Best Kodi builds 2016-2021

[Jai Dee]

 

[Jai Dee]

 

[Jai Dee]

The Ares Wizard has moved.

Watch this video on how to install the Ares Repository & Wizard on Kodi Krypton 17.1. 

 

 

[SooKee]

On 28/03/2017 at 3:10 PM, Jai Dee said:

 

I actually find the iLikeHD app much easier to get the Thai TV channels.  No need to go into Kodi to either install or, more importantly, select the channels. I find the Israel Live TV to be one of the poorer add-ons out there, especially for it's menus.  There  may be a couple of channels missing on iLike.  Not sure as we don't use it much having an AIS Playbox (which we don't use much either 555).

Edited April 12, 2017 by SooKee

[Jai Dee]

On 4/12/2017 at 11:48 AM, SooKee said:

I actually find the iLikeHD app much easier to get the Thai TV channels.  No need to go into Kodi to either install or, more importantly, select the channels. I find the Israel Live TV to be one of the poorer add-ons out there, especially for it's menus.  There  may be a couple of channels missing on iLike.  Not sure as we don't use it much having an AIS Playbox (which we don't use much either 555).

We have a topic somewhere in this Forum for Thai TV.

 

This topic is for Kodi builds.

[SooKee]

16 hours ago, Jai Dee said:

We have a topic somewhere in this Forum for Thai TV.

 

This topic is for Kodi builds.

Appreciate that, posted the comment merely because you posted the link #32 about installing an add-on for Thai TV and IMO the iLike HD app actually does that better.  I find that Israel TV one of the worst add-ons I've ever used.

 

I normally avoid builds like the plague but I'm really tempted to give that No Limits build a try on a spare device, mainly to see how fast it is, how well maintained it is and how much it drags down daily in terms of thumbs etc.  Problem is, as with a lot of builds, loads of stuff that's of no interest to me so I'd just be concerned that some of it is overely resource intensive clutter.

Edited April 14, 2017 by SooKee

[Jai Dee]

1 hour ago, SooKee said:

I'm really tempted to give that No Limits build a try on a spare device, mainly to see how fast it is,

Make sure that you get the right build for your Kodi version.

 

The problem with a lot of links and YouTube videos are that they are soon out of date, as versions are updated and repo sources move.

 

Try this build... it is lean and lite but has some pretty good features.

[Xaos]

Heres best build for latest kodi17

 

You have to try BOB addon in it for movies.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[Jai Dee]

1 hour ago, Xaos said:

Heres best build for latest kodi17

 

You have to try BOB addon in it for movies.

BOB is a great video addon. 

 

 

[JHolmesJr]

Is BOB available for Jarvis?

[SooKee]

2 hours ago, Jai Dee said:

Make sure that you get the right build for your Kodi version.

 

The problem with a lot of links and YouTube videos are that they are soon out of date, as versions are updated and repo sources move.

 

Try this build... it is lean and lite but has some pretty good features.

 

I'll take a look at that build too.  Installed the No Limits Magic version, just for a try.  Normally I just stick with a base install plus Exodus, SALTS and MP3 Streams, together with the various paid service apps I use.  Works fine for what I need and I prefer to avoid builds mostly as there's so much in them I can't think it'll do anything but slow the device down.  As indeed, did NLM, in addition to crashing it a few times.

 

NLM sure looks flashy with some great artwork.  But, NOW I remember SLOW.  I'd put it on a clean install of Kodi.  Selecting a show and episode to watch took a good couple of minutes to go through each of the stages from the popular show icons that float over the selector bar until the episode finally played.  I saw it actually adding the step of Exodus as it went through that to get to the streams but it took way longer than a bare bones version and Exodus direct.  The artwork and metadata is all well and good but I'm not really bothered in looking at walls of the stuff until I actually select a movie / series when both Exodus and SALTS will display it from TMDB or the TVDB.  I'm only interested in watching or listening to media, not looking at the box they're in. I know the shows I want to watch and have them stacked in a 'Current' list on TrakTV so when I open either SALTS or Exodus they're there, and TrakTV will show me whether there's new episodes or not.  The other link you posted looks more lean as you say.  Not sure what it is though but I've really gone off the old Confluence skin layout.  Pretty hard for the designers to do much by way of visual appeal without using it though I guess. I hated the 17 / Estuary layout at first but now couldn't go back.

