Tech: How to setup your media centre on Kodi

This has been in the pipeline for a while During our threepart special series on addon devices to help turn your standard LEDLCD TV into a Smart TV or PC we had promised a special guide on how to use the Intel Compute Stick iBall Splendo and Panache Air PC or any other Windows Device and Android boxes such as the iRevo Smart TV and Smart PC boxes to build your own personal media library For this we will be using the open source media centre app Kodi by XBMC The app is available for free download and helps arrange all your locally stored audios videos and pictures in an easy to use interface So here it isOn Windows OS iBall Splendo and Panache Air PC and Android OS iRevo Smart PC and Smart TVBefore we set out letrsquos do a check on whether you have all the required accessories to run and install Kodi You will need1 An external hard disk we used a 1TB hard disk with our movies and TV shows in it Also make sure you store all your media files in different folders say films in a Movies folder TV shows in a TV Shows folder songs in a Music folder etc Also its advised to check the names and spellings of all the files so that itrsquos easier for Kodi to search for the metadata of those files2 A wireless mouse and keyboard or a Microsoft remote controller the latter requires a few tweaks and understanding of Windows system but there are plenty of online tutorials to get you through3 A WiFi setup since the iRevo Smart PCTV come with an Ethernet port you can use it to setup a WiFi network as well Read the user manual to setup an Ethernet connection4 If you have more than one drive or USB devices you should be able to add them using an external USB hub Though there are plenty of cheap USBpowered USB hubs in the market we would recommend a good quality selfpowered USB hubs The USBpowered hubs drain power from the device and can overload it whereas selfpowered USB hubs though costs extra are safer for the device as they are powered externally and do not put extra burden on the deviceOnce you have all the required accessories follow the steps mentioned belowSTEP 1 Attach the USB adapter that came along with keyboard and mouse to the PCOnStick and then turn on the device Once you have finished the initial setup of the Windows OS log on to your home WiFi network and then visit wwwkoditv on your browser If you are using the iBall Splendo and you want to use Windows 10 we recommend updating the device to Windows 10 before going ahead with the installation of Kodi Download the latest 32bit stable version of the app and then click on it to install Follow the default settings For the iRevo Smart PC or Smart TV you can download the Kodi app directly from the Google Play StoreSTEP 2 Post installation connect your external hard disk to the large USB port on the stick PC In iRevo Smart PC and Smart TV box plug it to any of the USB ports at the back You should be able to attach more external USB storage devices to the device using a USB hub Now launch the Kodi appSTEP 3 The next step is to add all the sources of media files in Kodi Scroll through the menu and open Videos It will open a new Window with the options mdash Files Playlists and Video Addons Click on Files and then select Add Videos It will open a new window Select Browse and then browse to the Movies folder in your portable disk Select OK button If you want to change the name of the media folder you can change it here Select OK Now right click on the newly added video in Android press for a few seconds to bring out the options menu Now select Set Content to open the Set Conent Window Here you are required to tell what kind of media is present in the folder Select from the list Click OK Press Yes to scan the mediaRepeat the method to add your TV Shows and Other Videos folder into the library You can see your TV shows and movies arranged alphabetically with details about the director year of making studio and title cover of the film Repeat the same step by adding your music under the Music tab in Kodi Congratulations you have your own personal media centre ready to goSTEP 4 Now to play a file already added in the library Visit either of the media tabs mdash Photos Music or Videos and select the file you want to play You should also be able to see some of the latest media files in the home page of the respective tabsSTEP 5 Sometimes however you may want to play a movie file from a pen drive To access files on your pen drive you need to add it as a source To do that go to Settings on the Home page Click on File Manager It will open a new Window with two sections called A and B Under A click on Add Source and select the Pen Drive Once you have added the Pen Drive you will be able to access all files in it by going to File Manager in SettingsNOTE Kodi can also be set to function as PVR to record shows on TV but its a complicated process To know more about how to use Kodi to install other gadgets or to boot directly to Kodi app visit kodiwiki the guide recommends users to check the legality of any downloads made via Kodi to ensure that you do not end up breaking the law in the process