Kodi Boxes - what does kodi need to do to distance from illegal activities

Forums › Online streaming services › Kodi Boxes - what does kodi need to do to distance from illegal activities - or has horse bolted?

davidcole

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#242462 29-Oct-2018 13:04

Interesting to read in the NZ Herald article (bottom of here: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=151&topicid=210210&page_no=7 )when talking about damages for the Mybox issue, that sky seem to be of the opinion that every box was directly purchased was directly related to the lack of a sky subscription.

Full of yourself much sky? That wasn't the only claim to fame of that box was it?

This is where kodi need to get out in front of all this, and like roku, and now apple tv/nvidia shield/amazon fire, provide content providers with a platform for loading their channels on. But I suspect the horse has already bolted. I've always said Kodi, and before that, XBMC, needed to talk to the likes of BBC iplayer, and get some sort of content protected added to kodi, so that they're happy to develop for that platform. Then kodi, within reason could lock down their platform for development. This is kinda what plex has done. It was originally forked from xmbc then the channels/plugins api was created...which they now seem to be backing away from and they seem to be heading down the roku path.

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#2116143 29-Oct-2018 13:14

i'd say it's not Kodi's problems at all.

it's just piece of software after all. what other's do with that software - different story.

Plex also allows plugins, and there're few that used for illegal streaming and these plugins discussed on plex official forums!!! no one blames Plex.

Imaging it as mini-box with windows/linux/other shipped to user with a elligal_tv_sky_sports.m3u8 playlist on it. Play list opened and played with default media player and buuzaaa it's windows/linux/other problem now?

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gehenna

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#2116144 29-Oct-2018 13:14

Given the origin of XBMC, on modded Xboxes, I think XBMC now Kodi is fully aware of what it is and what its user base is doing.

aspett

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#2116184 29-Oct-2018 13:21

I think the problem is that Kodi became mainstream, and even those who weren't techies were trying to get their hands on it. As such, the reputation will stick to the general population. It's not exactly Kodi's fault for the way their platform is being used, but they'll probably have to put some effort in if they want to be known for anything but less-than-legal streaming.

Funnily enough, I think Plex is the next Kodi in this regard.

gehenna

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#2116190 29-Oct-2018 13:25

aspett:

Funnily enough, I think Plex is the next Kodi in this regard.

I highly doubt that, they're already trying to legitimatise themselves by including podcasts and news in the app now. They have done away with a lot of plugin support through recent updates.

davidcole

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#2116192 29-Oct-2018 13:26

Yes I know exactly how these things are sold, I'm not fussed by that.

I more interested in should kodi do something about it, so that they are accepted by the major content providers. They've always been off on the fringes of "free" content, and while there were a number of legal platforms on there, there were none of the big ones (bbc iplayer - developed in conjunction with the BBC, netflix etc).

aspett

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#2116193 29-Oct-2018 13:28

gehenna:

I highly doubt that, they're already trying to legitimatise themselves by including podcasts and news in the app now. They have done away with a lot of plugin support through recent updates.

I think it was popularised due to how good it is for streaming - again - less-than-legal content. While they have put great efforts in to be more than that, I think they're still toeing the same line Kodi does/did.

gehenna

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#2116194 29-Oct-2018 13:28

I guess my question is why would they want to be accepted?

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kobiak

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#2116206 29-Oct-2018 13:39

TBH all the Kodi blaming is on par with search engines blames that media companies are pushing.

search sites have nothing to do with the content, but are bind to remove links, why? Just because laws are not upto the technology.

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gehenna

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#2116246 29-Oct-2018 14:31

aspett:

I think it was popularised due to how good it is for streaming - again - less-than-legal content. While they have put great efforts in to be more than that, I think they're still toeing the same line Kodi does/did.

TBH I've never found it to be good for streaming online content. It's local content where it wins, and where it focuses most of the effort on features and development.

Groucho

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#2116250 29-Oct-2018 14:33

davidcole:

I more interested in should kodi do something about it, so that they are accepted by the major content providers. They've always been off on the fringes of "free" content, and while there were a number of legal platforms on there, there were none of the big ones (bbc iplayer - developed in conjunction with the BBC, netflix etc).

Exactly. As the music industry found out when digital music players arrived people were downloading music illegally because the industry didn't play ball. These days if you don't give your market what they want (within reason) then the market will do it themselves and the providers miss out. The mainstream content platforms should be embracing Kodi like they did Android to extend their customer base. People are more likely to use legitimate services if it's not an uphill battle to access them without requiring numerous devices.

One day they might ALL be available in one set top box that the manufacturers won't abandon like "smart" TVs that go dumb after 3-4 years.

aspett

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#2116282 29-Oct-2018 15:03

gehenna:

aspett:

I think it was popularised due to how good it is for streaming - again - less-than-legal content. While they have put great efforts in to be more than that, I think they're still toeing the same line Kodi does/did.

TBH I've never found it to be good for streaming online content. It's local content where it wins, and where it focuses most of the effort on features and development.

Streaming local content is what I mean.

gehenna

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#2116292 29-Oct-2018 15:05

Oh yip. Well yeah, but local content is different in terms of how much it puts the app in the limelight - different for a Kodi which has plugins that are streaming online dubious content direct to the client, vs a Plex type app on which the content is effectively invisible to the rights holder....other than the method of obtaining the content itself.

Senecio

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#2116303 29-Oct-2018 15:15

I don’t think content providers are interested in integrating with Kodi. They’d much prefer to build a stand alone app where they have more control over how their content is delivered.

gehenna

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#2116305 29-Oct-2018 15:20

@senecio agreed. If Microsoft couldn't make it happen with Windows Media Centre, Kodi has no chance. Content providers don't want consumers rolling their own services.

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#2116325 29-Oct-2018 15:57

My networking and programming know-how are limited so a lot is over my head, but I use Kodi all the time and am a devoted fan. But I probably don't use it as intended. I also don't use it for piracy, whatever Sky may think. I use it for choice, because what we have available in our very tiny New Zealand region is so abysmal.

I don't bother with a local network in the house as we don't really need that. So I have all the video stuff disabled. I like simplicity, not clutter. My Kodi has just three categories enabled, TV, Add-ons, Favourites. I removed the media pc in the lounge some time ago and replaced it with a notebook and Chromecast. I have Kodi installed on a Shield.

A brilliant add-on called Simple Favourites makes it possible to create shortcuts from any location and any device to folders organised however I wish. This is the best and most useful add-on I have ever discovered. It allows me to collect everything in one place in Kodi Favourites.

A second add-on I rely on is the Chrome Launcher. This lets me create one-click shortcuts to any URL that I can't get by other means. I use it for a lot of public broadcasting stuff.

I am not into the kind of mass appeal stuff that Sky seems to think is all we need to watch. My tastes run to art and culture, public broadcasting, news and current events, that kind of thing. Everything I could ever want and more is available through streaming. It is not available in New Zealand. As far as I am concerned, Sky can shove it up their big bloated behind. With Kodi and streaming I can view what matters to me. I don't give a damn what Sky thinks.

We are on rural broadband so anything more than 1080p is out of our reach. Most of the stuff we watch is lower resolution than that. I can understand that people into big screen blockbusters need something better, but what we have fits our requirements perfectly and Kodi is the perfect answer for that.

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