The first beta of Kodi 19.x “Matrix” was released 2 days ago for testing purpose. Compare to previous alpha releases, this beta is much more about fixes than features.
One of the main features in next major Kodi 19, which will be released early in 2021, is Python 3 add-ons since Python 2 has reached end-of-life. The beta release also features AV1 software decoding, integer scaling support.
Other changes include:
- Improvements covering multi-disc CD sets and box sets
- Metadata improvements such as better handling of album release dates, album durations, etc.
- New fullscreen/visualisation settings
- New Matrix-inspired visualisation
- Support for file tags over http(s).
- Improved links with the music library to e.g. fetch related album/artist information, display both videos and albums when searching, display more linked information in info dialogs, etc.;
- Improvements around grouping of all music videos by artist (vs album only);
- Enhanced .nfo handling for multiple performers.
- A redesign of the fullscreen/visualisation music window;
- Additional metadata display;
- New “Now Playing” view;
- Chapter information for music videos;
- Enhanced “now playing” and “next item” views;
- A generally improved “out of the box” behavior with regard to music and video library artwork.
- Improved game controller support on iOS
- Improvements to image quality in Pixel Art games.
- Subtitle improvements with new dark grey color and selectable opacity;
- Ability to provide a subtitle URI (URL, local file, etc.);
- Static HDR10 and dynamic Dolby Vision HDR support (platform- and client-dependent).
- A host of improvements, including PVR reminders; TV/Radio channel groups, home screen widgets and dynamic PVR categories for Estuary;
- Enhancements to the Group and Channel manager;
- Navigation/usability improvements such as context menus, selection persistence, and EPG controls;
- Improvements to PVR handling via the API.
- Various improvements to user information, e.g. the security implications of enabling external interfaces or a prompt when enabling a broken/deprecated addon;
- A requirement for a web interface password by default;
- New origin enforcement for addons and dependencies, so third-party addons can’t overwrite code of other, unrelated addons.
- New Python scrapers for music, TV and movies (linked to the Python 3 move).
- Many code and platform-specific fixes and improvements
Get Kodi 19.x Beta:
The source tarball, Windows, Android, and OS X packages are available to download at the link below, though it seems no Linux binary package available so far.
