Kodi on Smart TV - Tips

[Tiny]

Hi all, I'm having a love/hate relationship with Kodi on my Sony Bravia smart tv with google TV interface for apps.

1: First I loved it as the best solution as a media server between the TV & my file storage system on Windows laptop. It outperforms chromecast by a long way.

2: I had a few issues that I got sorted,
A: Had to setup SMB properly on both devices.
B: found out that the laptop needed a static IP & that static IP needed to be in a range the TV (or any other device connected to the network, permanent or temporary) could not be issued by my Starlink router via DHCP.
C: sorting the library scraping function, well mostly anyway.

3: Today, after a couple of months enjoying Kodi for it's excellence, I turn on the TV, select Kodi app & black screen, tried going into the app store & selecting open & it just bounced me back to the app selection page. Unplugged TV to clear any memory issues, plugged back in, same issue.
Repeated enough times to prove insanity.
So I check up on a search & it appears, while this doesn't happen often, it is not uncommon.

The solutions are: S1:clear the cache (don't know how on a smart TV).
S2: remove addons that may be causing it. I didn't have any.
S3: Reinstall.

I did the later which means uninstall/reinstall. This of course means a new blank Kodi & have to go thru all the setup adjustments again, re select library additions. Lucky my library isn't that big. I did manage to search & find how to back up the library data file & have done so. not sure how much that will help next time.


Has anyone had this issue & is there a way to prevent it?
The & forum have a lot of info, but so diverse it's hard to find the right answers sometimes, however it has been very helpful in learning the basics.
Any tips & tricks would be good.


Device info: Sony XR65X90K 4K 65" TV. Software fully up to date.
Kodi version:21.0.1 = latest available from Google Play Store with default Estuary skin. No addons.

[RedXT]

All apps fail sometimes just some more than others

first thing you should always keep a backup of youre library, secondly I would not have uninstalled Kodi I would have just reloaded (over the existing app) which usually fixes any problems but keeps all youre settings including library

Myself I do a manual backup of the Kodi App which can be found In Android/Data/org.xbmc.kodi/Files/.kodi where you can copy the whole directory (big) or just backup "userdata" directory.

Also on youre laptop you should be able to create a shortcut to the TV internal drive and do backups and repairs from the laptop, makes it much easier

[Tiny]

All apps fail sometimes just some more than others

first thing you should always keep a backup of youre library, secondly I would not have uninstalled Kodi I would have just reloaded (over the existing app) which usually fixes any problems but keeps all youre settings including library

Myself I do a manual backup of the Kodi App which can be found In Android/Data/org.xbmc.kodi/Files/.kodi where you can copy the whole directory (big) or just backup "userdata" directory.

Also on youre laptop you should be able to create a shortcut to the TV internal drive and do backups and repairs from the laptop, makes it much easier

Hmmm, will have to try harder & work out how to see my TV internal storage from the laptop.

There was no option to install Kodi over the top as far as I could see, as it was already running latest version, there was no update, just Open or Uninstall.
Open Kodi itself was black screen, so no functions.

[RedXT]

If you download the Kodi apk ( same version u are useing on the TV) to a usb drive us should be able to plug that in to the TV and install it. The installation will realize you allready have kodi installed

and reinstall it without changing anything. ( hopefully fixing any problems) This is called SIDELOADING

Just for interest there are Kodi Forks which are unofficial version which u can run at the same time as the genuine Kodi it worth downloading one and install it and play with the settings

to learn what does what before making changes to youre official kodi, addons can be tested also

[RedXT]

To view the TV internal memory

install es file explorer version 4 ( no later ) download and sideload

run it on the tv and scroll down and select Network/remote manager and turn it on it will

give u an FTP address of the TV eg ftp://192.168.0.55:3721, where 55 in the tv and :3721 opens the internal memory

Then go to youre laptop open Network, right click map network drive, select at bottom Connect to a web etc/next

Choose custom network/next put in address that Es remote manager gave u eg ftp://192.168.0.55:3721/ next log on anonymously/ next

Type in name eg Bravia TV/ next finish, now open file manager and in Network Locations u should Find Bravia Tv

Please note ES File Maneger must be running on the tv and Remote Manager must be Turned ON

[Tiny]

Cool, really appreciate the step by step there. Really helpful.

In the mean time I remembered when looking around in Kodi that the repository had a backup addon.
Path in Kodi is Add-ons/ Install from repository/ Program add-ons/Backup.

Looks good as it has a scheduler & it backs up library & settings, including sources, to where ever you select, once you set it up by selecting your desired config.
If not on when the schedule lapses it will back up at the next Kodi startup. Too easy if it works that well.

Looking at the data contained in the backup file, it got everything I wanted.

[Tiny]

found out how to force stop, clear cache & clear data on apps on my TV, so thought I'd put it up here for anyone else that is looking for it.
Had I found this earlier, It may have solved my issue without the reinstall.

Follow the steps below.
method 1: How to force stop an app on your Sony Android TV?

If you have a problem with an app on your Sony Android TV, the idea is the same. You can also access the application settings, find the app you’re struggling with, and use the force stop function to reset the app and solve the glitch:

Press and hold the Home button on the remote control until the Apps window appears.
Navigate to the app in the list you want to close.
On the App tile, press and hold the “OK” button on the remote control until you see a menu pop up.
In the pop-up menu, select Info and press OK on the remote.
In the info section, select “Force stop” and confirm twice with the “OK” button on the remote.

