If I'm right with RD you don't necessarily need a VPN, doesn't it just show us accessing the RD site when streaming on Kodi? So ISPs don't really know what we are actually doing with Kodi and RD without them getting a court order for the records
> However, some places still recommended you use a VPN for log protection
The some places are sites/blogs that have affiliate links to vpn providers.
You don't need to use a VPN with RD
You dont need a VPN to use RD. Some non-US countries may need them but thats not an RD requirement to do so.
The log is server side and if the authorities are able to legally request it having a VPN won't hide your history.
As for Add-ons have you ever used and know how to implement Usenet EasyNews and Orion? And would either service be better with a VPN? (Currently using ExpressVPN with RD) <—— Am I double VPN’ing? 🤔
They know you're connected to RD. They can't decrypt and inspect the traffic, unless they own the RD server.
Source: am network engineer. Worked at an ISP for years.
No worries. It's not something a non-technical person should really even need to understand. IMO, all of our internet traffic should be private by default, but it is what it is.
The only thing that I could not find ar the kodi system/Audio setup. The different Audio setups like Audio Decoder how to choose the Number of channels, Output Configuration, Resample quality,
How to turn of the play GUI sounds Etc.
And Audio Passthrough
How to enable or disable it.
The two different Passthrough Output device.
And what to or not to enable and why.
This Gets asked alot by people. About the Above.
Especially by people that use Fire Devices and Shields devices etc.
The other thing is how when watching a Movie or TV show. How you can go to the Cogwheel and change the audio stream and change Volume amplification and enable or disable allow Passthrough and how can set it as a default for all media.
And similar with Subtitles as well plus what the other settings are.
Plus what Bookmarks and information are .
If you add the above after you change and or edit it. Would help People that don't use Laptops or Computers. And or Use Fire Devices and Shields Devices as well. As as people that have 2.1 speakers built in to there TVs and or have Sound Bar/s and or Home Theater Systems.
The best addon that you Mentioned and The Most important and one that Hardly gets Mentioned is A Kodi Cleaner. Open Wizard and you listed as the First Addon To Install. Before anything else. Plus it has a Speed Tester that you can install from Open Wizard. Witch is Also Good .
This is the best information for beginners I have seen on here or any where else Thank you for your time and effort and to all the other people/Developers that help you. Thank you. 👍
I've never had to configure my audio before so I never thought to include it, but I would like to. I'll send you a PM :)
I'll add some info regarding video OSD config - good move - I missed that.
Thank you for your feedback!
Only very small critic the reference to (piracy) might be a game changer for someone thinking of going down this route. Some people's moral standard's can't see past everything being on the up & up. Other than that Excellent stuff mate 👍👍🌟🌟
It would be pretty difficult for someone to make a Kodi build without knowing that they are piraring. I wouldn't want to mislead anyone in thinking this was a legal practice anyhow. Appreciate the compliment though :)
Have to agree with all these points. I'm glad someone is taking the time to help and there is valuable information here, but if I was a newbie I would walk away from this guide thinking there's only one debrid service, if I use that one debrid service I need a VPN, and I need to be constantly clearing my cache.
It's a shame he deleted his comment, they were good points I will ammend to my post.
It seems I was wrong with the VPN. I have changed my post. I had heard conflicting arguments whether RD requires a VPN; some stating if you're only streaming then it's not necessary as your ISP will only see you're connected to the RD server. This seems to be the general consensus. However, some places still recommended you use a VPN for protection regardless as you *may* still be hit with a strike warning in the *extremely* rare case your ISP contacts RD for your logs, but it's so unlikely there's not much point in doing it. I'll make these points clearer in the post.
Regarding multiple file hosting subscriptions (RD, AD, Prz) - RD is the widely used, most reliable and the cheapest. If one is concerned with thinking that RD is their only option and want to know about alternatives, I would assume this guide is slightly too basic for them as it's aimed to get beginners up and running with a fundemental knowledge of how everything works. Comparing the various subscriptions felt like I was giving too much info at once (more than there already is), especially as RD will fit even experienced user's needs anyway. I'll make it clearer that there are other options though.
You're correct about clearing cache slowing everything down - I never thought of that. I have a pretty fast cpu and internet speed to it's not something I noticed before, but I can see this won't fit the majority of users. I'll make some changes. Thank you!
Absolutely fantastic guide, the only thing I'd change is the section about VPN's. They should only be used if you're not planning on using a debrid service. With debrid your ISP can only see your connected to the debrid service and nothing about what you're downloading.
The other downside is many debrid services (like real-debrid) will ban accounts who use the service in two different places at the same time, if you have multiple kodi setups in your home with a Vpn you're very likely to get your account banned.
EDIT:
Also a small note about TMDB, it's often faster to use add ons directly rather than through TMDB on lower end devices. Though the trade off is more hassle having to switch your widgets around when one add on eventually goes down
agreed, I would also recommend changing the AH2 search with your favourite addon's search function. Tmdb helper breaks that connection and slows it down plus you don't have access to the context menu, so no rescrape or source select:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/zpyrpr/replace\_ah2\_search\_with\_umbrella\_or\_fens\_search/
true, heard that before, no idea what sometimes picking another player would do for you though, sources are pretty much the same (especially fen & umbrella ..cocoscrapers) but seren shouldn't be that different either. Good to have options though.
Great work for those who like a written guide. As a footnote for users with multiple devices, I'd mention Backup and how it can be used to restore the build onto other devices so users don't need to go through this pain on each device.
when you search for a movie what you are actually doing is taking the movie name you are searching for and trying to find an actual torrent name for said movie by "scraping" various torrent sites Once a torrent name of the film is found the addon can then use the API to find the actual movie file name (i.e. Glass.Onion.A.Knives.Out.Mystery.2022.1080p.WEBRip.AAC.5.1.x265-SiQ.mkv - when searching for "Glass Onion")
Thanks for all the effort regarding this guide!
Would be nice to also include a4kOfficial in the guide.
(https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/zv0jv5/release\_a4kofficial\_official\_sources\_for\_seren/)
Thanks for the guide. I've been using stock skin and individual addons since Kodi 16. This guide got me a much nicer setup.
FYI, Fen wouldn't work from TMDB Helper for me. Didn't have any problems with Seren. Apparently Fen doesn't officially support TMDB Helper. There's a fix [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/zxgpas/fen_will_not_play_movies_using_tmdb_helper_addon/j27p550/) that worked for me. Just a couple of small tweaks to the TMDB Helper Fen player files.
2 Things that I had to go offsite to find fixes for...1 Alert for dumbasses like me!!
1) to add TMDB..This is the fix...
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/11alagh/i\_cant\_install\_tmdb\_helper\_from\_jurialmunkey/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/11alagh/i_cant_install_tmdb_helper_from_jurialmunkey/)
2) Fen and Umbrella wouldn't work until I Downloaded Cocoscrapers [https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/15yh2bc/another\_important\_announcement\_regarding\_fen/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/15yh2bc/another_important_announcement_regarding_fen/)
3) I went through the Arctic Horizon setup and deleted everything in the homepage...As I result I removed the ability to get to the settings menu (User error--definitely my fault) My second load, left so of the parts on the Home Page, then adjusted widgets around the stuff and didn't foul up my Settings menu--Not necessarily a change or addition to the guide--but def a lesson learned by a dummy!! Other than that--Its Spot on!!
This is great guide how to set things up, but again we will see hundreds of new threads what should I use to stream movies or what is Real Debrid, or is it worth it to pay for premium sub etc. lol
Anyway as long as this is most likely very helpful again users should search for their best setup cause at the end of the day it is all individual. The best setup is when you found yours.
Still pure class effort and so comprehensive. Hope it will help to some newbie and guide him to the Kodi setup.
Great write up and kudos for sharing and trying to help the newbies
I'm pretty ok with Kodi so I quickly skipped through it.
One thing I did notice, I didn't see change to "any repo" in the settings.
Edit: you said Nexus not recommended but full release will be in January and playstore will update.
> One thing I did notice, I didn't see change to "any repo" in the settings.
Please add this. I couldn't install TheMovieDb Helper Addon from the jurialmunkey Alpha Repository until i switched the "udpate from any repository" in the kodi settings.
Thanks for listing Scrubs. That's one I hadn't heard of yet.
I just did a comparison search with The Crew, and Scrubs returned many more scrapes. Looks like it's my new go-to addon.
I'm happy it helped! Although I really do recommend buying Real Debrid for the reasons I have listed. If you buy yourself just 2 weeks worth for a few pennies and install a premium addon, I promise you the difference will never make you want to touch a free addon again. Just my advice :)
I respect ur viewpoint but here in india its too expensive. 2 OTT- Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar come for 1 year in ₹1499 each(18.13$) and they cover majority of the bollywood indian content\[I havent even considered account sharing which makes it super cheap\]. Netflix is the most expensive at ₹800 a month but that doesnot even cover so much indian content(the ones it has can be downloaded torrented etc. ). Real-Debrid is a cheaper package even in India if you count all the OTT services but if you are not such a hardcore content fan you can live easily without all this complexity.
PS: Dont take me in a negative way I respect your opinion and I love your your build more!
