I recently started using Kodi for my linux distro collection, but some videos look terrible in comparison to when played in VLC. See attached picture with screengrabs from VLC and Kodi of the same frame in an MKV 1080p h.265 file. What could be the issue? I didn’t change any video settings in either
I am pretty sure many would disagree, but Kodi is complete trash. The whole software is a one massive utter slow bug.
Anything else is better. Jellefin, Plex, VLC, but NOT kodi.
EDIT: Honestly expected downvotes. Looks like I am not the only one who found Kodi basically unusable on any platform.
+1 Jellyfin
+6 Jellyfin
+1 jellyfin
The only trouble I found is playing something with opus voice track doesn’t work in the app, and some browsers. Otherwise it’s great
This may be more your phone or the video file not being handled correctly.
Have you tried another end device/encoding it in another container zo test it?
Because as far as I am aware I havent had any issues with opus tracks.
Which app? Jellyfin has many client apps for many different platforms, some with more features than others.
I just wish the Flatpak had a more keyboard/controller friendly UI. Seeking around the current video using KB/controller is fine, but navigating the UI to pick what to watch pretty much requires a mouse.
EDIT: Just change the display mode! Settings > Display > Display mode > TV
I think Kodi was amazing when it was XBMC and the only real option. It seems to be falling behind now though :-( I moved to Jellyfin a couple of years ago.
How is the interface on Jelly compared to kodi on an Android tv?
Like day & night. But for Jellyfin you need to have a server and files stored on server. Jellyfin app is a client for your server, while Kodi is local media…player?
With kodi, real debrid and trakt account, you can go from fresh kodi install to instantly streaming (not hosting) nearly 90% of torrent content available, in about 5 minutes. It’s not hard to do and no need to selfhost and setup the "…rr"s.
Edit: changed 10 minutes to 5 minutes once hsve real-debrid and trskt accounts already setup.
I used Kodi and now use Jellyfin as client/server - my media is on a local server. The difference (the way I use it) is that with Kodi the server was just a file server and the client (Kodi) was doing all the work. The Jellyfin server is a media server and the clients are very lightweight. I was pushed to move to Jellyfin when I got a new Sony TV - the built-in Android TV experience was very usable but I couldn’t install Kodi - it ran out of space trying to build the media database. I’m sure there are ways I could have made it work, but I’d heard about Jellyfin and figured I’d try it. I liked it and never went back.
There’s a Kodi Jellyfin plugin, so you can use Kodi as a client for the JF server
Jellyfin for AndroidTV still cannot play the default audio language and still cannot play the default subtitle language you configure as default in Jellyfin server. Having to select the right audiotrack, enable subs for each and every item you play is very cumbersome. I have been using it regularly for over 2 years. A lot of development has gone in the AndroidTV app but it’s still unstable, often crashing the whole ShieldTV Pro and still has these basic issues with audio and subs. Also, the Play Next design in Jellyfjn AndroidTV is bad, compared to other Jellyfin client apps. Ive created the bug reports and all. But there is no focus in actually improving the app for end users.
Switch to Kodi with the Jellyfin addon used in addon mode and bam, everything-just-works. Also proper audio passthrough and much more stable on AndroidTV. A night without Jellyfin AndroidTV app crashing is a miracle.
To say anything is better simply means you have no clue what you are actually talking about.
As someone who runs CoreELEC on all their HTPCs I cannot agree with this comment.
Is it a bad desktop application? Yes, but Kodi is for HTPCs what VLC is for desktops, it plays everything you throw at it. On dedicated HTPCs it is about the best you can get.
I went from a Windows PC with VLC, to MPC to Plex to Jellyfin and landed on Kodi/CoreELEC in the end.
None of your alternatives provide a interface that is useable in an environment where controlling via remote/phone is important and supporting 4k/HDR/Dolby Vision/audio passthrough and various codecs is a must. Plex comes close but locks you into their environment while Kodi can stream anything (including from Plex and Jellyfin).
i like jellyfin, but I’ve found that the roku jellyfin app throws an error trying to play some of my media. So I’m still using Plex for now
I don’t use jellyfin but I do use Emby with my Roku. The problem seemed to be with .mp4 files. I transcode all my movies to mkv and no problems now.
well I’ll give that a shot. thanks!
i use kodi alongside jellyfin, i find them complimentary
that said, kodi chokes on very hq files
Kodi generally chockes in the menu. Default interface is ugly, navigation is ugly, animations are slow af and laggy, settings are non-intuitive and overall stability is trash. Each time I try it - it sucks. Tried recently to setup for my dad - it’s just ridiculously hard to navigate and utterly slow…
yep, its not an easy config. i use it for a specific module im trying to extend, pseudotv.
i want a cable interface created with my massive library (30k+ episodes/2.5k movies) and some IPTV channeling putting all the shows in their original broadcast channels, in original order as well as some meta channels (genre based).
cant do that with jellyfin.
I am not certainly sure if I understand “cable interface” you are referring to, but Jellyfin has IPTV support. Last time I used it was…OK. 1000+ channels, but it was somewhat working. Used with M3U playlist, no idea about other stuff implementations.
Is that kodi?
naw, a more recent from the og project source. i dont care for the ‘live’ stuff as much as some…
i just want my content like its 1989
I find Kodi decent on my nVidia Shield, where Jellyfin often struggles. Especially when it comes to subtitles.
Strongly dislike the UI though.
I still use Kodi on my AppleTV for videos I’m not self hosting. With the Seren add-on and an Alldebrid account I can just stream videos of the internet in high quality (often BluRay quality)
Yeah it’s slow but it’s the only app that supports debrid streaming that can be installed on an AppleTV and I can’t be bothered to buy an android box or hookup my PC to my TV that sits on the other side of the house.
Your use case is completelly valid. I would probably use Kodi too if no other alternatives exist. :) Currently rocking with Jellyfin.
You can piss off a lot of people with that comment over /r/ShieldAndroidTV, and of course /r/Kodi lol.
Anyway, yeah if I want to keep things simple and streaming and the best of all working I go with Stremio on my Shield TV if I feel like data hoarding then I go with Plex.
I’m also tired of Kodi but I constantly come back to it. The one thing that Kodi does better than all the rest is the handling of subtitles. I try to use Jellyfin instead but I constantly have to switch back to Kodi because there are no ways (from within the app) to find and download new subtitles.
You can definitely search and download subtitles using both jellyfin app and webapp. I do this all the times.
But not on the Android TV app.
But thanks anyway, I actually didn’t know that downloading subtitles was supported on other platforms. This should att least allow me to download subtitles via the phone. A bit more cumbersome than having it directly in the app as for Kodi though.
if you are using sonarr and radarr and don’t know about bazarr, check it out. it’s a companion app for searching and downloading subtitles for your media
I don’t have Android TV so I didn’t know that. Since that’s a feature available in every jellyfin app I own (android, osx, windows, Linux, web) I assumed it was available everywhere.
You can from e.g. the Android app or from the desktop app Jellyfin Media Player, but you can’t from the AndroidTV app or the Roku app, so it really depends.
Oh I didn’t know that! Strange!
I am switching codec between Libvlc and exoplayer. Sometimes one doesn’t work, while the other works. It’s still better to me than Kodi.
How does switching the codec help with downloading subtitles from the web?
Probably I misunderstood your issue. I am using Bazarr for downloading subtitles.
Then you’re using it wrong buddy.
Is using the Android TV app considered “using it wrong”? Because that doesn’t support downloading subtitles.