2016-05-03, 16:34
Hello,
I have used Kodi for over 7 years and I am about to give up and ditch it, simply because its just become to complicated to do the simple tasks.
can someone please let me know if Kodi is able to overcome any of these issues I am now having below?
All of my questions have already been asked in the past, but I cannot locate any specific answers that provide real solutions or work-arounds.
-----------------------
Issue #1: Kodi - How to separate Home-menus to display content from a particular source, and NOT merge content with other menus when the file names are the same! (Example: 3D Films).
Example:
How do you separate all your 3D films that are in one directory on your server from standard movies in a separate directory in Kodi?
You can separate menu items based on play-lists as this post suggests:
"2 different categories in 2 different folders you create a playlist that only contains the folder you wish.For me I created an Anime folder and made the playlist only show media from that folder."
https://www.reddit.com/r/kodi/comments/3...rent_menu/
But this does NOT stop the movies for both 3D and standard versions from showing up as duplicates in the main Movie menus (this applies to ALL skins I have tried over the years).
Similar question on 3D content workarounds, but no solutions...
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...+3d+movies
-----------------------
Issue #2: Items missed by scraper are in accessible in Kodi AND not reported.
How come Kodi still won't show files the scraper cannot fine? This was never a problem with other media center apps such as Boxee. Other systems show you the files in your menus so you can still watch them, but let you edit the file names later, or add your own thumbnails. Can Kodi do this? Or is there some awesome skin that overcomes this problem?
Example:
What if you put in a student film not in IMDB? What if you want a menu for home videos? Is there a way for Kodi to now provide a generic thumbnail for this video and allow the user to add their own thumbnails later for items the scraper cannot resolve? (*You can browse source files, but not add them into the videos list to my knowledge).
Its like the scraper says "I don't know what this file is so lets throw it out of our playlist! Oh and lets not even tell the user what were doing!" and Kodi says "Sounds good to me!"
That's just ridiculous. Why doesn't Kodi's "Update" feature by default include an output of videos it cannot resolve (at the very least), like a text file you can save (if you wish at the prompt), so you can address it!
I mean how many of use have used a media center & Kodi for years and have a huge libraries, just to find out that a dozen videos (or more) are missed by the scraper? Many of us probably have many more and have no idea some videos are missing from our movie lists even now!
I think this is a application handicap, and I am surprised these problems haven't been addressed by now.
Example:
Most of my Music Videos not showing in Kodi after updating (scraper): How to still play these files?
Music Videos ARE renamed successfully using "Filebot" and its databases, but Kodi scraper will only show about 10% of them after updating the file. Oblivious Kodi can't find them all (especially rare artists), but why won't Kodi show a generic thumbnail with the video in the menu so it can still be played from within Kodi even if the scraper in Kodi doesn't find it?
-----------------------
All these issues were never a problem 10 years ago with apps like "Boxee" (back when they were around) or other apps. Are these features out of Kodi's reach without custom coding and add-ons? Or am I just a moron and totally missing some obvious features already in Kodi?
Thanks for any imput!
----------------------------------------------------------------
--------UPDATE: RESOLVED ISSUE—-----
----------------------------------------------------------------
I have resolved all these issues (and then some).
I have tried all the solutions in this thread to date, including alternative skins, or using video nodes etc. However, none of these solutions resolved all these issues and many solutions are more of a tedious work-around to a systemic lack in KODI’s basic functionality.
What I did to resolve these issues:
This process is simple and just takes minutes. Here is an outdated video showing an example, but the steps are very similar (see the current guide on Emby's site)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaecDPcXI3I
What this achieves:
Honestly Emby does 90% of the heavy lifting. And the interface for Emby is very nice! Its essentially your own personal Netflix / Hulu for your personal video or music libraries.
The Emby web interface is great too. So there is very little reason to use KODI. However, there is one short coming I did not like, the fact that Emby (since its web-based on PC) does not have a front end you can use a keyboard commands with. For our home we use a mini keyboard or wireless keyboard/mouse combo as a remote for our media center.
Because of this limitation I chose to install KODI for the nice front end it provides. Then use the Emby back-end which handles 90% of the rest of the work.
Either way I am happy with the solution.
*PS. - Note: Purchases Emby Premier access (similar to Plex's) gets you access to more apps, backup, folder sync, and other extras. It also gets you access to 'Emby Theater" (legacy version is still free), and this may be a good alternative to a better front end interface for your computers than KODI.
I have used Kodi for over 7 years and I am about to give up and ditch it, simply because its just become to complicated to do the simple tasks.
can someone please let me know if Kodi is able to overcome any of these issues I am now having below?
All of my questions have already been asked in the past, but I cannot locate any specific answers that provide real solutions or work-arounds.
-----------------------
Issue #1: Kodi - How to separate Home-menus to display content from a particular source, and NOT merge content with other menus when the file names are the same! (Example: 3D Films).
Example:
How do you separate all your 3D films that are in one directory on your server from standard movies in a separate directory in Kodi?
You can separate menu items based on play-lists as this post suggests:
"2 different categories in 2 different folders you create a playlist that only contains the folder you wish.For me I created an Anime folder and made the playlist only show media from that folder."
https://www.reddit.com/r/kodi/comments/3...rent_menu/
But this does NOT stop the movies for both 3D and standard versions from showing up as duplicates in the main Movie menus (this applies to ALL skins I have tried over the years).