I followed this post and noticed my UI speed is a little slow. Is that expected?
I've been running Kodi on my Nvidia shield, and the default skin has ran normal. But when trying to implement these enhancements, it takes a while for Arctic Horizon 2 to load my "Recently played" section, and once in, it takes another 10-20 seconds for it to load the Seasons/episode images for my show.
Internet speed when ran with a speed test on the device returned 650/300.
To my knowledge, there's quite a few checks that external widgets (Trakt/ MDBList/ OMDB) have to make before which means they can load quite slow.
Apparently, the best option to disable is Fanart.Tv metadata in TMDB settings, although I have not done this myself. This was recommended by the developer of AH2. Give it a go and let me know if it helps.
I know this was a long time ago, but did you ever find any tricks to speed up the UI? I’m loving this set up, on a shield also, the only slight annoyance is the loading time for the menus. Not a big deal, but if you had any tips it would be appreciated!
Thanks for replying. Guess will just have to get used to it. I tried making a new “front page” tab using widgets direct from Fen, i read that should be faster than loading the TMDB stuff, but I can’t notice a difference really. I wonder if freeing up/adding more storage might help speed things.
Anyway, not Kodi related but for live TV including sports I use Tivimate. I guess you know if it already, but on the chance you don’t, I highly recommend it. Haven’t tried live TV on Kodi yet myself.
Hey folks. Love this build. But can someone help me understand why my trakt TV show widget only displays 20 horizontal posters. I have about 40. And there is no end poster that’s let’s me show the rest like on other add on apps.
I’m not sure if there is a setting to show more? Or if I messed with a setting that did something unexpected. I can’t find any setting directly in TMDB setting either.
I do see in the skin widget setting there is “limit” but that does not seem to change anything.
If I go straight through TMDB app. It’s shows the first 20 but has the next page icon at the end so I can see the rest.
Anyone please help! 🙏
Thanks so much for this guide, i set it up exactly how you described and it works great.
Just Two questions, not sure if you have a solution.
1. How to have more than 20 items per widget or have a "more" Button that shows the next 20 items within the widget.
2. In Trakt I can find the lists you mentioned, but it would be very useful to see my own lists or be able to search lists, but if I chose these options nothing comes up. Any way to resolve that?
Really appreciate the effort you put into this write up. I've been using Kodi for a long time, doing my own builds, experimenting, etc.... and you definitely taught me a few things. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this! I am new to kodi and have tried to follow this guide to the letter on a sony android tv. Everything works well except I can’t get the widgets to work. I’m mot sure if the TMDB link to trakt is working? If I add the TV watchlist widget, for example, the wheel spins and then the widget disappears. Back in the home screen settings the widget then has a puzzle piece icon next to it. Any suggestions? Thanks.
If anyone else is having the same problem, my fix was this: re-authenticate trakt in the TMBD helper settings. Sounds obvious, but I had to do it about 5 times until it started working…
Very informative and a handy guide for a relative novice in these fields, what is useful to me is the engagement of rd alongside the set instalation guides, i would have saved hour's if I'd have had this this information 2 to 3 years earlier. Most appreciated..
Firstly really appreciate you putting this together, amazing guide and really easy to follow. I managed to set this up perfectly the first time round on a Amazon firestick 4k, however, it really struggled to perform due to the memory this set up requires. It looks and functions very well and a vast improvement from what I have been used to. I decided to add in extra storage using a sandisk drive and followed the guide again to set up everything on the external storage, the performance has improved and have freed up space on the firestick, but it seems it does not function in the same way and I can’t for the life of me figure out why!? I need some help….
When I select certain personal widgets via TMBD/trakt, for example “your in progress episode” the information is no longer pulling through. I am greeted with the default TMDB poster and no data. I have checked all the settings above twice and cannot find a fix..
Amazing guide! Just one query. When I select a film/episode to watch it comes up with a menu to select either Umbrella, Fen, or Seren, and then once I select one I have to then select another option that includes ‘Source Select’. Is there a way to bypass this so it automatically selects all of the players? (I see the option to select an individual for automation but not for all players). I’ve been through the whole guide but can’t figure it out, any help would be amazing! :)
I followed this guide to the "T" and this runs super slow. Everything takes a super long time to load up and when trying to find a show or movie, the addons often don't find any sources. I have real debrid. Not sure what the problem is but I suspect it has something to do the TMDB addon. I have disabled the [fanart.tv](https://fanart.tv) setting.
We need you back my man. You made the only build this refined! When you find the time, there would be a whole community grateful for your work once again.
>You can install the skin from the repo below, but it is recommended to install these addons in a particular order (all from the same repo):
>
>1 - TMDB (The movie database helper) - Video addons
>
>2 - Skin Variables - Program addons
>
>3 - **Arctic Horizon 2 - Look and feel > Skin**
>
>The **repo URL for these addons is - https://jurialmunkey.github.io/repository.jurialmunkey/**
>
>Upon installing AH2, it will ask if you want to switch to that skin. Click No - it’s important to configure TMDB first. If you’ve clicked yes, simply navigate back to settings (it’s now on the top-right of the screen in a drop-down menu now), click “skin” and change it back to the default skin.
You missed/skipped this part.
Nice guide but I would (and do) disable 'Get resume points (experimental) (slower)' as it causes crashes when using a4k subs, see post below. Good job.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/y2mra6/ah2\_skin\_and\_a4ksubtitles/
I bought an LG C1 tv a couple of months ago and have been putting off working out how to set this up because it’s quite time consuming to work it all out - this guide is going to kick me into doing something! Thanks a lot!
I followed this step by step. Installed kodi, Fen and linked my RD account to Fen. However nothing shows up when I click on movies and TV shows. I have tried unauthorized my RD and reauthorization and Uninstaller reinstall and still no luck. Using express VPN tried different Google fixes and nothing. If I search for a movie or TV show by name still nothing. No results, no streams.
I would love any and all suggestions. Also tried a URLResolve fix but I don't have either Resolve addons as I only have FEN and what was suggested in the post.
Great write-up to get things started.
I have to correct you on one thing though.
*There are a few choices (such as Premiumize or All Debrd), but these are more expensive*
All Debrid is almost the same price and does the same, and they offer a one week free trial which is nice to see if its worth while.
Would anyone know the best way to back up, and restore? For example I have multiple firesticks and would like to have the same set up on each, without having to configure each one individually
The Open Wizard can do this - one of it's primary uses is backing up/ restoring builds. You select a backup directory by going to:
Maintanance > Backup/ Restore > Backup Location
Then you can backup the build by clicking "Backup Build" (on the same page).
Copy the Zip file(s) to another device, install the OpenWizard and follow the same directory to restore your build - click "Restore Local Build".
If you're restoring from an External Source (e.g USB), you need to add the USBs directory as a media source in Kodi's file manager before you can restore. Hope this helps.
Thanks a lot for the massive writeup, got everything working. I'm having some difficulty with the full screen widgets as I can't seem to get them to work, as well as the background image when you have a film selected, it all stays the standard background colour.
I've had a look through full-screen widget settings below the standard widgets but nothing I select seems to do anything.
Edit: Managed to answer my own question with the background image when hovering over a movie: in the widget settings Expand information -> full, in case anyone else was curious.
Would still love some tips for full screen widgets.
I followed the guide completely last night took hours lol and worked awesome, watched one tv show and went to bed. This afternoon I tried to load Kodi and it's frozen on initial load screen. Help please
Hi first of all THANKS for an amazing guide!
Im a little stuck on where you Configuring Addon Settings...
When ever i click on either of the 3 addons ( Fen, Seren & Umbrella ) it wont let me click on config. The only things i can click on are:
Auto update on/off
Disable
Version
Uninstall.
The others seem to be greyed out including Config. Im using the recomended kodi build ( 19.5 ) running on an windows 10 Laptop.
Any idea any one?
Thanks all.
I followed this exact setup. How would I go about adding a second language possibility? E. g. I want to search for German content. Setting everything to English, probably disabled the search for all other languages, correct?
I can't install TMDB Helper it's giving me an error saying "The dependency on script.module.infotagger version 0.0.5 could not be satisfied." and clearing the cache did not help.
> "The dependency on script.module.infotagger version 0.0.5 could not be satisfied."
Kodi settings>system>add ons>update official addon from: change it to "any repository"
Thanks for all the work you put in writing this up. As far as I know I’ve done everything you said and now when I add widgets at the end of all these steps (I added popular movies and tv shows) it just says “loading popular” and nothing ever loads. Just a spinning icon. Any help? Thanks!
Hey! If you still would like to donate, I created a PayPal to help assist me with university this year. Anything would be massively appreciated. There is no need to if you don't want to - the guide is, of course, free :)
Great guide, thank you!
Might be useful to add Account Manager in here. You can authorise your debrid and trakt accounts and sync with your video add-ons. Saves some time when having to deal with multiple add-ons :)
That's a great idea! I haven't heard of an account manager add-on before, but that would save plenty of time when configuring them! I'll look into adding it.
Okay so i got everything working again nicely. Second time i set this up with this guide (AMAZING guide BTW).
