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0 pointsBeetleB4y ago0 comments

Kind of sad none of the responses really answered the question in detail.

What I would like to know:

1. What features does Plex have that Kodi doesn't?

2. What features does Kodi have that Plex doesn't?

I get that at this point it is somewhat an apples/oranges comparison, but still: As a Plex/Kodi user, what am I not getting that the other provides?

I know Kodi has a lot of plugins, but I'd like to hear of specific examples of plugins and how people use them in a way that you can't with Plex.

Edit: One somewhat useful Reddit comment:

https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/mciv5l/kodi_vs_...

0 comments

noisy_boy4y ago

I really wanted to move to Kodi to be able to run everything locally (Plex requires a login etc) but it was way too much friction for my use case (and I don't think it is such a unique use case). I keep my media in separate folders for each genre and wanted to do a one-to-one mapping of folder to "library" so that I can just click on, say, "sci-fi" and see all the movies for that in a grid and so on. Plex makes this very easy and for Kodi, I had to do investigate all sorts of workarounds like creating "dynamic views" (or something similar I think) and even then it wasn't as smooth and easy as Plex. Also, some of the features require specific themes which is not a great design IMHO. Basically gave up and have continued with Plex - it seems to be the gold standard in the balance between polish and features (always happy to explore other options though).

nobody99994y ago

Your experience echoes mine to a certain extent.

When searching for a media platform, I tried various ones including Kodi (and the various forks/environments like LibreElec et. al), Plex and others.

I also have a folder hierarchy which Kodi doesn't respect (very annoying) and played around with Plex as well.

However, I am unwilling to log in and share telemetry about my own personal library with Plex.

As such, I went with MythTV, which isn't as slick as Plex or Kodi, but does most of the job (that is, manage my local media library). It lacks in streaming options, including podcasts and the devs seem much more focused on the DVR than anything else.

That said, for what it does, MythTV is pretty good, but there's a lot it doesn't do.

noisy_boy4y ago

Thanks for sharing your experience. I don't like Plex's telemetry aspects either and am pretty much focused on my own content (e.g. I don't really use Plex TV or other streaming bits). In addition to what I mentioned about my library organization needs, I just need to be able to view/search my content easily (Plex's default grid layout and sorting/filtering options are pretty well done in this regard e.g. being able to sort by Date Added/Release Date etc) and view them on my TV via using Chromecast (Plex's android client is far from perfect but gets the basic job done). If a solution covers these aspects well enough without having to share telemetry, I'll drop Plex in a heartbeat.

1 more reply

keithah4y ago

Kodi allows you to regex your way to any folder hierarchy: https://kodi.wiki/view/Scrapers

deadbunny4y ago

Not to be an ass but why not store your films in a flat layout (one folder per film) then use the built in features like "movies > by genre > sci-fi"?

toosmart4y ago

Because metadata doesn’t exist. There is the directory (NOT a folder). There is the movie file. End of report.

Because of a limited world view. Movies are ONLY one thing. SciFi OR Comedy. Not both. Never both.

Because the idea behind a genre-based movie directory hierarchy is _genius_, and the tens of thousands of people that don’t fight the practical organization methods of media catalogs are sheep.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsBeetleB4y ago0 comments

Kind of sad none of the responses really answered the question in detail.

What I would like to know:

1. What features does Plex have that Kodi doesn't?

2. What features does Kodi have that Plex doesn't?

I get that at this point it is somewhat an apples/oranges comparison, but still: As a Plex/Kodi user, what am I not getting that the other provides?

I know Kodi has a lot of plugins, but I'd like to hear of specific examples of plugins and how people use them in a way that you can't with Plex.

Edit: One somewhat useful Reddit comment:

https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/mciv5l/kodi_vs_...

0 comments

noisy_boy4y ago

nobody99994y ago

Your experience echoes mine to a certain extent.

When searching for a media platform, I tried various ones including Kodi (and the various forks/environments like LibreElec et. al), Plex and others.

I also have a folder hierarchy which Kodi doesn't respect (very annoying) and played around with Plex as well.

However, I am unwilling to log in and share telemetry about my own personal library with Plex.

That said, for what it does, MythTV is pretty good, but there's a lot it doesn't do.

noisy_boy4y ago

1 more reply

keithah4y ago

Kodi allows you to regex your way to any folder hierarchy: https://kodi.wiki/view/Scrapers

deadbunny4y ago

Not to be an ass but why not store your films in a flat layout (one folder per film) then use the built in features like "movies > by genre > sci-fi"?

toosmart4y ago

Because metadata doesn’t exist. There is the directory (NOT a folder). There is the movie file. End of report.

Because of a limited world view. Movies are ONLY one thing. SciFi OR Comedy. Not both. Never both.

Because the idea behind a genre-based movie directory hierarchy is _genius_, and the tens of thousands of people that don’t fight the practical organization methods of media catalogs are sheep.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse