Kodi boxes

[Gdlow]

Anyone tried any of the Kodi/android streaming boxes? thoughts?:h

[Gdlow]

Thanks for all the feedback...appreciated
:C

[pconroy328]

Almot wrote:

Edit: Pi does sell their boards with cases - as a kit. You need to put it all together, this might deter some users. Kind of a hobbyist approach - well, they are a nonprofit company.

I think I have 9 Raspberry Pis in the house. Yeah, it's a problem. 🙂

Anyway, getting one running isn't complicated.

[B_printervan]

Almot wrote:
Raspberry PI is the only "Kodi box" made with consent and cooperation of Kodi developers. Good quality, but this is only a board

They were produced as an inexpensive computer with Linux in-mind, nothing to do with Kodi developers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi you can also visit https://www.raspberrypi.org/about/ should also answer your other thoughs.

Almot wrote:

Kodi itself is just a platform, a freeware, open-source soft player available to anybody for downloading and modifying at the source code level. They have legal apps/addins repository, though this isn't anything impressive. Documentaries, music, news, not much else.

You're scaring people, you'll never need to mess with it's actual code. They're quite simple for anyone to setup, plus there's countless tutorials online.

Flirc adapters are usefull with older, or unsupported TV's that don't utilize CEC.


(Just read your edit)

Almot wrote:
Edit: Pi does sell their boards with cases - as a kit. You need to put it all together, this might deter some users. Kind of a hobbyist approach - well, they are a nonprofit company.

[SCClockDr]

We've cut the cable in October 2017 & started using a Fire TV Gen2. Installed Kodi and am using the Cosmic Saints 4K Clean Build + selected add-ons. We are finding this suits our needs ATM. I've purchased an additional Android TV box that I intend to use as a test bed to preview various builds and add-ons in order to preserve the Fire Tv's setup.

We do not torrent nor do we download content, we just stream hosted content.

I use YouTube as a resource to stay up-to-date with the changing landscape.

As to using the Fire TV in the RV we understand it is a streaming device & many RV Parks will either block or limit their WiFi bandwidth. Thus its usefulness will be more limited. We rarely use the boobtube while camping anyway.

[Almot]

Raspberry PI is the only "Kodi box" made with consent and cooperation of Kodi developers. Good quality, but this is only a board. Don't know why Pi don't sell it with the case. Sometimes I see Pi boards on Amazon mounted in 3-rd party cases with remote included, or at least it says "Pi based". Kodi/Flirc website sells some Pi enclosures as well.

Kodi itself is just a platform, a freeware, open-source soft player available to anybody for downloading and modifying at the source code level. They have legal apps/addins repository, though this isn't anything impressive. Documentaries, music, news, not much else.

You can't stop pirates from modifying or writing apps that work under Kodi and are not legal.

And you can't stop backyard factories in Asia from making media players with Kodi installed there, that don't work for long, or can't be upgraded, or go up in flames (yes), - and call it "Kodi boxes".

Edit: Pi does sell their boards with cases - as a kit. You need to put it all together, this might deter some users. Kind of a hobbyist approach - well, they are a nonprofit company.

[B_printervan]

Kodi's an application, formerly known as xbmc (Been using with various hardware for years). It's NOT illegal.

Not everyone uses Kodi for nefarious intentions.

Dedicated Hardware (Mounted with Velcro behind multiple TV's, including RV): "Raspberry Pi 3" (See Amazon)


Software:
LibreELEC: 8.2.2 (Kernel: Linux 4.9.59) short for "Libre Embedded Linux Entertainment Center"
Kodi (Latest stable version "Krypton 17.6")

This part seems to confuse some people...

My TV provider, FiOS/Verizon/Frontier, like most providers, rent Cable Cards ($4.00 monthly fee- I rent 2)

Then I purchase hardware that uses said cable cards: hdhomerun prime x2 (see Amazon) giving a total of 6 tuners.

At this point you could simply use Kodi for viewing live TV (Or from anything with a screen on your home network)...OR,

(Dedicated Computer as DVR, records up to 6 shows)
I use an old Intel i3 cpu (Small desktop computer running Windows 7pro, 32bit) setup as DVR, has around 8tb of recording space. Computer runs a (Free) program called "ServerWMC" that every system running Kodi connects to for viewing recorded TV, live TV and program guide.

I'll include, most newer TV's come with HDMI-CEC (see wikipedia) allowing you to use TV's remote for navigation of Raspberry Pi w/ Kodi installed.

