HOWTO: Install Kodi on Raspbian

[enterprise11]

Ok, this is my first post and I am a newbee on raspberry...
I've done everything as posted in the tutorial to install kodi as standalone-version on raspbian 2.
Everything works fine, I can do all the settings, I can add addons, I can browse my movies etc from a harddisc, I see the preview pictures etc. etc. BUT: I can't watch a movie. Everytime I start one, it runs very (!, about 10x speed) and I have a black screen (or the menue - because everything is working fine except watching movies...)
I installed OSMC on another micro-sdhc and there are no problems. I have kodi on an android-pc, too, and it works fine... I checked the settings and didn't find anything strange.
So, what's wrong with my installation???

Best regards

Gregor

[gkreidl]

Ok, this is my first post and I am a newbee on raspberry...
I've done everything as posted in the tutorial to install kodi as standalone-version on raspbian 2.
Everything works fine, I can do all the settings, I can add addons, I can browse my movies etc from a harddisc, I see the preview pictures etc. etc. BUT: I can't watch a movie. Everytime I start one, it runs very (!, about 10x speed) and I have a black screen (or the menue - because everything is working fine except watching movies...)
I installed OSMC on another micro-sdhc and there are no problems. I have kodi on an android-pc, too, and it works fine... I checked the settings and didn't find anything strange.
So, what's wrong with my installation???

Best regards

Gregor

Not enough GPU menory, perhaps. Add or modify in /boot/config.txt
gpu_mem=160
and reboot.

[enterprise11]

So I did, but nothing changed. After that I set the gpu_mem=512.
Same result... I'm a little bit confused.

[gkreidl]

So I did, but nothing changed. After that I set the gpu_mem=512.
Same result... I'm a little bit confused.

So am I! It has been working for lots of people so far.
I've installed it on two RPi 2 (and formerly on a a B) and both are really running fine (except for the closing bug which will hopefully be fixed soon).
So there must be something special in your case.

[KilroyRock]

you have your mpeg2 codec license? it would help for a lot of black screen stuff, due to the encoding. inexpensive.

http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/

[enterprise11]

No, I don't have. But it's all h264 stuff I want to play. As I said above, all works fine with OSMC on a separate card, but I would like to have the version "best of both worlds"
Update: After second reboot, I can see sometimes rotating colourful cubes instead of a black screen or my movie...

[marotillo]

Ok, this is my first post and I am a newbee on raspberry...
I've done everything as posted in the tutorial to install kodi as standalone-version on raspbian 2.
Everything works fine, I can do all the settings, I can add addons, I can browse my movies etc from a harddisc, I see the preview pictures etc. etc. BUT: I can't watch a movie. Everytime I start one, it runs very (!, about 10x speed) and I have a black screen (or the menue - because everything is working fine except watching movies...)
I installed OSMC on another micro-sdhc and there are no problems. I have kodi on an android-pc, too, and it works fine... I checked the settings and didn't find anything strange.
So, what's wrong with my installation???

Best regards

Gregor

Hello,

This is my first post here. Excuse my poor English, it is not my primary language

I decided to post because I have exactly the same problem:
- Everything seems to works fine except when playing a movie.
- Movie progression bar goes faster but a black screen is shown.
- Some online channels plays the sound, but not the images. Instead of images, rotating cubes are shown
- I have OSMC installed in another SD card and everything works fine using the same Raspberry 2 B

[gkreidl]

Hello,

This is my first post here. Excuse my poor English, it is not my primary language

I decided to post because I have exactly the same problem:
- Everything seems to works fine except when playing a movie.
- Movie progression bar goes faster but a black screen is shown.
- Some online channels plays the sound, but not the images. Instead of images, rotating cubes are shown
- I have OSMC installed in another SD card and everything works fine using the same Raspberry 2 B

Did you see any error messages during installation?

Are you on NOOBS or did you install Raspbian image directly?

How large is your video memory?

[marotillo]

Hi again,

I'm happy to say that it's working now!

The problem was the video memory. I did not add the line

Code: Select all

gpu_mem=160

in /boot/config.txt because I was not interested in playing HD videos, but it seems to be mandatory to play SD videos too.

Just for complete the information:

Did you see any error messages during installation?

No, I didn't. The installation was ok.

Are you on NOOBS or did you install Raspbian image directly?

Raspian image directly: 2015-02-16-raspbian-wheezy.img

How large is your video memory?

That was the clue. Now it is 160 and works!

Thank you very much for your help!

[enterprise11]

Congratulations!
I'm still not happy with Kodi...
Where exactly did you add the line?
My last lines now look this way:

# NOOBS Auto-generated Settings:
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
config_hdmi_boost=4
overscan_left=24
overscan_right=24
overscan_top=16
overscan_bottom=16
disable_overscan=0

#gpu_mem=512


gpu_mem I tested with different numbers (160, 512, 544 etc.)
Any further suggestions?
Thanks and regards

[gkreidl]

#gpu_mem=512
gpu_mem I tested with different numbers (160, 512, 544 etc.)
Any further suggestions?
Thanks and regards

Remove the '#' in front, otherwise it has no effect.

[enterprise11]

The # was the problem! Now everything is working fine!!!
Thanks a lot!!!!

