Kodi or plex for mac
#KODI OR PLEX FOR MAC SOFTWARE#
Parts of Plex are still Open Source, like Kodi, but aspects of the software are proprietary and only available to Plex employees.Ī lot has been said over the years about community software development. While the Kodi is a volunteer community supported by a non-profit organization, Plex is developed and maintained by Plex Inc., a for-profit company since 2010. The same can be said about the company itself. Simply put, a “fork” is like a fork in the road, two things that had a common past (or computer code), but that have taken different directions in the future. At their core, though, Kodi is maintained by regular people who love what product and want to make it better for themselves and others.Īs I mentioned earlier, Plex started as a fork of Kodi. Mainly, the XBMC foundation handles things like arranging travel to conferences, and protecting Kodi’s intellectual property and trademarks. The XBMC Foundation is a non-profit organization that was created in 2009 to help with the business of XBMC \ Kodi. Kodi is maintained and developed by Team Kodi, and hundreds of volunteer programmers throughout the world. Most people aren’t going to care about this one way or the other, but I’m including it to give you an idea of why some of the other comparisons are the way they are. Most people want their media center to ‘just work’ when they want to watch TV. I mean that an app should be downloadable from whatever the default app store is for that particular device: Google Play Store for Android, Amazon’s App Store for Fire TV, iTunes for Apple, etc. When I say “simple”, I mean that any feature you want to enable should be found in the Settings screen. I don’t care that if you have to root\jailbreak your device, or sideload an app on a particular platform.
#KODI OR PLEX FOR MAC INSTALL#
Personally, I don’t care if you can install some back-end code and modify your installation to have Kodi replicate a Plex feature, or vice versa. There also won’t be any mention of any hacks or special tweaks to get a feature to work. I’m of the opinion that if an add-on or channel gives us a feature that is safe and worth having, then it should be vetted and made available to everyone from either Kodi or Plex directly.
![kodi or plex for mac kodi or plex for mac](https://www.ionos.co.uk/digitalguide/fileadmin/DigitalGuide/Teaser/plex.jpg)
Both Kodi \ XBMC and Plex offer practically endless options for supplementing the “official” content, but these may come with substantial security risks or may be in a legally grey-area. Likewise, there won’t be any mention of the unsupported Plex channels. There won’t be any mention of third-party Kodi addons (legal or otherwise). I’m going to compare the strengths of Plex vs Kodi with any official channels, addons, and settings options. What would a comparison contest be without rules? There are only two rules today: Stock and Simple. To help you decide, let’s take a look at both Plex and Kodi and see what benefits each one offers. Plex finally made a clean break from the Kodi\XBMC code base and headed in a different direction.ĭeciding between Plex vs Kodi is going to be different depending on what you’re going to play on it, and what you’re going to play it on. In fact, until recently, it was still the most popular Kodi fork of all time.
![kodi or plex for mac kodi or plex for mac](https://www.maketecheasier.com/assets/uploads/2017/03/kodi-alternatives-plex-1.jpg)
Plex Home theater was actually a fork of XBMC 12.0 “Frodo”. Until recently, XBMC and Plex shared some of the same computer code. The two media centers have more in common than just that. But, like any good media center, both Kodi and Plex will provide additional information like trailers, screenshots, thumbnails for poster art, or metadata like the main actors or a even a plot synopsis. Kodi / XBMC and Plex are both media centers which will let you play content that you either own and have put on your local network, or that you’re streaming from sources on the Internet. For the most part, any comparison of Plex vs Kodi will also hold true for XBMC vs Plex. Certain manufacturers still provide distributions of Kodi under the XBMC name. The name was changed back in 2014 for (mostly) legal reasons to give Team Kodi more control over their name and how it was used. XBMC and Plex: Common beginningsĪs I’m sure you’re aware, Kodi used to be called XBMC. We had a spirited discussion about the pros and cons of each system, which led directly to the comparison article you’re reading now. Recently, one of my friends mentioned that he was using Plex for his media library. I’ve even created a 9,000 word beginner’s guide to installing and setting up Kodi. I’ve been using Kodi (and XBMC) for a few years, not as long as many people, but long enough to know my way around it pretty well. More appropriately, which is better for you?
![kodi or plex for mac kodi or plex for mac](https://cdn.technadu.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Plex-Kodi-Addon-Plex-2-1.jpg)
Kodi vs Plex… or if you’re still using Kodi’s predecessor, it would be Plex vs XBMC.Įither way you put it, Kodi\XBMC and Plex are the two reigning heavyweights in the media server challenge.