The Complete Guide to the Ultimate Kodi Setup

Kinkead Tech
Aug 23, 2017 · 11 min read

If you’re looking to greatly improve your Kodi TV experience, or if this is all new to you, you’ve come to the right place.

I have written many Kodi tutorials about specific topics. But I’ve decided I should write this compilation post. I intend it to be the go-to destination for anyone to learn how to setup the ultimate Kodi TV watching experience.

Note: this in-depth guide was originally published in Jan 2017, but I’ve been trying to keep it as up-to-date as possible. If you notice anything that’s old, please let me know in the comments, so I can keep this current.

Choose a Device to Run Kodi

The first thing you need to do, especially if you’re new to Kodi, is to decide which device you are going to install Kodi on.

Kodi is cross-platform software so it runs on a ton of different operating systems and hardware architectures. The Kodi download page looks like this (which should give you an idea of what it supports)…

So, with that in mind I will let you know a little bit of advice from my experience.

Kodi on Windows

I’ve been a long time user of Windows and have been running Kodi on Windows for about a decade. I still use Windows for my primary Kodi box to this day. I use the ASUS VivoPC HTPC.

Kodi on Android

I will tell you that Android is by far the most popular OS used for Kodi.

A big chunk of those Kodi on Android users are running it on a Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. The main reason is because they are so cheap, especially the Fire Stick. However, don’t expect an “ultimate” experience using a Fire Stick. It’s fine on a budget, but it can be quite slow at times.

If you’re looking for something a bit more high-end, but still with an affordable price tag, I recommend the Element Ti5 or the new Ti8.

Install the Kodi Software

Now that you’ve chosen a device to run Kodi, now let’s install it. This step is pretty simple and straightforward.

The installation of Kodi will be a bit different depending on the operating system you’re using.

  • If you are running Windows 10, then you can now find Kodi in the Windows Store. Go ahead and install it there to get automatic updates.
  • If you are running an Android device that has the Google Play Store on it, install it from there to get automatic updates.
  • For Android devices without Google Play (like Fire TV devices), you’ll need to manually sideload the app using this tutorial.
  • For all other cases, visit the Kodi download page, and see the download and/or guide that fits your case.

Install the Covenant Add-on

I’ve tried a lot of video add-ons for Kodi, and the best one is Covenant… hands down. While some add-ons can be really good for a specific niche, Covenant is by far the best overall. This is because…

  • Covenant gives you access to all TV shows and movies in one add-on
  • Its predecessor, Exodus, was built from scratch to support Real-Debrid after the demise of Genesis
  • It has excellent Trakt.tv integration that support both lists and watched status/progress
  • It’s simple and clean looking

Now, without further ado…

To install Covenant (in short):

  1. Add a source to the file manager that points to http://mediarepos.org/kodistuff
  2. Go to Settings > Add-ons > Install from zip, browse to that source and install the Colossus Repository
  3. Go to Install from Repository > Colossus Repository > Video Add-ons > Covenant
  4. Done! For a more detailed tutorial with step by step instructions and screenshots, go here.

Setup Trakt.tv Integration

What is Trakt?

Trakt.tv is a very well-designed website that is used to “scrobble” TV shows and movies. Scrobbling simply means that it keeps track of what has been watched. It also keeps track of progress through episodes or movies so that you can pick up where you left off.

Trakt also lets you manage “Lists” of TV shows and/or Movies. So when your friend tells you about a new show that you should try out, you can easily add it to your list using the Trakt.tv website on your phone.

What Does Trakt Bring to Kodi?

With Trakt.tv integration in Kodi, that new show that you added will be waiting for you on Kodi when you get home. You can start watching it on Covenant, then stop it half way through, go to a different TV with a different Kodi box, open a different add-on that also supports Trakt like SALTS, and automatically resume that same episode where you left off!

That’s the kind of awesome value Trakt integration brings to Kodi. No longer do you have to Merge Kodi Streaming Add-ons into the Video Library and then Sync Add-on TV & Movie Libraries Across Multiple Kodi HTPCs. Trakt made those old methods obsolete and keeps your Kodi experience seamless across multiple Kodi boxes.

