Kodi Media Center Driver

Version 1.32

By Smart Home Programming

OVERVIEW

This driver provides full control of Kodi media center from RTI control systems. It communicates with Kodi via the JSON-RPC API over HTTP, providing library browsing, search, playback control, queue management, and system functions.

Supported Kodi Versions:

- Kodi 20 (Nexus)

- Kodi 21 (Omega) - Latest stable

- Any Kodi version supporting JSON-RPC API v13

LICENSING

This driver is sold through the Smart Home Programming Driver Store.

Driver Store: https://shpdrivers.services/store/

Your Account: https://shpdrivers.services/store/account.html

Free Trial:

The driver operates in a 2-hour trial mode without a licence key. The trial provides full functionality and resets each time the RTI processor is rebooted.

To Purchase:

1. Create an account at https://shpdrivers.services/store/

2. Add this driver to your cart

3. Enter your RTI processor MAC address during checkout

4. Complete payment and receive your licence key by email

5. Enter the licence key in the driver configuration

SETUP

1. Enable Kodi Web Interface:

In Kodi, go to Settings > Services > Control and enable:

- "Allow remote control via HTTP"

- Set the port (default: 8080)

- Set username (default: kodi)

- Set password

2. Configure the Driver:

- Kodi IP Address - IP address of the Kodi device

- HTTP Port - Web interface port (default: 8080)

- Username - Web interface username

- Password - Web interface password

- MAC Address - For Wake on LAN (optional)

- Licence Key - Enter your licence key from the store

LIBRARY SYNC

When the driver first connects to Kodi, it performs a full library sync to the cloud server. This syncs your movies, TV shows, music artists, albums, and recently added content so it can be browsed instantly from the Web Object UI.

Important:

- The larger your library, the longer the sync takes. A library with 1000 movies, 400 TV shows, and hundreds of albums may take 30-60 seconds to fully sync.

- During the sync, the Web Object UI will display a "Library Sync" loading screen. Controls will not be available until the sync is complete.

- The sync is triggered manually from the Web Object UI Settings panel (Sync Library button). It does NOT run automatically on boot.

- Library data is cached on the cloud server, so subsequent page loads are instant even before the next sync completes.

- Movie posters and album artwork are cached on the server for fast loading. The first time each image is accessed it may be slow, but subsequent loads are served from the server cache.

WEB OBJECT UI

The driver includes a web-based remote control UI that can be displayed inside an RTI Web Object on your touchpanel. This provides movie browsing with poster art, TV show navigation, music browsing, search, and now playing information.

Web Object URL:

https://shpdrivers.services/kodi/?mac=YOUR_PROCESSOR_MAC&transport=ws

The processor MAC address is logged in TraceView when the driver starts. Replace YOUR_PROCESSOR_MAC with your RTI processor's MAC address (no colons, uppercase).

Web Object Settings:

- Set the Web Object to Dark Mode in Integration Designer for best appearance

- Use HTTP (not HTTPS) for the Web Object URL if you want album art from Kodi's local library to display

- The UI includes a Settings panel (gear icon) where you can customise accent colours, background colour, and shadow depth to match your RTI template

Web Object Features:

Now Playing Tab:

- Cover art, title, synopsis, starring cast, director

- Progress bar with elapsed/total time

- Year, genre, rating, resolution, volume, audio codec info

- TV episodes show in S01E05 format with show name

Movies Tab:

- Recently Added movies with poster art

- In Progress movies with resume percentage

- All Movies with A-Z letter filter and search

- Genre filtering

- Tap a movie for full detail page with Play, Resume, and Queue options

- Favourites quick launch (star button)

TV Shows Tab:

- Recently Added Episodes

- Continue Watching (in-progress episodes with progress %)

- All TV Shows with A-Z filter and search

- Drill down: Show > Seasons > Episodes > Play

Music Tab:

- Recently Added Albums with cover art (from Kodi or MusicBrainz CoverArtArchive)

- Artists with images (from fanart.tv via Kodi scraper)

- Album detail page with track listing, artist bio (from Last.fm), Play/Queue options

- Individual track Play Now or Add to Queue

- Queue view with Clear Queue option

- Music search across artists and albums

Keyboard Tab:

- Send text directly to Kodi's active input field

- Send notifications to Kodi screen

- Return key on iPad keyboard sends text automatically

Settings Panel:

- 30 accent colours with hex input for custom match

- 23 background colours with hex input to match RTI template

- Shadow Box depth slider (0-5x) for RTI-style recessed panel effect

- Library Sync button (manual sync of movie/TV/music library to cloud cache)

- Addon launcher

- Library maintenance (scan/clean video and audio)

- System controls (WOL, quit, shutdown, reboot, suspend)

KODI NAVIGATE

Direct navigation commands to jump to specific areas of Kodi's UI:

- Go To Movies, Go To TV Shows, Go To Music

- Go To Music Videos, Go To Addons, Go To Settings

- Go To Favourites, Go To Recent Movies, Go To Recent Episodes

- Go To Previous Menu

BROWSE MENU

The driver provides a comprehensive browse menu for navigating Kodi's library:

Home Menu:

- Movies - Recently Added, In Progress, All, By Genre, Movie Sets

- TV Shows - Recently Added Episodes, In Progress, All, By Genre

- Music - Recently Added, Recently Played, Artists, Albums, By Genre

- Music Videos - Browse all music videos

- Search - Search across all media types

- Queue - View current playlist

- Favourites - Kodi favourites list

- Addons - Launch video addons

- PVR / Live TV - Live TV channels (requires PVR backend)

- System - Library maintenance and power control

Navigation:

- ShowHomeMenu - Return to the home menu

- SelectMenuItem - Select the highlighted item in the list

- GoBack - Go back to the previous menu level

- BrowseMovies/BrowseTVShows/BrowseMusic - Jump directly to category

Item Actions:

When selecting a movie, episode, or song, an action menu appears:

- Play - Start playback immediately

- Resume - Resume from last position (movies/episodes)

- Add to Queue - Add to the current playlist

- Play Album - Play the entire album (songs)

Pagination:

Libraries with many items are paginated (configurable, default 50 per page). Use the "Previous Page" and "Next Page" entries to navigate between pages.

