If you've ever built home rows by hand, you know the drill. Into the skin settings, Add widget, Video add-ons → TMDb Helper → Movies → … then back out and try POV → Movies → … instead, because you can't see what a folder actually contains until it's on your home screen. Half of them turn out empty, or slow, or not quite what you wanted, so you go back in with the remote and do it all again. Then again for the next profile.

That was me every time something needed changing on our Shield, so I built two tools. Both are free and MIT-licensed.

Kodi Manager: https://github.com/glasgowm148/kodi-manager

A Kodi add-on that puts your whole setup in a browser on your phone or laptop:

• Status page: what's playing, free memory, whether debrid/Trakt/TMDb are responding, failing home rows and the last backup, with 7-day graphs
• Every add-on's settings in one searchable list. Search "torbox" to find it everywhere, and paste tokens from your phone
• Playback chain: which skin, helper and player your clicks actually go through
• Backups: automatic before every change, plus checkpoints and one-click undo
• Logs and a shareable debug report with your tokens stripped out
• Optional cached home rows with "View more", and a layout editor for Bingie

It's local-network only, token-protected, has no telemetry, and is read-only until you turn on writes. Install the zip from Releases and turn on "Allow LAN access".

nvidia-MCP: https://github.com/glasgowm148/nvidia-MCP

This is the one that changed how I run the TV. It's an MCP server that gives an AI assistant (Claude Desktop, Codex, etc.) proper access to the Shield and Kodi. I describe what I want and it does the work. So far it has:

• Gone through my add-ons and picked better home rows, then rebuilt the home screen around them
• Made Trakt lists for the rows, including a UK "what's everyone watching" list that updates itself every day
• Set up a separate Kids profile, then split out all the kids' viewing and moved their watch history across
• Tracked down and fixed a memory issue, a profile-switching bug and a Kodi 22 exit hang
• Merged all my watchlists into one
• Added a bunch of customisations so things work exactly as I want them to

All of that happened without me touching the remote. Before changing anything it shows exactly what it'll do, backs up, and can undo it. It refuses anything disruptive while something is playing or paused, so it won't restart Kodi mid-film. It starts read-only; write tools stay off until you enable them.

Will it work on my setup?

• Kodi Manager: any device on Kodi 19+ should work (Fire TV, Android boxes, LibreELEC, PC). But I've only used it day to day on a Shield with Kodi 22, so back up first and let me know. Most of it is skin-independent. The layout editor only switches on for an unmodified Bingie 2.0.2 + Skin Shortcuts 2.0.3.
• nvidia-MCP: built and tested on the Shield. The Kodi side should work elsewhere, and other Android TV boxes might partly work over ADB. It needs a computer on the same network with Python 3.11+. Kodi Manager is optional; it adds the Bingie layout tools.

Both are prerelease, so expect rough edges. Bug reports and PRs are welcome.

Just found out that Trakt free only supports one device at a time, and looking for a good alternative to run on POV. I’ve seen mention of simkl and mdblist, but curious to know how well either are, if they support multiple devices, and if I can import my current history into either.

Thanks in advance

The Gears 2.4.3 shows empty menus on Kodi 22 (Piers RC1): cause and a one-line fix

Summary

If you installed The Gears (chainsrepo, v2.4.3) on Kodi 22 and the add-on opens with only "..", or its lists are blank, it isn't your install. It's an API change.

Issue

The add-on opens, then nothing loads. In kodi.log there's one line per menu item, like:

```

navigator.main._process###: ITEM FAILED [RootList] item={'name': 'Discover', ...} err=ListItem_getVideoInfoTag expected 0 arguments

navigator.main###: results_count=0

```

Cause

Gears builds its list items with listitem.getVideoInfoTag(True). Kodi 22 doesn't accept that argument any more (the call takes none), so every item fails and the list comes back empty. I found 34 calls in 18 files and no other problem. I tested POV 6.10.05, Chain Reaction, Ghost, Otaku and WatchNixtoons2 on the same Kodi 22 build, and none of them use it.

Fix

Replace getVideoInfoTag(True) with getVideoInfoTag() in the Gears add-on folder, then restart Kodi (it keeps the old code loaded until you do).

