Kodi

What hackers pick instead

• VLC media playerA free, long-standing cross-platform player that opens almost any media file and just works, though critics cite rendering flaws and poor output when used for conversion.172recommend
• mpv media playerFree, lightweight open-source player that handles almost any file and online video through yt-dlp; people praise its reliability. Common caveat: bare interface that relies on config files and command-line flags.82recommend
• Infuse video playerPlays nearly any video format on Apple TV and works well with Jellyfin libraries. Remote streaming can be weak since it skips server transcoding.78recommend
• TV ExplorerFree web player for IPTV channels from around the world, with no signups or apps needed. Some users report casting and loading problems on Safari and iOS.37recommend
• StremioFree app that gathers streaming catalogs into one place and plays high-quality video; critics say plugin outages and poor results without a debrid service are common.23recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 119 comments. Each links to the original.

1. either you are using plain kodi or some simple kodi extensions (say youtube) that just aren't as nice to use as their android app equivalents

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device”

2. Kodi, has always been a bit of a faff on the keyboard, and that works well with the gamepad.

   Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven”

3. Kodi supporting just using my directory layout is why I use it over something like Jellyfin!

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox”

4. Kodi on my older Sony Android direct played anything I threw at it flawlessly for years.

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Show HN: Making a smart TV dumb and then smart”

5. I prefer the stock Kodi interface (not perfect, but doesn't try to sell me anything.)

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “New Lifetime Plex Pass Pricing”

6. you can use XBMC or Jellyfin and have a certain degree of control over your frontend

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]”

7. Kodi does support playing DVD backups (.iso or VIDEO_TS) with menus and everything.

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Beauty in DVD Menus”

8. slap LibreELEC/Kodi or whatever on it, and use that device as your "smart" device

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Nearly Half of LG Smart TV Apps Contain Residential Proxy SDKs”

9. once hardware HEVC decode was actually enabled in Kodi it played 1080p smoothly

   Mixed · Oct 2026 · in “Show HN: Making a smart TV dumb and then smart”

10. There is Kodi Youtube plugin that takes a developer token and is then ad-free.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick”

11. It's silent, reasonably self-contained, and is appliance-like to get going

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “WiiFin – Jellyfin Client for Nintendo Wii”

12. It's fully FOSS, with no weird subscription/lock-in shenanigans going on.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Plex's crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week”

13. it works pretty well for content directly from my nas/cifs/smb via Kodi

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Netflix Prices Went Up Again – I Bought a DVD Player Instead”

14. music to a Kodi installation on a Raspberry Pi with no issues

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Jellyfin founder Andrew leaves team”

15. it is very good on its core, and very bad on the addons side

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Plasma Bigscreen – 10-foot interface for KDE plasma”

16. GBM/DRM Kodi supports HDR video on the Orange Pi 5 family

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]”

17. needs tons of customization (which is also a positive)

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Show HN: CineCLI – Browse and torrent movies directly from your terminal”

18. Overall I am pretty happy with Kodi on my Android box.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]”

19. I actually use Kodi 90% as a front-end to Jellyfin.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Jellyfin founder Andrew leaves team”

20. I watch any movie or TV show I want in 4k via Kodi

    Recommends · Nov 2026 · in “Ask HN: Which TV do you recommend for privacy?”

21. Raspberry Pi running Kodi is smart enough for me.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Show HN: Making a smart TV dumb and then smart”

22. The global navigation paradigm of Kodi, which is aimed at making every plugin and feature browsable in the same way (drill down menus basically) won't change though

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Plasma Bigscreen – 10-foot interface for KDE plasma”

23. Kodi is super complex. The last straw was me wanting to launch Dolphin games from the UI and not being able to figure it out.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua”

24. Also Kodis interface is terrible. I couldn't make a more convoluted and hard to navigate interface for TVs even if I tried.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Plasma Bigscreen – 10-foot interface for KDE plasma”

25. I am sick and tired of its crashing, poor playback performance, and increasingly bloated feature set.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Opus 4.5 is going to change everything”

26. I tried Kodi and its alternatives years ago but never found them to be faster to load the apps

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Show HN: Making a smart TV dumb and then smart”

27. Kodi still doesn't know how to minimize CPU consumption when one is doing nothing on the UI

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua”

28. I do run it via XCode and a dev account but because of the app restrictions it's a 2nd class experience.

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “Fox to Buy Roku Streaming Service in $22B Deal”

29. much better than most jellyfin client apps when you don’t have to worry about managing content libraries

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox”

30. From what I see, Kodi is a media player but I don't see what else it really brings to the table

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “The Corporate Creep of Plex: Why it may be time to move to Jellyfin”

31. I know Kodi is optimal but I do want to use that computer for other server related things.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Plasma Bigscreen – 10-foot interface for KDE plasma”

32. It still does everything I need it to do, user complaints about "dated UI" be damned.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Plex laid off the whole player team”

33. They run kodi + linux brave and with that I can stream anything like live sports.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “A Love Letter to FreeBSD”

34. polished media center with beautiful interface and powerful skinning engine

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Opus 4.5 is going to change everything”

35. My wife and kids know how to use Kodi both on the pcs and the chromecasts.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Jellyfin founder Andrew leaves team”

36. just use ultra.cc + kodi with https connection on a fire stick - so simple

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Netflix kills casting from its mobile app to most modern TVs”

37. I have been using realdebrid with POV on kodi and it works like a charm.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Show HN: CineCLI – Browse and torrent movies directly from your terminal”

38. Fairly easy to keep track of your shows and view on demand within Kodi.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Disney+ and Hulu raise prices by up to 13 percent after doubling profits”

39. If you want a privacy focused solution it's probably the most private.

    Mixed · Oct 2026 · in “New Apple TV 4K”

40. Or use something Kodi as the OS and just have a TV like interface.

    Recommends · Nov 2026 · in “Ask HN: Which TV do you recommend for privacy?”