[Testing] Kodi 18.0 Leia beta versions now available for RetroPie!

[Rascas]

INTRO:

Like the title says, Kodi 18 Leia beta versions are now available for testing on RetroPie!

Kodi is now on the way to beta 3 version 18, so the final/stable release should not take much longer. Despite the interface (Estuary skin) didn't change much, there are many improvements in video playback (h265, support for 10bit videos, etc), support for Netflix and Amazon Prime, better joystick/gamepad support, and the new RetroPlayer, which will allow you to play games inside Kodi. Everything now also seems a little bit faster.

More info here:
https://kodi.tv/article/kodi-v18-leia-beta-2

WARNING:
-You need to have at least RetroPie 4.4, which is the first version based on Raspbian Stretch. Any earlier version won't work.
-This is are betas/release candidates of the upcoming Kodi 18, so it might get bugs. It is highly recommend to make a backup of your current configuration ( the hidden directory /home/pi/.kodi) before you proceed.

INSTRUCTIONS:

To add the unstable repo, and update to latest Kodi 18 testing version, and all necessary dependencies, in a terminal run:

sudo su
echo "deb http://pipplware.pplware.pt/pipplware/dists/unstable/main/binary /" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pipplware_unstable.list
apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade -y
exit

And its done!

EXTRA:

All binary addons (PVRs, audiodecoders/encoders, visualizations, vfs, etc) have been updated. You can check for available binary addons with:

apt-cache search kodi*

And install what you want. For example if you have an X Arcade Tankstick, you can install the support for it with (not tested):

sudo apt-get install kodi-peripheral-xarcade

RETROPLAYER:

Kodi 18 includes now the new RetroPlayer which will allow you to play games inside Kodi. It uses the RetroArch cores. The libretro addon is already available but the addons with the cores/emulators aren't yet, not even on Ubuntu x86 ppa unstable repos. Maybe in a near future...

REMOVAL:

To remove the repo and Kodi 18 do:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pipplware_unstable.list
sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get remove kodi*

After that just install Kodi 17 like you normally do through the RetroPie scripts. You will not losse your settings/addons/etc.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The source code is available here:
https://github.com/PIPplware/xbmc/tree/leia_new

PS1: The packages contains both an armv6 binary for compatibility with first generation Pis 0/1 and an armv7 optimized binary for RPi 2/3, which contains the h265, 10bit video, etc, neon acceleration and stuff. The binary is auto-selected according to which Pi version you are running.

[Confirmed Working] PS:2 The Netflix and Amazon Prime addons were not tested (I don't have accounts on those) so please test them and give feedback. They will only work with Pi 2/3 versions!

Any problem with this new Kodi version, please post in this topic.
Enjoy!

Thanks

[BuZz]

@rascas Thanks for your work on this.

[Rascas]

@buzz said in [Testing] Kodi 18.0 Leia beta versions now available for RetroPie!:

@rascas Thanks for your work on this.

No problem ;)

Netflix and Amazon Prime addons are confirmed to be working. On Netflix you should get at least, 480p on a RPi 2 and 720p on a RPi 3/3B+.

EDIT: More info here:
Netflix
Source Code: https://github.com/asciidisco/plugin.video.netflix
Kodi forum topic with more info: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=329767

Amazon Prime:
Source Code: https://github.com/Sandmann79/xbmc
Kodi forum topic with more info: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=331136

[Rascas]

Kodi 18 beta 4 available for update

Changelog:
-To announce on official Kodi site

Raspbian/RetroPie specific:
-Kodi no longer freezes on "Exit"
-Default to PI: HDMI in audio settings for new installs

[Rascas]

This post is deleted!

[BuZz]

Gave beta 4 a quick test on my rpi2. Not reporting this to you directly as likely an upstream issue but using the default Estuary there is no working video controls during playback. The screen just dims and no controls can be seen. Video controls worked ok in Confluence though. Wondering if anyone else noticed this behaviour.

RPi2 with Linux 4.14.71-v7+ on Raspbian Stretch

Got Netflix installed and working though :)

[Rascas]

@BuZz This controls ?

Works fine here.
A Kodi debug log may help to see your problem.

[BuZz]

@Rascas yeah. I'll do some testing with debug level logging

[dzyndzla]

Thank you for this, I can confirm it works and now there is no need to switch sd cards to watch netflix, finally :D

[DeathWalk]

I installed Kodi V18 and finnaly i can see Amazon video and Netflix in my retropie. I have a problem with the on screen controlls, I see them has gigant, I see just a small zoomed part of the backward button that takes all the screen, and when I go back to kodi all still big. I have to kill the process to go back to retropie.
All started when I shut on the remote controll option, but if I disable again, the problem persist. Any idea?
And one thing more, yesterday was released the Beta 5, Any way to update? there is any repository?

[Rascas]

@DeathWalk well, that is strange. Can you post a screenshot or a photo of the problem? A debug log will also help. About a new version, we will release another one when we see fit. I don't think your problem is bug but some kind of problem in your configuration, only more info and a log will tell.

[DeathWalk]

Hello and thank you for the quick response,
Here there are the log file:
https://paste.kodi.tv/fabacetala
Sometimes I can see the big button anothers just the dark overlay that appear when the screen controls are activated. I have a capture with the dark tone of the onscreen control and one photo that I took yesterday with the cam before use a screenshot software. 
I hoppe you can help me I'm close to have my retropie perfect :)

[Rascas]

@DeathWalk We need a debug log with the problem reproduced. Does it happen on local files also or only on Netflix/Amazon content ?

[DeathWalk]

Sorry Rasta for not answer earlyer, This days i'm very bussy and i have not to much time, maybe next week i have more time and i can upload the logs, Anyway Thank you for you disposition to help, really. ^^

[Cederick]

It tells me that I should rather get beta 5. How do I do that?

[ledow]

Cool.

I just bought the DVB-T card for the RPi and my Retropie is currently running tvheadend to offer it out to the network. I haven't yet got around to setting up Kodi to view it "live" on the Pi itself yet but good to know that things are improving all the time.

[Rascas]

This post is deleted!

[ledow]

I get crashes in Kodi 18 whenever I change the regional settings (even if I just go in, change the country, come out). It crashes out of Kodi and the changes are never saved.

Any idea why that might be (am I missing some internationalisation package for Kodi?).

[Cederick]

@ledow I don't have this problem with kodi 18 beta 4. Running Raspberry Pi 3b plus..

[Rascas]

@ledow I cannot reproduce that problem too. Check your kodi log for errors, if you updated from version 17, it can be caused by some incompatible addon. You can try with a clean/default settings, by moving/removing /home/pi/.kodi