XBMC (Xbox Media Center) was a homebrew program for the original Xbox that served as a video and audio player, as well as a launcher for other homebrew applications from the Xbox’s built-in hard drive. Even though the program was initially designed around the Xbox, the XBMC Foundation dropped support for that console in 2010. Since then, XBMC has gotten a name change and is now called Kodi and has branched out to almost any device you can think of–except Xbox One.
Now, though, Kodi is coming back to its roots with the release of Kodi 18.0-Alpha1 for Xbox One. The cool part is it’s not even a dumbed down version of the program. Well, at least it isn’t in theory. The Kodi for Xbox One Alpha definitely has some significant issues that limit its current functionality to something a bit less useful than Kodi on Windows or Android.
What are the Limitations of Kodi for Xbox One?
Kodi 18.0-Alpha1 for Xbox One is unstable and lacks access to some of the console’s fundamental features. There’s no way to watch Blu-rays or any other disc because Kodi can’t even see your optical drive. Also, you’re going to have to forget about playing anything off an external hard drive for now. Kodi for Xbox One can’t access anything over USB.
What Kodi can do is play content over NFS:// shares. This will likely require some work on your part if you don’t already have your network set up to share files between devices and will be a pain compared to using an Android box or an Apple TV to stream over your network.
The team behind the Xbox One version of Kodi stated that Universal Windows Platform tech limits some accessibility options of the program. As for how long it will take to see a full version, the team said some parts are not closed to finished, and it will take some work to get up to standards.
One of the things that made XBMC so special was that there wasn’t really such thing as a streaming device when the original Xbox was on the market. However, just on the Xbox One, you can stream content via your network with the VLC app or Plex app, which both work way better than Kodi right now.
Let’s face it, a lot of the appeal of Kodi for people is using plugins to connect to services they can illegally stream pirated music, movies, and TV shows. However, if you love Kodi and XBMC and want to be on the cutting edge of the team’s work on Xbox One, you can download Kodi 18.0-Alpha1 via the Xbox One store.
