Useful Plugins

[TimC]

I have been busy over the last month adding a number of plugins that have turned my IceBox into a fairly good implementation of a Smart TV.

I have SBS, ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten catchup TV plugins up and running, as well as Netflix, Prime, Paramount+ and Disney+ plugins. There are many more. These are just the ones that I normally use.

All these plugins look somewhat different from what you would expect to find on a normal Smart TV and there are some pros and cons about that. The absence of adds in the catchup TV plugins is an interesting concept though.

When I have a little more time I will try to explain where I found the plugins and possibly give a critique for the ons I am using.

I invite others to do the same on this thread, although I wonder if we may be better to have a new folder titled Plugins in the Forum where we can narrow the focus to single plugins so that new users can get into tailoring their IceBoxes to suit their needs.

I'll leave that for the Moderators to consider.

[vader1111]

I would suggest that care needs to be taken when promoting Kodi Add-ons and repositories.  Many Kodi Add-ons are designed for the purpose of accessing pirated content, and promotion of these add-ons would not be appropriate for this forum.

I too have installed the add-ons for the Australian TV catch-up sites.  I'm actually not sure what the legality is for these, and I will not be discussing where I found them.  As far as I can tell, they are just accessing the freely available Catch-up site materials, though the absence of ads (though highly appealing) would suggest that this is not an access method of which the TV networks would approve.

** I will note that the add-on for SBS on Demand crashed both the IceBox and my NVIDIA Shield.  The other add-ons all appear to be stable, but this one appears to have problems.

[TimC]

I should point out that I am by no means can be considered an expert in adding plugins, I am really just following the bouncing ball (instructions). After dounloading several plugins, I at least have some experience. I now little about the Open Source world, but most of the plugins are free, but most request donations.

My approach to locating the plugins I used was by google searches on "Netflix Kodi plugin",
With a bit of hunting around you will find a link to installation instructions.

In short, follow the insructions.
They generally involve navigating to or downloading a repository zip file. The name of the repository generally gives no idea of the plugins it holds, e.g. "CastagnaIT", "SlyGuy"or "AussieAddons", etc.
You then install the plugin from the repository zip file and the select the Plugin/s you wish to install.
I found that the instructions vary from repository to repository, and Ddpending on the repository, you will need to go into the Kodi settings Files and Addons settings, but generally it boils down to just following the instructions.

The various plugins are accessed from the Kodi Main Menu by selecting the Addons menu item. When you select it you will see a line of plugin icons similar to the way the Channels icons appear on the Channels menu item.
 
All the plugins, when installed and opened in Kodi, generally present as file lists rather than the flashy visual presentation of the usual apps that are installed on Smart TVs.  You can sometime fiddle with the settings to get a more visual experience, but it's really just using Extra Large icons to present the files rather than a simple list.

The video streaming plugins that follow are unlikely to have the approval of the respective streaming services, however that is not because you can access content illegally. You still have to have an active account with the service to be able to use the content the plugin can access. It is more a case of the appearance of the plugins.  The respective streaming services would probably prefer to see something with a more visually appealing presentation than simple file lists.  Whether that means they should be considered illegal or not is an interesting question.

The Netflix plugin through CastagnaIT works fairly well and shows "Watched" symbology for shows you have previously watched on some other Smart TV App i.e. it talks across other apps to know what you have already watched. Of course, you need to login to your own Netflix account to access the programs. There are some action settings that allow you to change things like screen resolution and some audio settings, but you generally have to stop programs to start the next, instead of automatically starting the next episode in the folder.

The Amazon Prime plugin from Sandmann79 took a fair bit of fiddling to get the playback in English instead of Spanish.  I am still a bit unsure about what ending up working. I think I did something in the Kodi settings to force everything to English. This plugin offers less in the way of settings, but once the language issues are sorted it works OK.

The Disney+ plugin from SlyGuy seems to work OK. Used the plugin to watch a series without much issue. There is one bit of strangeness where, when the plug-in is initiallly opened there is a file list that has a search option in the list, but if you navigate past it, you can't navigate back to the initial list. You have to close the plug-in and restart it to get back to the initial list. There was one freeze where I had to stop an episode but a stop and replay of the program got it back on track. As well, the episodes all played one after another automatically, and could be stopped and restarted at the point where episode was stopped.

The Paramount+ plugin from SlyGuy seems to work OK. However, I haven't used it enough to report any issues.

All the Catchup TV plugins are not likely to have the approval of their various broadcasters and should be considered illegal.
The 9Now plugin from SlyGuy looks functional enough, but I one night I was watching a program, and the IceBox froze after 10 minutes or so. I had to restart the IceBox to get it working again. The problem repeated itself when I replayed the same program.  It may have been the episode file itself that was the issue, but I haven't had time to check it further.

The 9Now plugin from AussieAddons played files without issues, but the file lists seem to cut off around filename starting with S, i.e. things like "The Block" didn't show up in any list.

There is apparently another variant of the 9Now plugin (and several others) by Matt Huisman that is quite new (August 2023), that seems to be related to both SlyGuy and AussieAddons but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

The 10Play plugin from SlyGuy seems to work OK. However, I haven't used it enough to report any issues.
 
The 7Plus plugin from SlyGuy seems to work OK. However, I haven't used it enough to report any issues.

The Iview plugin from AussieAddons seems to work OK. However, I haven't used it enough to report any issues.

The SBS On Demand plugin from AussieAddons seems to work OK. However, I haven't used it enough to report any issues. I did watch a Documentary all the way through.

Some repositories are designed for different variants of Kodi, but I have no idea what variant the IceBox is. I generally picked the highest number variant based on the fact that the IceBox is pretty new, but that could be the reason why the SlyGuy 9Now plugin crashed.  I simply don't know enough to say.

I am Editing this post as I get chances to try out the plugins myself.

[TimC]

I would suggest that care needs to be taken when promoting Kodi Add-ons and repositories.

Interesting. One of the issues with Open Source.

I agree that there is a question about the legality of the Catchup Plugins, but I see no reason why the functionality of the plugins can't be discussed.

There is also a risk of hacking with these types of plugins. Most recommend the use of one VPN or another.  I don't know how real the risk is, but it certainly should be a consideration before installing any repository.

[TimC]

The cores on RetroArch on FireStick are just like plugins on a browser. Here, the cores include emulators, their ROM, and ISO files. Without this, you can't play any game. ROM and ISO files are mainly available on RetroArch; you need to download them.

How does this relate to the IceBox environment? Are you saying Kodi is a type of browser?