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spiderborg · 2019-03-16, 07:13

I've been using Kodi version 16.1 with my Windows 10 MySql database for quite a long time now. I just reformatted my PC and I need to rebuild the database, but now I'm wondering if there are benefits to using a newer version of Kodi? Here is my setup:

Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit PC that has oodles of TB of movies/TV shows across 12 HDDs
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz
8GB Ram
Hardwired to network
(I Rarely watch stuff with Kodi on this PC)

Fire TV (2nd Generation) hardwired to network (I do the majority of viewing on this device)

Fire TV (3rd Generation pendant style) wireless connection (Occasionally watch on this)...and I've had buffering issues that require a reboot of both the fire tv and the router fairly often when I watch on this device.

A similar PC to the one listed above in another room, hardwired (occasionally watch on this)

A cheap, crappy HP Laptop (it doesn't matter if Kodi won't work on this if I update it)

A Lenovo Yoga 13 (it doesn't matter if it doesn't work on this one either)

So I'm just wondering if I should stick with v16.1 or try out v17 or v18? I don't use any of those pirated streaming plugins, so those don't matter to me. Everything I watch is physically on my hard drive.

Thanks for any advice!

**Martijn** · (This post was last modified: 2019-03-16, 07:18 by Martijn.)

Doesn't matter which version as long as they all use the same.
Try out v17 / v18 on each device if they still are able to run it and play some videos.
If not then stick with v16 cause if it worked before there's no real reason to upgrade.

Some might suggest to use mariadb as database.

spiderborg · 2019-03-16, 07:46

(2019-03-16, 07:16)Martijn Wrote: Doesn't matter which version as long as they all use the same.
Try out v17 / v18 on each device if they still are able to run it and play some videos.
If not then stick with v16 cause if it worked before there's no real reason to upgrade.

Some might suggest to use mariadb as database.

this whole MySql scene is like a foreign language to me. I just followed the wiki to set it up last time and then promptly forgot everything about it. Because of this, I'm not really able to determine what the differences between MySql and MariaDB are or what benefit MariaDB would have. Is there a short and sweet answer as to why I should try out MariaDB?

**Martijn** · 2019-03-16, 08:01

mariadb is a kind of fork of mysql and functions quite the same, setup is the same. Just maintained by different people.

bilgepump · 2019-03-16, 10:33

(2019-03-16, 07:46)spiderborg Wrote: I'm not really able to determine what the differences between MySql and MariaDB are or what benefit MariaDB would have.

My database is on a NAS server and the manufacturer changed to MariaDB. As a user, I can't see any difference. I didn't need to learn anything new to do the few things I've needed with the kodi database.

**Klojum** · 2019-03-16, 10:56

It depends on which *SQL server version you are actually going to install.

Some new MariaDB versions (10.3.x, 10.4.x ?) seems to have a quirk default setting, causing a certain Kodi database view query to be pretty slow. Removing that parameter in MariaDB's config cleared that up. Other than that, it does okay.

MySQL Server v8 is basically still uncharted territory for Kodi AFAICS, not many Kodi users seem to use it. MySQL 5.5 is currently considered the bottom version for Kodi (although 5.1 on some old Synology NASes seems to work as it should). MySQL 5.7 is probably your safest bet at the moment.

spiderborg · (This post was last modified: 2019-03-16, 16:16 by spiderborg.)

(2019-03-16, 10:56)Klojum Wrote: It depends on which *SQL server version you are actually going to install.

Some new MariaDB versions (10.3.x, 10.4.x ?) seems to have a quirk default setting, causing a certain Kodi database view query to be pretty slow. Removing that parameter in MariaDB's config cleared that up. Other than that, it does okay.

MySQL Server v8 is basically still uncharted territory for Kodi AFAICS, not many Kodi users seem to use it. MySQL 5.5 is currently considered the bottom version for Kodi (although 5.1 on some old Synology NASes seems to work as it should). MySQL 5.7 is probably your safest bet at the moment.

I think MySQL 5.7.11.0 is the version that I've been using for a long time. I never had any problems with it so I'll probably stick with that one. (EDIT: I've actually installed version 5.7.25.0 instead since it was the easiest one to find on the MySQL download page.) Now to decide which version of Kodi to install. To change or not to change, that is the question Smile

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, the main reason I considered updating Kodi a while back was because I read that we can use the voice search feature from FireTV on Kodi now. Is that possible without rooting my FireTVs? Everything I've found says I need to root it to use the voice search feature.

bilgepump · 2019-03-16, 16:29

(2019-03-16, 15:44)spiderborg Wrote: Now to decide which version of Kodi to install. To change or not to change, that is the question

Do you use kodi for your music? If so, v.18 Leia is heaps better. Dave Blake did a lot of work on the music section. All of the artists' info now gets saved to a separate folder.

spiderborg · 2019-03-16, 16:48

(2019-03-16, 16:29)bilgepump Wrote:
(2019-03-16, 15:44)spiderborg Wrote: Now to decide which version of Kodi to install. To change or not to change, that is the question
Do you use kodi for your music? If so, v.18 Leia is heaps better. Dave Blake did a lot of work on the music section. All of the artists' info now gets saved to a separate folder.

Nope. Just movies and TV shows. I have all my music on my phone and my receiver has bluetooth and airplay, so I just use that.

I do use a few plugins that I hope still work on the newer versions (Missing movie scanner, lazy TV, random movies).