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Jasoon

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Well i thought i would have a go with Kodi......

 

 

And although it has some features i like (streaming live TV) i found the whole thing very painful to set up and not intuitive at all.

There might be loads of videos out there on how to set it up its still a very difficult process.

 

Unlike MBS or MBT or even MBC for that mater, what a good job you guys have done in making things very easy to set up....

 

Just wondering if others have had the same sort of experience?? 

 

 

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im85288

I'm probably bias but I really find it a very simple process, especially if you use OpenElec.

 

The install procedure roughly would be as follows:

 

1. Install OpenElec

2. Install the Beta/Stable repo as linked in the Kodi section

3. Install the MediaBrowser addon from the repo and configure it.

4. Install a skin from the repo

 

All in all, you can take any pc etc and turn it into a full blown media centre with openelec/Kodi installed in about 5 minutes.

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im85288

Oh I may have mis interpreted what he was meaning. I've been using it for many years so probably not the best person to ask as I do find it really simple and intuitive.

 

Maybe others who are less familiar will be able to give a better opinion for newcomers.

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Latchmor

Yeah I've tried it 2 or 3 times over the years and I've just never really found that easy to get going, but I did.

 

I just always ended up uninstalling and going back to WMC. I know WMC is dated but it's great for Live TV. TV aside I've never really been into the flashy skin/themes either so the simplicity of getting WMC/MBC working just kept dragging me back!

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Macburp

Well i thought i would have a go with Kodi......

 

 

And although it has some features i like (streaming live TV) i found the whole thing very painful to set up and not intuitive at all.

There might be loads of videos out there on how to set it up its still a very difficult process.

 

Unlike MBS or MBT or even MBC for that mater, what a good job you guys have done in making things very easy to set up....

 

Just wondering if others have had the same sort of experience?? 

 

+1 for this, its put me off Kodi. While you can get a set-up of sorts up and running fairly easily, its very hard to get things looking just the way you want in Kodi. I really don't like the Kodi skins either. While I'm there, I found the Kodi practice of video tuts to be less than helpful and a bit annoying. But - each to their own of course, :)

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Deathsquirrel

It's not hard to get it set up but as you noted it's not an intuitive UI.  I can honestly say though that once you get it all up and running it's...still really freaking awful.  The kodi UI and I do not get along well.  Skins dont help.  They just make it shiny without fixing the workflow.

 

Obviously this is not a majority opinion given the number of users but it's definitely mine.

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Angelblue05

Obviously, there's a reason why there's many options out there since not everyone is going to be happy with a single product. I've been using Kodi for well over 5 years and to be honest, it wasn't all that great when I was trying to manage my library internally. However, by having Media Browser server manage my library and Kodi as a player with the Media Browser add-on, the outcome is pretty sleek.

 

The positive thing about Kodi is that there's a whole dev team dedicated to it and they have a lot of contribution from individuals for the creation of add-ons that you would normally not get elsewhere. The setup leaves a bit to desire, but with the Media Browser add-on and all the added MB3 skins, I'd like to think it makes the setup more approachable than if you used Kodi on it's own.

 

For me, it's important to have access to everything in a single program that I can control with my Harmony remote. In Kodi, I have access to my Media Browser library + Pandora + Twitch.TV + youtube channel and many more...I don't know where else I could combine all these options without having to code everything myself. haha

 

Every player is going to have their pros and cons. In the end, it's all about finding what you prefer and what's important to your setup. 

 

Just my opinion. :)

 

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marcelveldt

I have to agree... I was a longtime MBC user myself and Kodi always scared me away because it lacks a good "out of the bo"x experience". You have to know what you're doing and which settings to set before it's fine.

 

In the meantime I did make the switch, created my own skin and I'm convinced it's a great product, especially with MediaBrowser as the backend, which fills in all that was missing in Kodi itself.

 

Still makes me wonder though how an average user is supposed to setup Kodi with ease, you just have to do a freaking lot of settings before an optimal experience is there. On the other hand, things are so much configurable/cusomizable that if you take the time for it you can setup a client that suits almost everones need.

