The developers have released the first beta version of Kodi 19, codenamed “Matrix”. Kodi is open source software for intercepting streaming content located, for example, on your hard drives or on the network. Unlike Plex, no classic background server is required.
One of the main goals of 19.x “Matrix” is to release a production version of Kodi with Python 3 add-ons as soon as possible in 2021. Why Python 3? Support for Python 2 expired in January 2020, so many have already switched to the new platform.
This typically takes a long time, but is needed when users want active support, bug fixes, the latest third-party libraries, security patches, and the like. Kodi 19 brings numerous innovations and improvements in various areas, we have already summarized the corresponding highlights below in the hinged spoiler.
Kodi Innovations 19
Audio / music
Improvements related to multi-disc CD sets and box sets; metadata improvements such as better management of album release dates, album durations, etc .; new full screen / view settings; new Matrix-inspired visualization; support for file tags over http (s).
Music video
Improved links with the music library, for example to retrieve album / artist information, view both videos and albums when searching, view more linked information in information dialogs, etc; improvements to grouping all music videos by artist (compared to album only); better .info management for multiple artists.
Skin / Appearance
Multiple improvements to Estuary, particularly in regards to music and music videos, including: a redesign of the music window to full screen / view; display of additional metadata; new “Now Playing” view; chapter information for music videos; improved “now playing” and “next item” views; generally improved “out of the box” behavior with regards to music and video library artwork.
Games
Improved game controller support on iOS; image quality improvements in Pixel Art games.
Reproduction
AV1 software decoding, subtitle enhancements with new dark gray color and selectable opacity; ability to provide a subtitle URI (URL, local file, etc.); static and dynamic HDR10 support Dolby Vision HDR (platform and client dependent).
ISR
A number of improvements, including ISR reminders; TV / Radio channel groups, home screen widgets and dynamic PVR categories for Estuary; improvements to the Group and Channel manager; navigation / usability improvements such as context menus, persistence of selection and EPG controls; improvements to the information dialog; improvements to PVR management via API.
Safety
Various improvements to user information, such as the security implications of enabling external interfaces or a prompt when enabling a broken / deprecated add-on; a requirement for a web interface password by default; new source application for add-ons and dependencies, so third-party add-ons cannot overwrite the code of other unrelated add-ons.
Information Providers / Scrapers
New Python scrapers for music, TV and movies (related to Python 3 move).
… plus many code and platform specific fixes and enhancements that may be less visible to most users, but are still significant, such as switching to a single Linux binary for multiple window systems (X11, Wayland, and GBM ).
There are, for example, skin improvements, improved game controller support on iOS, software decoding of AV1 and much more. Users can get Beta 1 directly here. If you use Android, you can sign up for the beta program here and get updates directly from the Google Play Store. If you like it and don’t use plugins anyway, you can already install the update on Fire TV. It works as it has for many years.
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