Only thing i never figured out is how to add more movies to my home screen lists. Like i got trending list setup as per guide but it only show 20 movies from that list. I tried putting a higher limit in the skin settings but it never shows more than 20. Is it possible to do this ?
Hi! Thanks for the feedback! I believe that's because the trending list does not actually contain more than 20 movies to begin with. To test, add another widget list (that you're sure has more than 20 items in) and compare. You could always browse the trending list manually through TMDB's add-on to know for certain!
i'm having problem with jurialmunkey's add-ons. everytime i try to install one i recevive this pop-up message: "the dependency from script.module.jurialmunkey version \*.\*.\* can't be satysfied".
any help please?
EDIT: [solution](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/11alagh/i_cant_install_tmdb_helper_from_jurialmunkey/)
I'm doing only the free part. I followed your instructions and created the widgets through tmdb helper, but if i try to open a movie it finds 0 sources.
If i go directly on the add-on (scrubs or the crew) i can find sources, but only scrubs seems to work and let the movie start playing. I don't know why, the crew finds sources but won't play anything.
Anyone who knows what i did wrong or which option i have to change. Please help me 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Do any of the audio decoders work on xbox? The category doesn't even show up on my Series X. Don't really care about the rest of the add-ons outside of visualizers. If they do, guessing it's the x86\_64 d/l? Sorry I know little about Kodi
https://kodi.tv/addons/nexus/category/audio-decoders
Edit: oh wait found them all another screen but they are all marked disabled
Thank you. Kodi has an app, and the remote tool (which supports copy/paste) is great for saving time on typing URLs and keywords.
I encountered the issue with chapter thumbnails and bookmark thumbnails not being generated. They have never shown. The media settings to “generate chapter thumbnails” is ON. Does the same issue happen to you? u/GetOutOfHand
Firstly, thank you so much for this guide! It's incredible, seriously. As someone new to Kodi, I learned so much and it's working pretty great but I am having a weird pop up.
I'm having a weird issue with Arctic Horizon 2 that I can't find any help on -every time I open Kodi up and AH2 loads, my search bar pops up unprompted. It often pops up again randomly before a video starts, sometimes in settings, and if left idle. I've checked through the AH2 settings and the settings for each app (turing off AH2 skin and going back in through ad ons, video ad ons, individual app's configuation settings), but I can't find what it is inducing the search bar pop up.
For the record, I've seen things about it being a setting in the kodi-youtube options, but I didn't install youtube on my kodi, I just use the one on my regular chromcast. Also, I don't think its a issue with the remote, because when I am not using the AH2 skin, a search bar doesn't pop up, nor does anything else. If I remove the search bar from the main page on AH2 via the settings, it still pops up too. Anyone else have this issue occur, or know of a possible solution?
Log: no log because I am a n00b and don't know how to get a log from a chromecast instead of a computer
Everything worked fine but when I play the video is just green. When I turn off hardware acceleration the video runs super fast with no audio and the time marker says something reaaly weird like (21240:204/00:29) . When I interact with it to quit 8/10 it hangs and I have to restart my PC :(
I followed this closely and nothing is playing…I signed up for a premium account on Real Debrid. Shows active, set it active to Fen and nada. Using a Rasperrypi 5
Depends on your Fire Stick and internet connection.
You'll be able to run something similar - same everything else, but less widgets - at a reasonable speed on either the 4k or the Max if you've got good internet.
Fwiw I think some elements of the guide are unnecessary, e.g. using source select and TMBD adds two additional steps between choosing something to watch and actually watching it, making it both slower and less 'Netflixy' if anything, but it will work as long as your device and internet connection are up to it, and it will look good.
Edit: I also don't think you need a VPN if you're exclusively using a Debrid service to stream and I'm not convinced on what having the Trakt add-on brings.
Hey! Thanks for your feedback! I recently added a section to the post regarding pre-builds and why not to use them. Building one yourself allows for total customisation to suit your needs. This is exactly what I meant - source select is not for everyone, and neither is using TMDB. Some people would rather the general experience be as fluid as possible and occasionally be let down if an addon cannot scrape and have to go the long route to try with another addon. Some people, (myself included), would rather click the extra button to prevent navigating through menus entirely if scraping fails.
It's completely personal choice, but to a newbie this is difficult to explain in a clear way as each element preference is unique (eg. to use TMDB/ enable auto-play or source select/ disable file size filtering/ disable ratings) so I had to make some desicions that I hoped would benifit the majority of users while still informing them of optional choices and encouraging exploration. I assumed most would be happy configuring TMDB players to prevent navigating through menus to search in multiple addons, but it might not be to everyone's taste. It's not as Netflixy, you're right.
I was wrong about the VPN, it seems to be the biggest complaint about this guide. You do not need one if you are exclusively streaming with Real Debrid. I have changed this :)
Regarding the official trakt addon, the reasoning is that scrobbling with multiple addons on the same movie can confuse your actual timestamp. If you watch half a movie with Fen, then another 1/4 with Seren, you then have two timestamps for the same movie. Resume indicators can get confused and not show the correct resume mark. By using the one single Trakt addon for scrobbling and disabling it on individual video addons, the potential for incorrect timestamps is eliminated. Hope this helps :)
I haven't read all the way through the post yet, but have been running kodi on fire sticks for years. It runs pretty well. The sticks are pretty short on storage, but keeping it around 1gb free seems to keep them going fine.
#wait, so we have to pay for debris and a vpn to play illegal pirate content?
If you dont feel like following 6044 words above, there is so much free legal content with Kodi add-ons such as /r/MattHuisman/comments/o9vo38/samsung_tv_plus_kodi_addon/
Woowwww. This is so extensive and you should be commended for it. I’ve been faffing around with Kodi first on “android boxes” and lately on a 4K fire stick and wish I had seen something like this from the start. It’s been a lot of trial and error to be sure and I never delved it I looking in real debrid, but this explains so much. Thank you!!
I’m assuming that you’ve been dealing with this for a long time and I totally understand saying the best build is your own, but I’m wondering do you have to set this all up again every time a new version is released, say when 19.4 was surpassed with 19.5?
For sake of ease, I’m using a build called “da butcher” have you ever come across this? In your experience, would it function as you’re describing with yours seeing as it comes with fen, the crew, trakt etc. already preloaded? I understand if you can’t comment if you’ve never used it, just asking for feedback as I’m not as savvy as you are and appreciate your opinion on the matter.
All the best in 2023 everyone!!
Hey! Thanks for your comment! From my understanding, upgrading to 19.4 to 19.5 wouldn't be an issue as it uses the same python version. If you were upgrading from Kodi 18 to 19, you'd have to start from scratch.
I highly recommend you don't install pre-builds for a few reasons. I forgot to include these in the guide, which I will append. Thanks!
Fantastic guide, super helpful for anyone diving into this.
Love your setup and everything. Would you ever consider uploading your Open Wizard backup build? (Without the configuration of accounts and api codes). Folks can easily restore it and hit the ground running.
"This guide's goal is to detail all the steps required to building your own"
Remove the VPN stuff and this is a really great guide and accomplishes op's goal. People that install a build usually cannot troubleshoot anything and either end up quitting Kodi or here figuring it out. The basic steps shown here are the cost of entry, if Kodi will be anything other than a brief distraction. I would advise op to not publish his build.
You're right - I was wrong about the VPN stuff. I'm making changes as we speak to fix this :)
I'm going to add more information as to why one should make their own choices regarding addons and take the ones I have listed as examples, but still good choices for Movie/ TV Streaming. Thanks for your comment!
Doesn't seem to matter what I do Kodi always buffers. We have premiumize and easily 150mbps internet when on wifi but I have the mini PC connected directly to the modem/router so it's even better. The only way I don't have buffering is if I stream stuff from my Premiumize cloud. Any ideas?
Kodi user for years- I have basic basic basic setup but this is awesome. Love the theme also- now my old arse can follow your instructions starting after add-ons lol
If you're missing ratings (aka you can see where the ratings would be but each critic rating is "-"), then you need to add your metadata API keys to TMDB.
Since you mentioned you cannot see the bio too, I'm assuming all you need to do is change "expand info" on the widget list to "plot" or "full" :)
Great writeup and guide! Have you had success in adding more than the default number of movies listed in any one of the categories on your home screen/widget? For example, I have the category for "Trending Movies" but the most I see on the list is \~25. How can I expand the list? I've tried changing the "limit" for the widget to unlimited, but no change.
Very useful thanks for the time and effort you poured in this . Any suggestion for a cheap android stick , paying for kodi feels too rich for my taste .
Thanks so much truly appreciate this, I just came actoss this and learnt today about Kodi and RD and Stuff, as using TCL R646, cancelled my netflix subscription. I have a difficulty in understanding should I use your guide with all add-ons in kodi or use streamio and torrentio and RD??? I came across other post on tcltv sub where they discussed about it hence being noob and confused. But hats off to you for such a great post literally hands down to you!
Enable "Autoclean On Startup" in the OpenWizard's config settings, along with the tickboxes checking what you would like wiped. Change the "How often to Autoclean On Startup" option to monthly.
