Kodi: Setting up Kodi to Play MCH from a Configuration Backup

[HomerJAU]

New PDF Guide released.

 

[mutant_matt]

Ok. So the Generic Backup will work on an Android device (in theory). I've updated the Generic zip today. I need to re-document the steps (see post above) then we can test?

Homer, I am about to go away so am afraid I won't have time until I get back. I am not certain how long we are talking but it will be at least a week until I am back. I will look to pick this up then. Sorry for the delay.

Cheers,

Matt.

 

[HomerJAU]

No problem Matt. When you get some spare time. Thanks.

 

[dr. simple]

For some odd, unknown reason, last week Kodi decided to not make any sound. I tried the obvious stuff first: I checked the settings on my sound card, I played music through other apps on the same computer (Intel NUC through HDMI to my AVR) and DID get sound, and I tried changing the audio settings in Kodi. Still, no sound from Kodi even though the graphics were clearly showing the song playing.

Well, having been about 2 1/2 years since really doing anything with Kodi (I was still on version 16), I decided to completely uninstall it and install the latest version. All of this to say THANK YOU (again, for so many things) to @HomerJAU for making the setup of this new installation a breeze.

 

[jimfisheye]

The Kodi GUI is really a piece of work all right!

This was originally made as a media player for X-box which apparently had a locked file system. I'm guessing that's why the weird duplication of the Finder/Explorer file browser features came to be.

The main non-intuitive thing is you have to first browse your file system and add shortcuts to Kodi. THEN you can use Kodi's browsing features to browse the shortcuts you added.

I recommend just adding whole hard drive volumes and being done with it. Otherwise Kodi "restricts" you to only the directories you've added so far and you need to keep adding new folders.

VLC can patch the holes in their media player anytime now so we can fully be rid of this one!

There's still no one media player to rule them all yet.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

The Kodi GUI is really a piece of work all right!

This was originally made as a media player for X-box which apparently had a locked file system. I'm guessing that's why the weird duplication of the Finder/Explorer file browser features came to be.

The main non-intuitive thing is you have to first browse your file system and add shortcuts to Kodi. THEN you can use Kodi's browsing features to browse the shortcuts you added.

I recommend just adding whole hard drive volumes and being done with it. Otherwise Kodi "restricts" you to only the directories you've added so far and you need to keep adding new folders.

VLC can patch the holes in their media player anytime now so we can fully be rid of this one!

There's still no one media player to rule them all yet.

You've ranted about the Kodi GUI on other threads. I just never seem to experience any problems with it at all. I could care less about where the file browse system came from as long as it works. I tag all the music, it all loads into the library, and I never have to browse files at all. All my music/video is loaded into one of three directories on my NAS, stereo, surround, and music videos. For new additions, I add them to one of those directories in windows, tell Kodi to update, and its all right there when I go to play them. Easy Peasy. So I don't understand your difficulty.

 

[himey]

The Kodi GUI is really a piece of work all right!

This was originally made as a media player for X-box which apparently had a locked file system. I'm guessing that's why the weird duplication of the Finder/Explorer file browser features came to be.

The main non-intuitive thing is you have to first browse your file system and add shortcuts to Kodi. THEN you can use Kodi's browsing features to browse the shortcuts you added.

I recommend just adding whole hard drive volumes and being done with it. Otherwise Kodi "restricts" you to only the directories you've added so far and you need to keep adding new folders.

VLC can patch the holes in their media player anytime now so we can fully be rid of this one!

There's still no one media player to rule them all yet.

I use a Plex server and let that do all the scraping for thumbnails, artwork, ect. Then use PlexKodiConnect, the Kodi add-on, to simply import all that info into Kodi.

The way you use Kodi by just adding shortcuts is not getting any of the benefits of it. Its best feature is the way it displays your library which you don't seem to be using.

 

[HomerJAU]

I tag all the music, it all loads into the library, and I never have to browse files at all.

Its best feature is the way it displays your library

Agreed! Kodi’s library feature is a critical/key feature. I wouldn’t use Kodi if I had to do file navigation, why would anyone?

Once your Music is tagged, and scanned by Kodi, all the tag metadata is loaded into a database. That allows full grouping, search and filter based on the metadata.(Artist, Album Name, Song Title, Genre, Year, etc). You can customise to create pre-filtered groups (E.g. ‘Quad’, ‘Atmos’, Penteo Upmixes’ etc) or create smart playlists based on metadata (E.g. ‘Rock Albums from the 70s’, ‘Recent Releases’ and ‘Play Random tracks from Albums recently added’ etc).

The database stores play count so you can find and play recently played albums or songs.

EDIT: Not to mention the user experience, check out the screenshots in my first post on this thread.

 

[jimfisheye]

The way you use Kodi by just adding shortcuts is not getting any of the benefits of it. Its best feature is the way it displays your library which you don't seem to be using.

That's the use style that I don't understand. I look at my library in a Finder window. Just like anything else on my hard drives. You can sort as you please and etc etc etc. That's what I'm using and nothing is missing. Duplicating that functionality into a media player app feels redundant and like putting extra baggage between the music collection and the media player app. Old habits I suppose.