspberry Pi hardware.
For instance: There was a time when I was running Kodi under RetroPie, so I could combine antique console emulation and video playing on one [at the time] Pi 3.
It is absolutely ideal if what one wants to have is a dedicated media player appliance and -- like any other cromulent video playing appliance -- it Just Works.
But there's a ton of other ways to get Kodi running on Raspberry Pi hardware.
For instance: There was a time when I was running Kodi under RetroPie, so I could combine antique console emulation and video playing on one [at the time] Pi 3.
> Both Jellyfin and Emby exist because Plex is neither free nor open.
little correction: Jellyfin exists because neither Plex nor Emby are free or open.
little correction: Jellyfin exists because neither Plex nor Emby are free or open.
Kodi runs well on a pi4, but the lack of hdmi-cec support was enough to make me change to an nvidia shield pro (not the tube shaped one one, unless you like stuttering 4k playback)
What do you mean? I have Kodi running on a Pi4 with HDMI-CEC. It works perfectly. Remember, only one of the ports supports HDMI-CEC by default and you need the correct cable.
I'm using hdmi-cec with Kodi on an rpi4 and it works just fine? I did need to tweak the logical address to get it to work with my tv though, but the pi4 certainly supports CEC.
Kodi is still an excellent option if you have it directly serve media from connected storage or a NFS/SMB share. Some people just don’t have the need to “share” their collection, which makes running a media server unnecessary.
I believe some use Kodi as a direct play frontend for a media server. But the native apps are pretty good these days and can direct play ~everything.
The other strong point is the plugin ecosystem. In particular, the Debrid plugin which allows you to consume content without needing to invest in storage. Stremio is an alternative to Kodi in this area afaik. Various IPTV streaming plugins also exist.
I believe some use Kodi as a direct play frontend for a media server. But the native apps are pretty good these days and can direct play ~everything.
The other strong point is the plugin ecosystem. In particular, the Debrid plugin which allows you to consume content without needing to invest in storage. Stremio is an alternative to Kodi in this area afaik. Various IPTV streaming plugins also exist.
I use Kodi on a Shield to play any local files I want to watch, which reside on a USB-attached SSD.
Results have been pretty good, although it suffers from some non-intuitive UI design... the sort of which also plagues other media applications I've tried.
Let me try it on my computer... OK, specifically, Kodi says, "your library is currently empty. To populate it... enter "Files" section, add a media source, and configure it."
So I did that, and navigated to a directory that contains some video files. There's no way to "add" it. Clicking on it opens it. And so on for contents. If you click on a video file, it just plays it.
Then there's no control for going back to the home screen. You can go up to a parent directory, but once at the top you're stuck there. On an Android TV you have a Back button on your remote, but there's no control for it on the computer UI.
This is disappointing.
Results have been pretty good, although it suffers from some non-intuitive UI design... the sort of which also plagues other media applications I've tried.
Let me try it on my computer... OK, specifically, Kodi says, "your library is currently empty. To populate it... enter "Files" section, add a media source, and configure it."
So I did that, and navigated to a directory that contains some video files. There's no way to "add" it. Clicking on it opens it. And so on for contents. If you click on a video file, it just plays it.
Then there's no control for going back to the home screen. You can go up to a parent directory, but once at the top you're stuck there. On an Android TV you have a Back button on your remote, but there's no control for it on the computer UI.
This is disappointing.
I use a MCE remote with kodi and it works fantastically.
I think right mouse click is "back" by default. Everything is configurable to a huge extent as well if you don't like the defaults.
https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Modify_keymaps
I think right mouse click is "back" by default. Everything is configurable to a huge extent as well if you don't like the defaults.
https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Modify_keymaps
lookup the keyboard shortcuts!
Tab and backspace are useful x to stop playback
Tab and backspace are useful x to stop playback
You shouldn't have to look up keyboard shortcuts to operate a GUI. That's the whole point of a GUI.
i guess, but this software was designed for a remote control..
Kodi + an older television without "smarts" make for an actual "smart" television, one which does not try to sell you as a product to advertisers but which uses its "smarts" for your benefit. This is how the part of my family which likes to watch television (which is everyone but me...) access their network-provided pablum (my bias might show through a bit here and there) using a "dumb" TV with a Raspberry Pi on the back. It can even be controlled through the TV's own remote which makes this not just useable to those who like to tinker but also those who just want to donate some brain cells to the gods of "entertainment".
I use Kodi for this purpose - direct view on a local device - and Jellyfin for 'remote' applications, e.g. for making our extensive photo and video collection available to family members. Jellyfin is a media server while Kodi is an extensible media player which happens to have some limited support for remote access/streaming. In other words they are complementary, not in competition. I have never used Plex nor felt the desire to do so.
I use Kodi for this purpose - direct view on a local device - and Jellyfin for 'remote' applications, e.g. for making our extensive photo and video collection available to family members. Jellyfin is a media server while Kodi is an extensible media player which happens to have some limited support for remote access/streaming. In other words they are complementary, not in competition. I have never used Plex nor felt the desire to do so.
Any recommendations for larger older televisions without "smart" features?
Currently using a Sony 40" which I got for free, before that a 37" LG, also free. There's plenty of people who for some reason want to get rid of their "old" television to get one of those newfangled "smart" things, have a look around the local classified ads/Craigslist/Freecycle/and you're sure to find plenty of options. As long as it has HDMI and a big enough screen you're set.
The two best TV's I've found at thrift shops are Panasonic Viero. One is a 32" in the bedroom and the other was 37" for daytime use in the lounge (for big pictures we use an old Mitsubishi HC7000 projector).
Both have great pictures, no dead pixels. The biggest issue with thrifted TV's is that they don't come with stands so you need to get a wall mount or contrive a stand of some sort.
