This is a discussion — sharing my rediscovery of Kodi’s capabilities and building my own DVD shop
I wanted to share something I’ve rediscovered recently with Kodi, and open it up for discussion.
I’ve grown pretty fed up with streaming turning into the new cable system — tiered pricing, pay gates, and still not being able to watch what I actually want when I want it. A lot of older movies and series I’m after are hidden, rotated, or “not available right now” unless you upgrade again.
So I stepped off that treadmill and went back to Kodi — not as a streaming launcher, but as a personal DVD shop / jukebox.
Yes, a little crafting is involved, and it can go as deep as you want:
Converting DVDs you own to .ISO files
Naming and organizing them properly
Sharing them over a home network
Letting Kodi handle the library and playback
Important FYI: this is PC-to-PC.
This isn’t about Android boxes — they’re great streamers, but they don’t have the headroom for smooth ISO mounting and playback.
What I’ve rediscovered:
Kodi still handles DVD ISO playback beautifully
Full menus and extras work
Widescreen DVDs upscale better than expected
A modest Windows PC (NUC / office-class) streams ISOs smoothly over Ethernet or fast Wi-Fi
No content rotations, no tiers, no VPNs, no wondering when something will disappear
It feels like having your own little DVD shop at home — browsing because you want to watch something, not because an algorithm decided.
That rediscovery has honestly made watching enjoyable again.
Not sure I understand what you are trying to get across. Probably because I don’t own any DVD’s maybe? And I can already get any content on KODI that is on any DVD. And to my knowledge KODI is not pushing any Algorithim’s on me. When I find a show/movie that I think I might like I simply add it to Trakt and it’s in my KODI Collection/Library. Maybe you could expand upon how what you are doing is any different than the existing content that is already available in KODI?
ou’re right — Kodi itself doesn’t do algorithms. That’s not the point.
What I’m really talking about is streaming services and online content in general. I spent years there and realized I wasn’t finding my niche. Even with endless options, the stuff I actually want to watch is often unavailable, rotated out, or sitting behind another paywall.
So I stopped chasing access and went back to ownership.
I’m using Kodi in its purest form — as a personal media center. A collection, not a feed. I buy DVDs cheaply, make ISOs, organize them, and enjoy them when I want, without wondering where they went or what tier they moved to.
Collecting is human. We’ve always done it with books, records, and movies. Streaming pulled us away from that, and I realized I missed it.
OK Gotcha….glad you like to collect and this is working for you. But this being a Cord Cutting site you are probably a minority which there is nothing wrong. I love Streaming. Been using KODI for 10 years and also have a few IPTV services. I find everything I need this way
Just to clarify, I actually like the NVIDIA Shield and still use it for streaming. It does that job very well.
And to be fair, Kodi runs fine on the Shield when playing MKV or MP4 files with moderate bitrates.
Where I noticed differences was with full DVD ISO playback — menus, higher bitrates, and pulling files over the network. That’s where Android devices, in general, can start to show limits.
Part of the appeal for me with ISO playback is the jukebox / carousel experience — browsing a personal collection, opening disc menus, and choosing something intentionally. Maybe that’s partly generational, but it’s a viewing style I still enjoy.
For that specific use case, a small Windows mini PC has been more consistent for me. ISO playback is smooth and predictable, which is really all I was after.
I still use Android boxes for streaming, and a PC for local media.
Different tools for different roles — that’s the point I’m trying to share.
You can download complete DVD/Bluray/UHD Bluray movies that have all of the menus and extras. Usually much easier and faster to download instead of ripping your own.
Dune and Zidoo play them great and show the menu to allow access to all of the extras. They also support all video and audio formats, so you get the full experience. They each have their own poster wall library system for the eye candy and browsing. Zidoo has the prettier interface IMHO.
I usually only store the compete disc for my favorites or a movie that has particularly interesting extras.
It is mainly for people interested in the cinematography aspect of movies and is looking for something specific and not just “putting on something “for entertainment.
Complete discs can have special features, audio tracks and even alternate endings, alternate versions etc. that can be hard to find in the “just streaming” setups. It can be hard to find obscure cuts of movies made for certain movies in different countries that go beyond the usual “Director’s Cut”, “Theatrical Cut” and “Extended Cuts that are pretty easy to find.
Since the “streaming only” setup relies heavily on cache, and the cache is built and maintained by the “average user” there is a ton of content that is not readily available since most people are not looking for it.
There is a ton of movies out there that most people have no idea exist and never look beyond the trending lists on Trakt and IMDB etc.
As an example, I went down a rabbit hole and wanted to watch more Diana Dors (AKA The British Marilyn Monroe or The British Bombshell) movies, and many were not available on the usual sources at the time. I hunted them down and even added them to the debrids etc. Not something the “average streamer” would care about or do.
Like u/rbidgood said there is the collection aspect and thrill of the hunt too.
Ahh Got it Thanks for the clarification. I do remember having a few DVD’s several years ago and seeing those extra clips/scenes but they never interested me. There is so much content out there and so much stuff I have in my Trakt and IPTV que’s I’ll never watch it all. I’m simple and just want to watch the movie or TV show.
If you are really committed to having your own collection of ISOs then you really have to check out the Dune and Zidoo players. They will also run most of the standard streaming apps like Stremio, Syncler, Tivimate, Kodi etc. in addition to playing your ISOs. The Zidoo(and Dune) gives you the choice of firmware where you can have the Google Playstore or not and sideloading is easy if you want to leave Google off. The only apps they don’t really support are some of the official streaming services that users of this board usually don’t use.
It’s me. Mr. Confused. You mentioned getting CDs cheaply. I assume you mean blank CDs. I have a ton of Movies on discs. The idea of making a rotating library of movies we have already watched once or twice doesn’t make sense for me. Those that we might want to watch again we can just use the Blue Ray player to view. I’m probably missing something here. Now if we were talking about that with movies we haven’t watched and could easily do from our streaming sources that may be something for me to consider. I would like to be able to save a movie to a library to always have but I wouldn’t do it from the CDs already here. There probably is a way with Trakt or other apps but I’m a little slow on the uptake to know how to do that.
Long time Trakt user and that is exactly what it does. I keep Trakt open at all times on a Chrome Browser on my PC and phone. Then when I see a movie or show I might want to watch I just add it to my Trakt Collection/Library. Next time I go into KODI or other Apps it’s automatically added and stays there until I remove it. And being cloud based it is synced across all my devices
I have a library of music on a PC. and it is easy to play them using Kodi, but if I had a load of DVD films, it would be just as easy to connect a DVD player to Kodi on a PC and play them.
