Adding sources to Kodi: A Step-by-Step Guide

I bet you’re wondering how you can add sources to Kodi. Well, you’re in luck, because I’m here to guide you through the process. It may seem a bit confusing at first, but don’t worry, I’ve got your back!

First things first, we need to understand what sources are in the context of Kodi. You can think of sources as folders or directories where your media files are stored. These could be on your local hard drive, a USB stick, or even on a network-attached storage (NAS) device. Basically, any place where you have your movies, TV shows, or music files stored.

Now that we’re on the same page, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty. Here’s how you can add sources to Kodi:

1. Launch Kodi: Open up the Kodi application on your device. Take a moment to admire its slick interface and powerful features.

2. Go to the Home Screen: Once Kodi is up and running, head over to the Home Screen by clicking on the home icon in the top left corner. This will be your starting point for all the Kodi magic.

3. Select “File Manager”: On the Home Screen, you’ll see various menu options. Locate and click on “File Manager.” It’s where all the source management happens.

4. Add a Source: In the File Manager, you’ll find a list of existing sources. To add a new one, simply click on “Add source.” A dialogue box will appear, enticing you to input the necessary details.

5. Enter Source Path: Here comes the important part. In the dialogue box, you need to enter the path or location of your source. This could be a local folder, a network address, or even a web location. Kodi needs to know where to find your awesome media collection.

6. Give It a Name: After entering the source path, give it a name that’s easy to remember. You can be as creative as you want – just make sure it makes sense to you. Now, click “OK” and move on to the next step.

7. Return to Home Screen: With your source added, it’s time to go back to the Home Screen. You can do this by clicking the back arrow a few times until you reach the main screen again. Don’t worry, you won’t get lost!

8. Access Your Source: On the Home Screen, find the “Add-ons” tab and click on it. Then go to “My Add-ons” and select “Video Add-ons.” You’ll see a list of available add-ons, but for now, focus on “Kodi Media Center” – your ultimate media library.

9. Enjoy Your Media: Congratulations, my friend! You’ve successfully added sources to Kodi. Now, sit back, relax, and explore the wonders of your personalized media collection. Watch your favorite movies or listen to some catchy tunes – the choice is yours!

Remember, adding sources to Kodi opens up a world of entertainment possibilities. With a few simple steps, you can access all your media files from one convenient location. So, go ahead, unleash your inner media guru, and make the most out of Kodi!

In this post, I want to talk to you about Kodi, a really cool media center that’s open source. What that means is that it’s a software that allows you to open and watch all kinds of media like videos, images, and music. The great thing about Kodi is that it lets you add different sources of media, whether they’re on your hard drive, CDs/DVDs, or even on network storage devices.

However, one important thing to note is that Kodi doesn’t automatically scan your computer for images, music, or videos. So, you need to manually add your content to it. Don’t worry though, it’s actually pretty easy to do! Let me show you how you can add media to the latest version of Kodi, which is called v17.1 or Krypton.

By the way, if you haven’t already installed v17.1, you can go to this page where you can find the version for Windows or other platforms. Just click on “Windows” and then press the “Installer” button to download the setup wizard. Save it to a folder on your computer, and then open it to start the installation process. If you’re updating Kodi from a previous version, make sure to install v17.1 in the same folder as 16.1.

Once you have Kodi installed, you can open it up and you’ll see the home screen, which looks like the picture below.

How to Add Picture Sources to Kodi

Hey there! Let me show you how to add some awesome pictures to Kodi. It’s super easy, I promise!

First things first, click on the Pictures option over there on the left sidebar. You got it? Great! Now, we’re cooking!

Next, look for the Add pictures button. It will open up a window like the one you see in the picture below. Cool, right?

Okay, here comes the fun part! Click on the Browse button and choose the C: drive on your computer. This is where all your picture magic happens.

Are you in the right place? Good job! Now, go ahead and find that folder where you keep all your amazing images. It could be the default Pictures folder on your Windows. Did you find it? Woohoo!

Alright, my friend, now it’s time to seal the deal. Just hit that OK button to confirm your selection. Boom! You did it!