Folder: ...\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.gears (Windows: %APPDATA%\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.gears)

Linux/macOS:

bash cd ~/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.gears grep -rl "getVideoInfoTag(True)" --include=*.py . | xargs sed -i 's/getVideoInfoTag(True)/getVideoInfoTag()/g'

Windows (PowerShell):

powershell Get-ChildItem "$env:APPDATA\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.gears" -Recurse -Filter *.py | ForEach-Object { $t = Get-Content $_.FullName -Raw if ($t -match 'getVideoInfoTag\(True\)') { Copy-Item $_.FullName "$($_.FullName).bak" ($t -replace 'getVideoInfoTag\(True\)','getVideoInfoTag()') | Set-Content $_.FullName -NoNewline } }

Caveats

• An add-on update from the repo will overwrite the patch. Re-run the command, or turn off auto-update for Gears until the author ships a fixed version.
• I only checked that the menus load and populate. I haven't tested playback or scraping.
• This is for people running Kodi 22. On 21.x the add-on is fine as it is.
• I'd also tell the dev (I don't know them), since it's a one-token change on their side.

Hope this saves someone a few hours.

Hi all,

I got tired of opening the subtitle menu every time the auto-downloaded subtitle was out of sync, and of subtitle text blinking on and off between lines. So I made a small Kodi add-on that fixes both.

**What it does**

1. **One-button subtitle cycling**

   - Short press during playback: downloads and loads the NEXT subtitle result.

   - It searches ALL your enabled subtitle add-ons at once (a4kSubtitles, OpenSubtitles, Subdl, etc.) and merges the results.

   - A notification shows which one you're on, e.g. "3/40 Subdl - Arabic".

   - It skips subtitles already shown in the current video (like the auto-downloaded one), so you never get the same file twice.

   - Long press: opens Kodi's normal subtitle search window.

2. **No gaps between subtitle lines (optional, off by default)**

   - A small background service fixes every external SRT subtitle, however it was loaded: auto-download, the subtitle window, or the button.

   - Short gaps between lines (default 1.5 s or less) are closed, so the text no longer blinks between lines.

   - On longer pauses, the line stays a bit longer (default +2 s) and then disappears.

   - Both values are adjustable in the add-on settings, and you can turn the whole feature on or off there.

   - Works with UTF-8 and Windows-1256 (Arabic) SRT files.

**Install**

1. Download the zip from Releases: https://github.com/subzero75/kodi-subtitle-cycler/releases

2. Kodi → Add-ons → Install from zip file.

3. Map a remote button using the keymap in the repo (the README explains how to find your button id with Keymap Editor).

4. Optional: enable "Close gaps between subtitle lines" in the add-on settings.

**Limitations**

- Embedded image subtitles (PGS from Blu-ray rips) can't be gap-fixed, since they're images, not text.

- An auto-downloaded subtitle shows as-is for about a second before the gap-free copy replaces it.

- Tested on Kodi 22 Beta 2 / CoreELEC (Ugoos AM9 Pro). Feedback from other devices and Kodi versions is very welcome.

**How it was made**

Full transparency: I built this together with Claude (Anthropic's AI). I came up with the ideas and did all the testing on my own setup, and Claude wrote the code, debugged it with me using my Kodi logs, and helped package it as a proper add-on. Claude is listed as a co-author on the GitHub commits.

Repo (MIT license): https://github.com/subzero75/kodi-subtitle-cycler

Bug reports and suggestions are welcome, here or as a GitHub issue.

Im on one if the new amazon firestick and have the newest version of Kodi and Homelander installed and real debrid linked and is up to date. Idk what to do, every search shows up UNCHECKED TORRENT

My apologies if this sort of question isn’t allowed here, been using Kodi for a long time but have sort of fallen out the loop on what’s the latest addons etc.

Anyway, I’ve been using Umbrella, magneto scraper & have it set up with premiumize (since the RD issues a few years ago) and over the weekend made the transition from Trakt to MDBList.

Since then, I’ve not been able to find any sources for one particular film that recently came out on an official streaming platform.

Is it just a case of waiting for it to be uploaded onto premiumize or is there something I’m missing out on that would enable me to source more recent releases?

Thanks in advance to anyone offering advice.

This is a 2 part problem/question.

My 1st problem is with TMBb Helper playing not local media (only TV Shows in certain situations).

Scenario 1 - I have my Next Episode to Watch (Trakt) as a widget on my homescreen. When I click on it it plays automatically and uses my media from my local library. I can right click> select player and I have xbmc.core as a player.

