Kodi Setup Guide v1.3 12/31/2014

Kodi Setup Guide
v1.3
12/31/2014
Kodi Setup Guide
Table of Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3
Install and Configure ServerWMC ............................................................................. 3
2.1
Set Startup Behavior ........................................................................................... 3
2.2
Use Custom Padding with Special Option for Sports ......................................... 4
2.3
Delete Temporary Stream Files .......................................................................... 5
Install Kodi and setup PVR client ............................................................................... 5
Modify keyboard.xml ................................................................................................. 8
Optimize Kodi Settings ............................................................................................... 9
5.1
Choose Skin ........................................................................................................ 9
5.2
Disable Screensaver .......................................................................................... 10
5.3
Use a Fullscreen Window ................................................................................. 11
5.3.1
Known Issue.............................................................................................. 11
5.4
Set EPG Select Action to ‘Switch to channel’ .................................................. 12
5.5
Use Back-End Channel Numbers ..................................................................... 13
Select ‘Kodi + ServerWMC’ as Guide/Media Application ...................................... 14
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1 Introduction
CaveCenter™ provides the ability to support multiple Guide / Media browser applications for use as a
DVR front-end, program guide, media center, and/or content organizer. CaveCenter™ currently supports
the following Guide / Media applications:


Windows Media Center
Kodi + ServerWMC
It is recommended for most users to start with Windows Media Center because it includes both the DVR
front-end and back-end in a single package, has a simpler setup, and comes pre-installed on many systems
already. However, once this is setup and working, more advanced users can optionally elect to use Kodi
(formerly XBMC) as a DVR front-end while using ServerWMC as a DVR back-end.
At the time of this writing, CaveCenter™ has been verified with Kodi 14.0 “Helix”, and is not fully
compatible with XBMC 13 “Gotham” or earlier releases, due to recent enhancements in Live TV support.
While the use of Kodi as a front-end media center adds many new capabilities including support for a wide
range of skins and add-ons, comprehensive media scrapers and organizers, and an active development
community, one feature which would be sacrificed by using Kodi + ServerWMC rather than Windows
Media Center is support for displaying programs flagged as Copy Once (e.g. premium channels and payper-view).
2 Install and Configure ServerWMC
Once you have Windows Media Center setup and able to tune to multiple Live TV channels, you should
install ServerWMC on the same machine. From the ServerWMC website:
ServerWMC needs to run on a machine that is configured for wmc. It provides ‘server’
capabilities to the recording and EPG services that wmc uses. ServerWMC must be running on
the wmc machine in order for the client addons and plugins to connect to these services. Please
note that the server software relies on wmc being completely configured (tuners, EPG, channels,
etc). Once configured, it is not dependent on whether wmc is actually running.
The first time you run ServerWMC, your firewall may prompt you to allow it to run. Make sure you select
Allow. The default settings should be adequate for most users, although more advanced users may choose
to optimize certain settings. Users should consult the online documentation for complete details.
2.1 Set Startup Behavior
You may want to change the default behavior to ‘Start when Windows starts’ and ‘Start up minimized’ as
shown below. ServerWMC will need to be running before launching CaveCenter™:
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2.2 Use Custom Padding with Special Option for Sports
ServerWMC provides a more comprehensive set of recording timer controls than
Windows Media Center, allowing you to use a custom padding for general programs and
a unique padding for sports programs.
Because many sporting events are extended due to overtime, scheduled recordings could
be terminated prematurely if the Program Guide end time is used to terminate the
recording. ServerWMC provides an option to extend recordings for programs flagged as
sports content for a user-specified duration. This can also be used to watch a particular
channel such as sports news or back-to-back games continuously for several hours. In
the example below, sports programs would continue to record for up to 5 hours past the
scheduled end time or until the recording is manually terminated.
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2.3 Delete Temporary Stream Files
When ServerWMC is used in conjunction with the Kodi PVR.WMC client to tune to a
live TV channel, the native .wtv file (pause buffer) is remuxed to .ts format stream file
for playback. In general, it is a good idea to delete these temporary stream files when
tuning to a new channel to save disk space as shown below:
3 Install Kodi and setup PVR client
Kodi provides a powerful and highly customizable entertainment hub which is supported by an active
development community. From the Kodi website:
Kodi (formally known as XBMC) is an award-winning free and open source (GPL) software media
player and entertainment hub that can be installed on Linux, OSX, Windows, iOS, and Android,
featuring a 10-foot user interface for use with televisions and remote controls. It allows users to play
and view most videos, music, podcasts, and other digital media files from local and network storage
media and the internet. Our forums and Wiki are bursting with knowledge and help for the new user
right up to the application developer. We also have helpful Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Youtube
pages. In the near future XBMC will be renamed to Kodi. You can read about it here.