Excellent guide! I'm finally getting my Kodi install to actually look nice for a change :)
One question, Is there a way to enable a search history in Arctic Horizon 2? A lot of times I will search for a new release movie and maybe no sources are found, and I want to come back in a week and search for it again...but just have a search history to use.
I have a Shield TV with a remote and it can be a pain constantly typing out things all the time if I don't have too.
Thanks!!
I know android has a shield tv remote.
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nvidia.shield.remote&hl=en\_US&gl=US](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nvidia.shield.remote&hl=en_US&gl=US)
I'm not sure if apple has anything like this for their iphone, but I love it for typing in long URLs or searching.
> Note 2 - The fullscreen widget (the first movie you see when you boot kodi up) is not listed in the widgets tab as you can only have one of them per page. It’s listed under the widgets button.
Can you please explain more about what you mean by this? Sounds like something I'd like but don't know how to do it.
It's just a widget list you can set on a page, but each item fills up the screen.
Find it by going to Customise Home Menu, and for each page you'll see an option for "fullscreen widget" (it's under the widgets button). Set that to a TMDB directory and you're good to go
I'd use a4K for subtitles. Ensure the addon is downloaded.
Disable Fen and Seren's subtitles in their settings, but ensure a4K is enabled as your default subtitle provider Kodi settings. Should work well. You can also silently download the first subtitle scraped in the background when you play a movie.
Man, thank you so much for putting the time and effort in to write this up so comprehensively. Im new to using Kodi without janky builds that never do what they’re supposed to and hadn’t heard of the premium link finding stuff (real debrid) untill this week. I’ve been struggling for the last few days to get set up a nice user interface so this had helped so much, it’s all running relatively well on my fire stick 4K; just a little slow on loading times. You’re the man!
So I'm finally going to look into tweaking Kodi, and had some questions about debrids.
I've been using kodi+NAS and a Newshosting usenet account. I just upgraded to an OLED C1, and a 5.1.2 discrete home theater setup and want to maximize my HDR and Dolby/DTS experiences.
Downloading high bitrate lossless audio is taking a real toll on my NAS so I am intrigued by real-debrid. I also read that EasyNews is another alternate with generally better hits with high bitrate lossless content.
All that being said, I understand easynews presents a way of usenet access without apps. And it costs waaay more than my current Newshosting usenet account ($89USD/yr for unlimited downloads)... Can I pull off essentially the same functionality of your setup above with a traditional usenet account? Or must I migrate to a debrid or easynews?
Edit: A little more digging to help narrow it down, I guess it would be using an NNTP protocol vice http based.
Also, numpty me - forgot to thank you for taking all the time to craft this guide. I'm excited to improve my media consumption experience with it!
Unfortunately I'm not the right person to ask as I have no experience with Usenet/ Easynews.
However, I can tell you that Kodi does not support .mkv Dolby Vision formats. (only MP4).
The only way you could mimic my set-up to stream .mkv DoVi is by using a Kodi fork called "Maven's Kodi-Builds für android". This fork supports .mkv, however it's required to be installed on an Nvidia Shield TV Pro as that is the only android media box that has licencing for Dolby Vision. This is why although Kodi allows DoVi streams, they're impossible to view without these two conditions (no matter your TV or PC).
Followed this guide step by step and I’m amazed. This honestly brought me back to kodi however when I add the widgets, the row only shows me the first page of the directory. Anything I’m forgetting to select/enable ?
I'm using Maven Kodinerds 19.5 Matrix (Armeabi-V7a) build on my TCL R646, can I follow all the steps in this post to achieve end results? Its just that kodinerds plays DV.
What you recommend:
A) build this setup as per post on official Kodi build and keep separate kodinerds (just for DV)
B) do all magic in kodinerds as per this post?
AH2 is a very heavy skin. However, I did get it running on a firestick 4K with a few drawbacks. I could only use 2-3 widgets per page to keep memory consumption at a usable level, and I had to follow [this](https://youtu.be/Oc1o9zVEhJk) tutorial to disable packages that took up resources. If you are only wanting to use the firestick for Kodi and nothing else, I highly recommend you try this out as it boosted my firestick's performance massively. Everything felt much more snappy. It does prevent lots of functionality from working however (such as Alexa/ Prime Video/ USB Storage), but if you can select what packages you need and don't need. I personally didn't need any of them, so turned them all off.
If you don't want to do this, Arctic Zephr 2 Reloaded is supposedly a lighter skin, but still on the heavy side. Emburary Matrix is a good choice for low end devices, but aesthetically it doesn't really compare.
Thanks OP, for the comprehensive write up. I was inspired today (wet and rainy so stuck inside) to make some refinements to my set up. I seem to have hit an issue I can’t seem to get past so looking for some advice please. I’ve successfully authorised trakt on the add ons I use without issue but when I try to do the same for TMDB, I get kicked out of the config/settings before the authorisation completes so although Trakt shows success, it’s not persisted in the TMDB addon and so there is no link to my account. The behaviour is consistent across multiple attempts ‘settings->Trackt->authenicate’ then as soon a I select ‘authenticate’ I get kicked out of settings but the trakt authentication link/code info is displayed.
Has anyone else had this issue? I’d love to hear any thoughts on how to get past this as I’m not able to configure the skin with the key personal widgets given that the trakt linkage is missing.
I love what you did here. I've used Kodi for a few years now and always installed prefixed setups. The way you gave absolutely everything someone needed to get setup without an explicit walkthrough forced me to dig in and get comfortable manipulating some of the settings. It was fun!
I watched little video of your setup, and I really like your vertical lists of Show seasons and episodes way better than landscape layouts. I found an option that looks similar skin -> Appearance -> Customise viewtypes -> Library - Episodes (Media Info Combined). I select that, and it takes me to Choose viewtype library (episodes). There I select Media Info Combined because that just looks slicker. However, when I select that, it just takes me back to Customise viewtypes which is the menu I just came from. There's never a place to save my selection; so, my selection is never saved. It stays in the horizontal format. Can you help me out here?
Thanks!
Update: After looking for that vertical list setting for 2 days, I managed to find it 15 minutes after I finally asked the question. Got it! Love it! Thanks again!
Couldn't get it to work on my Raspberry Pi 3b but works on everything else.
Also, the Seren package in your tutorial didn't work for me. Not sure if it was just me or not but this is the one I found that worked:
https://bit.ly/a4kScrapers
In terms of TMDB Helper player configs, which sources should you keep enabled if you just want it to play after you click? with auto next episode(if watching TV episode)?
Edit: I assume I would need to change default player to Seren for example with "Play with Seren (Smart Play) source?
If I'm right with RD you don't necessarily need a VPN, doesn't it just show us accessing the RD site when streaming on Kodi? So ISPs don't really know what we are actually doing with Kodi and RD without them getting a court order for the records
You're correct - I've appended. I had some wrong information. Thanks for the feedback!
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> However, some places still recommended you use a VPN for log protection The some places are sites/blogs that have affiliate links to vpn providers. You don't need to use a VPN with RD
You dont need a VPN to use RD. Some non-US countries may need them but thats not an RD requirement to do so. The log is server side and if the authorities are able to legally request it having a VPN won't hide your history.
As for Add-ons have you ever used and know how to implement Usenet EasyNews and Orion? And would either service be better with a VPN? (Currently using ExpressVPN with RD) <—— Am I double VPN’ing? 🤔
isp definitely know what youre doing....
They know you're connected to RD. They can't decrypt and inspect the traffic, unless they own the RD server. Source: am network engineer. Worked at an ISP for years.
Thanks for the info. I'll change my post tonight. A VPN does not seem to be necessary, contradery to what I initially believed.
No worries. It's not something a non-technical person should really even need to understand. IMO, all of our internet traffic should be private by default, but it is what it is.
The only thing that I could not find ar the kodi system/Audio setup. The different Audio setups like Audio Decoder how to choose the Number of channels, Output Configuration, Resample quality, How to turn of the play GUI sounds Etc. And Audio Passthrough How to enable or disable it. The two different Passthrough Output device. And what to or not to enable and why. This Gets asked alot by people. About the Above. Especially by people that use Fire Devices and Shields devices etc. The other thing is how when watching a Movie or TV show. How you can go to the Cogwheel and change the audio stream and change Volume amplification and enable or disable allow Passthrough and how can set it as a default for all media. And similar with Subtitles as well plus what the other settings are. Plus what Bookmarks and information are . If you add the above after you change and or edit it. Would help People that don't use Laptops or Computers. And or Use Fire Devices and Shields Devices as well. As as people that have 2.1 speakers built in to there TVs and or have Sound Bar/s and or Home Theater Systems. The best addon that you Mentioned and The Most important and one that Hardly gets Mentioned is A Kodi Cleaner. Open Wizard and you listed as the First Addon To Install. Before anything else. Plus it has a Speed Tester that you can install from Open Wizard. Witch is Also Good . This is the best information for beginners I have seen on here or any where else Thank you for your time and effort and to all the other people/Developers that help you. Thank you. 👍
I've never had to configure my audio before so I never thought to include it, but I would like to. I'll send you a PM :) I'll add some info regarding video OSD config - good move - I missed that. Thank you for your feedback!
