Free open-source home theater software
Kodi is free and open-source home theater software. It acts as a media hub, allowing you to connect your TV or home entertainment system to the internet and stream live or prerecorded content from various online sources.
Kodi is similar to other ‘home theater software’ applications such as Plex, Windows Media Center, and Emby.
What is Kodi?
Kodi started out as an Xbox Media Center (XBMC) fork, initially developed for the first-generation Xbox. Since then, Kodi has been ported to multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, iOS, and Raspberry Pi.
Kodi has grown in popularity over the last few years with its ease of installation, configuration, and use. You can play multimedia files directly from your local network, attached storage devices, or via online sources.
It can run on nearly any computer or device you might already have in your home theater setup (including PCs, Macs, Linux machines, Raspberry Pi single-board computers, Amazon Fire TV streaming media players, and Android devices), and it's available for download at no cost.
Media Player System For Computers
You can use Kodi as your primary media hub for movies, TV shows, music, and games. It lets you manage all your media files and centralize access to everything on your network. This makes it easy to share the same library of content with everyone in your home.
With Kodi, you can browse and play your video collection and also listen to your music collection. You can also play live TV and games. Additionally, you can download add-ons that give you access to an abundance of online content such as sports, movies, TV shows, live streams of news broadcasts.
How does Kodi provide content?
Kodi is a free and open-source media center software. It acts as a hub to connect all your local multimedia content to the internet and stream it across your home network for everyone to share.
Kodi allows content providers to make their feeds available to all Kodi users through an online metadata service called TheTVDB.org. The metadata on the site is editable by anyone, so programming schedules can become outdated very quickly if users don't regularly update the information contained in them. For example, someone might add an entry for a TV show containing outdated information about the time it airs, season episodes, and episode titles.
With Kodi, you can also play games. Select from a large number of emulators or play your favorite standalone game. You can even use the extensive support for game controllers to play games on the big screen easily.
What are Kodi's add-ons?
Kodi add-ons are additional third-party software that you can install on top of Kodi to give you access to new features, content providers, or functions. There are several sources for different add-ons, but the official Kodi website only provides access to their official streaming partners, including YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix. Therefore, to install unofficial add-ons, you need to enable the installation of add-ons from unknown sources in Kodi's settings.
How is Kodi's user experience?
Kodi’s user interface (UI) is simple and easy to navigate. The main screen has three columns:
- The first one contains your different options (movies, TV shows, music, pictures, files).
- The second column displays selections that will appear when you click on the corresponding icon in the first column. This makes it simple for new users to find the content they are looking for.
- The third column is used when you are in playback mode, and it provides all your options, such as switching between windows or watching a TV show while writing an email.
Is Kodi legal?
Kodi is designed to be used with content that you either own or have permission to use. If not, it may be classified as an unlicensed infringement of copyright laws in your region, and you could find yourself in trouble with the law. Kodi doesn't condone or encourage any unlawful activity.
A great all-around multimedia player for computer systems
Kodi is an excellent app for interactive media streaming that can turn any computer into a multimedia center for custom playback. You've got access to all kinds of content, multiple ways to stream it through the internet, and the ability to customize what you see on screen.
There are endless possibilities with Kodi's add-ons, so it might be daunting at first if you try to learn everything at once. But with Kodi, you can play your media, cut the cord and bring internet TV into your home all in one software program.
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