Kodi’s open-source nature means that there’s a constant stream of updates and innovations arriving on the platform every day. With the capacity to operate a 10-foot user interface on a vast array of operating systems and hardware, Kodi is accessible to just about anyone, anywhere.
Using Kodi, we can listen to our favorite podcasts, play video content, and use both local and network storage media to access all kinds of saved multimedia.
But if you simply use Kodi to watch your favorite TV shows and movies, there’s a whole world of features that you’re missing out on. With this in mind, let’s explore seven reasons why you’re failing to get the very best out of Kodi in 2024:
- You’re Not Using a Kodi VPN to Unlock More Content
There are many reasons why a Kodi VPN is an essential companion for the platform. Not only can it protect your anonymity should you accidentally view content that violates copyright or piracy laws, but it can also help to overcome ISP (internet service provider) internet throttling that can seriously hinder your freedom to stream effectively on-demand.
Perhaps most importantly, a Kodi VPN can help users access a far greater variety of content such as TV shows, movies, and sports streams that would otherwise be geo-locked.
Plenty of content is restricted based on the geographical location of viewers, and this even extends to streaming platforms such as Netflix. For instance, Netflix US subscribers have access to a library of shows and movies that are significantly different from Netflix UK viewers, despite both sets of customers paying the same amount each month.
Using a VPN, however, offers customers the opportunity to tap into virtual private networks from anywhere in the world, which means that your location can be automatically switched to view content that’s restricted to the US, UK, Spain, Brazil, or just about any other country worldwide.
To make the most of all the geo-restricted Kodi addons, it’s important to make use of a dedicated VPN, and by making the most of unbiased perspectives like Fire Stick Tricks’ review of best Kodi VPNs, it’s possible to find the right virtual private network that suits your needs and budget.
- You’re Not Letting Kodi Organize Your Library
Kodi is a very intelligent platform, but only if you allow it to work its magic. For instance, it’s possible to create a highly functional and easy-to-navigate library of media on Kodi categorized by type.
This means that you can import TV shows, music, music videos, and just about any other content by specifying its location and type. This means that you can categorize your content and build a visually stimulating library of your favorite shows or movies.
When you set up your library, Kodi can automatically use metadata scrapers to understand the content that you’ve added to your library and make it more discoverable by downloading cover images like box art, media descriptions, and even fan art among other useful relevant data.
This process can help you to build your very own easy-to-use library and fill it with the content that you love.
- You Haven’t Optimized Your Viewing Experience With a ‘Kodi Build’
Kodi’s extensive library of apps can be difficult for users to fully track. However, with a Kodi Build, it’s possible to combine a collection of add-ons into one single installation for a unified and optimized viewing experience.
The great thing about installing a Kodi Build is that it can be a useful process for both new and experienced Kodi users alike, and they can consist of useful add-ons, wizards, and other tools that help to improve the quality of streaming services and playback on your TV.
Builds can help to categorize content by movies, TV shows, live streaming, sports, children-friendly content and plenty more. There’s also a great range of guides available to help point you in the right direction when it comes to getting set up with a Kodi Build–however, it’s important to make sure your selection is compatible with your streaming device.
- You’re Not Using Skins to Turn Kodi Into a Visual Masterpiece
Did you know that you could change the whole layout and interface of Kodi with a variety of skins?
By finding and installing the skins that suit your taste, living room, or any other surroundings, you can turn Kodi into an aesthetically enjoyable experience while also benefiting from a more user-friendly layout of menus and functions.
As an open-source platform, Kodi skins can come in all shapes and sizes, and they can help to make your experience more tailored to your wants and needs. For instance, if you’re primarily using Kodi to listen to music, it’s you can add a skin that prioritizes the playing of .mp3 files.
- You Haven’t Made the Most of Kodi’s Vast Supported Media Formats
Kodi is one of the best media playback solutions available for our televisions, and if you’re not using it to its full capacity then you’re missing out.
Whether you’re looking for video, music, or external drive compatibility, Kodi excels in providing quality playback across an extensive range of media formats.
At the time of writing, Kodi offers support for video formats including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, MPEG-4 SP and ASP, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), H.265 (as from Kodi 14) HuffYUV, Indeo, MJPEG, RealVideo, RMVB, Sorenson, WMV, Cinepak.
As for audio formats, Kodi supports MIDI, AIFF, WAV/WAVE, AIFF, MP2, MP3, AAC, AACplus (AAC+), Vorbis, AC3, DTS, ALAC, AMR, FLAC, Monkey’s Audio (APE), RealAudio, SHN, WavPack, MPC/Musepack/Mpeg+, Shorten, Speex, WMA, IT, S3M, MOD (Amiga Module), XM, NSF (NES Sound Format), SPC (SNES), GYM (Genesis), SID (Commodore 64), Adlib, YM (Atari ST), ADPCM (Nintendo GameCube), and CDDA files.
Additionally, Kodi excels when it comes to video container files like AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, FLV, MKV/MKA (Matroska), QuickTime, MP4, M4A, AAC, NUT, Ogg, OGM, RealMedia RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMVB, 3gp, VIVO, PVA, NUV, NSV, NSA, FLI, FLC, DVR-MS, WTV, TRP and F4V.
Finally, Kodi also supports most popular image formats, as well as subtitle formats such as SRT and the metadata tags that are commonly found in files like ID3 and EXIF.
This means that you’re free to watch the content that you want. Whether it’s old family videos or footage you recorded on an old smartphone that could be difficult to play elsewhere.
- You Haven’t Created a Physical Library of Your Favorite Shows
Kodi isn’t only great at creating a digital library of your best-loved titles, you can also use it as a highly functional DVR/PVR to record live TV to disk to have your own physical copy of a movie or show for later use.
This means that Kodi is one of the most effective ways to revive the glory days of the VCR and DVD, and for the many of us who prefer to have a physical disk for playback, there’s nothing better than using Kodi to make a copy of that show you could watch on repeat for years to come.
Although this is a highly convenient feature for Kodi, it does require some work to set up the functionality. You’ll need the use of a supported TV tuner card and a DVR backend.
- You’re Not Accessing 1080p HD Streams
There are some amazing Kodi add-ons that can produce high-quality 1080p HD streams without the scourge of extensive buffering.
While the beauty of Kodi’s open-source framework means that new solutions appear every day for streaming quality content, add-ons like Genesis and SALTS both enable users to watch high-quality HD streams without any buffering through Google Video-powered sources.
This means that you can enjoy your favorite content with crystal clarity and relative ease.
Making the Most of Kodi’s Sprawling Network
Kodi is a platform that should be at the forefront of every TV viewer’s mind. Offering unprecedented levels of access to streaming services and content, Kodi’s framework is excellent when it comes to viewing shows and movies that can’t be found anywhere else.
With an extensive catalog of add-ons and wizards to further optimize the viewing experience, Kodi is constantly improving, and with the right blend of research and exploring, you have the potential to view content in a way that you’d never thought possible.