 

Maybe the one thing that should be added is a "new user or first launch" setup wizard.

I'm thinking about creating such a thing as a kodi addon which can also setup connected addons or skins.

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Spaceboy

Totally agree with everything that's been said. For me Kodi still doesn't work as live tv is the centre of my htpc and for Kodi it's an afterthought. I'm still using wmc though

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im85288

Interesting read, it's amazing to hear how people struggle to set things up...I'm wondering if all the people having these setup issues are using the Windows version of Kodi. Possibly (and there's obviously one or two who hate it with an immense passion so not worth trying anything different) it's worth test driving the OpenElec experience. You may (or may not) be pleasantly surprised at what can be done.

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Steven

Yep I'm the same, even with Ian's help in the past, compared to MBT/MBC it is a lot more involved and overwhelming, which is why I've never got on well with it and always come running home to MBT/MBC!

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Steven

 it's worth test driving the OpenElec experience. You may (or may not) be pleasantly surprised at what can be done.

 

I have been quite interested in trying this but have no idea where to start.

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im85288

I have been quite interested in trying this but have no idea where to start.

 

 

Cool, have a look here: http://openelec.tv

 

 

it's not the same gui?

Yes it is, OpenElec is basically Kodi in a mini Linux environment...install is simple and very robust and all config is done using the Kodi interface. It's great as a HTPC (especially for wife's/girlfriends etc) as it boots straight into Kodi. Runs on anything..usb, SSD etc etc...definitely worth a shot.

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thefirstofthe300

I think what makes Kodi so difficult for so many people is the OVERWHELMING number of options that are availabe in the interface.  I have take a stab at Kodi and TBH, it was pretty overwhelming (and this is coming from a total computer/Linux geek).  I think it probably had more to do with the skins though.

 

I really don't have a good setup though as I am a poor college student so I haven't spent too much time with it.

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Deathsquirrel

Can't speak for all users that hate the app but for me it's not the options you have to browse though.  It's the awful UI design you use to do the browsing.  The whole app reeks of letting too many cooks in the kitchen.

 

That resulted in flexibility of course so it does have benefits.  Whatever you want to accomplish with video playback it can likely do it.  I just question how well it does it.

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Deihmos

Not sure how anyone can say Kodi is difficult to setup. Pretty much everything works out the box and best of all you don't even need to install codes. For anyone that don't use Live TV Kodi is the way to go.

Edited by Deihmos
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dark_slayer

All my opinion here, but I think that most of those who struggle setting up Kodi had just as much struggle setting up everything they've ever tried . . . MBC, MBT, Mediaportal, Plex, etc. The difference being that they happened to learn "everything" about one and hate anything slightly different

 

Other transitions that are easy for the more patient geekier type of person are just as difficult for the majority of the "Kodi's too hardz" crowd as well (again all my opinion) like iOS -> Android and Windows -> OSX  -- even Windows XP to Windows 7 or Windows 7 to 8 :D

Edited by dark_slayer
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Deihmos

I am actually moving back to using Kodi after using WMC exclusively for 1.5 years. I will use WMC for live tv which I barely ever watch. The lack of subtitle support, ff and rewind nd the occasional crashing has got on my last nerves. I kind of plugged subtitle issue by using media control but it crashes occasionally and ffdshow development is dead. Meida control development is also dead. I was able to set up Kodi in no time.

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SHSPVR

Well i thought i would have a go with Kodi......

 

 

And although it has some features i like (streaming live TV) i found the whole thing very painful to set up and not intuitive at all.

There might be loads of videos out there on how to set it up its still a very difficult process.

 

Unlike MBS or MBT or even MBC for that mater, what a good job you guys have done in making things very easy to set up....

 

Just wondering if others have had the same sort of experience?? 

 

You do know that Kodi is just the same rebadged XBMC out of all Media Center app Media Browser is by the best and easy to work with as I'm a former 11 year SageTV user.

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Airbender

Hello,

 

It is intersting how streaming live TV for free with KODi and fire stick comming along , just wondering how these guys done it ? amazon fire stick is in back order until feb 15 in USA

just a thought

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