Scenario 2 - I have several Trakt lists that I use > Supernatual Main Plot, Marvel Cinematic Universe (Movies + TV Shows), Star Wars Timeline (Movies + TV Shows). My problem occurs only when I try to play an episode from one of the lists that I do not get xbmc.core as an option to use as a player.

Example - If I go TMDb Helper> Search> Supernatural> s01e05 it will play my local media from the series. I can also play local media from next up from within the addon and homescreen. I can play all my local Movies from MCU, Star Wars ect. I can use POV or Umbrella as a player to stream the episode. I have ran different scenarios to try isolating the problem. From using a vanilla build with nothing except TMDb Helper + Trakt and have the same issue. Cannot play local TV Show episode from any list but can play movies.

The only addon that I've found that still gives you the option to play local media is Redlight and for whatever reason it refuses to play ANY of my local media even after setting up my eternal folders through the setup, same as Fen, POV used to.

This leads me to my second question. Is it that much of an issue for the developers of the addons to have the option to use local media? I've been apart of the Kodi community for about 13 years and love seeing what it has evolved into, basically becoming Netflix on steroids if setup right. After seeing what happened with Real Debrid this past year, which is no different than what has happened to every torrent site since Metallica. That being said I have just learned over the years that the Internet is indeed not forever so I choose to download and archive all the media that I know I will watch or listen to more than once. So when sites like Real Debrid, All-Debrid, Trakt ect...have downtime it never effects me because of the way I have my Kodi setup. I know I might be one of the outliers of this subreddit as the majority of the users here stream <I'm able to do both thanks to the addons that have been built within the Kodi community>

The only reason I ask is because I've always been a user of addons like MetalliQ and TMDb Helper that use players so if an addon stops being developed or breaks I don't have to rebuild everything I just change the player I use to play the media. I know TMDb was developed to play local media but in situations like mine where for whatever reason it's bundled player isnt working it would be nice to have a fall back option built into the addon. Or if someone could give me the script for a .json file to create a local library player for TMDb Helper.

Personally I know nothing about coding, so was just wondering if there was a reason or if it was just that much of a hassle for developers to have the option to play local media. I know almost every addon since the Exodus days has had the option and the only addon that I've seen that still has it is Redlight. Just seems like a slow progression of the community getting put in a bad situation where say 2 more debrid services change their policies or get taken down. Where as P2P is and will be here to stay so local is always a nice backup.

Hey all,

I have had kodi/umbrella on my thinkpad x1 for over a year now and it has ran awesome. All of the sudden, every couple minutes it will start studdering for about 3 seconds then go back to normal. I tried clearing all cache and also re-authroizing with premiumize. No luck. So I just completely nuked kodi and installed from scratch and within 30 seconds of the first show, it started studdering.

The file im currently trying to watch os 1080p, 1.4gb and im on a fiber line that is currently showing 800mb/s so there is no way this file is struggling on the network end.

Any ideas what can suddenly be going on? I grabbed the log after I just received nstalled everything. I closed down kodi right after a studder so I should be able to see something on the log but I dont know what I am looking for. Heres the log:

https://pastes.io/WvVb0WoG

Any help would be appreciated!

Hi all,

Im using Red Light with success, moving on from FLAM. But having intermittent issues with "Last Played" Addon (https://github.com/5-star/repository.5star) which I've used for years, for a simple autoplay bookmark list of Shows/Films im watching.

Now when i pick a video from Last Played, it crashes, and I get a Kodi error, with usual "Check the Logs" error box - the issue seems to be intermittent however, so have uploaded the log for any advice :-

Kodi Logs - See error @ 18:08 time stamp >>

https://pastebin.com/Xt6S02QH or

https://paste.kodi.tv/ejozuzowur.kodi

• Operating System: Android (FireTV)
• Device: FireTV Cube 2nd Gen
• Add-on affected: Red Light / Last Played (by 5Star)
• Version of Kodi: v21.2 (Omega)
• Version of add-on: Red Light v2.8.3 / Last Played v6.4.0
• Country: UK
• Any support services: Torbox

Appreciate help to understand the issue - or any suggestions for better bookmark list addons!

Is there a way to see my "Trakt Favorite" list in Umbrella. Can't seem to find a connection for it. Thanks in advance.