Similar question on 3D content workarounds, but no solutions...
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...+3d+movies
-----------------------
Issue #2: Items missed by scraper are in accessible in Kodi AND not reported.
How come Kodi still won't show files the scraper cannot fine? This was never a problem with other media center apps such as Boxee. Other systems show you the files in your menus so you can still watch them, but let you edit the file names later, or add your own thumbnails. Can Kodi do this? Or is there some awesome skin that overcomes this problem?
Example:
What if you put in a student film not in IMDB? What if you want a menu for home videos? Is there a way for Kodi to now provide a generic thumbnail for this video and allow the user to add their own thumbnails later for items the scraper cannot resolve? (*You can browse source files, but not add them into the videos list to my knowledge).
Its like the scraper says "I don't know what this file is so lets throw it out of our playlist! Oh and lets not even tell the user what were doing!" and Kodi says "Sounds good to me!"
That's just ridiculous. Why doesn't Kodi's "Update" feature by default include an output of videos it cannot resolve (at the very least), like a text file you can save (if you wish at the prompt), so you can address it!
I mean how many of use have used a media center & Kodi for years and have a huge libraries, just to find out that a dozen videos (or more) are missed by the scraper? Many of us probably have many more and have no idea some videos are missing from our movie lists even now!
I think this is a application handicap, and I am surprised these problems haven't been addressed by now.
Example:
Most of my Music Videos not showing in Kodi after updating (scraper): How to still play these files?
Music Videos ARE renamed successfully using "Filebot" and its databases, but Kodi scraper will only show about 10% of them after updating the file. Oblivious Kodi can't find them all (especially rare artists), but why won't Kodi show a generic thumbnail with the video in the menu so it can still be played from within Kodi even if the scraper in Kodi doesn't find it?
-----------------------
All these issues were never a problem 10 years ago with apps like "Boxee" (back when they were around) or other apps. Are these features out of Kodi's reach without custom coding and add-ons? Or am I just a moron and totally missing some obvious features already in Kodi?
Thanks for any imput!
----------------------------------------------------------------
--------UPDATE: RESOLVED ISSUE—-----
----------------------------------------------------------------
I have resolved all these issues (and then some).
I have tried all the solutions in this thread to date, including alternative skins, or using video nodes etc. However, none of these solutions resolved all these issues and many solutions are more of a tedious work-around to a systemic lack in KODI’s basic functionality.
What I did to resolve these issues:
- Uninstall KODI including my profile data.
- Install “Emby - The open media solution” (https://emby.media/) Add all my video sources (each source has its own separate directory location on my media center). This includes Movies, 3D Movies, TV-Shows, and Music Videos.
- Reinstall KODI
- Install / Add KODI Emby App Source (https://emby.media/emby-for-kodi.html)
This process is simple and just takes minutes. Here is an outdated video showing an example, but the steps are very similar (see the current guide on Emby's site)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaecDPcXI3I
What this achieves:
- Allows you to add sources from Emby (which can be a directory) as a separate menu item within KODI. Such as 3D Movies, Movies, Music Videos, etc. This prevents duplicate movies from showing in KODI (such as when you have a 3D version and standard version). *Note: This will work with ANY skin in KODI.
- Emby assigns a generic thumbnail to items the scraper misses. You can change those at any time!!! And yes...these also show up in KODI because KODI is just displaying Emby's sources as you tell it to.
- You can even just add your own home-videos in Emby, and they will also of course show up in KODI fine. You can add your own thumbnails etc!
- Allows you to easily update thumbnails, meta-data, or any other items just by clicking-on the video in the Emby browser.
- With KODI removing old videos was a PAIN, you had to manually do it. In Emby you just can delete the movie from your source. Emby will detect its gone and remove it from the movie/video listings.
- Emby allows you to easily stream the videos to your Roku, media center, Laptop, or phones! This includes all your home-videos, movies, music videos etc. I tested this and it works perfectly with my Roku! The interface on smart devices can be the web-interface which runs just fine on those devices.
- You can even stream all your content over the net
- Emby allows you to add multiple users (just like Netflix) so those users progress in shows and how they group them does not interfere with yours. So make accounts for your family members!
Honestly Emby does 90% of the heavy lifting. And the interface for Emby is very nice! Its essentially your own personal Netflix / Hulu for your personal video or music libraries.
The Emby web interface is great too. So there is very little reason to use KODI. However, there is one short coming I did not like, the fact that Emby (since its web-based on PC) does not have a front end you can use a keyboard commands with. For our home we use a mini keyboard or wireless keyboard/mouse combo as a remote for our media center.
Because of this limitation I chose to install KODI for the nice front end it provides. Then use the Emby back-end which handles 90% of the rest of the work.
Either way I am happy with the solution.
*PS. - Note: Purchases Emby Premier access (similar to Plex's) gets you access to more apps, backup, folder sync, and other extras. It also gets you access to 'Emby Theater" (legacy version is still free), and this may be a good alternative to a better front end interface for your computers than KODI.