Also, there's numerous legal video add-ins (Documentary,DIY,News) within Kodi

[Almot]

Kodi boxes come and go. Hard to find a seller or brand (is there such thing as brand in back-yard factories in Shanghai) that have been there for more than a year or two. It stops working for hardware or firmware reasons and you're on your own. This is one problem.

If you want reliability and upgrade-ability, install Kodi on laptop or, better yet - on a dedicated mini-PC with remote. Though, most mini-PC today are cr-appy hardware, Dell and other big guns have lost interest in the sector and market has been taken over by zillions of fly-by-night makers.

Another problem - piracy. Leaving ethical issues aside, pirated streaming apps come and go without warning, it's here today and gone tomorrow. You're wasting hours and straining your eyes on installing add-ons only to see that it doesn't install or doesn't work. You don't pay - you are not guaranteed any service.

This is only logical. Take it with or without grain of salt, whatever your diet requires, this doesn't change the outcome.

ThomBoles wrote:
I have 2 amazon fire devices both with Kodi loaded. We tend to watch with it less than expected and mostly the tv shows that we would watch at home on cable anyway. We have tried to log directly into the tv apps from the networks but for some reason they never take my login.

I understand that Amazon Fire doesn't come with Kodi pre-loaded, though it can be installed there. OTH, Kodi box is exactly what it says - a box with Kodi, often from unknown makers. But I've come to the same conclusion - you're either getting same things that you can have on OTA or on free web streaming by TV network, or Kodi apps don't work (or quit working). Few that do work, are not worth wasting time on.

Lately I've resolved to using Kodi only for off-line videos and music, their interface is nice and easy to use.

[Gdlow]

sherlock62 wrote:
Gdlow .... Take comments here so far with a grain of salt..

O I have been on these boards for long enough I comp-letely understand that...:W

[T18skyguy]

I tried a Kodi box, cost about $175 as I recall. They claimed that the content was paid for from some of the proceeds of the box. The truth about it I'm not sure. I returned it due to technical problems for a full refund. I stick to Netflix, Sling and Amazon which works great. I get the big three stations over the air in High Def couldn't be happier. I'm more on the computer than the TV anyway.

[ThomBoles]

I have 2 amazon fire devices both with Kodi loaded. We tend to watch with it less than expected and mostly the tv shows that we would watch at home on cable anyway. We have tried to log directly into the tv apps from the networks but for some reason they never take my login. (not sure why, because I use the same login to get to my bill) Either way, we do use it for watching some tv. We tend to just go with Amazon to watch movies as the stream provider and speeds play a big role in how well Kodi will work and Amazon seems to have plenty of processing power behind their distribution of content.

[SteveB]

Personally I feel that Kodi is too much work. Even if the stream is legal you are still responsible to construct your own programming. My experience was,once a program ended you need to manually start the next one. It might be different now but I prefer to avoid the legal implications.
There are a few affordable paid options now (sling, Hulu, Netflix) that are very reliable. I tried kodi a few years ago but quickly moved to Sling which can be used on the android box.

[shastagary]

kodi works good on a laptop if you have hdmi out on it plug it into your tv and your set there is some configuration to get it to work. i have apple tv and roku the roku works excellent you select just the apps you want on it. but the big question is always where are you getting your internet connection as each movie can be about 3 gigs of data to stream and you need a good strength fairly fast uninterrupted connection to prevent dropouts.

[bob213]

No need for a box. Put kodi on your laptop and it works great.
https://kodi.tv/download
Kodi in itself is legal. It's the add-on's that change that.
If you choose to use the unofficial add-on's a VPN is recommended.

[GordonThree]

Plenty to read about Kodi - hit your favorite search for kodi piracy or kodi dmca

Of course as with anything, there's ways around some of the loss of functionality, other plug-ins rely on services that just don't exist anymore. Hollywood is leaning H A R D on foreign countries that informally hid these services but now they can't afford to look the other way.

I'm not a supporter of the Hollywood Industrial Complex or it's control over world governments... I think it's awful what they get away with, and I try to support them as little as possible. But I drew a line through pirating content a long time ago after leaving college. Getting involved in any sort of legal argument with the MPAA or goonies would be bad for my government job.

If you want free/cheap and legal content watch that's easy, get a used Roku and add the new Roku Channel - plenty of movies and tv shows, plus there's PBS, CNBC, YouTube all on there and Roku is easier to use for streaming Internet content.