 

All depends what you want out of a media centre I suppose (and of course Kodi's original name was XBMC - Xbox Media Centre).  I've no need for kids stuff or live TV, all down to individual choice, so I've no need slow the box down with, what in my case, would just be clutter.  I'd definitely be wary of Israel LIVE though. 

 

What's so good about BOB?  Does it do anything more / better than SALTS etc.?  Always happy to try other add-ons, mostly I don't simply because I just get complacent with what I have and simply can't be bothered.

Edited April 14, 2017 by SooKee

[Xaos]

Try

 

This guy is author of BOB and he do best builds.

 

For 16.1 try Dapulse its amazing

 

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

[Jai Dee]

28 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

Is BOB available for Jarvis?

How to Install BOB Unrestricted Add-on KODI Jarvis 16.1

 

Google is your friend. 

[JHolmesJr]

I dont instal builds on my Kodi as I don't like the way it takes over the system. I prefer to cherry pick what I need.

 

Have got noobs and nerds repo already installed…BOB must be hiding in there somewhere.

Edited April 14, 2017 by JHolmesJr

[Jai Dee]

6 minutes ago, Xaos said:

Try

DAX 17

 

 

Wow!

Animated backgrounds!

 

I must give that one a try.

[JHolmesJr]

18 minutes ago, SooKee said:

What's so good about BOB?  Does it do anything more / better than SALTS etc.? 

Im not having a good time with SALTS….the sync with trakt doesn't always work well….so my tv episodes don't get updated.

 

1Channel, Exodus and Specto Fork are ok.

 

Just installed Terrarium TV….its a standalone app that works great…..gets around all the authentication BS thats been coming with openload

and video.me lately.

 

[SooKee]

31 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

Im not having a good time with SALTS….the sync with trakt doesn't always work well….so my tv episodes don't get updated.

 

1Channel, Exodus and Specto Fork are ok.

 

Just installed Terrarium TV….its a standalone app that works great…..gets around all the authentication BS thats been coming with openload

and video.me lately.

 

Had a couple of glitches with SALTS myself, can't really recall what I was tired out at the time and half asleep.  have a feeling it was around hitting dead ends.  I'm fairly ruthless with pruning providers too, one strike and you're out! Torba got binned from Exodus PDQ!!!  Reading though this has given some incentive to try some extra add-ons to see what they bring to the party, 1Channel and Specto etc.  I just need to grab a decent screensaver set for it.

 

Really like the Kodi remote app I must admit. Wasn't that keen at first as I thought it only picked up local media until I found that the add-ons were under the '...' tab. Almost instant and picks it all up from the add-ons too.  Mostly don't even use the Airmouse once I'm ready for media consumption and not doing maintenance stuff.

[Jai Dee]

1 hour ago, Xaos said:

Try DAX 17.1

 

This guy is author of BOB and he do best builds.

 

For 16.1 try Dapulse its amazing

I just installed it... beautiful!

 

 

[SooKee]

Nice.  Would you say it's better than that other one you posted (was is Wookie or Mammoth - can't remember)?

Edited April 14, 2017 by SooKee

[Jai Dee]

DAX 17.1 is a very visually appealing build on Krypton... but it does use a lot of resources.

 

Do you really need animated backgrounds to your menu selections?  Probably not... but it sure looks pretty!

 

The build that I referred to earlier was Biagio Builds Lite Firestick Edition Version 3.2 

 

It is a quick and easy build with some nice features including a maintenance program.

