Let's Talk About Kodi

[InSutterWeTrust]

I have recently heard about Kodi, I am not super tech savy on setting up my own equipment, but I have been looking at some of these boxes that come loaded with Kodi.

Can anyone recommend a local Calgary company that sells these boxes?

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by InSutterWeTrust

I have recently heard about Kodi, I am not super tech savy on setting up my own equipment, but I have been looking at some of these boxes that come loaded with Kodi.

Can anyone recommend a local Calgary company that sells these boxes?

You want to stay away from pre loaded boxes if you can. There is a bit of a learning curve, but not much. Google addon installer and watching a YouTube video should allow you to install whatever you want, and only that.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

You want to stay away from pre loaded boxes if you can. There is a bit of a learning curve, but not much. Google addon installer and watching a YouTube video should allow you to install whatever you want, and only that.

I am getting the impression that the XBMC / Kodi developers are not very happy about their efforts being profited on, so who knows what that could lead to with compatibility.

That said, pretty much any system or machine that runs Windows or Linux will run Kodi. I see old Boxee Box going for $40 - $50 on Kijiji that run Kodi just fine. I just got it working on my old one. It's great, although you have to be selective with the number of add-ons to run otherwise it crashes.

[Radio]

Originally Posted by djdragan

I've had an M8 Box for quite a while now. Got it for about $80 on amazon, can probably get for less on one of the Chinese sites like gearbest.

Had Kitkat on the box and Kodi was preinstalled. Was not overly impressed with Kodi, run in android. I found that that I was having quite a few audio sync issues and some stuttering video. Flashed OpenElec on the box as it was used primarily for Kodi and the difference has been night and day. No audio sync issues and very smooth playback (even in 1080p).

I did spoil myself and got an Nvidia Shield TV a could of weeks ago to replace a really old box that was running Kodi on our basement TV. I must say that I am very impressed. Kodi runs very very well in the android environment on this box. Super fast and smooth menu's and awesome playback. Netflix is also great on this box. Was previously using our Telus Optik box for Netflix, and the shield TV blows it away. Way faster navigation and loading. I also think that picture quality is better then on Optik box (not using 4K). Have also found that I use it for youtube quite a bit, and the voice search is pretty handy.

The Shield TV is pricey, but I'm very happy with it so far. If you are looking for something at a lower price point, I think you would be happy with one of the "android" boxes that you can flash OpenElec on.

I've also seen the Amazon Fire TV and its pretty nice. Its a tweaked version of Android, so installing Kodi takes a bit of work, but it runs well once setup. Its about $100 USD and is not available in Canada, so can be a pain to get one.

I was reading on the OpenElec wiki that the M8 was not supported? But you had no problem? I am asking because I have an MXIII and an XB-I and although they are pretty good, improvements are always better.

Is the flash fairly easy, I'd put myself at the handyman level of competency when it comes to tech stuff.

[Hockey]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

You want to stay away from pre loaded boxes if you can. There is a bit of a learning curve, but not much. Google addon installer and watching a YouTube video should allow you to install whatever you want, and only that.

I keep getting an error when trying to use the google chrome add on.

[djdragan]

Originally Posted by Radio

I was reading on the OpenElec wiki that the M8 was not supported? But you had no problem? I am asking because I have an MXIII and an XB-I and although they are pretty good, improvements are always better.

Is the flash fairly easy, I'd put myself at the handyman level of competency when it comes to tech stuff.

Yes, the M8 is not "officially" supported by OpenElec, but there are custom versions for other boxes available. One of the more popular custom versions is by a developer named codesnake. Here is a link to his thread on freaktab (there's also a page in XDA forums). He has a few different versions, depending on box you have.

http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-...-tv110-mx2-g18

Flashing was pretty easy, I just copied the file to an SD card and inserted in sd slot on box and did a hard reset. On the M8, you need to insert a long thin screwdriver, or something similar into the audio out in the back so you can push the button at the back to boot into recovery mode, you then do a factory wipe and install from zip and you are in business. Its pretty easy to do, I also think there are a couple vids on youtube explaining how to do it.

I have also seen some other version of openelec around by other developers for the M8 (google M8 and OpenElec) but haven't tried those.

I can only speak for the M8, but OpenElec is vastly better then Kodi in Android for me.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Hockey

I keep getting an error when trying to use the google chrome add on.

You mean the chrome browser on your native android desktop?
I pretty much don't use the android boxes for anything but Kodi. I've got a Ubuntu install on a notebook that I use at times for net stuff, but just don't bother mostly.
If there is a chrome addon for Kodi, I'm not aware of it - however you can access any android app from within the Kodi menu.
More often that not I have had trouble with Google play services playing nice with some android boxes. But if the play store works ok, that should be good.
Sorry I can't help.

Edit: maybe I misunderstood. Maybe you were referring to this: Do a google search for addon installer and follow tutorial / YouTube video will make it easy to install anything you want. Google this on some other device - phone, computer, etc

[Hockey]

Well all of a sudden my Kodi keeps crashing on iPhone. Anyone know a quick fix for this? I installed a bunch of stuff on it, but everything was working fine for a long time then all of a sudden it crashed and now it won't start up.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Hockey

Well all of a sudden my Kodi keeps crashing on iPhone. Anyone know a quick fix for this? I installed a bunch of stuff on it, but everything was working fine for a long time then all of a sudden it crashed and now it won't start up.

I wonder if it is just a problem with the number of add-ons. Mine crashed quite a bit until I trimmed it down to pretty 4 or 5 essential add-ons.

[Hockey]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I wonder if it is just a problem with the number of add-one. Mine crashed quite a bit until I trimmed it down to pretty 4 or 5 essential add-ons.

I figured it might be this, but I don't know how to delete them if it keeps crashing.

[Wormius]

I might try then to delete Kodi and reinstall with fewer add-ons, if you can't get to the uninstall menu. I kept pretty much only ice films, 1channel, and navix and it is working well. Before it would just freeze with an increasing frequency, and I had to reset it.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Hockey

I figured it might be this, but I don't know how to delete them if it keeps crashing.

Deleting won't necessarily help.
From fusion, choose start here and install fresh start.
This will wipe every trace of everything installed in Kodi directory. You will need to add fusion again after this, but just install addon installer and then your favourite addons, and all will be good

[stampsx2]

I think i'm ready to give kodi with exodus a try and was wondering if someone could tell me if it will work on a samsung galaxy tab E lollipop tablet. Was hoping to get some expieriences before i head out to make a purchase.

I'm converting from being an ten year apple user and am really hoping this cheap android tablet won't let me down. Apple needs to figure out their awful storage problems - icloud is not the answer.

[Radio]

I've stopped using Exodus and switched to Specto. I am finding it to be much better, better streams, and better supported.