After force stopping the app, you can open the app and check if it runs as expected.

method 2 : Force Stop, Clear the cache and data from the app.

• On the supplied remote control, press the HOME button.
• Select Settings.
• The next steps depend on your TV menu options: Select Apps → See all apps → Show system apps. ...
• Under System apps, select your preferred app.
• Select Force Stop, Clear cache, then select OK. ...
• Select Clear data, then select OK.

[hoe]

If you disable fast boot on Android TV it will do the same thing, just takes a bit longer to boot up, obviously.

Or unplug it when you have problems.

Sent from my CPH2437 using Tapatalk

[Tiny]

If you disable fast boot on Android TV it will do the same thing, just takes a bit longer to boot up, obviously.

Or unplug it when you have problems.

Sent from my CPH2437 using Tapatalk

Unplugging the TV, as I said in post#1, did nothing to solve the black screen Kodi issue. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[hoe]

Unplugging the TV, as I said in post#1, did nothing to solve the black screen Kodi issue. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry, should have read your post better.

That's why I've never used kodi, over complicated and bloated.

Sent from my CPH2437 using Tapatalk

[Tiny]

Sorry, should have read your post better.

That's why I've never used kodi, over complicated and bloated.

Sent from my CPH2437 using Tapatalk

Unfortunately at present, Kodi is the best option for me to play/access files from my network. It just plays everything & takes no time to get where I want.
I don't use it to stream or download content. It is just a media server interface for me.
Chromecast is OK sometimes & other times it sucks (drops out, fails to play, can't find the TV).
DLNA via the TV is so slow to get to the file I want, that I could have watched an episode already (that could be due to the 1TB of files in the folders being accessed).

[hoe]

Have you tried serviio on a Windows machine?

I use a nas and dlna at home and serviio on a w10 machine (a repurposed sophos security device) at my holiday house , both work pretty much perfectly.

I use vimu to play files on both lg c2 and tcl Android TV.

Top one runs w10, bottom one runs opnsense.

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[RedXT]

Once u get used to kodi it is as good as anything I have tried and it just works. Yes it can be bloated but just the basics is all most people need and the scrapers wook fine

Thats why I recommend u install a kodi fork to test things, Now I understand kodi I have imported my complete library to the Kodi Fork and keep it as a backup

Say one night you are watching Kodi and it fails for some reason just shut it down and open the kodi fork and continue, and worry about fixing problems later

[hoe]

I find the same with serviio and dlna via nas, 100% reliable and fast. I have around 16tb on the nas, video and music.

I use vimu as it supports dolbyvision/all hdr formats including hdr+ and audio pass through to sound system via TV.

I just downloaded and tried Kofi on Android TV. Nothing's changed over the years, I find it horribly bloated and over complicated.

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[loanrangiel]

I gave up after trying to get SMB working, old XBMC on the OG xbox was a doddle but kodi on xbox one is painful.

[Tiny]

I gave up after trying to get SMB working, old XBMC on the OG xbox was a doddle but kodi on xbox one is painful.

I found this to solve the SMB issue. Note: you need to have both devices with static internal Ip outside the normal DHCP allocation of your router (as per post #1 point 2.) or you will end up with a conflict at sometime, ask me how I know.



Also if you want to set up the Audio pass thru properly go here,
Note: if you have S/PDIF anywhere in the pass thru, set everything to 2 channels & the raw sound data will pass thru & decode in the Sound receiver, 5.1 & 7.1 is no problems thru this method.,

[Tiny]

Another tip I learned recently, is if you want to exclude a sub-folder from the Kodi scraper/scans, then put a blank text file in it called .nomedia
So no name & the extension is renamed from .txt to .nomedia. That stops any android program from looking at the folder this file is in.

[hoe]

Or you could not use kodi, set up dlna once in a couple of minutes and never have to touch it again...

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[Tiny]

Or you could not use kodi, set up dlna once in a couple of minutes and never have to touch it again...

Sent from my CPH2437 using Tapatalk

Been there done that & yes it works as a basic file server media player using DLNA from the TV UI.
Unfortunately I ran into issues due to Sony TV's not playing some mkv files, particularly those with Mpeg2 files in the mkv container & also some variable bitrate files. Now the TV will play Mpeg2 files just not if they are in an mkv container. All other mkv's are fine.
I tried adding VLC media player (cause it plays everything, right). Wrong! it did a better job than the standard player, but still stuttered, jumped & froze or crashed with some of these same files. So I had the choice to convert all 120 (yep 5 seasons) of them to another format or try something else.
Kodi was the solution; it actually plays everything I've asked it to so far.

I also prefer the UI of Kodi in the fine tuned, to my preference, state I have it in now. Using the favourites tab I can quickly navigate to favourite shows I've put there, without navigating thru the folders & files to find the show I want. I can easily remove them when I've finished with them & they get marked as read when you watch them, or partially read if you have to interrupt your viewing session. The partially viewed files give you a choice to resume from where you were, which makes for a much better user experience.

I get it that Kodi is a little complicated when you first try setting it up, but once you understand it, it's not that complicated at all.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you are happy with what you are using, keep doing so.

[fandtm666]

i always had issues with kodi in one way or anther , in the end i just got a standalone media player
and use that for all my movies - music etc .I got the zidoo x9s and havent looked back.

soory i know you were after kodi help.