The Kodi fiche covers what Kodi actually is and how to install it, including pairing it with a Jellyfin server. This is the next step: what to actually do with Kodi once it’s running. Three things separate a bare install from a setup worth using daily: picking add-ons from somewhere that won’t get you in legal trouble, a skin that doesn’t look like it’s from 2015, and, for anyone still dealing with an antenna or a cable box, turning Kodi into an actual live TV and DVR box.
Add-ons: where to actually get them
Kodi’s official add-on repository, built into every install under Add-ons, Download, is the safe default: everything in it goes through at least a basic review and won’t quietly bundle in a piracy-focused build. That matters because “Kodi box” has a bad reputation for a reason. A wave of resellers spent years pre-loading Kodi with third-party add-ons that stream copyrighted content illegally, then sold the whole thing as a legal loophole. It isn’t one, and the Kodi Foundation has said as much publicly and repeatedly. Everything covered in the rest of this guide, subtitle fetchers, skins, PVR clients, comes from the official repository or well-known, actively maintained third-party sources, not from a random build someone bundled with a paid IPTV subscription.
Useful official add-ons worth installing
- OpenSubtitles or a similar subtitle add-on, which searches and downloads matching subtitles automatically instead of hunting for .srt files by hand
- A trailer add-on if local movie trailers matter, pulling from YouTube or a similar public source for whatever’s already in the library
- The Jellyfin or Emby add-on, covered on the Kodi fiche, if a media server is already running and Kodi is acting as one of several clients
- Skin-specific settings add-ons that ship alongside popular skins, usually needed to unlock a skin’s full configuration options
Changing the skin
Estuary, the default skin since Kodi 17, is fine but plain. Settings, Interface, Skin is where to change it, and a handful of community skins cover most tastes: Arctic Zephyr for something clean and modern, Aeon Nox for a more traditional, information-dense layout, or CCM for something closer to a streaming app than a classic media center. Skins install the same way add-ons do, through the official repository, and most ship their own settings menu once installed and selected.
Live TV and DVR through Tvheadend
Kodi’s PVR features turn it into a DVR front end, but Kodi itself doesn’t tune channels. That job goes to a separate backend, and Tvheadend is the one that comes up constantly in self-hosted setups: a free, open-source TV streaming server that talks to a tuner (an antenna-connected USB or PCIe tuner card, or an IPTV source you’re legally entitled to), builds an electronic program guide, and hands all of it to Kodi through a PVR client add-on.
- Install Tvheadend on the same machine as Kodi or on a separate always-on box, since it needs to run continuously to actually record scheduled shows
- Add the tuner in Tvheadend’s own web interface and run a channel scan
- Point Tvheadend at an EPG data source so the program guide actually populates with show names and times, not just channel numbers
- In Kodi, install the Tvheadend HTSP Client under Add-ons, PVR Clients, and enter the Tvheadend server’s address
- Enable the PVR client under Settings, PVR & Live TV, and the channel list and guide show up inside Kodi’s normal interface
This is a bigger project than installing a subtitle add-on, closer in scope to setting up a media server than tweaking a skin, but it’s the piece that turns a Kodi box into a genuine cable replacement for anyone still paying for a tuner box or dealing with an actual antenna.
Controlling Kodi without a keyboard
A keyboard and mouse work but aren’t the point of a living-room box. HDMI-CEC, enabled by default on most Kodi installs, lets the TV’s own remote control Kodi directly through the HDMI cable, no extra hardware needed if the TV and playback device both support it. For phone-based control, Kodi’s official remote apps (iOS and Android) handle playback and browsing over the local network, and Yatse, a popular third-party Android app, adds more advanced library browsing and control on top.
Where this fits
The Kodi fiche covers what Kodi actually is, installing it (including on a Raspberry Pi), and connecting it to a Jellyfin server. This guide picks up from there. And if Kodi is running on a Pi specifically, the Raspberry Pi homelab guide covers what else realistically fits on the same board.