There’s an official kodi add-on repository. But it doesn’t have some apps, for example Disney+ or Netflix which my family wants to watch. This means resorting to adding other unofficial repositories to get hold of these app. (Only with subscription of course, I never install any dodgy/illegal apps!).
Though I’m not comfortable installing non-official apps. But otherwise, I’d need to use my Smart TVs built in apps. And one of the reasons I use OSMC/Kodi is to not having the TV directly connected to the internet and all the tracking. (I’m aware using an app such as Disney+ results in tracking though limited in comparison).
The only reason I know of that Disney+ and Netflix addons is not in official kodi-repo is that, there was some initial talk from Kodi-ppl with Netflix, if I remember. And those talks went bad, Netflix is very protective of their brand esthetics and didn’t accept to be “limited” to a Kodi UI. My guess Disney is rather protective of theirs too.
I’ve been using the Netflix addon on and off, since Kodi-17. Today the most stable Netflix is now repository.castagnait and Slyguy’s repo (for among others Disney+) is also very reputable. Got some other nice video-addons and tools. Amazon I belive is ork of a Sandman73 or something like that, had have some trouble with their new auth. in setup from time to time.
Download the zip and go Settings->Addon Browser->Install from zip
Be aware that on an OSMC device you will experience some limitations to the video quality you can access on commercial services. These are sometimes limitations in the add-on themselves, more often the result of the device not being certified or there not being L1 Widevine support. (The latter is probably coming for the Vero V).
YouTube has an annoying set-up process, but works well once it’s up and running.
On iPlayer 720p works well, but there’s no 4K/HLG.
Disney Plus is limited to 720p resolution.
For Netflix you can access 1080p streams, but only with software decoding, which means they may not play smoothly.
Personally I hate all these streaming services so I don’t use them and I’m with you on the TV tracking stuff!
I hate “smart” TVs.
I wish they would make dumb TV panels that have no apps or OS, just input selection and picture options like the good ole days.
My boys have a TCL Roku TV and it tries to phone home every 3 minutes!
So I blocked it’s requests with my pihole but then my pihole gives me notifications like it’s being hammered.
The TV doesn’t have access to the internet at all since I have it blocked at the router but I do like to keep it on the network because they can watch stuff from the Vero via UPnP.
And you can’t turn the TV off either!
If you disable the fast boot option it’s supposed to do a full shut down and then when you turn it back on it takes longer to load up but NOPE, even with fast boot disabled and the TV turned “off” it’s trying to send info to Roku, Netflix, Apple, etc.
So I installed a kill switch on the power cord and told my boys that when they are not watching the TV they need to turn it off and also throw the switch.
It’s really ridiculous!
Anyway, the Vero is not a good streaming box what so ever.
If you want to stream, get a Roku, a Fire stick, etc or just use the TVs built in apps.
But they will be selling your data for sure, that’s part of the price you pay to use those services.
I’m not going to pay someone to sell my information so I can have access to their content which is 99% garbage anyway.
I liked the Netflix Daredevil show back in the day, got the Blurays, looks way better than their streams anyway, but they cancelled it.
Disney is talking about bringing it back but it seems like Disney ruins everything lately so I’m not too excited.
I did see Mandalorian UHDs and my boys were interested in watching that.
So anything that’s actually good usually gets a release on discs any ways.
You just don’t get to watch them day one.
Sorry for the rant… TL;DR: just use your TV apps or get a streaming player. Vero is best for local playback, not streaming.
Apparently the Roku is the worst offender when it comes to tracking.
Did you give up using the pihole?
Reading around this topic, it seems it’s pretty difficult to block the tracking on Smart TVs or streaming devices
Daredevil and its related series have been available on Disney Plus for a while now, in substantially higher bit rates than the old Netflix versions. From Iron Fist season 1 onwards they were shot in HDR; 1080p blu ray doesn’t look anywhere near as good as the streamed versions now.
I’ve never been impressed by Netflix or Disney’s implementation of HDR so I would have my doubts.
But I’ll do some A/B comparisons and see for myself.
UPDATE:
The one thing that is great about Daredevil is that the title sequence itself is a bit of a demo since it is prone to banding and what not.
The BD does not have banding and I remember watching it on Netflix with 4K HDR and it did have banding, which is completely backwards but that’s how it was.
That was probably over 5 years ago but I remember it vividly because it was so backwards to what you would expect.
I just compared the Disney+ 4K against the BD and there are some interesting differences.
The Disney+ stream omits the five second Netflix intro and the BD has it.
Right away the Disney+ stream has some interesting macro blocking in the red around the Marvel studios logo which is not present on the BD.
The Disney+ stream is 4K with Dolby Vision with a 10 bit H265 encoding presumably where the BD is 1080p in SDR with an 8 bit H264 encode obviously.
So I expect the Disney+ to be better with banding and macro blocking so very odd to see that macro blocking right away, but I can live with that anomaly if it only occurs there.
During the title sequence there are areas where the BD struggles with the gradient from red to black.
It’s not out right banding but it’s noisy for sure, the Disney+ stream handles this way better than the BD.
Once we get past the title sequence we are given a great shot of windows that work almost like a test grid for comparisons.
Right away the Disney+ image looks more natural and the BD appears to have a slight teal push to it.
But if I wasn’t doing a side by side comparisons, this would be nearly impossible to notice I think.
I don’t ever remember thinking the BD looked overly teal at all.
Certain release can be obvious in this department without doing any comparisons (the recent SF II Animated Movie UHD comes to mind).
So I’ll give the nod to Disney+ here but it’s very subtle.
The BD has lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and the Disney+ stream uses the lossy Dolby Digital Plus format in 5.1.
It didn’t trigger Atmos on my AVR either, I think they had Atmos on the third season on Netflix (which didn’t get a BD release so Netflix was the only option).
Not sure exactly what format Disney+ uses for subtitles but it is text based and not imaged based.
I found the positioning of subtitles better on the BD.
TL;DR: The Disney+ stream has a very slight advantage in picture quality which is difficult to see if you are not doing a side by side comparison. The BD has slightly better audio and subtitles, but again, it would be difficult to notice if you are not doing a side by side comparison. So either format is very serviceable.
Sounds like confirmation bias but since you contradicted yourself a dozen times I’d say the first thing you need is a decent tv, then decent source material
Yeah, I guess my LG OLED isn’t a decent TV and the original BD and original Disney+ stream are not decent source materials either.
And when my bias was against the stream in favor of the disc and after doing a comparison I determined that the stream had in fact a more natural (ie: better) color temperature and handled gradients better than the disc that was really showing my confirmation bias.
And my confirmation bias is totally on full display when I make the claim that the BD’s lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track is better than the stream’s lossy Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio track.
I feel so exposed now…
