Kodi Community Forum

I guess maybe not many people in these forums use Plex but I figured I'd ask. I always liked the concept of Plex with the server/workstation model and leaving the scraping to the server. I like the fact that I can just install the server on my NAS and run the client and it automatically find my sources and I don't have to mess with text files to configure SQL connectivity. However, I am a tad turned off that you have to pay a monthly fee to get full functionality. Isn't Kodi open source and thus prohibited from being charged for? Also, is the source radically changed for Plex? I tried it on my Fire TV as an alternative to side loading Kodi and the first MKV I tried to play didn't play right, it went a frame at a time and kept stopping. Another file told me something about an unreadable format. Additionally, it seem like you are limited to the default skin which is pretty bland. I also can't seem to play any media with HD audio (which is 90 % of my rips). I guess Plex is maybe a dumbed down version of Kodi for non tech savvy users?

I'd love to see the same Server/Workstation model used for the next version of Kodi. It would really be huge to be able to run a server version of Kodi on your server/NAS and let it configure Kodi and scan media and have all the same functionality in the client as we have now. I'd definitely pay for a version of Kodi that had separate client and server software. It would surely put Kodi in the forefront of home local media streaming if it was made to greatly simplify the configuration and scanning of media by having server/NAS software. Are there possibly any plans to do this in a future version?

Ya, there are a few threads about Plex and integration with xmbc/kodi. I never agreed with their model so i never used plex. I do now use MediaBrowser, which offers a similar experience, although better IMO, and a faster development release cycle it seems for new features. MediaBrowser is also run in an open source way, more similar to kodi and do not restrict usage based on a payment plan. There are additional features that may cost money, and associated apps for android/ios/etc that may cost a few dollars, but streaming and control through their default web interface is very usable and nice on mobile devices. I paid for the android app, but rarely use it in favor of the default web interface.

here is the kodi specific sub-forum:
http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.p...m/99-kodi/

There are only a handful of compatible skins currently, as the skins need to be modded to use all the features of mediabrowser, the same with plex. But more skins are going to be worked on as the addon framework starts to wind down.