Kodi Version 18 adds support for retroplayer gaming and associated game control. It also comes with audio and video playback improvements.
The developers of the popular Kodi media center application have released version 18.
Kodi 18.0 “Leia” is available as a free download for all supported platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.
One of the big features of Kodi 18 is the support for gaming emulators, ROMs and controls. “You now have a whole world of retro gaming at your fingertips, all from the same interface as your movies, music and TV shows,” the Kodi team said in the official announcement on the Kodi website.
The developers have also introduced support for joysticks, gamepads, and other platform-specific controls for the genuine experience.
Kodi 18 also comes with digital rights management decryption support. This means depending on your hardware and licensing, Kodi can now access external DRM handlers and then play subscription content just like any other local media.
Better filtering and sorting of music library
Other significant improvements include better filtering (media source, artist gender, type etc.); artist sort name; enhanced artwork; faster API access (particularly useful if you’re controlling Kodi by remote with the TV off); and better sorting of your music library.
It also features improved Blu-ray support, audio and video playback improvements, and some modifications to the default skin, which is called Estuary.
“We’ve also improved Blu-ray support in terms of disc detection and metadata, BD-J menu support (subject to Java support on the device), there are updated external interfaces for e.g. MPEG DASH and RTMP input, and there are improvements to 3d playback (including in 2D mode) and various changes to specific CODECs,” the team added.
On the audio side, there’s a wealth of improvements and new support for all types of playback system: ALSA, PulseAudio, OSS, Pi Audio, DirectSound, WASAPI, Darwin, SndIO.
Some of the changes will be invisible to many users – Bluetooth support, CMake build system, visualisations and screensavers, improvements to the JSON-RPC API, improved code stability, performance and security (as well as general code clean-up in many core areas), remote control changes, web interface changes, logging changes, dependency changes, and many more.
The team has also designed the Kodi 18 shirt – which are available in several colours.