How to Setup Trakt.tv on Kodi

There are actually 2 sets of steps to setup Trakt on Kodi. One for lists and one for scrobbling.

You need to authorize your trakt.tv account in the Covenant settings to pull in and sync your Lists.

  1. In the Covenant settings area, go to Accounts > Trakt and select “Authorize”.
  2. Follow the instructions by going to this URL in a browser or on your phone and entering the code that it gives you.
  3. It will have you login or create a free account.
  4. Accept the authorization and you’re done with this part of the setup. You should see your username next to Authorize in the Covenant settings.

You also need to install the Trakt.tv add-on to enable scrobbling and episode progress syncing.

  1. Go to Add-ons > Download Add-ons / Install from Repository > Kodi Add-on Repository > Program add-ons > “Trakt” > Install.
  2. Now select Trakt again go to Configure > Synchronize and turn on both “Sync movie playback progress to Kodi” and “Sync movie playback progress to Kodi”.
  3. If you don’t want to be bothered to rate things you watch, go to the “Rating” tab and turn everything off there.

To setup your Trakt list in Kodi:

  1. Create a new “List” in your Trakt.tv account and call it something like “SubscriptionList”. (in My Profile > Lists)
  2. Add all your favorite shows to your new SubscriptionList by browsing the Trakt.tv website, or do it from Kodi Covenant by hitting menu on any show or movie and selecting “Trakt Manager”
  3. You can find your TV show list in Covenant under My TV Shows > TV Show Lists > SubscriptionList (or the name of your list)

To setup New Episodes that come from Trakt:

  1. In the Covenant settings, in General, set New Episodes to “Trakt Episodes”
  2. Now you can see new episodes from your Trakt list under “New Episodes” in Covenant

Subscribe and Connect Real-Debrid to Covenant

Subscribing to Real-Debrid is by far the #1 best thing you can do to improve your Kodi experience.

It’s not just me saying that. I’ve recommended Real-Debrid to all my friends and family, and all of them agree that it was a day & night difference after setting up Real-Debrid. Also, I do not receive any money from Real-Debrid, so I’m not trying to sell you something here. I just know how it helps.

Now, let me share a little background on why Real-Debrid exists and what it does.

Streaming add-ons like Covenant simply aggregate links to videos on streaming websites all over the Internet. Over the years, these streaming websites have started getting bombarded with traffic coming from Kodi users who are using add-ons like Covenant. Many of them have responded by blocking or throttling their bandwidth to free users, while they offer high bandwidth streaming to their premium paying users.

Since there are so many of these streaming websites, it would unfeasible and expensive for users to go and subscribe to many of these individual sites.

So, these streaming websites banded together under umbrella subscriptions offered by companies like Real-Debrid. The streaming sites win because they don’t have to advertise to get people to buy a subscription to their single website, but instead make a little bit of money off of the massive amount of people signing up for Real-Debrid. Kodi users win because now there’s one cheap subscription that gives premium access to all the major streaming sites.

To install Real-Debrid on Kodi Covenant:

  1. In the Covenant settings area, go to Accounts > RealDebrid and select “Authorization”.
  2. Follow the instructions by going to this URL in a browser or on your phone and entering the code that it gives you.
  3. It will have you login or create an account.
  4. Accept the authorization.
  5. Sign up for a Premium subscription by logging in to real-debrid.com and clicking on Premium at the top. Pick a plan based on how many days you want to pay for and checkout. With the 180 day plan, it comes out to about $4 per month.

Once this is setup, you will have see “REALDEBRID” in the sources that come up when you pick videos to watch. Those sources are almost always reliable, high bandwidth sources that just work. No more hunting through a list of sources to find a good one.

Now that you have reliable sources that default to the top of your list, take your Kodi experience to the next level by enabling “Auto Play”. Auto Play in Covenant will not show you the list of sources, but instead will automatically try the first source. If it’s broken, it will move to the next one, and so on. Since the top of your source list will be filled with Real-Debrid sources, Auto Play will work great!

To enable Auto Play in Covenant:

  1. In Covenant settings, go to the Playback tab.
  2. Set Default Action to “Auto Play”.

If you want to learn more about Real-Debrid, or see a tutorial with screenshots, check out How to Get Reliable Kodi Stream Sources with Real-Debrid.