SEARCH

Use the keyboard functions to search Kodi's library:

1. Select "Search" from the home menu

2. Choose search type (All, Movies, TV Shows, or Music)

3. Type your search query using the keyboard functions

4. Press Enter/Submit to execute the search

5. Results are categorized by type (Movie, TV, Artist, Album)

TRANSPORT CONTROLS

- Play, Pause, Stop, Play/Pause Toggle

- Next Track, Previous Track

- Seek Forward (30 seconds), Seek Backward (30 seconds)

- Seek Forward Large (5 minutes), Seek Backward Large (5 minutes)

VOLUME

- Volume Up, Volume Down

- Volume Set (0-100)

- Mute Toggle

PLAYBACK OPTIONS

- Repeat (Off / One / All / Cycle)

- Shuffle Toggle

- Party Mode - Random music playback across entire library

- Subtitle Toggle - Cycle through available subtitles

- Next Audio Stream - Switch audio tracks

KODI NAVIGATION (D-PAD)

For controlling Kodi's on-screen UI directly:

- Nav Up, Down, Left, Right

- Nav Select, Nav Back, Nav Home

- Show OSD, Show Info, Context Menu

- Page Up, Page Down

SYSTEM FUNCTIONS

- Scan Video Library / Scan Audio Library

- Clean Video Library / Clean Audio Library

- Wake on LAN - Wake Kodi device from sleep

- Send Notification - Display a message on the Kodi screen

- Power: Shutdown, Reboot, Suspend, Hibernate

SYSTEM VARIABLES

Now Playing:

- NP_Title, NP_Artist, NP_Album

- NP_CoverArt, NP_FanArt (image URLs)

- NP_Year, NP_Genre, NP_Rating

- NP_Duration, NP_Position, NP_Progress

- NP_MediaType (movie/episode/song)

- NP_Season, NP_Episode, NP_ShowTitle (for TV)

- NP_Plot, NP_Resolution, NP_AudioCodec, NP_AudioChannels

Playback State:

- Connected, IsPlaying, IsPaused, IsStopped

- Volume (0-100), Muted

- Shuffle, RepeatMode, PartyMode

- PlayerType (audio/video/none)

Browse Menu:

- List_BrowseMenu (list variable)

- List_CurrentView, List_Title, List_ItemCount

- View_IsHome, View_IsMovies, View_IsTVShows, etc.

- Keyboard_Visible, Keyboard_Buffer

Selected Item:

- Sel_Title, Sel_CoverArt, Sel_Year

- Sel_Genre, Sel_Rating, Sel_Plot, Sel_Duration

EVENTS

- KODI_CONNECTED / KODI_DISCONNECTED

- KODI_PLAY / KODI_PAUSE / KODI_STOP

- KODI_TRACKCHANGE / KODI_MOVIE / KODI_EPISODE / KODI_MUSIC

- KODI_LIBRARY_UPDATED

- KEYBOARD_ACTIVE / KEYBOARD_HIDDEN

- TRIAL_WARNING / TRIAL_EXPIRED

IMAGE CACHING

Movie and TV show poster art is cached on the cloud server for fast loading (30-day cache, refreshes on each access). Album art that is not available as a public URL is looked up automatically from MusicBrainz CoverArtArchive. Artist images come from fanart.tv via Kodi's music scraper.

OPTIONAL FEATURES

These can be enabled/disabled in the driver configuration:

- Enable PVR/Live TV (default: off) - Show PVR menu for live TV

- Enable Addons (default: on) - Show video addons menu

- Enable Music Videos (default: on) - Show music videos menu

- Enable Telemetry (default: on) - Anonymous usage data

TROUBLESHOOTING

Cannot Connect:

1. Verify Kodi's web interface is enabled

2. Check IP address and port number

3. Ensure Kodi is on the same network as the RTI processor

4. Try accessing http://KODI_IP:8080 in a web browser

5. Check username and password

No Artwork:

Kodi artwork is served through Kodi's HTTP interface. Ensure the web interface port is accessible from the RTI processor.

Slow Response:

- Increase the poll interval if the RTI processor is under heavy load

- Reduce the page size for large libraries

SUPPORT

For bug reports, technical support, or feature requests, please use the ticket system in your account at the Driver Store.

Store: https://shpdrivers.services/store/

Email: david@smarthomeprogramming.com.au

TERMS OF SERVICE

All drivers are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. You use this software entirely at your own risk. A free trial is included so you can verify compatibility with your system before purchasing — do not purchase a licence if you have not tested the driver on your hardware. For full terms including warranty disclaimer, limitation of liability, and refund policy, visit:

https://smarthomeprogramming.com.au/store/terms.html

Copyright 2026 Smart Home Programming. All rights reserved.