Since I have been using XBMC, I think it is software that I love and hate. I love it for all it can offer, but I hate it because many add-ons can stop working at any time and some of the ones that work well, depending on external content, can cause the software to freeze. The truth is that these problems are not related to the software itself, but the project already launched Kodi 19.1 to solve what does depend on them.
As for what is not up to them, Kodi 19 Matrix it's being a bit of a mess. They made the leap to Python 3, dropped support for the second version of the programming language, and addon developers aren't rushing as they should, so there are many that have stopped working. The software itself also introduced bugs, like any major update, and Kodi 19.1 has started to take care of them. Below you have the list with news that have come along with this version.
What's new in Kodi 19.1 Matrix
- ADIEX
- HDR metadata is now detected in VP2 Profile 9 streams and can be used on platforms that support HDR passthrough or tone mapping when playing HDR videos.
- Discs
- Fixed optical DVD playback on Linux and Blu-ray BD-J chapter skipping via controllers / keyboard
- PVR
- Corrected:
- Context menu not accessible in the PVR Guide window when using a very basic controller to control Kodi.
- The client channel name and number do not persist when changed.
- Play count and resume position of recordings were lost after restarting Kodi.
- Crash when browsing EPG when using MySQL as EPG database.
- The time of the next recording in… label is not located in the Estuary Timer / Timer rules window.
- The channel manager does not rename the background channel.
- Playback of the archived program is not selected when opening the Guide window.
- GUI does not update when removing / inserting / hiding / unhiding channel groups.
- Modified: The appearance of PVR windows in Estuary has been improved.
- Corrected:
- Music library
- Fixed issue with cuesheets music where only the first track was added to the library when rescanning, deleting the rest.
- JSON-RPC
- PVR - Reintroduced the broadcast properties 'hastimer', 'hastimerrule', 'hasrecording', 'recording' and reintroduced the channel property 'isrecording'.
- Subtitles
- Fixed system font detection (directwrite) in windows for ASS subtitles, user font detection (in userdata / fonts) for ASS subtitles, and rendering of semi-transparent ASS subtitles in Wayland.
- GUI / Interface
- Fixed media arcing for DVD / BluRay.
- Web interface
- Now Chorus2 is based on community contributions.
- File System
- Now enables default file cache for network file systems and improved file cache error handling.
- Red
- Improved reliability of HTTP and NFS network file systems
- Windows specific
- Added:
- Support for the WS-Discovery protocol that allows you to locate SMB servers and browse shared folders using SMBv3.
- Debug information OSD video. Expands the current debug info player (Ctrl + Shift + O) with new video-only info (Alt + O).
- Corrected:
- With some unusual streams, incorrect HDR metadata (HDR10 passthrough) could be passed.
- Green screen on older HW systems (feature level DX 9.1) when playing 10-bit video.
- Black screen with software rendering method and DXVA2 hardware acceleration disabled.
- Green screen when playing the menu of some DVDs (MPEG2 SD only).
- Credential policing for anonymous SMB shares.
- Updated: VC runtimes included in the installer to add support for VS2019 and VS2017 at the same time.
- Added:
- Android specifics
- Fixed system-level mounted SMB shares not visible on Kodi and SMB shares are labeled with cryptic numbers (UUID) instead of the actual disk name.
- Xbox specifics
- This version also brings 19.1 to the Xbox.
Available now, soon on your Linux distribution
Code 19.1 Matrix has already been officially released, so it can now be downloaded from your official website or follow the instructions to install it on Linux, available here. Soon the new version will also arrive at Flathub.
There is still no Chromecast support, so it is useless.