XBMC

For far long than I can remember, my home theater PC has been configured to boot automatically into my user account for Windows and start KODI (XBMC) automatically. This had been working forever without any hiccups. Last year I decided to completely upgrade all the hardware for my HTPC and discovered that the new hardware was too fast. In fact, it was so fast that KODI would start before networking had started. This lead to all kinds of issues and eventually led to the article How to Delay XBMC Start. Once again, after having upgraded to Windows 10, I am presented with additional issues. Even though KODI's start has been delayed, it loses focus for some reason. This means I have to break out my Bluetooth keyboard or mouse, or connect via teamviewer just to touch the KODI screen so my iMON remote will work as expected. FRUSTRATION! Well, I have found a solution that tackles it all... and... its easy.

With the recent migration to Windows 10, there have been a lot of little things that people either can't find or can't seem to figure out. With my recent transition to Windows 10 on all computers in the COD household, these little annoyances keep popping up. The first one that popped up was on my Home Theater PC. The system had previously been running Windows Media Center on Windows 7 and now runs Kodi exclusively on Windows 10. With that said, having Kodi startup automatically under Windows 7 was easy. All I had to do was copy a shortcut to the startup folder and force it to delay so Kodi wouldn't start before networking did.

Last year, we covered some of the addons we felt were the best out there for XBMC. Well, this is a new year and with the new year comes a new list... and name (KODI). This list will NOT include the previously mentioned items in last year's list of top addons. Here is my list for the Best KODI (XBMC) Addons for 2015

I am a huge fan of XBMC and have been for quite some time. The application is the forefront of my media center and controls all things entertainment in my home. Many of you may know that XBMC is no longer XBMC. Instead, the application has gone through a name change (Kodi) and the new version 14.0 promises some very exciting new features.

I have been building and using home theater PC’s for as long as I can remember.  However, it seems that recently I have been paying more attention to the quality of things than the quantity of things I do with it.  I remember popping in my BD disc and being blown away by the quality of the image flickering about.  …

In the last few iterations of my home theater PC, the rig has been getting faster and faster. Many would not consider this an issue, but in my case, when my HTPC starts, XBMC starts faster than Windows 7 can get networking up. This means that XBMC cannot reach my NAS for media folders or for the MySQL databases I have configured. I tried everything I could think of from batch files to delay start to running a scheduled task after Windows starts. Then I found it. I found how to delay XBMC start without have to use any crazy batch files or jumping through any hoops.

I will admit it. I am usually a hold out. In this particular case, I held out as long as I could in fear that an upgrade wouldn't work the way I liked it to. For a long time I had been using a combination of WMC (Windows Media Center) and XBMC to front end my Home Theater PC. WMC handled my Live TV streaming with a cable card and an HDHomerun Prime, while XBMC did everything else. To be honest, XBMC had some level of PVR functionality built-in to handle live TV... but it was crap in comparison and a major headache to configure with my setup.

XBMC is a powerful HTPC front end, but you never truly realize its potential until you start exploring ways of extending its functionality. Add-ons 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.

Having recently reviewed the SilverStone Grandia GD08 and loving it, I was looking for a way to satisfy the one need SilverStone left me with.  The case design didn’t allow for a standard 5.25 inch bay device to be used due to the flip down panels incorporated to conceal your optical drives.  This, in turn, meant that installing the coveted …

XBMC is a powerful HTPC front end, but you never truly realize its potential until you start exploring ways of extending its functionality.  Addons are what extends XBMC’s functionality bringing you new ways to enjoy your HTPC.  Given the large number of addons out there… here is MY list of the top 5.