[shgadwa]

Hey! I'm new to Kodi and this forum. I'm working on setting up an HTPC box. So far its coming along great. I'm getting a MINIX remote for it. Its gonna be sweet.

One thing I noticed about Kodi was that its entirely open source (which is good), but I have not found one addon that is official. Like the youtube app doesn't look anything like youtube does on say googletv or androidtv. Plex addon doesn't look or work anything like the plex app which is available on googletv. Netflix addon is as unofficial as it gets.

Soooo, I'd imagine as the Kodi community continues to grow, will we see actual companies like youtube, netflix, plex, etc. etc. creating official kodi addons (if they're not already doing so)?? Secondly, are there skins available that make the unoffical addons more like the official ones?


Thanks!


Shawn

[da-anda]

1) probably no, but they are welcome to do so
2) no, it's more up to the addons to provide a custom UI if wanted (see spotymc) - but it's easier for them to not do a custom UI and only provide the data which has the benefit that you have a consistent UI all over the place

[Hedda]

Read the latest discussion in http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=25 about HTML layout engine integration, HTML5 apps, and DRM.

Companies will likely not provide "official" addons until there is a framework like example Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) in place embedded into Kodi for HTML5 addons.

In my opinion implementing an HTML5 engine inside Kodi would be the only realistic beginning as a platform for a such solution.

[topfs2]

Html5 video based sites have no reason to wait for CEF. In general those streams are fully open to whatever player and there is nothing special the player in chromium does that we don't.

[da-anda]

@topfs2 - I think Hedda is reffering to use a HTML layout engine to create custom app UIs instaed of using python. So basically what Boxee did with their HTML template engine

[topfs2]

I am well aware what he mean. My point is that there is absolutely nothing stopping them from doing it now if they are already html5 video based. Our player should handle it just fine and they can do scripts. They obviously cannot write a webapp for it but thats the only limitation. Youtube isn't a webapp in Android store either, so why would it _need_ to be in kodi.

[Ned Scott]

I think it's more about the DRM that Netflix uses:

As long as you're running an installation of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or 14.04 LTS and later, you just need Chrome version 37. Open up your Chrome browser and just head to the main Netflix site and you're all set, no other steps required. Previously, Ubuntu couldn't stream Netflix because the service uses HTML5 and a technology called Encrypted Media Extensions to prevent piracy. Those extensions require access to a set of libraries called Network Security Services

http://lifehacker.com/you-can-now-watch-...1644972250

[topfs2]

I was never on about netflix, I was talking about sites with normal html5 videos... Our player has everything it needs for them.

[bry]

@shgadwa this can be done but will require you to run a windows machine somewhere on your network. It will also cost you a software license to get going. Won't take long at all and very well worth the little bit of extra effort. This is obviously not an officially supported by kodi as it is a work-around but it works damn well and you wont know that you are viewing netflix/amazon/etc until you hit play and you see the loading screen.

1. playon.tv
   
2. [Beta] "PseudoLibrary" Strm Generator w/ Library Integration: AMAZON/HULU/NETFLIXr
   

if you follow the instructions you should be all set.