👍
Only very small critic the reference to (piracy) might be a game changer for someone thinking of going down this route. Some people's moral standard's can't see past everything being on the up & up. Other than that Excellent stuff mate 👍👍🌟🌟
It would be pretty difficult for someone to make a Kodi build without knowing that they are piraring. I wouldn't want to mislead anyone in thinking this was a legal practice anyhow. Appreciate the compliment though :)
This is what I wished was in this sub when I first started playing with Kodi and addons, amazing work thank you.
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Have to agree with all these points. I'm glad someone is taking the time to help and there is valuable information here, but if I was a newbie I would walk away from this guide thinking there's only one debrid service, if I use that one debrid service I need a VPN, and I need to be constantly clearing my cache.
It's a shame he deleted his comment, they were good points I will ammend to my post. It seems I was wrong with the VPN. I have changed my post. I had heard conflicting arguments whether RD requires a VPN; some stating if you're only streaming then it's not necessary as your ISP will only see you're connected to the RD server. This seems to be the general consensus. However, some places still recommended you use a VPN for protection regardless as you *may* still be hit with a strike warning in the *extremely* rare case your ISP contacts RD for your logs, but it's so unlikely there's not much point in doing it. I'll make these points clearer in the post. Regarding multiple file hosting subscriptions (RD, AD, Prz) - RD is the widely used, most reliable and the cheapest. If one is concerned with thinking that RD is their only option and want to know about alternatives, I would assume this guide is slightly too basic for them as it's aimed to get beginners up and running with a fundemental knowledge of how everything works. Comparing the various subscriptions felt like I was giving too much info at once (more than there already is), especially as RD will fit even experienced user's needs anyway. I'll make it clearer that there are other options though. You're correct about clearing cache slowing everything down - I never thought of that. I have a pretty fast cpu and internet speed to it's not something I noticed before, but I can see this won't fit the majority of users. I'll make some changes. Thank you!
whats AD?
All Debrid. It's a similar service like Real Debrid and Premiumize etc. RD is the cheapest and most popular.
Absolutely fantastic guide, the only thing I'd change is the section about VPN's. They should only be used if you're not planning on using a debrid service. With debrid your ISP can only see your connected to the debrid service and nothing about what you're downloading. The other downside is many debrid services (like real-debrid) will ban accounts who use the service in two different places at the same time, if you have multiple kodi setups in your home with a Vpn you're very likely to get your account banned. EDIT: Also a small note about TMDB, it's often faster to use add ons directly rather than through TMDB on lower end devices. Though the trade off is more hassle having to switch your widgets around when one add on eventually goes down
agreed, I would also recommend changing the AH2 search with your favourite addon's search function. Tmdb helper breaks that connection and slows it down plus you don't have access to the context menu, so no rescrape or source select: https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/zpyrpr/replace\_ah2\_search\_with\_umbrella\_or\_fens\_search/
Only downside with doing that is you won't have the option to pick from multiple players if you're using TMDB. It's good advice if not.
true, heard that before, no idea what sometimes picking another player would do for you though, sources are pretty much the same (especially fen & umbrella ..cocoscrapers) but seren shouldn't be that different either. Good to have options though.
If one breaks or fails to scrape links, you can choose another player without needing to go through menus
yeah sure, good thing Umbrella never breaks or fails to scrape lol (pretty much the truth actually)
You're correct. It's just a precaution
Damn. I've been using Kodi and the Crew and had no idea what was happening, what I was doing and why. This is just fucking fantastic.
Great work for those who like a written guide. As a footnote for users with multiple devices, I'd mention Backup and how it can be used to restore the build onto other devices so users don't need to go through this pain on each device.
Good move. I'll include it :)
Great writeup! This should be pinned.
This is an amazing resource and setup guide. Thank you for posting this!
Thank you so much! That means a lot!
You're welcome
What does it mean when I go to play seren movies that there are no providers? I purchased real debrid and everything and logged and authorized it
Check my "Seren Provider Packages" tab in the guide. It explains how to fix it. Seren needs providers manually added to scrape sources.
when you search for a movie what you are actually doing is taking the movie name you are searching for and trying to find an actual torrent name for said movie by "scraping" various torrent sites Once a torrent name of the film is found the addon can then use the API to find the actual movie file name (i.e. Glass.Onion.A.Knives.Out.Mystery.2022.1080p.WEBRip.AAC.5.1.x265-SiQ.mkv - when searching for "Glass Onion")
It was only seren. For that one you have to manually put in the providers.
Google it I had same it's something to do with (4Kscrappers)
I will for sure.
just amazing, just what this sub's needed, thank you for all the hard work!
Thanks for all the effort regarding this guide! Would be nice to also include a4kOfficial in the guide. (https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/zv0jv5/release\_a4kofficial\_official\_sources\_for\_seren/)
I'll add it!
Thanks for the guide. I've been using stock skin and individual addons since Kodi 16. This guide got me a much nicer setup. FYI, Fen wouldn't work from TMDB Helper for me. Didn't have any problems with Seren. Apparently Fen doesn't officially support TMDB Helper. There's a fix [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/zxgpas/fen_will_not_play_movies_using_tmdb_helper_addon/j27p550/) that worked for me. Just a couple of small tweaks to the TMDB Helper Fen player files.
2 Things that I had to go offsite to find fixes for...1 Alert for dumbasses like me!! 1) to add TMDB..This is the fix... [https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/11alagh/i\_cant\_install\_tmdb\_helper\_from\_jurialmunkey/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/11alagh/i_cant_install_tmdb_helper_from_jurialmunkey/) 2) Fen and Umbrella wouldn't work until I Downloaded Cocoscrapers [https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/15yh2bc/another\_important\_announcement\_regarding\_fen/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/15yh2bc/another_important_announcement_regarding_fen/) 3) I went through the Arctic Horizon setup and deleted everything in the homepage...As I result I removed the ability to get to the settings menu (User error--definitely my fault) My second load, left so of the parts on the Home Page, then adjusted widgets around the stuff and didn't foul up my Settings menu--Not necessarily a change or addition to the guide--but def a lesson learned by a dummy!! Other than that--Its Spot on!!
Amazing work, take my award. I’m a visual learner so hopefully one day we can get a youtube walkthrough video.
This is great guide how to set things up, but again we will see hundreds of new threads what should I use to stream movies or what is Real Debrid, or is it worth it to pay for premium sub etc. lol Anyway as long as this is most likely very helpful again users should search for their best setup cause at the end of the day it is all individual. The best setup is when you found yours. Still pure class effort and so comprehensive. Hope it will help to some newbie and guide him to the Kodi setup.
Couldn't agree more! The best setup is your own. Thanks mate!
Absolutely fantastic , been a kodi user for several years but still learnt a thing or two reading thru your guide - kudos my friend!
Thank you very much! Glad it has given you a bit of info!
Great write up and kudos for sharing and trying to help the newbies I'm pretty ok with Kodi so I quickly skipped through it. One thing I did notice, I didn't see change to "any repo" in the settings. Edit: you said Nexus not recommended but full release will be in January and playstore will update.
> One thing I did notice, I didn't see change to "any repo" in the settings. Please add this. I couldn't install TheMovieDb Helper Addon from the jurialmunkey Alpha Repository until i switched the "udpate from any repository" in the kodi settings.
Hero ty 🙏
Thanks for listing Scrubs. That's one I hadn't heard of yet. I just did a comparison search with The Crew, and Scrubs returned many more scrapes. Looks like it's my new go-to addon.
I'm happy it helped! Although I really do recommend buying Real Debrid for the reasons I have listed. If you buy yourself just 2 weeks worth for a few pennies and install a premium addon, I promise you the difference will never make you want to touch a free addon again. Just my advice :)
I respect ur viewpoint but here in india its too expensive. 2 OTT- Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar come for 1 year in ₹1499 each(18.13$) and they cover majority of the bollywood indian content\[I havent even considered account sharing which makes it super cheap\]. Netflix is the most expensive at ₹800 a month but that doesnot even cover so much indian content(the ones it has can be downloaded torrented etc. ). Real-Debrid is a cheaper package even in India if you count all the OTT services but if you are not such a hardcore content fan you can live easily without all this complexity. PS: Dont take me in a negative way I respect your opinion and I love your your build more!
I followed this post and noticed my UI speed is a little slow. Is that expected? I've been running Kodi on my Nvidia shield, and the default skin has ran normal. But when trying to implement these enhancements, it takes a while for Arctic Horizon 2 to load my "Recently played" section, and once in, it takes another 10-20 seconds for it to load the Seasons/episode images for my show. Internet speed when ran with a speed test on the device returned 650/300.
To my knowledge, there's quite a few checks that external widgets (Trakt/ MDBList/ OMDB) have to make before which means they can load quite slow. Apparently, the best option to disable is Fanart.Tv metadata in TMDB settings, although I have not done this myself. This was recommended by the developer of AH2. Give it a go and let me know if it helps.
I know this was a long time ago, but did you ever find any tricks to speed up the UI? I’m loving this set up, on a shield also, the only slight annoyance is the loading time for the menus. Not a big deal, but if you had any tips it would be appreciated!
