Updated 03-Aug-2025
Originally this was a post about Kodi but it has become about NOVA, since NOVA is much better at what it does, that is being a video player front end and library organizer for video. We use this on our Android TV and it also works on mobile devices. Some old KODI info is below for archival purposes.
NOVA Info
Nova is a fork and feature improvement on Archos video player. It can search out metadata and images online, and is much better than Kodi at recognizing media, and is a great player. Working well with a huge percentage of my library of movies and tv shows (without having them in separate directory structures). In fact, changing the metadata for a given title is quite straightforward and can be done with a remote and at a 3 meter distance.
Nova is available on the Google Play Store, Fdroid, Izzy, and Github (can be fetched by Obtainium).
Kodi info
Kodi is a media center software.
Kodi status (my implementation)
Note: This project is on hold due to the fact that Google Chromecast cannot run Kodi with any kind of seamlessness, and using another device will require a lot more work, including purchasing and configuring of a remote. In addition, the interface, while designed for a 3 meter distance, is only good for browsing a small number of titles at a given time (though presumably tags and search can help narrow results). What I need (and have currently, simply using VLC and a file structure) is the ability to move between dozens to hundreds of files and folders. While the VLC situation is useful, it cannot sort by added date or by unviewed episodes. Kodi requires very specific file and folder structure in order to provide anything like accurate metadata.
3-Meter UIs
One problem will all of these so-called 3-meter UIs is seemingly complete ignorance of data-to-ink ratios. While it is true that thumbnails can't really be critiqued since they are simply already-set representations of films, the display of these, as well as useful information about and/or regarding interaction with them (date added, date created, minutes/minutes remaining, etc.) can indeed be presented in much better ways. This is probably too much to ask of Kodi, sadly enough.
Kodi configuration
- Set the Weather temperature to celsius
- Naming and file / folder structure is important for getting metadata, cleanup is needed
- Note that as I manage my own music metadata (and sync using SyncThing), so keeping things sane may be a bit of work.