If you read Beebom frequently, Kodi is probably already something you’re acquainted with. For those who are unaware, Kodi is everyone’s preferred media streaming option. It offers a tonne of functionality and has a history of legal troubles. I try to explain in plain English what all the excitement is about Kodi in this essay. I’ll start by walking you through Kodi and explaining what it is and why it is so popular. After mastering the fundamentals, we’ll learn about the different Kodi jargons and then discuss whether Kodi is legal or not. Shall we get started, then?
Note: You can read our in-depth post about Kodi (version 17 Krypton) if you’re more interested in learning how to use it or set up your Kodi configuration.
What is Kodi?
At its core, Kodi is an open-source media player programme. It was first made available under the name Xbox Media Player/Center (XBMC), but in 2014 it changed its name to Kodi. The fact that Kodi is open-source has encouraged the growth of a thriving community that works tirelessly to improve the software. The user interface is 10 feet long and was created specifically for big-screen televisions. To customise Kodi’s appearance on your device, you may install a tonne of skins. It can stream from the Internet or play locally stored multimedia files. You will learn that it is capable of much more as you read on, but for the time being, let’s keep things simple and stick with this.
I understand that after reading this, the first question that comes to mind is, “There are many other open-source media player apps out there; what makes Kodi different?” In the section after this, I’ll attempt to explain why it is so well-liked.
Why is Kodi So Popular?
I’ll get right to the point: There are two reasons Kodi is so well-liked. One, Kodi is an extremely capable media player that can handle any content you throw at it. It also works with more devices than you can possibly imagine and transforms any of your devices into a full-fledged media streaming system. Amazingly good, yet it still doesn’t fully explain why it’s so well-liked, does it?
That it makes it (unfortunately) incredibly simple to pirate TV shows, movies, songs, and other similar types of content is the second factor in the equation for why it’s so popular. Although the open-source nature of Kodi means that there is little control over the types of add-ons that any third-party developer can publish, the XBMC foundation is categorically opposed to this.
It’s crucial to note that although Kodi (obviously) doesn’t support certain add-ons, it’s common to find websites that do. Kodi frequently runs into legal problems because of add-ons that encourage piracy, but we’ll save a detailed examination of Kodi’s legal standing for the last section. In the meantime, I hope you now have a good understanding of why Kodi is so well-liked by its users.
What Are Kodi Add-ons, Repositories and Builds?
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Kodi Add-ons
Add-ons are extra packages that extend Kodi’s capabilities. As you might have gathered by now, Kodi by itself isn’t all that intriguing. It depends on official and unofficial add-ons from third parties to reach its full capabilities. These add-ons open up a whole new world of possibilities for what you can do with Kodi, including live TV viewing, playing a variety of games, and customising it to your preferences. You can browse through some of the hand-selected Kodi add-ons we have previously covered or go to the official Kodi website to find hundreds of add-ons. While third-party Kodi add-ons can only be added by adding their source or by installing their ZIP file, official Kodi add-ons can be installed directly.
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Kodi Repositories
Moving on to Kodi repositories, a repository is just a location where these add-ons are kept. You might wish to conduct a web search for the repository that houses the specific add-on you’re seeking for since different add-ons are accessible in various repositories. Some of the repositories that house the most popular Kodi add-ons are Fusion, Xfinity, and SuperRepo.
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Kodi Builds
A Kodi build is a customised version of Kodi that typically has a distinct user interface and a number of add-ons pre-installed. Custom Kodi builds can help you get started quickly even if you lack certain technical skills because they take the trouble out of finding new add-ons. To provide their consumers with an exclusive experience, the majority of Kodi boxes have a bespoke Kodi build loaded. Kodi builds, however, are not in any way restricted to Kodi boxes alone. It’s as simple as adding the appropriate repository to your current Kodi installation to install a custom Kodi build. Among the most popular Kodi builds now on the market are The Beast and Nemesis.
The community doesn’t particularly suggest using them, even if they can be excellent for beginners. This is due to the fact that some Kodi builds provide add-ons singly without including the appropriate repository, which makes it impossible to update them quickly. This frequently results in such add-ons being out of date and broken, which annoys the user. So while there can be a slight learning curve at initially, using Kodi independently does pay dividends in the long run.
What All Can I Do With Kodi?
You’ll be rather impressed by the variety of things Kodi can do once it’s up and running. You can start by streaming audio, video, photographs, and other multimedia files from your local storage to a NAS device or straight over the Internet. Kodi supports a number of file-sharing protocols, including SMB and NFS, making it simple to stream from a NAS. With the aid of third-party add-ons, Kodi may also stream directly from YouTube and other comparable web services.
Live TV broadcasts are supported by Kodi by default. It’s crucial to keep in mind that live streaming Internet services are not the same as live broadcast TV. Consider it a simplified form of cable television that only picks up radio waves from the earth-based transmitter. If you feel like I ve oversimplified it, you can always read the difference onWikipediato put flesh on the bones. To get started, you would need to have a PVR backend and a PVR client and there s a fair bit of setup involved, so head over toKodi s official tutorialon how to watch live TV. Kodi also comes with DVR/PVR support, so you canrecord live TV. There are also certain add-ons that let you listen toonline radio and podcasts.
