Kodi 19 "Matrix" Final has been released
The final version of the multimedia application Kodi 19, codename Matrix, has been released to the public. The new version is available on the official project website for all supported operating systems.
Kodi is an entertainment application that is available for desktop systems, mobile devices, and Raspberry Pi. The software has many appeals, from managing all entertainment needs, music, movies, TV, photos Internet radio, and more, to customization options and an extensive add-ons system to add features that you require to the system.
The official announcement on the Kodi blog provides insight on the changes that went into the new release. According to the information published there, "some 600,000 lines of code" were added, changed or removed since the release of Kodi 18.
Existing users need to be aware that the team moved to Python 3 when it comes to add-ons because of Python 2's end of support. Many add-ons have or will be updated, but there is a chance that some won't and that means that these add-ons cannot be used anymore in Kodi 19.
As far as other changes are concerned, there are plenty. Here is a quick list of important changes that stand out:
- Video playback:Â AV1 software decoding, HLG HDR and static HDR10 playback on Windows 10, static HDR10 and dynamic Dolby Vision HDR support on Android, and more OpenGL bicubic scalers
- Audio playback: improved metadata handling, library improvements.
- Games: integer scaling implemented to improve pixel-art games. Kodi on iOS gets supported for Xbox, Playstation and other Bluetooth game controllers.
- Theme: music screen redesign, image file improvements, updated graphical user interface controls.
- Subtitles: option to set an opacity for captions, fixed timestamp overlay.
- PVR and Live TV: PVR reminders, home screen widgets, channel number and sorting, performance improvements, and more.
- Security: improved add-on installation to avoid "third-party repositories from overwriting code of unrelated add-ons". Broken and deprecated add-ons are now highlighted and new default requirement to password protect Kodi's web interface.
- Platform-specific: Support for tvOS and single Linux binary for multiple windowing systems (Wayland, X11 and GMB) instead of the previous three binaries.
The full changelog has not been published on the official Wiki website yet but it will be published eventually.
Now You: Do you use Kodi?
I’m an avid user of Kodi. I run it via CoreELEC on my streaming box (which used to run a very outdated version of Android)
Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll be stuck at Kodi 18 (a.k.a. Leia) for at least a while, because my hardware, an AMLogic S905 box, isn’t supported anymore by the CoreELEC team
I think that LibreELEC will support those AMLogic devices for Kodi 19 (a.k.a. Matrix) but I haven’t looked into it yet
Besides, I also run quite a few add-ons on my Kodi installation, so there’s also the issue of checking which add-ons have been (or will be) updated to work with Python 3
Kodi may be a bit complex at times but it’s so rewarding that it’s worthwhile to take the time to set it up.
Do you use Kodi?
I have, and I’ll try this new version, but I’ll likely go back to my version of EMDB, which has been hacked/skinned to my liking, which wasn’t easy to do, being that the dev is a bit cuckoo and the code is closed. In other words, it wouldn’t take much to make EMDB better than Kodi, as I’ve already done it.
Kodi is more than a single video player. For single video playing PotPlayer is the king actually. :]
Great, it broke everything on Shield :( piece of sh..
Same for me. It’s wiped me out.
Same here, no longer access (browse) the root filesystem where network storage is mounted on the shield. Not able to connect to smb directly through Kodi. Favorite screen savers and yahoo weather no longer work….
The add-ins is one thing but not being able to access network storage and the root file system is a huge mess up. Back to plex…
Crap! Installed the 19.0 version and all my adding were gone! Had to go back to 18.9…what a waste of time!
Is there a step by step instruction on how to get my files on my NAS to work in version 19.0? I am a nooby when it comes to these sorts of things and the last version 18.9 worked fine where I could play my files from my NAS
You Need to Be Sure..before, Release Matrix 19.., Sorry I back to version 18.9….I lost my time download Matrix don’t do something similar in the future. Thanks.
Hi,
How do I go back to to 18.9?
Amazing …. Why developers, or a GA Notes of Kodi 19.0, or a BIG RED screen doesn’t appear when you try update to Kodi 19.0 to warn us add-ons will not be updated (list of them) and then ask us if “we want continue with the upgrade or cancel the operatuion”, since add-ons is not yet compiled for Pithon 3 and some will never be compiled anymore ?
System just update and remove all customizations I made on my “actual not supported add-ons” …
I use KODI daily, have done for 10 years or so. I was hoping they would revamp it but it’s still just as clunky as ever. Maybe next time.
How can I go back to re-install 18.9, I saved it on USB stick when I tried , it say software can’t be installed, hope have help info on re-installation of 18.9,thanks
Broke my shield. I deleted it. But the damage was already done. I had to do a full factory reinstall on my shield which is a 2015 pro and currently just using spmc until Kodi is fixed or I find a way to install version 18.9.
My brother who has got the latest 2020 version has the same issue and I have advised him to do the same.
Videos would freeze and the box would not respond.. it changed the hard drive names to random characters and digits. Is there a way I can reinstall 18.9?
Not impressed.
Used the system in the morning and everything was fine.
Auto update hit, and in the afternoon I have a doorstop.
I can force a reinstall of an earlier version, but the time required for the addins is a pain.
KODI just went from treasure to trash.
big shit , dont install kodi 19 . smb doent work .
Kodi v19.0 doesn’t work on Mac OSX El Capitan – and breaks most of my add ons
silly that v19 is such a major shift from previous v18.9 that a perfectly good iMac now can’t run this software?!
Had to go back to v18.9 – which thank God, is easy to do on OSX and I didn’t loose my add ons or their settings!
Kodi – please sort this out!
Kodi matrix 19 i programmed it on one of my boxes. Used playstore for install. Then the next two says I opened up my phone and other boxes on other tvs. 18.6 version did not come up and it was auto loading this matrix that I did not want. Lost zanax build. New zilt build is hard to read. Font can’t be changed. Lost all adult add ons. Now you have to pay for a lot of streaming services. Not as many streaming options to choose from. I would give it 1 star out of 5 compared to Leia 18 version. 5 star. Kodi won’t even let you keep an older version on your box. I would like to convert back to 18.9 version but kodi won’t let me. This is very very disapointing!!
If you are running Leia do not go on kodi and load anything it will infect all your devices.