Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
XBMC is a powerful HTPC front end, but you never truly realize its potential until you start exploring ways of extending its functionality. Addons extend XBMC’s functionality bringing you new and incredible ways to enjoy your HTPC. Given the large number of add-ons out there… here is MY list of the top 5 for 2014 so far.
UPDATED (MASHUP IS GONE as of 11/13/2014) use NAVI-X instead
NAVI-X
Navi-X is a “content aggregator” app that streams multimedia content on the internet from a public directory of user contributed links and site scrapers on to your TV, PC and mobile devices! Users can link to multimedia on the internet and playback video, audio, pictures, podcasts, text, rss and xml from the internet, as well as share it with people around the world in seconds! Create fully customizable playlists with backgrounds, logos and icons as well as link to your favorite multimedia on the internet or just browse the already existing directory of publicly available content, in one sleek, fast and unified application! Navi-X is a multi-platform addon for XBMC, the popular, award-winning free media center application for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS (Apple TV, iPhone and iPads).
Repository: http://forums.computingondemand.com/files/file/24-navi-x/
MashUp (MashUp has been discontinued)
Website: http://www.mashupxbmc.com/
Repository: http://install.mashupxbmc.com
There is an enormous amount of diversity and a wide array of featured offered in MashUp. It’s much more than just a simple addon. MashUp provides you with access to an astounding number of sources (All-In-One) for all your needs. Be it movies, shows, live channels, live and replayed sporting events, and much more. MashUp has grown at an incredible pace and will strive to continue growing, and even further, surpass its current standing as of the most popular and innovative addons ever to arrive on the XBMC platform.
Netflixbmc
Website: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=178693
Repository: http://code.google.com/p/addonscriptorde-beta-repo/downloads/detail?name=repository.addonscriptorde-beta.zip&can=2&q=
NetfliXBMC is an add-on for browsing Netflix content via XBMC. Video playback is done via a WebBrowser because of Silverlight DRM. It works under Windows, OSX and Linux. Linux users need to install Pipelight for video playback. Linux/Pipelight/UserAgent instructions… Video playback is provided via Chrome Launcher.
Add to library function:
You can add movies and tv shows (full shows & single seasons) to your library via context menu.
Profiles:
The addon supports Netflix profiles. If you only have one profile configured on Netflix you should activate the appropriate setting.
USTVNow
Repository: http://forums.computingondemand.com/files/file/25-ustvnow/
It is interesting that USTVNow isn’t on more people’s list for great addons. This plugin offers you up some quick TV channels at no cost and provides access to US TV channels no matter you location. There are free and paid subscriptions.
The NEW SportsDevil
Website: https://github.com/al101/SportsDevil-Fixes/archive/master.zip
Repository: https://github.com/al101/SportsDevil-Fixes/archive/master.zip
It is no secret that we loved our SportsDevil add-on. Unfortunately, it had gone neglected and many streams weren’t working. There was no easy way to find updates, but now… things are different. It has once again found its way into our list of top addons and has a new home with its own repository!
Movie4k.to
Repository: http://forums.computingondemand.com/files/file/26-movie4kto/
The site Movie4k.to has written an add-on for one of the biggest online movie and television streaming sites. This may end up being one of the most widely used streaming add-ons because it provides a ton of quality sources for pretty much anything you can think of watching.
What exactly is a VPN?
VPN is a virtual private network. Here is one of the ones I have heard good things about: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/
hi Joe. Another question for you. Where (which add on) would we go to to get access to things like the 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony? Music Cares program? Things that are kind of award shows that are usually shown only a few times after being taped. Thanks.
I would probably be visiting YouTube for that. There are a variety of ways to access YouTube on XBMC, including a video addon from the XBMC repository.
Thanks Joe. I found it on you tube!
Great News!
is there any way to get mashup again i updated it and i got a meagre it will no longer stream. is this the case with mashup or is there something eles ??????
Well, mashup has just been shutdown as of yesterday.
I will be on the hunt for a replacement…
Hello, I am brand new, to XBMC, and loads to learn, One thing i will tell some on this thread, if you uninstall XBMC, it leaves alot of junk in registry, and when you reinstall , you have littel changes, USE A Software remover, to clean the registry, then reinstall
I have issues with USATVNOW,,,,,,i have this site for many years,,,but,,,,it will not work, within XBMC…I need tis working,,,,,to convince my wife to allow me to shut down satellite
HELP !!