 

Give it a try SooKee... you might be converted yet. 

[SooKee]

5 minutes ago, Jai Dee said:

DAX 17.1 is a very visually appealing build on Krypton... but it does use a lot of resources.

 

Do you really need animated backgrounds to your menu selections?  Probably not... but it sure looks pretty!

 

The build that I referred to earlier was Biagio Builds Lite Firestick Edition Version 3.2 

 

It is a quick and easy build with some nice features including a maintenance program.

 

Give it a try SooKee... you might be converted yet. 

I will. Not today though.  Bit of a rush now.  Especially as recently installed file explorers I'm trying in readiness to bin ES somehow managed to take down my SD card Kodi back up as part of their Kodi clean up after I deleted it (forgot I'd installed the new apps so forgot there would be rogue clean up behaviour going on).  Luckily I keep back ups of back ups!  Guess I could have just done a reset to clear Kodi completely.  I'll try this out when I'm not rushing.

[JHolmesJr]

is es file explorer same in function as file explorers….any idea where to find this?

[Jai Dee]

10 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

is es file explorer same in function as file explorers….any idea where to find this?

Google Play Store has it - here.

[SooKee]

is es file explorer same in function as file explorers….any idea where to find this?

 

It is. But it's getting a LOT of bad press, bordering on hate, with all the crap, bloat and intrusive pop up ads on it these days. I've almost entirely switched over to Solid Explorer now. Also on the Play Store. I find it much more modern in feel and a lot lighter than ES. I kept ES around while getting the hang of Solid just in case there were things I needed to do quickly without wasting time to fathom out how. I tried one called XPlore too but just didn't get on with it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JHolmesJr]

1 hour ago, SooKee said:

 

It is. But it's getting a LOT of bad press, bordering on hate, with all the crap, bloat and intrusive pop up ads on it these days.

 

I don't get any of that….maybe its because I haven't updated to the latest version….thanks for the warning.

[SooKee]

20 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

..............

 

Just installed Terrarium TV….its a standalone app that works great…..gets around all the authentication BS thats been coming with openload

and video.me lately.

 

Yeah the video.me authentication is a PITA, AFAIK you only get a 4 hour 'permission' too, unless you sign up for a membership and it's not cheap?  At least for what it is.

 

I quite like Terrarium, I keep a few others around too.  Modbro, iLike HD (but this only for the free to view Thai Live TV - we have an AIS Playbox as well if we want the whole gamut but rarely do as it involves switching on another box since you can only have their service in their box.  This saves us switching boxes),  UKTV Now (mainly for the news channels), FilmOn Live TV, Showbox (quite like this as I've found it to be fairly fast and often has a stream at least in 720 - I like the layout of it too with posters and metadata - some of these apps are just beyond basic but this one looks OK) and MegaBox HD (but with that I have a modified Lite APK that I found that still allows you to play from it without first having to download some nuisance player that's full of ads).  I had Cinema Box too but it seems to have packed up, only shows links to photo galleries, never anything to play.  I tried a few different versions to (once an app or Kodi add-on plays up I just bin it.  I'll have a quick look but I don't waste time reading all day to get to the bottom of the issue - life's too short.  It works or it's out!).  I use an app called APK Updater to monitor for updates to all the side-loaded APKs and just put all the PlayStore installed apps on its 'Ignore' list.

 

