Kodi Setup

[Flack]

It is important to state that the Kodi box I spent all day working on came from Amazon. I don't want you to think I found this thing in a discount bin or ordered it from the back alleys of Hong Kong. This is a device Amazon sells that is designed to let you stream your media (movies, music, pictures) to your television.

01. Opened the packaging, plugged in the box. Box looks sleek. Remote didn't come with any batteries but... eh. Hooking up the box has to be the hardest part, right? The default language is English. The default time zone is China.

02. Launch Kodi. Kodi can't find my server or my library. After struggling for half an hour, I just end up pointing to the SMB shares. It finally works.

03. Many of my movie directories have folders inside them called EXTRAS that contain trailers, deleted scenes, etc. Each one of those files begin showing up in the Kodi library. A quick Google search points me to a plug-in named EXTRAS that will treat all the files inside your Extras folders as extras and not movies. Makes sense.

04. I download the Extras plug-in and install it. My movie library is so filled with garbage that I delete the database and restart the scan.

05. After scanning my movies for 45 minutes I look and find hundreds of folders called EXTRAS listed in with my movies. After more Googling, I discover the solution: you have to manually create a file called advancedsettings.xml and place it on the Kodi box. The suggested method is FTP.

06. The Android box does not have FTP, but it does have access to the Google Play store. I try that.

07. The Google Play store requires my email name and password. Since the time zone defaulted to China, I spend the next 10 minutes creating a fake gmail account, and use that.

08. I log in to the Google Play store and go through half a dozen FTP servers before I find one that's free and works. I then discover a new level of hell which is configuring an FTP server using a Kodi remote.

09. With that done, I enable the service, upload the file, delete the library, and rescan the library.

10. Nope. You have to reboot the box for it to read the xml file. I realize this 30 mins into the scan. I delete the library, reboot the box, and rescan the library.

11. As the library began to scan, I went ahead and added my mp3 and digital picture libraries. Instead of queueing them, it tried to do them all at the same time, killing my network.

12. The whole thing locked up so I unplugged it and smashed my skull in with it. The end.

[AArdvark]

It shouldn't be this hard anymore. Why are there so many hoops to jump through?

"Hey Google, configure my Kodi box for me"

(Goes to fridge and pours beer)

"Your Kodi box is ready"

THE FUTURE WE'D
LIKE TO SEE
AARDVARK

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Does it just handle sending the videos wirelessly from your hard drive to your TV? I mean, clearly its goal is to frustrate you in whatever way it can. But what does it advertise itself as?

My wife mentioned us getting one of these and I will send her your post and one of Ben's recipes and ask her to pick which content she'd rather I spend time on.

[Flack]

I will answer everyone's questions, but I just wanted to give this update.

I got the box installed, working, and moved out into the living room. I started watching a movie but it was a bit too loud. I used my television remote to turn down the volume and the movie started fast forwarding. This is repeatable. Every time I hit volume down on my TV remote, the movie starts fast forwarding.

I stayed up until 2am troubleshooting this. Right before I went to bed I asked for help on r/Kodi. This was the response: "It's a common issue. Most people just pause the video and then use the volume keys."

It's open source software written with scripts and xml files and that's the best they can do. Jesus.

[Jizaboz]

I will answer everyone's questions, but I just wanted to give this update.

I got the box installed, working, and moved out into the living room. I started watching a movie but it was a bit too loud. I used my television remote to turn down the volume and the movie started fast forwarding. This is repeatable. Every time I hit volume down on my TV remote, the movie starts fast forwarding.

I stayed up until 2am troubleshooting this. Right before I went to bed I asked for help on r/Kodi. This was the response: "It's a common issue. Most people just pause the video and then use the volume keys."

It's open source software written with scripts and xml files and that's the best they can do. Jesus.

Could be worse, man. My GF broke the remote to our sound bar half a year ago throwing it while raging. I have to get up off the couch every time I want to adjust the volume in the living room!

[Tdarcos]

This is repeatable. Every time I hit volume down on my TV remote, the movie starts fast forwarding.

Meaning:
1. The device has an infrared or bluetooth detector, depending on what the remote is sending..
2. The software's fast-forward command is set to the same code sequence your remote sends for "volume down."

I stayed up until 2am troubleshooting this. Right before I went to bed I asked for help on r/Kodi. This was the response: "It's a common issue. Most people just pause the video and then use the volume keys."

It's open source software written with scripts and xml files and that's the best they can do. Jesus.

First, I'd like to point out that most software takes quite a while to reach Professional Grade. For open source it's typically been 10-years of regular enhancements to reach that level. I suspect this product has not had that long to mature.

As far as your issue is concerned. I did a Google search how to change remote control codes kodi and found kodi.wiki which is about the software and devices. A little bit of digging and I found the page on remote controls that explains there are several types of Kodi-supported remotes: CEC / Keyboard / MCE / RF / tablet / and web interface, and others, and all of them generate different signals.

According to the page on keymaps, the key codes are in a folder located in userdata/keymaps, where, on Android, userdata is usually on Android in a folder called Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/

By default there will be no files in these locations, so grab one from the link below to make a new one/over-ride:

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/tree/master/system/keymaps
https://github.com/kodi-game/peripheral ... onmaps/xml

I hope this helps.

[Flack]

This is repeatable. Every time I hit volume down on my TV remote, the movie starts fast forwarding.

Meaning:
1. The device has an infrared or bluetooth detector, depending on what the remote is sending..
2. The software's fast-forward command is set to the same code sequence your remote sends for "volume down."

I stayed up until 2am troubleshooting this. Right before I went to bed I asked for help on r/Kodi. This was the response: "It's a common issue. Most people just pause the video and then use the volume keys."

It's open source software written with scripts and xml files and that's the best they can do. Jesus.

First, I'd like to point out that most software takes quite a while to reach Professional Grade. For open source it's typically been 10-years of regular enhancements to reach that level. I suspect this product has not had that long to mature.

As far as your issue is concerned. I did a Google search how to change remote control codes kodi and found kodi.wiki which is about the software and devices. A little bit of digging and I found the page on remote controls that explains there are several types of Kodi-supported remotes: CEC / Keyboard / MCE / RF / tablet / and web interface, and others, and all of them generate different signals.

According to the page on keymaps, the key codes are in a folder located in userdata/keymaps, where, on Android, userdata is usually on Android in a folder called Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/

By default there will be no files in these locations, so grab one from the link below to make a new one/over-ride:

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/tree/master/system/keymaps
https://github.com/kodi-game/peripheral ... onmaps/xml

I hope this helps.

Do you think I'm stupid? I'm legitimately asking.

[Casual Observer]

I just torrent onto my phone then use SmartView to send right to my TV. Done.

[Flack]

Well, that's one of about 600 things Kodi does.

[Tdarcos]

Do you think I'm stupid? I'm legitimately asking.

Nope. I now realize I was. I'm sorry that my attempt to help you seemed so insulting, and I'll try very hard never to insult you by not offering you help ever again. I'm really sorry about this.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Do you think I'm stupid? I'm legitimately asking.

Nope. I now realize I was. I'm sorry that my attempt to help you seemed so insulting, and I'll try very hard never to insult you by not offering you help ever again. I'm really sorry about this.

You'll still help me, right? I used the Genesis Machine that you made in Pascal for me the other night. Still works like a charm, Commander!!