Kodi Now Available For Xbox One

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 01/02/2018 06:25 PM | source: | 17 comment(s)

Alright, so, please don't crucify me for using the C word, but Kodi is now available for the Xbox One through Windows and the Xbox Store. The software is still in a beta version, so it could have some features missing or a bug or two.

Kodi, previously known as XBMP (Xbox Media Player) and later on XBMC (Xbox Media Center) was predominantly used on hacked Xbox consoles. The support for the original Xbox stopped in 2010, and in 2014 XBMC was eventually renamed Kodi, which makes your console an awesome media player.

Around July 2017 the first faint life signs became visible of starting Kodi as a UWP application on regular Windows 10. From there on work slowly progressed on getting all bits and pieces into place getting Kodi grown up and getting it ready for the Xbox. Somewhere around November 2017 the UWP code was merged into the master Kodi code base and final stages could begin. That also meant that the idea of Kodi running on the Xbox was full out in the open though somehow it remained under the radar. From there on we could easily create test builds that we could install on our Windows devices and continued to improve the UWP version to were we are today.

How does it look?

Well that’s the fun part about the Kodi environment. It actually looks all the same on any platform so the UWP version is no exception. Most bits and pieces, look and feel are there that you will find on any other platform. Sorry that we can not make it more exciting than that. It is what it is. Just another Kodi platform that looks exactly the same but only on a different device. So we will just redirect you to our about page here https://kodi.tv/about

What are the current limits?

What you should really understand and keep remembering is that it is still in early stages of development and has very rough edges, might not be as stable as the regular version and may even be missing some functions. Due to the nature of how UWP works our hands are tied in some areas. Some parts are not even finished yet and our developers are still working on getting it up to the regular standard. As of this writing there’s limited access to only what’s part of your Video and Music folders. Network support is limited to only NFS:// shares. No access to the Blu-ray drive to start the disc or even an attached storage drive. There might still be problems with certain general python modules that are used by add-ons and we are finding and reporting them to the developers as testing progresses. I’m sure there’s more that might not work as intended yet as there are so many features it just will take a while to go over them. We cannot promise to what extend we can get every feature working as it all depends on what is available to us developers.

More info here.

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nhlkoho
Senior Member

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Joined: 2005-12-06

#5506544 Posted on: 01/02/2018 10:27 PM

sammarbella
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Joined: 2014-12-09

#5506631 Posted on: 01/03/2018 01:59 AM

While I'm shocked that Microsoft allowed this, it's a nice addition since the console was marketed as an all-in-one media center.
Still I'll stick with the Shield console as my Kodi player until they support UHD disc playback.

+1.
I stick to Shield TV as Kodi player.

If you read the article in the Kodi blog announcing this release it says they are (obvious) UWP restrictions related to python and addons.
It's not possible to playback media from blu ray player or attached storage and network shares access is limited to NFS (?!¿) protocol. MS don't allow his own SMB protocol (?!¿).

I installed this Kodi 18 (pre) Alpha in my unused Xbox One S since the last "free" games with gold download.I was able to enable the DVBviewer (Live TV PVR) addon and watch live TV streamed from my dedicated NAS (former HTPC/PVR server with 2 dual DVB-T2/S2 cards) .

At least Kodi Live TV PVR addons works and it does better than official Xbox One USB tv tuners.

Just don't expect too much from walled garden UWP apps...

XP-200
Senior Member

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Joined: 2003-04-05

#5506634 Posted on: 01/03/2018 02:20 AM

This no doubt appeared on the XBO console because it used the W10 Universal Apps store, so i suspect MS will remove this as soon as it comes to their attention a bit like the Nintendo emulator that appeared briefly because of the same thing, and i assume MS will do the same as i can't see them wanting to have one of their consoles linked to, shall we say, being able to stream questionable media in all it's forms from a app from their store and onto one of their consoles. lol

ryana
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Joined: 2015-08-04

#5506854 Posted on: 01/03/2018 05:37 PM

i'll ask the question everyone is probably wanting to know: Does Neptune Rising work on it?

hyp36rmax
Junior Member

Posts: 9
Joined: 2015-05-19

#5506958 Posted on: 01/04/2018 12:11 AM

This will only help MS sell even more consoles to the everyday Joe's. Imagine Joe getting a demo of Kodi on my Xbox One X, regardless what sources you link to your KODI (another topic altogether), he'll be damn impressed with the value of picking up an Xbox One that can play games, 4K Blu-Rays, Stream local and remote media all for the price of a Xbox One S (X).

I see MS passing this as a green light to penetrate the mainstream consumers further.

Keep in mind you can already stream content to your Xbox One with PLEX which is a more refined KODI minus all the open box tinkering. It's readily available with limited functionality for free and a premium build for more features with a cost. This makes KODI that much more enticing for free.

You can also use VLC Player to stream local content on your network, but that's clunky as hell on console.

With that said I don't see MS doing anything negative with KODI. I just hope we can get SMB network access in the next Xbox One build (It's broken on the Windows 10 UWP app also)

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