I use YouTube for the news channels too (Sky, BBC and France 24) and will often use that as it flashes up when I've got subscriptions and I'll just hop to them too.  I often like to have the news playing in the background when I'm busy doing other things.  The problem there with YouTube is that it's just a continual loop.  UKTV Now for Sky is live and I find the ads help break it up, also advertises their up and coming drama shows that I stick on my list to watch. There's just so much out there on Kodi I found myself getting overwhelmed at first.  Spent more time channel hopping than watching.  Now I use TrakTV to manage it all.  I keep 5 lists on that, for movies and series.  Queued, Current, Parked, Watched and Binned.  Anything I'm vaguely interested in goes in Queued.  When I'm actively watching the series it goes to Current, if it's a long running show like Homeland or The Walking Dead it goes to Parked after a Season is finished but will start up again, Watched is for completed and now dead shows and Binned is for stuff I checked or tried but decided against it. Now when I use Kodi I just go straight to Exodus, Shows, My Lists and Current, it shows any shows with new episodes.  Saves so much time!  All a bit too OCD I guess.  When I started I thought I could keep it all in my head, but I must have a 100 plus shows in my lists now.  Just can't keep all the plates spinning 555.  Few times I've found myself watching some obscure movie that sounded good only to remember "I started watching this before and it was crap then too!".  Not a problem now. I find Trak good for deciding what to watch too, rather than scouring add-ons.  Add them to the list then go watch.  Only trouble with the apps is they don't link to Trak but I only tend to watch movies on apps so it's easy to keep Trak up to date via their phone app or browser interface.

 

The apps help keep Kodi lighter for me but as with Kodi I find you have to really watch the quality. Much of the claimed 'HD' is nothing close and is barely 480 and of dire quality.  Maybe they use the term because they think it looks OK on a 4" phone screen!  UKTV Now is a good example.  If I watch the Sky News on it I find the PQ very good, at least around the 720 as far as my eyes can tell, try the BBC News though and it really sucks, like SD Minus.  

Edited April 15, 2017 by SooKee

[JHolmesJr]

Impressive system of management you have. I only have 3 lists on trakt: watchlist, current and ended…..did not know you could create your own and name them.

 

Any idea where i can get the MegaBox Lite APK…those pop ups do my head in.

 

Also, I only sync tract with SALTS….is there any harm in sync-ing it with exodus, alluc, royal we etc simultaneously?

 

I just thought it might get confusing.

 

 

[SooKee]

Mega Box HD Lite: 

 

I have v 1.02.  Haven't tried this yet as mine works fine with the A2 Lite.

 

I link Trak to everything I can.  I have it linked to SALTS, Exodus, Plex, Infuse (on an iPad I use that syncs media down for watching on flights or trips).  Works really well.  If you try it, say on SALTS, start watching an episode.  Come out, load the same episode on Exodus, it'll sync to where you 'Last Watched'.  I just make sure to tick all (IIRC) the sync options and exclude the live TV sync.

 

I've switched over pretty much to even watching local media via Kodi, not the Plex app that I used to like (but mainly for remote access to my stuff while travelling).  Plex has TrakT capability too but it's unofficial and in my experience frequently breaks.  I think Plex is a bit like Apple at the moment.  Too interested in the next fad or gimmick rather than fixing things that aren't working.  Too many clients on too many platforms.  Their Shield app was getting some real flak, probably their worst client app, may be better now, I've not checked in a while.

Edited April 15, 2017 by SooKee

[JHolmesJr]

Thanks, that's very helpful.

I might pull the trigger on the Shield today….so this all great info.

[SooKee]

Welcome.  Forgot to add, in the interests of speed and automation, under Exodus.....My Lists (which will contain all your Trak TV lists) I have 'TV: Current' and 'Movies: Queued' (along with 'New Movies' and 'Popular Movies') added as favourites in Kodi.  I just go straight to one of those each time I open Kodi and voila, there they are, with any of the stuff I'm watching that has new episodes showing the 'box' vs the check mark (e.g. all watched and nothing new yet). Saves going through the 'Exodus / My TV Shows / TV Shows Lists / TV: Current click-fest EVERY time.  Could so the same with SALTS but I use that rarely, pretty much as a last resort if the item is not available elsewhere, so I prefer to keep Kodi 'Favourites' uncluttered.  GF and friends then operate about 99% of the time from Favourites.  Easier and no need for explanation (well not much) re how to get to, say, new Movies etc.

Edited April 15, 2017 by SooKee