[cpcbegin]

I install Kodi on Raspbian on a Raspberry pi 2 but I've got a different problem with keyboard and mobile as remote controller.
Using my keyboard for search something, for example:
- If I press a number key some times I get the number, a letter, the following letter and again the number, like an old mobile.
- If I press a different key trigger an action instead show the key.
If I try to use my android mobile with apps like Yatse or XBMC remote control the mobile can't connect with raspberri.
(I can control Kodi only with mouse)

I try this with OpenElec and all runs fine, but I need Kodi under Raspbian because I need a complete web browser and a complete OS.

Thanks in advance.

[gkreidl]

I install Kodi on Raspbian on a Raspberry pi 2 but I've got a different problem with keyboard and mobile as remote controller.
Using my keyboard for search something, for example:
- If I press a number key some times I get the number, a letter, the following letter and again the number, like an old mobile.
- If I press a different key trigger an action instead show the key.
If I try to use my android mobile with apps like Yatse or XBMC remote control the mobile can't connect with raspberri.
(I can control Kodi only with mouse)

I try this with OpenElec and all runs fine, but I need Kodi under Raspbian because I need a complete web browser and a complete OS.

Thanks in advance.

I've just noticed the same with keyboard text input. No idea yet, what could be done about it. (I've never used Kodi before).
For remote control via smartphone you might try to install some of the event tools from the repository. Install synaptic, search for kodi and you'll find them.

[DirkS]

If I try to use my android mobile with apps like Yatse or XBMC remote control the mobile can't connect with raspberri.
(I can control Kodi only with mouse)

I have no problems controlling Kodi on Raspbian with Yatse.
Make sure Kodi's webserver is activated (Settings / System / Webserver).

Re keyboard. I use a wireless mini keyboard and it works fine. Can't find any relevant settings in Kodi though.

[cpcbegin]

If I try to use my android mobile with apps like Yatse or XBMC remote control the mobile can't connect with raspberri.
(I can control Kodi only with mouse)

I have no problems controlling Kodi on Raspbian with Yatse.
Make sure Kodi's webserver is activated (Settings / System / Webserver).

Re keyboard. I use a wireless mini keyboard and it works fine. Can't find any relevant settings in Kodi though.

Kodi's webserver is activated as you describe, mobile remove controls runs in kodi openelec but not in kodi raspbian

Re keyboard. Can you type letters using the real keyboard? again I can do this with openelec but not in raspbian.
Arrow keys runs ok on both scenarios and numbers runs like an old 'non-smart' phone. (I press one, I get a number, I press twice I get a letter, I press again I get next letter, I press again more I get the same number).

[cpcbegin]

Problem #1: keyboard numbers runs like an old mobile and alphabetical keys don't run property:
Solution: Add to /etc/init.d/rc.local this line:
chmod 0777 /dev/tty0

Problem #2: apps to convert smartphones in remote control don't run:
Solution:
Yatse: changer port from 80 to 8080
XBMC Remote: press update

[DirkS]

Problem #1: keyboard numbers runs like an old mobile and alphabetical keys don't run property:
Solution: Add to /etc/init.d/rc.local this line:
chmod 0777 /dev/tty0

This probably means that user 'kodi' is not in group 'input'

Code: Select all

sudo usermod -a -G input kodi

Thanks to forum member 'spendoza' for noticing this...

[ekimyar]

Has anyone been able to apt-get the Unstable packages from deb http://archive.mene.za.net/raspbian wheezy contrib unstable?
I cannot get apt-get to see that kodi offers an unstable package option. It just returns this error:
Release 'unstable' for 'kodi' was not found

I've altered my /etc/apt/source.list file to add the unstable repository, and I added the /etc/apt/preferences file for pinning.... not sure what to do next.

[Tom_A]

Latest update has broken the black screen on exit fix I just got working properly. I don't regularly exit Kodi and am mostly running off Raspbian so I can have services running in the background, but it would be nice to not have to reboot to properly exit back to lightdm. I've had the best luck launching Kodi from the login screen.

[gkreidl]

Latest update has broken the black screen on exit fix I just got working properly. I don't regularly exit Kodi and am mostly running off Raspbian so I can have services running in the background, but it would be nice to not have to reboot to properly exit back to lightdm. I've had the best luck launching Kodi from the login screen.

Latest update of what?

[Tom_A]

I did an apt-get upgrade recently and Kodi had an update. Was hoping that it might fix the black screen problem without the need for the scripts, however it broke the script fix. I've tried turning off the scripts to see if that helped. The three lines that it was recommended to comment out have changed a bit. I tried commenting them out again, but that did not help.

[gkreidl]

Latest kodi version is dated Feb, 9th. It seems you haven't updated for quite some time.

[Tom_A]

Latest kodi version is dated Feb, 9th. It seems you haven't updated for quite some time.

I don't think this was a regular update to Kodi. Raspbmc I know has updates and changes occasionally that are not part of the normal Kodi and usually specific to raspberry pi issues. I checked for updates later than Feb 9th to make sure everything was ready to move to the Raspberry Pi B2, but still got another update to Kodi a few days ago over apt-get. You could try doing an apt-get yourself to check for this, but I'd recommend canceling if it does show an update to Kodi if you don't want to break the script functionality.

It was recommended to comment out the last three lines of a file to help fix the issue, however the end of the same file looks like this now:

Code: Select all

VT="$(fgconsole)"
if [ "$VT" ]; then
  sudo chvt 7
  sudo chvt "$VT"
fi

[gkreidl]

I ran apt-get yesterday and got no new update. Can you please post the output of
apt-cache showpkg kodi