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Comment by encryptluks2 | Hacker News Reader

I really like Kodi in terms of what options are currently available, but I find it to be quite bloated and the configuration to be a nightmare if you want to manage it independently of the app. I'd love to see some new competitors in this arena that focus on static config management so that I can manage my config using YAML/TOML manually rather than having to configure everything through the app. Also, setting up multiple users or syncing Kodi configs is still 2nd class.

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I've never liked Kodi's performance and stability, don't like the UI (skins don't help, it works the same regardless and most of the unofficial skins are half-broken anyway) and I hate how it's configured—those last two are intertwined, because I don't like how config is scattered all over and mixed in with using the thing, on a TV interface (another matter on a web or desktop interface—that would be fine). Haven't gotten used to or comfortable with it in years and years of using it.

Finally switched to Jellyfin with its accompanying Roku app (and the web interface, in a pinch). Much happier with that. Jellyfin in docker on my fileserver, map the drives there, start it up with auto-restart (which will also start it on boot) and forget about it. Configure and watch some on the web, but mostly just watch from the couch on a Roku. Much better UI, despite being far from perfect. Snappier and less fragile, even in its web interface. Media source management's less crazy-making.

I don't really use live TV, streaming (the plugins I usually wanted to use on Kodi were usually broken or too janky to use, anyway), or radio, on Kodi, though. Or the games features—I use Lakka instead, which I like much better UI-wise. I don't think Jellyfin can replace those features, if you use them.

Kodi's Achilles heel is their choice to implement in Python. I've gotten used to the interface though it gets slower with every release.

Really? Kodi doesn't really do a lot, so it seems like it shouldn't be really be impacted by language choice like that.

Not really. Kodi is written in C++, it includes a python interpreter so add ons can be written in Python.

Kodi core is actually C++. Its plugins are written in Python.

I believe its slow because theres a lot of legacy code in there since the Xbmc days which, had they had the resources, would probably have been rewritten.

I once investigated if it was possible to host .NET (Core) in Kodi, however, at the time it was not really well documented (or maybe even possible) to write native add-ons. That meant you would need to interface with a native library that would be the .NET host from Python, and that would be pain.

I haven’t used standalone Kodi, but with LibreELEC, I don’t share this experience. It runs really nicely on my Raspi 3, and I can control it via my TV‘s remote. It pretty much feels like it’s running on the TV itself instead of the (not so) smart built-in features. The UI is a bit slow at times, but definitely not annoyingly so. The default configuration is quite good and usable, and I didn’t feel the need to change much.

Same and I'm running on a Pi2. It's been running flawlessly for 5-6 years at this point. I always cringe whenever I see just how unbelievably and unbearably slow some built in TV "smart" stuff is. It's especially unbelievable because my setup cost around £30 to "upgrade" my dumb TV (in fact, the Pi was just lying around surplus to requirement so basically free).

I have tried Plex and currently have Jellyfin set up. Plex I removed immediately due to "cloud" login (yes I know you can disable it, I did by removing it). Jellyfin is useful but I still find myself using Kodi directly as it just works.

I set up Kodi on a Pi about 9 years ago and more recently switched to a Le Potato (same SoC as the Kindle Fire). With a powered USB hub, a USB DVB-T receiver and a DVD reader, it's basically the same functionality as a smart TV and a DVD player (including streaming services since there's WideVine support). Before it was using OSMC, now LibreELEC.

It's super cheap, it's secure because it doesn't have any useless cloud services, and it can also play retro games on emulators (not using Kodi's gaming support though, it's very immature). Maintenance is zero except when I decide to do an upgrade, which is once every 3 years or so.

I don't even mind the cloud login. What killed Plex for me was the fact that it needs to re-encode the video on the fly if I turn on subtitles, and my poor computer couldn't keep up.

I switched to Kodi and it's been working great so far.

PlexKodiConnect is excellent if you want to share a library with other Kodi clients, and not mess around with a shared database. I'm glad I switch over to it.

Weird plex doesn't do that for me. I run plex on a rpi3b and everything plays (without encoding of course) at 4k with no issues. I use firestick as client.

> so that I can manage my config using YAML/TOML manually

How is that any better than XML? https://kodi.wiki/view/Advancedsettings.xml#guisettings.xml_...

TOML/YAML is significantly better than XML, hence why almost every modern app uses YAML for configs. Kodi's settings are scattered across multiple XML files and you have to manage each one independently rather than just pointing it to the server, it is just annoying to setup.

It shouldn't be too difficult to implement a YAML based config as an alternative. I will look into this.

> TOML/YAML is significantly better than XML, hence why almost every modern app uses YAML for configs.

Personally I find YAML to have a false sense of cleanliness. Sure it looks a lot "more readable" than XML until you mess up the syntax/indentation and end up with dictionary keys a level up/down from where you intended. The list-of-dicts syntax is particularly gross to me, e.g.

  models:
   - model: "a"
     type: "x"
   - model: "b"
     type: "y"

I ended up writing some scripts that automate the set up of kodi. Periodically my Android TV gives out so I have to reset it (it's an old TV). Having automated the set up of kodi has allowed me to get back up and running in minutes.

Do you mind sharing that?

I've just stripped it down a bit and created a gist[0]. There is still some manual steps, such as logging in to services (e.g. I use Trakt to manage watched movies/shows), but usually that's the only thing I have to do.

[0] https://gist.github.com/dandidums/a9c92f77f6ef940ec727395b45...

I used to like Kodi, back when Exodus was in its heyday and before everyone had a streaming platform so I was just pirating left and right. Now I find that my Kodi box spends 99% of its time launching Chrome.

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