[cutleryhands]

Hi All

I have been running atv1 crystalbuntu/xbmc (will be upgrading but thats for another post) for 3 years now but never really got into anything other than my own library and purely for movies. Its no longer supported so thought id have a look at whats going on with xbmc these days.

Bejesus........ A lot. Can you guys just clear something very basic up for me though - All these addons for movies, kids channels and just about anything else sound to good to be true !

1. Is there any subscription or fee ?
2. Are they legal ?
3. Are they reliable ?
4. How much bandwidth would they use for hd content ?
5. Are they likely to be taken down ?

Cheers for any help in advance....

[thedeadman]

Hi Cutleryhands,

1. Very rarely - some require a user account to use fully, but i've never come across one that needed paying for (and I'd be very wary if it did).
2. If they're made available via the addon manager without having to install anything else (i.e. an unofficial repository), then yes. Kodi takes a strong view on illegal addons and even discussing them on the forum will get you banned.
3. Mostly. They depend a lot on their creators willingness to keep them updated and whatever changes get made to the service they source their content from. BBC iPlayer for example changes up their content delivery mechanisms every now and then, and online catch up services in general are all chopping and changing as their business models get sorted out (see the ongoing saga with TVCatchup). On the plus side, the Kodi community tends to react much more quickly than most, and we've used it in our household exclusively for the best part of 10 years now.
4. No more than would be needed to watch HD content through a browser.
5. See 3 and - if you find and install non-kodi sanctioned addons that are not legit, then almost certainly yes (eventually).

[cutleryhands]

Hi thedeadman

Thanks for your feedback. Very helpful, don't want the wife and kids thinking im a tea leaf ;-).