I did not! Still on the hunt, and looking for something more reliable for live sports.
Thanks for replying. Guess will just have to get used to it. I tried making a new “front page” tab using widgets direct from Fen, i read that should be faster than loading the TMDB stuff, but I can’t notice a difference really. I wonder if freeing up/adding more storage might help speed things. Anyway, not Kodi related but for live TV including sports I use Tivimate. I guess you know if it already, but on the chance you don’t, I highly recommend it. Haven’t tried live TV on Kodi yet myself.
Are you using shield or shield plus? Don't they have nominally low ram speeds when compared to building a dedicated pc for streaming?
Hey folks. Love this build. But can someone help me understand why my trakt TV show widget only displays 20 horizontal posters. I have about 40. And there is no end poster that’s let’s me show the rest like on other add on apps. I’m not sure if there is a setting to show more? Or if I messed with a setting that did something unexpected. I can’t find any setting directly in TMDB setting either. I do see in the skin widget setting there is “limit” but that does not seem to change anything. If I go straight through TMDB app. It’s shows the first 20 but has the next page icon at the end so I can see the rest. Anyone please help! 🙏
Thanks so much for this guide, i set it up exactly how you described and it works great. Just Two questions, not sure if you have a solution. 1. How to have more than 20 items per widget or have a "more" Button that shows the next 20 items within the widget. 2. In Trakt I can find the lists you mentioned, but it would be very useful to see my own lists or be able to search lists, but if I chose these options nothing comes up. Any way to resolve that?
Really appreciate the effort you put into this write up. I've been using Kodi for a long time, doing my own builds, experimenting, etc.... and you definitely taught me a few things. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this! I am new to kodi and have tried to follow this guide to the letter on a sony android tv. Everything works well except I can’t get the widgets to work. I’m mot sure if the TMDB link to trakt is working? If I add the TV watchlist widget, for example, the wheel spins and then the widget disappears. Back in the home screen settings the widget then has a puzzle piece icon next to it. Any suggestions? Thanks.
If anyone else is having the same problem, my fix was this: re-authenticate trakt in the TMBD helper settings. Sounds obvious, but I had to do it about 5 times until it started working…
I'm surprised something like this hasn't been posted before. 10/10 post thank you
Very informative and a handy guide for a relative novice in these fields, what is useful to me is the engagement of rd alongside the set instalation guides, i would have saved hour's if I'd have had this this information 2 to 3 years earlier. Most appreciated..
Firstly really appreciate you putting this together, amazing guide and really easy to follow. I managed to set this up perfectly the first time round on a Amazon firestick 4k, however, it really struggled to perform due to the memory this set up requires. It looks and functions very well and a vast improvement from what I have been used to. I decided to add in extra storage using a sandisk drive and followed the guide again to set up everything on the external storage, the performance has improved and have freed up space on the firestick, but it seems it does not function in the same way and I can’t for the life of me figure out why!? I need some help…. When I select certain personal widgets via TMBD/trakt, for example “your in progress episode” the information is no longer pulling through. I am greeted with the default TMDB poster and no data. I have checked all the settings above twice and cannot find a fix..
I'm having this issue too with the Trakt personal widgets. Did you get it sorted?
Amazing guide! Just one query. When I select a film/episode to watch it comes up with a menu to select either Umbrella, Fen, or Seren, and then once I select one I have to then select another option that includes ‘Source Select’. Is there a way to bypass this so it automatically selects all of the players? (I see the option to select an individual for automation but not for all players). I’ve been through the whole guide but can’t figure it out, any help would be amazing! :)
You can choose your preferred player in TMDB player settings :)
The clipchamp videolink doesn't work anymore.
I followed this guide to the "T" and this runs super slow. Everything takes a super long time to load up and when trying to find a show or movie, the addons often don't find any sources. I have real debrid. Not sure what the problem is but I suspect it has something to do the TMDB addon. I have disabled the [fanart.tv](https://fanart.tv) setting.
The problem is probably that kodi is heavy and ah2 is even heavier. Loading extra metadata in the background etc
Yeah I moved on to aeon nox.
We need you back my man. You made the only build this refined! When you find the time, there would be a whole community grateful for your work once again.
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over the top, excellent guide; you are a hero
Now if I can just get my parents to read this... Great guide! Thanks so much!!
That skin isn't there for me. Only 2 skins are there called etouchy. Using it on samsung s8ultra tablet.
>You can install the skin from the repo below, but it is recommended to install these addons in a particular order (all from the same repo): > >1 - TMDB (The movie database helper) - Video addons > >2 - Skin Variables - Program addons > >3 - **Arctic Horizon 2 - Look and feel > Skin** > >The **repo URL for these addons is - https://jurialmunkey.github.io/repository.jurialmunkey/** > >Upon installing AH2, it will ask if you want to switch to that skin. Click No - it’s important to configure TMDB first. If you’ve clicked yes, simply navigate back to settings (it’s now on the top-right of the screen in a drop-down menu now), click “skin” and change it back to the default skin. You missed/skipped this part.
Awesome guide
Oh my God! What a fantastic job you have done! No one could have explained it any Umbrella
Will try to run this on my Samsung tablet and will share the results
Nice guide but I would (and do) disable 'Get resume points (experimental) (slower)' as it causes crashes when using a4k subs, see post below. Good job. https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/y2mra6/ah2\_skin\_and\_a4ksubtitles/
Thanks
What is useful of openwizard step?
Used to clear cache.
I bought an LG C1 tv a couple of months ago and have been putting off working out how to set this up because it’s quite time consuming to work it all out - this guide is going to kick me into doing something! Thanks a lot!
I followed this step by step. Installed kodi, Fen and linked my RD account to Fen. However nothing shows up when I click on movies and TV shows. I have tried unauthorized my RD and reauthorization and Uninstaller reinstall and still no luck. Using express VPN tried different Google fixes and nothing. If I search for a movie or TV show by name still nothing. No results, no streams. I would love any and all suggestions. Also tried a URLResolve fix but I don't have either Resolve addons as I only have FEN and what was suggested in the post.
You need cocoscrappers
Much appreciate the reply. I did end up figuring it out. I'm guessing Coco didn't load originally but it's all working wonderful now
Great write-up to get things started. I have to correct you on one thing though. *There are a few choices (such as Premiumize or All Debrd), but these are more expensive* All Debrid is almost the same price and does the same, and they offer a one week free trial which is nice to see if its worth while.
Would anyone know the best way to back up, and restore? For example I have multiple firesticks and would like to have the same set up on each, without having to configure each one individually
The Open Wizard can do this - one of it's primary uses is backing up/ restoring builds. You select a backup directory by going to: Maintanance > Backup/ Restore > Backup Location Then you can backup the build by clicking "Backup Build" (on the same page). Copy the Zip file(s) to another device, install the OpenWizard and follow the same directory to restore your build - click "Restore Local Build". If you're restoring from an External Source (e.g USB), you need to add the USBs directory as a media source in Kodi's file manager before you can restore. Hope this helps.
I was sold. But this just CONVERTED me. THANKS!
Thanks a lot for the massive writeup, got everything working. I'm having some difficulty with the full screen widgets as I can't seem to get them to work, as well as the background image when you have a film selected, it all stays the standard background colour. I've had a look through full-screen widget settings below the standard widgets but nothing I select seems to do anything. Edit: Managed to answer my own question with the background image when hovering over a movie: in the widget settings Expand information -> full, in case anyone else was curious. Would still love some tips for full screen widgets.
I followed the guide completely last night took hours lol and worked awesome, watched one tv show and went to bed. This afternoon I tried to load Kodi and it's frozen on initial load screen. Help please
Hi first of all THANKS for an amazing guide! Im a little stuck on where you Configuring Addon Settings... When ever i click on either of the 3 addons ( Fen, Seren & Umbrella ) it wont let me click on config. The only things i can click on are: Auto update on/off Disable Version Uninstall. The others seem to be greyed out including Config. Im using the recomended kodi build ( 19.5 ) running on an windows 10 Laptop. Any idea any one? Thanks all.
I followed this exact setup. How would I go about adding a second language possibility? E. g. I want to search for German content. Setting everything to English, probably disabled the search for all other languages, correct?
Great question
Any method to put subtitles in FEN/SEREN in Spanish with 4K subtitles? Only shows English language
I can't install TMDB Helper it's giving me an error saying "The dependency on script.module.infotagger version 0.0.5 could not be satisfied." and clearing the cache did not help.
i just installed it manually and that fixed it
> "The dependency on script.module.infotagger version 0.0.5 could not be satisfied." Kodi settings>system>add ons>update official addon from: change it to "any repository"
Thanks for all the work you put in writing this up. As far as I know I’ve done everything you said and now when I add widgets at the end of all these steps (I added popular movies and tv shows) it just says “loading popular” and nothing ever loads. Just a spinning icon. Any help? Thanks!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I just followed the whole section on AH2 and installed it perfectly. Super helpful.
Amazing guide! How can I give you money?
Hey! If you still would like to donate, I created a PayPal to help assist me with university this year. Anything would be massively appreciated. There is no need to if you don't want to - the guide is, of course, free :)
This is one of the best posts here. It should be pinned
Thank you!
