ive been using kodi (xbmc was better moniker) since google killed sagetv. i recall attempting plex, but it seemed to lack some open/extensibility (its been awhile).
i have a side project i want to make as a modular plugin generating a cable layout with original air orders and networks/channels… kodi seems most optimal, but ill admit its been a long while since i looked at plex.
so why plex over kodi?
For me, Plex or Jellyfin is great if I want to share my library with some friends or family, especially non-technical people. Kodi really needs tinkering and you need debrid subscriptions and requires more local maintenance. It’s great for me but I wouldn’t want to teach my family how to use Kodi and me having to fix it when it breaks.
oh definitely. i use emby for remote access, but the tvs in the house all run a local (to the nas) instance of kodi
For local use it’s handy that those Kodi instances share their database so watched state and crucially how far into the episode/movie you are. You can do a shared database with just Kodi but I don’t think that’s optimal. Jellyfin integrates so well and handles the database stuff much better imo so I just use that.
oh definitely, im still on Emby, but it definitely required for remote access/viewing.
You don’t need debrid for Kodi. There’s a torrent streaming app.
But yeah Kodi is a lot to teach if you’re talking about maintenance. I’ve also had some bugs on Ubuntu and Fedora.
Once I used Kodi with real-debrid, I don’t want to go back to streaming torrents. It is much faster and much more reliable.
My setup is a Shield TV Pro using Kodi with the Jellyfin plugin then use Umbrella for anything I don’t have locally. Gave my family a Firestick with Jellyfin and then they can request through Jellyseerr which then feeds through to *arr stack. I don’t mind if I have to fix my end but I don’t want to fix theirs.