How to Get Reliable Kodi Stream Sources with Real-Debrid

Troubleshoot Kodi Buffering Issues

While Real-Debrid makes a huge difference in the reliability of video streams, there can always be some issues from time to time.

I’ve helped a lot of people troubleshoot their Kodi streaming issues, and I’ve compiled a list of troubleshooting tips for Kodi streaming issues.

Also, you should definitely take a look at Kodi’s Hidden Cache Settings to help with buffering issues.

Install a Skin and Use Home Widgets

At this point, it’s you’ve got a sweet setup that is functional and reliable. But what about the looks?

Also, did you know that a Kodi skin can do much more than improve the looks? It can also greatly improve the functional experience of Kodi by giving you home screen widgets of newest episodes from your favorite shows. You can even set up custom menu items that point to where ever you want… like your Trakt List within Covenant.

I’m not going to go through the steps to set that up here. Instead, I’ll send you to my in-depth tutorial on setting up the Arctic Zephr theme with the features I mentioned above.

Here’s my tutorial on how to have an awesome Kodi home screen that dynamically pulls in new episodes from your favorite TV shows as configured in your Trakt.tv account…

New Episodes on Kodi Home Screen with Arctic Zephyr / Exodus / Trakt

Setup Kodi Live TV PVR with a TV Tuner and Antenna

One thing that you may notice is missing from the setup so far is live TV. You can’t get live local news and sports in Covenant.

While there are sports add-ons, they’re not the same as watching them live over broadcast TV in HD from your local TV station.

Well, the good news is you can setup Kodi Live TV if you have a TV tuner and a digital antenna. However, again, this requires an in-depth tutorial which you can check out here…

Tutorial: Kodi Live TV with EPG (TV Guide)

Protect Your Privacy With a VPN

While I know it’s not illegal to stream content in most countries, I still recommend using a VPN on your Kodi setup.

Add some extra piece of mind about your TV & movie streaming machine by making sure all your streaming traffic is encrypted and hidden from your Internet provider.

There are other benefits as well. Check out my post on 4 Reasons Why Kodi Streamers Need a VPN.

4 Reasons Why Kodi Streamers Need a Kodi VPN

Other Cool Things You Can Do With Kodi

Here are a few Kodi related tutorials I’ve written which won’t apply to everyone, but I want to share them in case you’re interested.

This first one was one of my earliest discoveries that blew my mind with what you could do with Kodi. I’ve since then discovered the Trakt.tv integration which basically negated this. However, if you’re interested, check out this tutorial…

How to Merge Kodi Streaming Add-ons into the Video Library

If you want to watch live TV using Kodi, but run it through an Xbox One and use Kinect voice commands and an Xbox controller to change the channels in Kodi, check out this pioneering tutorial which includes a video demonstration…

Xbox One XBMC / Kodi Live TV OneGuide Integration

Do you have home automation? Check out this tutorial and video demo showing how to make the status of Kodi change the color of lights…

Kodi & Z-Wave Integration Guide [Video Demo]

What About Kodi Builds?

I want to make a note about Kodi builds because I’m sure many of you will ask, what about this build or that build.

I personally don’t like Kodi builds. They are meant to pack a bunch of features and add-ons into a single installer so anyone can just install it and get everything right out of the box without any setup.

Builds allow people to get deep into Kodi without having to learn how it works. Many of these build developers quickly abandon it, while masses of people continue to install it. When stuff breaks because add-ons get out of date, the users who don’t know how to setup anything in Kodi are left to just complain and don’t get any support. This gives Kodi a bad name and leaves users with a bad taste.

Instead, I advocate education and the DIY method. YOU should understand what you’re installing and how to use it. It’s very easy to follow the instructions to install add-ons yourself, so I don’t bother with builds.

Let’s Hear From You!

I would love to get your feedback on this.

Was this a total game-changer for you? Let me know… and share it with a friend!

Have you stumbled across some issues during the setup? Give me the details on where you are getting stuck and I would love to help out if I can.

Leave your comments below. Thanks!

Originally published at kinkeadtech.com on August 23, 2017.

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Kinkead Tech

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Expert web developer, tech enthusiast, and successful blogger at KinkeadTech.com

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