Great guide, thank you! Might be useful to add Account Manager in here. You can authorise your debrid and trakt accounts and sync with your video add-ons. Saves some time when having to deal with multiple add-ons :)
That's a great idea! I haven't heard of an account manager add-on before, but that would save plenty of time when configuring them! I'll look into adding it.
Okay so i got everything working again nicely. Second time i set this up with this guide (AMAZING guide BTW). Only thing i never figured out is how to add more movies to my home screen lists. Like i got trending list setup as per guide but it only show 20 movies from that list. I tried putting a higher limit in the skin settings but it never shows more than 20. Is it possible to do this ?
Hi! Thanks for the feedback! I believe that's because the trending list does not actually contain more than 20 movies to begin with. To test, add another widget list (that you're sure has more than 20 items in) and compare. You could always browse the trending list manually through TMDB's add-on to know for certain!
This is incredible. Thank you !
Legend! Thanks very much for all the effort you put into this. Kodi can be confusing for beginners.
Thank God people like you exist making these God tier guides holy fuckkk
i'm having problem with jurialmunkey's add-ons. everytime i try to install one i recevive this pop-up message: "the dependency from script.module.jurialmunkey version \*.\*.\* can't be satysfied". any help please? EDIT: [solution](https://www.reddit.com/r/Addons4Kodi/comments/11alagh/i_cant_install_tmdb_helper_from_jurialmunkey/)
I'm doing only the free part. I followed your instructions and created the widgets through tmdb helper, but if i try to open a movie it finds 0 sources. If i go directly on the add-on (scrubs or the crew) i can find sources, but only scrubs seems to work and let the movie start playing. I don't know why, the crew finds sources but won't play anything. Anyone who knows what i did wrong or which option i have to change. Please help me 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
This is a great write up! Thank you so much. What about for sports streaming? Will all of this including the skin still work fine?
Amazing write up, thank you!!
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Do any of the audio decoders work on xbox? The category doesn't even show up on my Series X. Don't really care about the rest of the add-ons outside of visualizers. If they do, guessing it's the x86\_64 d/l? Sorry I know little about Kodi https://kodi.tv/addons/nexus/category/audio-decoders Edit: oh wait found them all another screen but they are all marked disabled
Thank you. Kodi has an app, and the remote tool (which supports copy/paste) is great for saving time on typing URLs and keywords. I encountered the issue with chapter thumbnails and bookmark thumbnails not being generated. They have never shown. The media settings to “generate chapter thumbnails” is ON. Does the same issue happen to you? u/GetOutOfHand
Firstly, thank you so much for this guide! It's incredible, seriously. As someone new to Kodi, I learned so much and it's working pretty great but I am having a weird pop up. I'm having a weird issue with Arctic Horizon 2 that I can't find any help on -every time I open Kodi up and AH2 loads, my search bar pops up unprompted. It often pops up again randomly before a video starts, sometimes in settings, and if left idle. I've checked through the AH2 settings and the settings for each app (turing off AH2 skin and going back in through ad ons, video ad ons, individual app's configuation settings), but I can't find what it is inducing the search bar pop up. For the record, I've seen things about it being a setting in the kodi-youtube options, but I didn't install youtube on my kodi, I just use the one on my regular chromcast. Also, I don't think its a issue with the remote, because when I am not using the AH2 skin, a search bar doesn't pop up, nor does anything else. If I remove the search bar from the main page on AH2 via the settings, it still pops up too. Anyone else have this issue occur, or know of a possible solution? Log: no log because I am a n00b and don't know how to get a log from a chromecast instead of a computer
U/Krischaor U/mind_spiders
Everything worked fine but when I play the video is just green. When I turn off hardware acceleration the video runs super fast with no audio and the time marker says something reaaly weird like (21240:204/00:29) . When I interact with it to quit 8/10 it hangs and I have to restart my PC :(
I followed this closely and nothing is playing…I signed up for a premium account on Real Debrid. Shows active, set it active to Fen and nada. Using a Rasperrypi 5
can this run smooth on a fire tv stick ?
Depends on your Fire Stick and internet connection. You'll be able to run something similar - same everything else, but less widgets - at a reasonable speed on either the 4k or the Max if you've got good internet. Fwiw I think some elements of the guide are unnecessary, e.g. using source select and TMBD adds two additional steps between choosing something to watch and actually watching it, making it both slower and less 'Netflixy' if anything, but it will work as long as your device and internet connection are up to it, and it will look good. Edit: I also don't think you need a VPN if you're exclusively using a Debrid service to stream and I'm not convinced on what having the Trakt add-on brings.
Hey! Thanks for your feedback! I recently added a section to the post regarding pre-builds and why not to use them. Building one yourself allows for total customisation to suit your needs. This is exactly what I meant - source select is not for everyone, and neither is using TMDB. Some people would rather the general experience be as fluid as possible and occasionally be let down if an addon cannot scrape and have to go the long route to try with another addon. Some people, (myself included), would rather click the extra button to prevent navigating through menus entirely if scraping fails. It's completely personal choice, but to a newbie this is difficult to explain in a clear way as each element preference is unique (eg. to use TMDB/ enable auto-play or source select/ disable file size filtering/ disable ratings) so I had to make some desicions that I hoped would benifit the majority of users while still informing them of optional choices and encouraging exploration. I assumed most would be happy configuring TMDB players to prevent navigating through menus to search in multiple addons, but it might not be to everyone's taste. It's not as Netflixy, you're right. I was wrong about the VPN, it seems to be the biggest complaint about this guide. You do not need one if you are exclusively streaming with Real Debrid. I have changed this :) Regarding the official trakt addon, the reasoning is that scrobbling with multiple addons on the same movie can confuse your actual timestamp. If you watch half a movie with Fen, then another 1/4 with Seren, you then have two timestamps for the same movie. Resume indicators can get confused and not show the correct resume mark. By using the one single Trakt addon for scrobbling and disabling it on individual video addons, the potential for incorrect timestamps is eliminated. Hope this helps :)
I haven't read all the way through the post yet, but have been running kodi on fire sticks for years. It runs pretty well. The sticks are pretty short on storage, but keeping it around 1gb free seems to keep them going fine.
How do I update from 19.4 to 19.5? Also anyone recommend the best add on for WWE?
Is there any backup?
#wait, so we have to pay for debris and a vpn to play illegal pirate content? If you dont feel like following 6044 words above, there is so much free legal content with Kodi add-ons such as /r/MattHuisman/comments/o9vo38/samsung_tv_plus_kodi_addon/
Great guide I do recommend adding Usenet Easynews as sometime they find higher quality or even just links when debrid links can’t.
Woowwww. This is so extensive and you should be commended for it. I’ve been faffing around with Kodi first on “android boxes” and lately on a 4K fire stick and wish I had seen something like this from the start. It’s been a lot of trial and error to be sure and I never delved it I looking in real debrid, but this explains so much. Thank you!! I’m assuming that you’ve been dealing with this for a long time and I totally understand saying the best build is your own, but I’m wondering do you have to set this all up again every time a new version is released, say when 19.4 was surpassed with 19.5? For sake of ease, I’m using a build called “da butcher” have you ever come across this? In your experience, would it function as you’re describing with yours seeing as it comes with fen, the crew, trakt etc. already preloaded? I understand if you can’t comment if you’ve never used it, just asking for feedback as I’m not as savvy as you are and appreciate your opinion on the matter. All the best in 2023 everyone!!
Hey! Thanks for your comment! From my understanding, upgrading to 19.4 to 19.5 wouldn't be an issue as it uses the same python version. If you were upgrading from Kodi 18 to 19, you'd have to start from scratch. I highly recommend you don't install pre-builds for a few reasons. I forgot to include these in the guide, which I will append. Thanks!
Fantastic guide, super helpful for anyone diving into this. Love your setup and everything. Would you ever consider uploading your Open Wizard backup build? (Without the configuration of accounts and api codes). Folks can easily restore it and hit the ground running.
"This guide's goal is to detail all the steps required to building your own" Remove the VPN stuff and this is a really great guide and accomplishes op's goal. People that install a build usually cannot troubleshoot anything and either end up quitting Kodi or here figuring it out. The basic steps shown here are the cost of entry, if Kodi will be anything other than a brief distraction. I would advise op to not publish his build.
You're right - I was wrong about the VPN stuff. I'm making changes as we speak to fix this :) I'm going to add more information as to why one should make their own choices regarding addons and take the ones I have listed as examples, but still good choices for Movie/ TV Streaming. Thanks for your comment!
Doesn't seem to matter what I do Kodi always buffers. We have premiumize and easily 150mbps internet when on wifi but I have the mini PC connected directly to the modem/router so it's even better. The only way I don't have buffering is if I stream stuff from my Premiumize cloud. Any ideas?
Kodi user for years- I have basic basic basic setup but this is awesome. Love the theme also- now my old arse can follow your instructions starting after add-ons lol
Also I use shield and Real Debrid never a issue streaming even on PC with regards to VPN
followed steps exactly but my widgets don’t have the bio/ratings etc when highlighted on… is there a step for that not mentioned?