If you ve already cut the cord and are looking to watch live TV via Internet streaming services, you may still be in luck, though. There are severallive TV add-onsthat let you streamactuallive TV. You may want to be extremely careful while using a certain add-on, as some of them provide illegal streaming which could potentially land you in trouble.
Kodi also has several add-ons that let youplay gameson large-screen televisions from the comfort of your sofa. One such popular add-on isInternet Archive ROM Launcher(IARL) that lets you launch games hosted on the Internet Archive. While you can play games using your existing wired controllers, it would be a better choice to invest in a wireless HTPC remote. If for some reason you do not want to spend on one, Kodi even has officialremote control appsforAndroidandiPhone. You would require these remote control apps to control the live TV playback on Kodi, so grab them right away.
What Are The Media Formats Supported By Kodi?
Kodi is compatible with a large number of media formats. For audio, it supports MIDI, AIFF, MP3, AAC, AC3, DTS, AMR, FLAC, and more. Video formats include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, MPEG-4, RealVideo, Apple QuickTime and a lot more. Image formats include BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF and a few more. Basically, itsupports almost all the audio, video and image formats you can think of. So, no matter what you throw at Kodi, it should be able to play it. It also supports almost any kind of subtitle format. One exception is encrypted Blu-ray Disc, of course. To see a comprehensive list of all the supported formats, head over to Kodi sofficial website.
Kodi s features a powerful music player, which includes searching and sorting playlists thus making music library management a breeze. Kodi s default video player, uninspiringly named DVDPlayer has the ability to play/pause videos directly from compressed archives. To sum things up, Kodi can handle pretty much every media format that you throw at it, ensuring that you ve a powerful media jukebox at your service, always.
What Devices Does Kodi Work On?
Kodi was originally designed to work on the Xbox, but works on almost all the major operating systems today, includingWindows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Android, iOS, Apple tvOSand a lot more. Installing Kodi (download) on most of them is pretty similar to how you would install a software normally, except for iOS. If you ve ajailbroken iPhone, installing Kodi is as easy as adding a repository and downloading Kodi. If you haven t jailbroken your iOS device, you can stillinstall Kodi, though the process is a little complicated. There s no official support for ChromeOS, but the fact that you can nowrun Android apps on ChromeOSmeans that you can run Kodi on select Chromebook models.
You can get Kodi running on lots of streaming devices likeAmazon Fire TV Stick, Nvidia Shield and even the Raspberry Pi 3, if you don t mind getting your hands dirty. There s even an operating named Kodibuntu designed for PCs that mainly ran Kodi, but apparently, it has been discontinued.
The support is so vast that it d be more time efficient to list out the devices itdoesn twork on. One notable mobile operating system that Kodidoesn twork on is the Windows Phone. Also, there s no Kodi support for PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/One, or the Wii/u and the Kodi team says that they have no interest in attempting to port Kodi on these gaming consoles. XBMC4XBox, a third-party group intends to provide support for the original Xbox, though. If you have the Xbox One, you can install Kodi on a streaming box and plug it into the Xbox HDMI.
As you can see, with the exception of gaming consoles and Windows Phone, Kodi has a pretty wide-range platform support.
Is Kodi Legal to Use?
Yes,Kodi is legal per se, but the underlying answer could actually be a lot trickier. If it s perfectly legal, why does it get a bad name and often finds itself stuck in legality issues? Because of the open source nature of Kodi, developers have created all sorts of third-party add-ons, including the ones that let you illegally stream TV shows and movies. Now, do you really need to be a lawyer to understand that piracy, in any way, is a crime?
To make the matter worse, somepeoplecriminals sell stand-alone Kodi boxes with various illegal add-ons pre-installedto make a fast buck. Again, Kodi boxes are not illegal, but the boxes that include such add-ons could invite some trouble. So, if you re in the market to buy a dedicated Kodi box, it s worth researching about the add-ons that come pre-installed with it. If you are using Kodi on your existing phone or desktop, make sure to stay away from add-ons that let you stream content illegally from Netflix, Sky movies etc.
The Kodi foundation has distanced itself from such add-ons, citing that they are out of their control , and have strongly criticized such people who bring a bad name to the whole Kodi team. Please remember that consuming pirated content is as illegal as selling those Kodi boxes with illegal add-ons.
The key takeaway is that, as long as you re not using any of these illegal add-ons that promote piracy or sell dedicated Kodi boxes with such add-ons installed, there s really nothing to worry about.
SEE ALSO:Kodi v17 Krypton: 10 New Features and Changes
Understand Kodi Better?
With a little bit of setup, Kodi can become a full-blown media centre and the ultimate entertainment hub you ll ever need. You can watch your locally saved media, stream from the Internet using (legal!) add-ons, watch live broadcast TV, play games and do much more on your big-screen television, without ever needing to leave your couch. Once you get accustomed to the convenience that Kodi offers, it s tough to go back.
I hope that this post helps you understand Kodi better. I ll be doing a lot more articles on Kodi, so stay connected with Beebom. As always, if you still have any burning questions about Kodi, feel free to shoot them in the comments section below.