Also,,,I think I have installed most popular repos. but my VIDEO ADD ON View,,,,does not show,,,,all of the add ons,,,that I have enabled
Also,,,,,,any cool vids out there, to learn about customizing the overall package
and,,,,any repos out there,,,,covering working streams for HBO CHANNELS,,,or HBO SHOWS,,,,Navi X,,,shows some ,,,but not one ever works
What about the use of a remote,,,,i DO NTO WANT APPLE TV,,,ideas,,,,,hard for me to get,,,i am in Costa Rica
I always find USTV NOW to be a hit and miss affair if you don’t live in the USA or don’t have a VPN running.
Agreed, VPN is a must for almost anything today.
I have lots of questions about xbmc – sorry! Some TV shows that I want to watch show “no stream available”. Even though the art work’is there – the thumbnail and all the yearly series show up but when I click on an episode it says no stream available. Is there anything I can do?
That happens often. There are a lot of issues related to streams… I have them too. Nothing is perfect in the “free” world! LOL
I installed the Gotham 13.2 and mash up started crashing every time I tried to use it. I uninstalled and reinstalled it but no luck.
I tried uninstalling and installing the app again. Perhaps you are pulling an old version. Did you install it from a repository through XBMCHUB?
Yes. I installed the latest version which is now Kodi and the XMCBHUB is TVAdd ons. I have a MacBook Pro if that makes a difference. I previously used MashUp which I love. Now it crashes.
Well, KODI is still in Alpha from what I understand. That may be part of your issue. It isn’t ready for prime time. Maybe if you go back to Gotham your issues will resolve themselves.
did you happen to remove mashup, or just install Gotham over Kodi and left mashup in place? I can tell you that I have mashup working on 13.2 right now.
No I have given up on mash up. I am using most Genesis for TV and Movies – used to be Go TV and Go Movies. I managed to get the Canada on Demand add on but most of the channels “fail” to load.
Well, I am sorry that mashup failed you. How are you liking Genesis so far? Don’t forget to enable Auto-play options for it so you don’t have to pick sources. Also, have you ever thought about using Sickbeard and SABNZBD+ together to feed content? If you are interested, I may be able to work up a tutorial… however, it is pretty straight forward. All you need are those two applications and a newsgroup subscription. I use supernews.com.
There any way to get Canadian tv on xbmc? It tells me it’s incompatible.
What exactly is telling what is incompatible?
Canada on demand is incompatible. Also Free Tv. Trying to get canadian sports channels and also the Family channel.
When I get to the list of add ons the column in the right identifies various add ons that are incompatible.
Mash up keeps crashing my xbmc and kicks me out. What’s up?
Is this a clean installation? What version of XBMC are you running? Has it been installed before?
It is a clean installation. I just reinstalled it today. The video on you tube shows mashup2k3. My version is 1.9 I think. After installing I go to get add ins and there is nothing there. What am I doing wrong?
Well, turns out that XBMChub changed their name and the path to their repository.
Check this page for the new instructions: http://www.tvaddons.ag/install-addons-kodi/
Joe, check out Navi-X. It’s the app that all others copied to bring in this era of streaming on XBMC. You can thank me later.
I’ve used Navi-X for a while. However, its interface had been freezing and content had been sparse for a while. While I do appreciate what Navi-X has done and been… it just doesn’t make my tops list anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I have it installed… but I don’t find myself using it.
I install this on a majority of machines, Navi-x is definitely on the top list, no freezing nor content issues here, most add-ons have this problem once in awhile hence all the updates. Netflixbmc is broken and has not worked properly in some time, search does not work properly nor does the next page load properly as well, 1channel, Icefilms, Mashup and Cliq are my favorites and are the best by far in my opinion. The rest are just for backup, 1channel selection destroys Netflix. Mashup is a wonderland of HD 1080 p movies, boxsets, live tv you name it, Cliq also has streaming tv shows in high quality 24/7 under custom user lists.
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FilmON is another great add-on for live TV. I have used both USTVNow and FilmON. Have you tried FilmON?
I haven’t tried FilmOn. That’s one marked for trial! Thanks for the tip!