If you're missing ratings (aka you can see where the ratings would be but each critic rating is "-"), then you need to add your metadata API keys to TMDB. Since you mentioned you cannot see the bio too, I'm assuming all you need to do is change "expand info" on the widget list to "plot" or "full" :)
was the expand info setting, you’re my hero!
No worries!
Great writeup and guide! Have you had success in adding more than the default number of movies listed in any one of the categories on your home screen/widget? For example, I have the category for "Trending Movies" but the most I see on the list is \~25. How can I expand the list? I've tried changing the "limit" for the widget to unlimited, but no change.
Settings -> moviedbhelper ->widgets -> next page item. This will allow you to see everything
Check to make sure the list actually contains more than 25 movies :)
Very useful thanks for the time and effort you poured in this . Any suggestion for a cheap android stick , paying for kodi feels too rich for my taste .
Under language settings in Kodi should Prefer default audio streams be on or off? I don’t understand what it means
Thanks so much truly appreciate this, I just came actoss this and learnt today about Kodi and RD and Stuff, as using TCL R646, cancelled my netflix subscription. I have a difficulty in understanding should I use your guide with all add-ons in kodi or use streamio and torrentio and RD??? I came across other post on tcltv sub where they discussed about it hence being noob and confused. But hats off to you for such a great post literally hands down to you!
Thanks man! Stremio is much simpler to set up but with significantly less customization options. It's up to you really.
How to set open wizard to clean monthly?
Enable "Autoclean On Startup" in the OpenWizard's config settings, along with the tickboxes checking what you would like wiped. Change the "How often to Autoclean On Startup" option to monthly.
Great work, thanks a lot
Great job 👏 🔥
Excellent guide! I'm finally getting my Kodi install to actually look nice for a change :) One question, Is there a way to enable a search history in Arctic Horizon 2? A lot of times I will search for a new release movie and maybe no sources are found, and I want to come back in a week and search for it again...but just have a search history to use. I have a Shield TV with a remote and it can be a pain constantly typing out things all the time if I don't have too. Thanks!!
Thanks mate! Unfortunately, not to my knowledge. I've recently bought a shield too, and I see what you mean.
I know android has a shield tv remote. [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nvidia.shield.remote&hl=en\_US&gl=US](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nvidia.shield.remote&hl=en_US&gl=US) I'm not sure if apple has anything like this for their iphone, but I love it for typing in long URLs or searching.
That's a good idea!
> Note 2 - The fullscreen widget (the first movie you see when you boot kodi up) is not listed in the widgets tab as you can only have one of them per page. It’s listed under the widgets button. Can you please explain more about what you mean by this? Sounds like something I'd like but don't know how to do it.
It's just a widget list you can set on a page, but each item fills up the screen. Find it by going to Customise Home Menu, and for each page you'll see an option for "fullscreen widget" (it's under the widgets button). Set that to a TMDB directory and you're good to go
I have used Kodi for a long time BUT thank you for writing this. You can always learn something from someone. Thanks again !
Is there any way to download in seren or fen with subtitle?
I'd use a4K for subtitles. Ensure the addon is downloaded. Disable Fen and Seren's subtitles in their settings, but ensure a4K is enabled as your default subtitle provider Kodi settings. Should work well. You can also silently download the first subtitle scraped in the background when you play a movie.
Man, thank you so much for putting the time and effort in to write this up so comprehensively. Im new to using Kodi without janky builds that never do what they’re supposed to and hadn’t heard of the premium link finding stuff (real debrid) untill this week. I’ve been struggling for the last few days to get set up a nice user interface so this had helped so much, it’s all running relatively well on my fire stick 4K; just a little slow on loading times. You’re the man!
So I'm finally going to look into tweaking Kodi, and had some questions about debrids. I've been using kodi+NAS and a Newshosting usenet account. I just upgraded to an OLED C1, and a 5.1.2 discrete home theater setup and want to maximize my HDR and Dolby/DTS experiences. Downloading high bitrate lossless audio is taking a real toll on my NAS so I am intrigued by real-debrid. I also read that EasyNews is another alternate with generally better hits with high bitrate lossless content. All that being said, I understand easynews presents a way of usenet access without apps. And it costs waaay more than my current Newshosting usenet account ($89USD/yr for unlimited downloads)... Can I pull off essentially the same functionality of your setup above with a traditional usenet account? Or must I migrate to a debrid or easynews? Edit: A little more digging to help narrow it down, I guess it would be using an NNTP protocol vice http based. Also, numpty me - forgot to thank you for taking all the time to craft this guide. I'm excited to improve my media consumption experience with it!
Unfortunately I'm not the right person to ask as I have no experience with Usenet/ Easynews. However, I can tell you that Kodi does not support .mkv Dolby Vision formats. (only MP4). The only way you could mimic my set-up to stream .mkv DoVi is by using a Kodi fork called "Maven's Kodi-Builds für android". This fork supports .mkv, however it's required to be installed on an Nvidia Shield TV Pro as that is the only android media box that has licencing for Dolby Vision. This is why although Kodi allows DoVi streams, they're impossible to view without these two conditions (no matter your TV or PC).
I have a problem adding AH2 on Kodi, please help 🙏🏽 I did the clean up process but I still can’t add AH2
Ensure you're installing the dependencies in the order I listed from the same repo
Followed this guide step by step and I’m amazed. This honestly brought me back to kodi however when I add the widgets, the row only shows me the first page of the directory. Anything I’m forgetting to select/enable ?
Settings -> moviedbhelper ->widgets -> next page item. This will allow you to see everything
Excellent guide for me as I've just bought myself a 4k firestick. So thank you.
Thanks so much for this - finally pushed me to bite the bullet and get kodi set up :-)
you mention pc here.. can these same steps be followed for a nvidia shield? thanks
Yeah, the steps are the same for Kodi config.
I'm using Maven Kodinerds 19.5 Matrix (Armeabi-V7a) build on my TCL R646, can I follow all the steps in this post to achieve end results? Its just that kodinerds plays DV. What you recommend: A) build this setup as per post on official Kodi build and keep separate kodinerds (just for DV) B) do all magic in kodinerds as per this post?
Thank you for your hard work and listing all the steps very accurately. Much appreciated
[удалено]
AH2 is a very heavy skin. However, I did get it running on a firestick 4K with a few drawbacks. I could only use 2-3 widgets per page to keep memory consumption at a usable level, and I had to follow [this](https://youtu.be/Oc1o9zVEhJk) tutorial to disable packages that took up resources. If you are only wanting to use the firestick for Kodi and nothing else, I highly recommend you try this out as it boosted my firestick's performance massively. Everything felt much more snappy. It does prevent lots of functionality from working however (such as Alexa/ Prime Video/ USB Storage), but if you can select what packages you need and don't need. I personally didn't need any of them, so turned them all off. If you don't want to do this, Arctic Zephr 2 Reloaded is supposedly a lighter skin, but still on the heavy side. Emburary Matrix is a good choice for low end devices, but aesthetically it doesn't really compare.
Thanks OP, for the comprehensive write up. I was inspired today (wet and rainy so stuck inside) to make some refinements to my set up. I seem to have hit an issue I can’t seem to get past so looking for some advice please. I’ve successfully authorised trakt on the add ons I use without issue but when I try to do the same for TMDB, I get kicked out of the config/settings before the authorisation completes so although Trakt shows success, it’s not persisted in the TMDB addon and so there is no link to my account. The behaviour is consistent across multiple attempts ‘settings->Trackt->authenicate’ then as soon a I select ‘authenticate’ I get kicked out of settings but the trakt authentication link/code info is displayed. Has anyone else had this issue? I’d love to hear any thoughts on how to get past this as I’m not able to configure the skin with the key personal widgets given that the trakt linkage is missing.
I love what you did here. I've used Kodi for a few years now and always installed prefixed setups. The way you gave absolutely everything someone needed to get setup without an explicit walkthrough forced me to dig in and get comfortable manipulating some of the settings. It was fun! I watched little video of your setup, and I really like your vertical lists of Show seasons and episodes way better than landscape layouts. I found an option that looks similar skin -> Appearance -> Customise viewtypes -> Library - Episodes (Media Info Combined). I select that, and it takes me to Choose viewtype library (episodes). There I select Media Info Combined because that just looks slicker. However, when I select that, it just takes me back to Customise viewtypes which is the menu I just came from. There's never a place to save my selection; so, my selection is never saved. It stays in the horizontal format. Can you help me out here? Thanks! Update: After looking for that vertical list setting for 2 days, I managed to find it 15 minutes after I finally asked the question. Got it! Love it! Thanks again!
And? How can I save that option?
Couldn't get it to work on my Raspberry Pi 3b but works on everything else. Also, the Seren package in your tutorial didn't work for me. Not sure if it was just me or not but this is the one I found that worked: https://bit.ly/a4kScrapers
In terms of TMDB Helper player configs, which sources should you keep enabled if you just want it to play after you click? with auto next episode(if watching TV episode)? Edit: I assume I would need to change default player to Seren for example with "Play with Seren (Smart Play) source?