Once you have installed Kodi, you will need to install and enable the add-on PVR.WMC. This can be done
by going to Settings > LiveTV > General and selecting ‘Enabled’ as shown below:
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If no previous PVR Add-on has been installed, you will then see the following prompt:
Pressing OK will take you to the list of PVR clients. From there, you should select ‘PVR WMC Client’ as
shown below:
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Next, you will need to enable the client as shown below:
If successful, Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data will be added and you should now be able to tune to
Live TV channels.
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4 Modify keyboard.xml
In order to be compatible with CaveCenter™, you will need to add support for 2 new keyboard commands
by editing the file below:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Kodi\system\keymaps\keyboard.xml
If you have trouble editing the file directly due to user access permisions, try copying it to your desktop,
editing it there, and then copying back to the original location. You may also wish to create a backup copy
of the original file.
First, change the following line, which will cause the Home key to take you to the top level home screen:
Old: <home>FirstPage</home>
New: <home>ActivateWindow(Home)</home>
Next, add the following line in the same section, which will allow a new recording to be invoked via
CTRL+R:
<r mod="ctrl">Record</r>
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5 Optimize Kodi Settings
Next, you will need to optimize several Kodi settings to allow it to integrate seamlessly with CaveCenter™.
5.1 Choose Skin
While any Kodi skin should theoretically be compatible with CaveCenter™, you should choose a skin
which provides a good 10 foot user interface with large enough fonts to read comfortably at quarter screen
size and resolution. Also, note that some skins are optimized to detect a Series Recording and issue user
dialog prompts to select the series recording parameters each time a new recording is initiated. This is a
major inconvenience when using the CaveCenter™ ‘Watch n’ commands. We recommend choosing a skin
which does not differentiate between Series and one-time recordings and will proceed with the recording
regardless. If you then want to edit Series Recording parameters, this can be done easily in Windows
Media Center.
At the time of this writing, we generally recommend the Aeon Nox skin, which is also one of the most
popular Kodi skins. This can be chosen under Settings > Appearance > Skin as shown below. If the skin
has not been previously installed, you will need to select ‘Get more’, choose ‘Aeon Nox’ and follow the
prompts to install and enable the skin.
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5.2 Disable Screensaver
While on the Appearance menu, we also recommend changing the Screensaver mode default option of
‘Dim’ to ‘None’ as shown below:
This will allow the Program Guide to always be visible regardless of mouse/cursor position or activity
level.
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5.3 Use a Fullscreen Window
For optimum visual appearance, we recommend running Kodi in a fullscreen window rather than a
traditional window, which will remove the window border and provide a consistent look with the other
CaveCenter™ windows. This can be set under Settings > System > Video Output, by setting the Display
Mode to ‘Full Screen #1’ and selecting ‘Use a fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen’ as shown
below. You will also need to change the Settings level to ‘Expert’ to see this option.
5.3.1 Known Issue
Note that there is a known issue when using a fullscreen window which causes the mouse coordinate range
to be restricted when the Kodi window is displayed in a quadrant. Since most users will generally be using
a remote control rather than a mouse, we do not anticipate this causing a problem. When the Kodi window
is displayed in full screen, the full mouse coordinate range is available. If a user needs the full mouse
coordinate range when running Kodi in a quadrant, it is recommend to use a traditional window with
borders.
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5.4 Set EPG Select Action to ‘Switch to channel’
We recommend changing the default action when selecting a program from the Electronic Program Guide
(EPG) to ‘Switch to channel’ as shown below. This will avoid a confirmation dialog each time you select a
new channel. This can be set under Settings > Live TV > General as shown below:
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5.5 Use Back-End Channel Numbers
We also recommend using back-end channel numbers for consistency of the channel mapping between
Kodi and Windows Media Center. This can be set under Settings > Live TV > General, by selecting ‘Use
backend channel numbers’ at a Settings level of ‘Expert’.
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6 Select ‘Kodi + ServerWMC’ as Guide/Media
Application
The user can select the preferred Guide / Media browser to use when running CaveCenter™ from the
Overlay Controls section of CaveTec Settings panel as shown below:
Under ‘Application List’ for ‘Guide/Media’, select ‘Kodi + ServerWMC’ and click ‘Save’. The next time
you start CaveCenter™, it will load Kodi as the Guide / Media browser rather than Windows Media Center.
As noted above, you will need to ensure that ServerWMC is running prior to starting CaveCenter™. At
present, CaveCenter™ does not automatically launch ServerWMC.
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