Kodi Entertainment Center, formerly XBMC, has been updated to Kodi v15 Isengard. Kodi is a versatile media center which you can run in most platforms, with versions including Kodi for Windows and Kodi for Android. Kodi also serves as the basis for media center operating systems such as OpenELEC and Raspbmc, which are aimed towards low-cost power media centers using Raspberry Pi. If you are new to the world of HTPCs, or if you simply haven't tried Kodi, you might want to check out its convenient and amazing features. In this post, we introduce to you the recently released version of Kodi v15 Isengard.
Kodi Isengard V15 Brings A Number Of Improvements, Aimed To Increase Its Compatibility With The Newest Devices
What's new in Kodi v15 Isengard
Kodi latest version, Kodi Isengard, brings a number of improvements over its predecessor, Kodi Helix v14. This version has been regarded as a "clean-up" version; however, some nice features have been squeezed in. The biggest news about this version is that it now is available for Android devices via Google Play. If you want to download it to your Android device, click or scan this QR code:
Scan This Qr Code To Download Kodi V15 Isengard To Your Android Device (Only If It Has A Camera)
Kodi Isengard has been selected for this, because it is dramatically much more prepared to run on the newest and most powerful devices such as the NVIDIA SHIELD TV; this is because it now includes support for 4k and HEVC, among other new features. The improvements are summarized in the following list:
Minimal 10.7 Lion 64-bit required on Mac OSX
Minimal iOS 5.1 required and no more ATV2
Minimum Android 4.2 Jelly Bean MR1 required on Android
Various improvements in PVR section. This includes skin support and new PVR add-ons
Complete video database clean-up session on stored data (no data will be lost). This may take some time on first run
ffmpeg 2.6.2 update which bring better codec compatibility and playback
Improved CC (Closed Captions) support for Live TV
Fix the queuing of music videos
Improvement of FF/RW (fast-forward / rewinding) of videos
Improved logic to make PVR, audio encoders and audio decoders optional
Fix of grouping movie sets when navigating in smartplaylists
External subtitles over UPnP can be enabled through the settings section
Allow scanning of new sources and marking as watched during other library operations such as “update library”
Allow different sort orders for different sort methods
Skip steps (step forward & backwards) improvements for videos and music
Add jump to first unwatched in TV section
Fix subtitles showing on top of each other in certain cases
Reworked add-on manager that should give a better overview
Chapter selection window that shows thumbs on where to skip to in the video
Easier to navigate audio and subtitle selection list
Show progress for add-on repository update
Addition of language add-ons which allow us to update the User-Interface text outside of regular Kodi releases
Immediately fetch updates from repository after Kodi version upgrade to prevent delay in getting better compatible add-ons or skins
Expansion of international options like time and date format, temperature and speed units.
Improvement of installing new skins selection
Upgrade included webserver which should fix issues with iOS or Android remotes loosing connections
Fix season art scraping on newly added seasons
On Android the system now handles the volume instead of Kodi
Android HEVC H.265 support for some chipsets
Refreshrate switching on Android 5.0 opr higher (your device must have the proper implementation of these features to support it)
4K@60Hz playback on the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV
Reworked the storage provider on Android. This fixes several problems with mounting points for storage.
Remove default 250ms audio delay on Android for AMLogic chipsets. You may need to adjust the delay again
Remove certain codecs from our core code and made add-ons out of them. So called Audio encoders/decoders
Removed the need for root/SU on Android. Some hardware/firmware might not like that. Please contact your hardware supplier
Removal of Tuxbox support. Users of Enigma2 boxes can use the VUPlus PVR add-on
Removal of AFP filesystem support
Remove legacy code pre-Frodo 11.0
Vast amount of possible memory leaks, segfaults, crashes and minor issues have been fixed
General improvements regarding code stability and performance in all areas
General code clean-up in all areas to simplify adding future features
To install Kodi on Raspberry Pi, install either OpenELEC or Raspbmc.
Upgrade Instructions
ANDROID USERS: Don't uninstall an earlier version of Kodi/XBMC before installing the new version. Uninstalling first would remove all of your settings. Just install the new version and it will replace the older version and retain your settings.
In most cases you can just install Kodi v15 over Kodi v14. All your settings and library are saved and will continue to work in the new version. See Installing for specific install instructions.
Interface skins that worked in Kodi v14 should still work in Kodi v15.
Most other add-ons that worked in Kodi v14 should still work in Kodi v15.
If you have any issues (settings not being copied over, blank screens, etc) when updating from versions older than v14: remove the new version, install the older version of Kodi/XBMC from http://mirrors.kodi.tv/releases/ , and then upgrade to the next version. In other words, if you have v13, first update to v14, and then install Kodi v15.
Alejandro is an electrical engineer, working as a software developer and part-time writer. He has a passion for technology, languages and games, and has been around the web since 2004.
