Going from a WDTV with a new Android box running Kodi?

I’m pretty happy with my WDTV but I wouldn’t mind tinkering with a Android box with Kodi.

Is it easy to migrate a large film library to Kodi and, say, still keep my current folder/file structure i.e. Video(folder) → Genre(folder) → Filmname year(folder) → Filmname year(mp4/mkv/etc)?

Does the Kodi video scraping work as well as the WDTV? I find that ‘filmname (year)(mp4/mkv/etc)’ works just fine for the WDTV and the additional scraping files for any given film are sensibly put into the same folder as the film in question.

For simply browsing and playing films from a USB HDD library, is Kodi a better experience?

I’d appreciate any views from anyone that’s tried the WDTV and Android/Kodi or maybe any other WDTV alternative.

Thanks.

Kodi’s Media Library will do all the sorting for you (no need to create Genre folders, Filenames with years etc)
I have all my movies in one big “Movies” folder … Kodi can sort it by Year, Genre, Actor, Recent, Boxsets etc

It works 100 times better than the WDTV

I have a 4TB USB HDD for my Movies and a 2TB My Cloud for TV Shows … both work flawlessly with Kodi, and navigation speed, sorting, viewing is fast and easy.

Be careful with Android Boxes … i have a $100 Octo-Core /4K box that only after mucking about with installing 3 Different Custom Firmwares that i got it to “Work” ok with Kodi (2 Biggest problems … Auto Frame Rate Refresh and DD / DTS Passthrough)

But, I have a Raspberry Pi 3 which works perfectly with Kodi … no issues at all (Perfect Refresh Rate Switching, Perfect DD/DTS Passthrough) i use my RPi3 on a Daily basis.
Also, the Raspberry Pi 3 has the BEST community Support.

Before deciding on what features you want and what your budget is … below, are MUST READ links before purchasing a Kodi Box

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?pid=2192163

http://kodi.wiki/view/devices

NOTE: I started using Kodi (or XBMC as it was formerly know) back on the original XBOX back in 2002. I only switched to WDTV’s because when 720p/1080p HD VIDEO arrived, the xbox’s aging hardware could’nt handle it. So, today with my RPi3 running Kodi (XBMC) it’s nice to finally be home again :slight_smile:

1 Like

I have two WDTVs, each with attached drives. I also have KODI running on an “Android box” called the Amazon Fire TV Stick. After proper setup of FireTV installation of Kodi, it accesses and plays all my media files on my network; this includes a My Cloud NAS. I have the Fire Stick, but if I were buying again, I would spend a little more (around $100 vs. $40) to get the more robust FireTV box. The WDTV is not involved other than it has to be on so the drives attached to it can be wirelessly accessed via home network.

The price of entry to this is the cost of FireTV, and Kodi is free.

1 Like

Many thanks for some really good advice. Bizarrely someone has just given me a used Amazon Fire TV box, however I think I’ll give it to one of my nephews who would probably make good use of it.

I think I’ll try the RPi3 route as I’m not really looking for a solution, I’m just looking to have fun messing with electronics.

Thanks again.

The Raspberry Pi 3 will definitely suit you then … I love tinkering with all the things it can do ! :grinning:

1 Like

P.S. Highly Recommend a “FLIRC” case for the RPi3 … keeps things nice and cool (it’s costs a little more [Aluminum Case acting as passive heatsink]… but is definitely worth every penny) :slight_smile:

https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/wd/uploads/default/optimized/3X/9/0/90aa85936a1eee6928c0698b9b7a3d5259b860e0_1_690x263.jpg

1 Like

I must admit I was looking at this a little earlier I think they’re about £16. Essentially just a big heat sink.I’ll no doubt get one.

If you are use to a WDTV you will find an android box running XMBC annoying, but once you work it out you can make it work as well. XMBC is a good media player software, but I have found if you have a huge library it can get difficult to find anything. But if you keep it simple its good. But in summary, if you have an existsing WDTV accessing videos using a twonky engine, like a WD MyCloud, your android media player will work the same as a WDTV. If you played your videos’ off a USB drive connected to the WDTV, best to avoid that strategy. Best to access your videos’ off a NAS using smb, or use your old WDTV as a smb server. That allows you to copy files from your PC to the NAS instead of the WDTV drive. Seems to work.
As for scraping, I tend to use “Media Center Master” to create all my metadata.

disagree … Kodi (XMBC) Media Library is very easy to use for a large Media Library

I suspect for most users it will not be an issue. I have memorized the file structure i use with my WDTV so am able to find anything pretty quickly - most people would not use this type of manual system and would find XBMC/KODI more than acceptable. My wife likes it, especially using the metropolis skins. But I have to say, anyone who has managed a large library on a WDTV will find some adjustment time is required before they are fully comfortable with XBMC/KODI. Its important to not give up too quickly.

1 Like