Kodi-PVR-MythTV and mythbackend settings

Sometimes you find a fix for a problem that's so simple you want to kick yourself.

I'd been unable to watch live TV streams on other frontends (OpenElec on Raspberry Pi, Ubuntu laptop, and Windows 8 laptop) around the house for several months. Having searched extensively and posted the problem on forums I could not seem to solve the issue.

Even though mythbackend would serve live TV to Kodi frontend on the same machine, I could not serve these streams across my local network to other machines running Kodi. The error message in the mythbackend log was "Client speaks protocol version 75 but we speak 77!" when attempting to connect from some devices (e.g. Raspberry Pi), and "Client speaks protocol version 8 but we speak 77!" when attempting to connect from others (e.g. Windows 8)

After some prodding around in the mythtv-setup options, I accidentally blanked out the IPV6 field in the "general" settings section. I then blanked out the IPV6 fields in the kodi-pvr-mythtv settings on the frontend client, and hey presto! It worked! Live TV streamed without issue.

What I found amazing was that this was a such a simple fix yet I had been struggling to overcome the live TV streaming for months. The reason it had baffled me is that in mythtv-setup settings the IPV6 field hint suggests that if I will be connecting to the backend from frontends on other machines then the field shopuld not be left blank. I hadn't really given this much thought other than, my Kodi frontends are on other machines therefore the field should not be left blank. In retrospect, I guess this hint refers to MythTV frontends, not other frontends such as Kodi, which is what threw me.

Best Kodi add-ons for use in the UK

There are hundreds of add-ons for Kodi. Many don't work, some give you access to content which is illegal to view in the UK such as copyrighted movies, sport and television series, and some seem to just be too niche to be any use to most people in the UK (Gun reviews in Russian anyone?). Amongst them are some gems. Here is a post to help UK Kodi users find the diamonds in the rough.

BBC iPlayer This essential add-on allows streaming of live and BBC TV and radio and catch-up TV from the iPlayer database. It has a much simpler menu system than the layout on BBC's content-heavy iPlayer website, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your preference. Personally I like its simplicity and aside from Cmyth (see below), this is my most used add-on.

ITV Player Again, another essential add-on for UK viewers. Not quite as slick as the iPlayer add-on in terms of menu layout, but still easy to use, and allows streaming of live ITV broadcasts across ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 as well as streaming catch-up TV from ITV player's database.

USTVnow UK viewers can get live (HD for several months before reverting to SD) access to 6 US channels, for free. ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, CW, and PBS). OK, this one is a bit of a grey area as it is designed for US citizens living abroad, and requires you to tick a box saying so. However, the only time I use this add-on is when my American pal visits to watch the superbowl. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! If you visit https://www.ustvnow.com/ and sign up for free registration, you can then add your username and password to the USTVnow add-on settings and the add-on will stream these free to view channels in Kodi.

Youtube Allows quick and easy access to Youtube direct from 

Kodi. Unfortunately, Youtube seems to have limited access to some DRM-protected content such as official music videos, meaning they can't be viewed from Kodi, but you could view them via a browser. Nonetheless, still a useful add-on.

Radio If BBC radio isn't broad enough for your listening tastes (Zouk, anyone?), Radio gives you access to hundreds, maybe even thousands (I haven't counted - let's just say, lots!) of international radio stations, which you can search by popularity, genre, topic, country, city, language, or search for local stations.








FilmOn Allows access to free to air channels from UK Freeview and many others around the world. The picture quality is not particularly good, but this is made up for by the range of channels available.









Spotimc You'll need a premium Spotify account for this to work. If so, installing this add on lets you search for music, browse for music and play your favourite playlists, all from inside Kodi.





This is just a small selection of the Kodi add-ons out there, and these happen to be my most often used ones. I also use a MythTV add-on which connects to my MythTV backend for me to watch and record UK Freeview TV and Radio.

Hope this list has been of some use to other Kodi users in the UK.