I would heavily recommend against anything Samsung. There always seems to be something wrong with any Samsung being sold 2nd hand.
Both have great pictures, no dead pixels. The biggest issue with thrifted TV's is that they don't come with stands so you need to get a wall mount or contrive a stand of some sort.
I would heavily recommend against anything Samsung. There always seems to be something wrong with any Samsung being sold 2nd hand.
I use a ~16-year-old Samsung LNA52A550 (52", 1080p) that I spent rather a lot of money on once upon a time.
It has been calibrated for the colors to be as correct as possible. It's from a time before smart TVs. (Heck, it's from a time before LED-backlit TVs -- it's got fluorescent tubes in it.) But it has HDMI-CEC, and it cheerfully outputs both DTS and Dolby Digital on its optical TOSLINK port so as to connect to [cheap!!!, and sometimes even awesome] surround receivers of similar vintage.
If you find a Samsung of that age that hasn't been smashed, it probably won't work reliably as-is: They used bad capacitors in the power supply -- bad enough that they lost a class action lawsuit about that at least once.
(But good caps are cheap, and they're ridiculously easy to swap out on those single-layer PCBs. The only trick is to spend the extra few dollars and replace every single capacitor on the power supply board, and not just the ones that seem to be bad: All of the factory caps will turn bad eventually, which is something I learned the second [and hopefully final] time I took it apart to fix it.)
It has been calibrated for the colors to be as correct as possible. It's from a time before smart TVs. (Heck, it's from a time before LED-backlit TVs -- it's got fluorescent tubes in it.) But it has HDMI-CEC, and it cheerfully outputs both DTS and Dolby Digital on its optical TOSLINK port so as to connect to [cheap!!!, and sometimes even awesome] surround receivers of similar vintage.
If you find a Samsung of that age that hasn't been smashed, it probably won't work reliably as-is: They used bad capacitors in the power supply -- bad enough that they lost a class action lawsuit about that at least once.
(But good caps are cheap, and they're ridiculously easy to swap out on those single-layer PCBs. The only trick is to spend the extra few dollars and replace every single capacitor on the power supply board, and not just the ones that seem to be bad: All of the factory caps will turn bad eventually, which is something I learned the second [and hopefully final] time I took it apart to fix it.)
The main difference is the how/where the media is consumed.
With Kodi, the primary consumption is at the place where Kodi runs and typically there is no server. kodi can support lots of plugins and act as a interface for different media sources/apps. This makes kodi feel a bit clunky.
With Jellyfin & plex the primary place of consumption is a client running on your favourite device while the heavy lifting of downloading and transcoding is done on the server. This abstracts the different media sources from the clients and clients are just focused on consuming media.
With Kodi, the primary consumption is at the place where Kodi runs and typically there is no server. kodi can support lots of plugins and act as a interface for different media sources/apps. This makes kodi feel a bit clunky.
With Jellyfin & plex the primary place of consumption is a client running on your favourite device while the heavy lifting of downloading and transcoding is done on the server. This abstracts the different media sources from the clients and clients are just focused on consuming media.
A lot of people love Jellyfin, and it’s very clean and works well, but I find that a lot of media types don’t work. I never have any problems with kodi and all sorts of video media, but it’s definitely more bloated than jellyfin. Kodi just works but Jellyfin seems cleaner with the occasional format issue.
Family used plex cause that’s the easiest, but lots of concerns about the way the company is going and privacy. It doesn’t bother me but you should read about it.
Family used plex cause that’s the easiest, but lots of concerns about the way the company is going and privacy. It doesn’t bother me but you should read about it.
I've found Kodi still occasionally useful as yet-another-media-box attached to the TV. Kodi stands out by having a consumer-friendly software package - capable of supporting older video game emulation and having the most jitter-tolerant IPTV streaming client.
I still switch over to Kodi-running-on-a-Raspberry-Pi-3 when a guest comes over and starts reminiscing about video games from their childhood or just wants to kill some time, or when the family wants to watch sports on TV -- we've watched the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and Thanksgiving-day games, year after year, on this little Raspberry Pi. Roku's app will just give up when the HDHomerun IPTV signal hiccups, but Kodi will keep going and give you the classic screen-tear / dropped i-frame mess for a sec and then catch back up. Admittedly, the video / audio will get out of sync after an hour or two, sometimes requiring us to drop and re-open the stream. But for me, Kodi is Ol' Reliable, as opposed to whatever the Roku decided to do this year.
I still switch over to Kodi-running-on-a-Raspberry-Pi-3 when a guest comes over and starts reminiscing about video games from their childhood or just wants to kill some time, or when the family wants to watch sports on TV -- we've watched the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and Thanksgiving-day games, year after year, on this little Raspberry Pi. Roku's app will just give up when the HDHomerun IPTV signal hiccups, but Kodi will keep going and give you the classic screen-tear / dropped i-frame mess for a sec and then catch back up. Admittedly, the video / audio will get out of sync after an hour or two, sometimes requiring us to drop and re-open the stream. But for me, Kodi is Ol' Reliable, as opposed to whatever the Roku decided to do this year.
Kodi is still in use here. Over-the-air pvr / iptv / my media / music / video/music streaming all outlets.... coming all together on my tv.
I've tried plex but had issues to set it how I want. I have one kodi to share everything, it's my main pc in home and we watch tv (dvb-t2 streamed with nextpvr), online streams, yt, etc. MCE remote to navigate. play emus or PC games with a click. Yatse to stream over mobile. Plex can't do all that. Plex is neat but still not the way I like it. Kodi is a bit messy to setup but once you handle it, it does the job.
Added NAS share to its drives, stream in original quality tv, film and music from such share. Idem with the seedbox.
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