When adding a media source in Windows, the default title will be the same as its folder. However, you have the option to edit it if needed. Once you’re ready, just click OK to include the selected media source in Windows. Keep in mind that you can also click the Add button if you want to add another media folder source to Kodi. This allows you to combine media from different folders into one Kodi media source.

Adding Music Sources to Kodi

To add music from your hard disk to Kodi, go to the left sidebar and click on Music, then select Files. Click on Add music to open the window shown below. Like with pictures, you can select the music source by clicking the Browse button. Once you’ve made your selection, click OK and then click Yes to confirm. Now, you can easily access the recently added albums from Kodi’s home screen by simply hovering over the Music option on the sidebar.

How to Add CD/DVD Content to Kodi

If you have a bunch of music albums on CDs or DVDs, you can easily add them to Kodi without the need to physically insert the disc. However, in order to do this, you’ll need to make a few adjustments to Kodi’s settings.

First, click on the gear icon located at the top of Kodi’s sidebar. This will open the Settings/Player options menu. Then, hover your cursor over “Disc” to reveal a set of options. Click on “Audio CD insert action” and choose “Rip”. After that, select a location to save the ripped tracks by clicking on “Saved music folder”. Lastly, you’ll need to decide on an audio encoder by clicking on “Encoder”. You can choose either WMA or AAC.

Now, when you pop in a music CD/DVD, Kodi’s got your back. It’ll take care of copying all those tunes over to the right place automatically. And don’t worry, you’ll be kept in the loop. Just take a peek at the top right corner of Kodi’s window, and you’ll see which tracks are getting ripped. It might take a little while, about 10-20 minutes, depending on how many songs there are. But once it’s all done, you’ll be able to jam out without needing the actual disc. Just add the album’s folder as a media source in Kodi, and you’re good to go!

How to Add Video Sources to Kodi

When it comes to Kodi, there are many kinds of video sources you can add. You can include your own recorded clips, movies, TV shows, and music videos. But in order to add these videos to Kodi, you need to choose some additional options that help clarify what type of video media is in the folder. Kodi also collects a bunch of extra information from various web sources. This includes fanart, posters, trailers, and summary details for movies, music videos, and TV shows that you have in your libraries. This means that video media sources come with their own special settings called scrapers.

To add videos to Kodi, you just need to follow a few simple steps. First, click on the “Videos” option in the sidebar. Next, click on “Files” and select “Add videos”. After that, press the “Browse” button to find the HDD folder where your videos are stored. The title of the media source will automatically be the same as the folder, but you can change it if you want to. Just type in a new name in the text box on the “Add video source” window. When you’re done, click “OK” and the “Set content” window will open up right away.

Now, when you want to find out what kind of videos are in a folder, you just need to click on This directory contains. From there, you can choose whether the folder contains Movies, TV shows, Music videos, or None if it contains your own recordings. If the videos are movies, music, or TV shows, you can select a scraper by clicking on Choose information provider. The default scraper for films is The Movie Database, but you can choose others by clicking on the Get more button on the Movie information window. Remember, you can only select one type of media scraper, so make sure that all selected sources have the same type of content.

To access more options for the movie scraper, click on Settings under Choose information provider. This will open a window with additional settings. For example, you can decide whether to download YouTube trailers and fanart, and select which sites to use for film ratings.

The Set content window has some scanning options available to you. One option is to select Scan recursively, which will search through subfolders in the main folder you’ve chosen. Another option is to use the Exclude path from library updates option, which allows you to exclude certain paths from being included in any future updates. To add the video source to Kodi, simply press the OK button on the Set content window.

Now let me walk you through the process of adding new media sources to Kodi from your hard disk and CDs/DVDs. By doing this, you can start building up your Kodi media libraries with music, movies, TV shows, and image sources. However, it’s worth noting that you can also add extensive media libraries to Kodi by using streaming add-ons like Exodus. This add-on lets you stream and watch a wide variety of films, channels, and TV shows without needing to manually add your own sources from your HDD or DVD. If you’re interested, you can find further instructions on how to install Exodus in Kodi in a detailed Tech Junkie article.