Anyone use it? My buddy has it on his hacked fire stick. I dont think I would mind sketchy software on my TV although it is on wifi, but it feels like it's a fertile substrate for malware.
Thoughts?
Anyone use it? My buddy has it on his hacked fire stick. I dont think I would mind sketchy software on my TV although it is on wifi, but it feels like it's a fertile substrate for malware.
Thoughts?
Curtis said:Thoughts?
Find someplace else on the interwebs to ask about this stuff. This place is owned by content creators, and I don't think they look too kindly on piracy.
Kodi isn't about piracy, its a media player front end. The fact that people may use it for playing illegal content, is not Kodi's issue and they've made great strides in self-policing their plugins.
I mostly used it on Raspbery Pi's to play YouTube and content that I already owned (ripped DVD's or CD's). They still work quite well with cast off LCD monitors instead of TVs, which is a limitation of devices like Rokus. That said, the capabilities of a Roku and their greater available of legal content makes them a better solution for most people.
Anyway, Kodi is derived from the XBox Media Center which was developed to extend the original XBox's Media Player capabilities. There is still a branch that supports other options, like server/client capabilities and TV Tuner card control, called MediaPortal. They both work on a wide array of hardware, including Android and iOS devices.
I'm not trying to be the morality police here, I'm just saying that any time this type of thing gets discussed around here, it tends to get shut down. I know there are legit uses for Kodi, much like Bittorrent, but the fact is that most of the people I know with hacked Fire Sticks are using them for less than legal purposes. If nothing else, it's a gray area.
I have a Kodi on a Rpi, and the app for it on my phone. I don't stream anything, just play local content (from network drive)**.
It works pretty well, but I wish the naming/file management was easier to do from another device & not scrape at all.
** even if you own & rip the DVDs, that's still illegal.
I use it, I like it. Haven't had an issue with it, been using it for about 3 years now. I use other things too but I don't feel like dealing the moral police.
I previously used Kodi and honestly found it unnecessary with Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix. I haven't queued it up in over 2 years.
JmfnB said:I previously used Kodi and honestly found it unnecessary with Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix. I haven't queued it up in over 2 years.
Agreed, I've recycled the Rpi's into things like running an OCtoPrint server for my 3D printer, a Pi-Hole to reduce ads on my home network, running TunerStudio on a 7" touchscreen for my MegaSquirt and I'll probably build one up as a Retro-Pi to play games with the kids when they get older.
JmfnB said:I previously used Kodi and honestly found it unnecessary with Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix. I haven't queued it up in over 2 years.
We have a lot of Disney movies on DVD (& VHS). No longer have a DVD/Blu Ray player hooked up to the TV. Its a nice way to play them. But yes, its illegal.
Ok, I'll skip it. I was hoping it would be a nice way to combine all of my streaming services so to speak but too many possibilities for misuse I guess... At least for how I would use it.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Wait, its illegal to rip your own DVDs and play them from your own harddrive?
thatsnowinnebago said:In reply to ProDarwin :
Wait, its illegal to rip your own DVDs and play them from your own harddrive?
Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripping#United_States
Curtis said:Ok, I'll skip it. I was hoping it would be a nice way to combine all of my streaming services so to speak but too many possibilities for misuse I guess... At least for how I would use it.
Yeah, they don't have the necessary pieces built in to support many official streams outside of YouTube, using Google's API and Blu-Ray is a non-starter.
ProDarwin said:thatsnowinnebago said:In reply to ProDarwin :
Wait, its illegal to rip your own DVDs and play them from your own harddrive?
Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripping#United_States
Sorry, I own the movie. I’ll use it for personal use. I won’t charge others to view it with me, and I won’t distribute it. I understand it’s making a copy, but that is just ridiculous.
I know I’ll be attacked for it.
In reply to DrBoost :
Only by Disney, the largest pro-anti consumer copyright lobbyists in the nation.
Also, I’ve had Kodi for about 4 years. It’s a tool. You can use it for nefarious things, or as a home media server. Having one central point where you can access all of your music and movies is great.
Long time Kodi user for both good and "nefarious" reasons. :imagine an eye roll smiley here:
Genesis was awesome, sadly it's no more. Its replacement Exodus has been buggy and sorely lacking in content. Similarly SportsDevil used to be okay, but for the past 2 years I can never find good streams of any of the sportsball teams I want to watch.
There are a lot of legit channels and free broadcast repositories available from all around the world as well, never found anything I cared to invest much time into though.
I've got a FreeNAS box with a Plex server on it, all rips and downloads are served to any device on the network, even direct to the TVs thanks to DLNA. You can stream outside of your local network with the Plex app, but I think you need a static IP, or more networking knowledge, skills, and abilities than I have.
In addition to the Plex server with stored content, we also do Netflix, Prime, and during college football season I paid for Sling with the extra $5 sports add-on, since SportsDevil failed me. We cut cable ~9 years ago, and haven't missed much.
DrBoost said:Sorry, I own the movie. I’ll use it for personal use. I won’t charge others to view it with me, and I won’t distribute it. I understand it’s making a copy, but that is just ridiculous.
I know I’ll be attacked for it.
I don't know of anyone prosecuted for it, but that is the way the laws are written.
ProDarwin has the answer with that link. It's why they started selling Blu-Rays with digital copies. You buy the rights to that copy when you buy the set which allows you to legally make a copy for your phone, computer, or other device.
Working at a theater that just finished a Disney production (Newsies), I can attest to Disney's almost CIA-like ability to know what goes on in your theater. We were assigned an agent (which they called something like a "customer wellness representative") who was nothing short of police. They watched our entire online presence for the three productions leading up to doing Newsies as well as during rehearsals for Newsies. MTI (the rights broker) sent two reps to performances to make sure no one skipped lines or that we violated any of the multiple riders in the contract.
Exhausting. I felt like Mickey Mouse had me at gunpoint for four months.
We maintain an ASCAP/BMI licensing membership, otherwise it would be illegal for me to turn on the radio for pre-show music while patrons are in the building.
I've tried Kodi and the plugins of ill repute, and it's far more work than the tried and true methods...you have to know which plugins are working this month and which repos they're hiding on this week. So there's a lot of maintenance effort required.
You can also use plugins for bringing multiple (including legal) media sources into a single interface. I don't need that myself because I already have a single interface, a Samba share to a directory of symlinks, it looks nice and tidy.
Curtis said:ProDarwin has the answer with that link. It's why they started selling Blu-Rays with digital copies. You buy the rights to that copy when you buy the set which allows you to legally make a copy for your phone, computer, or other device.
Not really. You cannot legally make a copy, but you can use their 'digital copy' which they provide through some online service that they still control. For example I think "Disney Anywhere" movies can be linked to Amazon.
I.E. you have bought the right to stream it for free, but not to have your own digital copy
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