PlexKodiConnect: let Kodi talk to your Plex

croneter · March 2016

PlexKodiConnect (PKC)

Combine the best frontend media player Kodi with the best multimedia backend server Plex

PKC combines the best of Kodi - ultra smooth navigation, beautiful and highly customizable user interfaces and playback of any file under the sun - and the Plex Media Server.

Have a look at some screenshots to see what's possible.

Please Help Translating

Please help translate PlexKodiConnect into your language: Transifex.com

Warning

Use at your own risk! This plugin assumes that you manage all your videos with Plex (and none with Kodi). You might lose data already stored in the Kodi video and music databases as this plugin directly changes them. Don't worry if you want Plex to manage all your media (like you should ;-)).

Some people argue that PKC is 'hacky' because of the way it directly accesses the Kodi database. See here for a more thorough discussion.

What does PKC do?

PKC synchronizes your media from your Plex server to the native Kodi database. Hence:

Use virtually any other Kodi add-on
Use any Kodi skin, completely customize Kodi's look
Browse your media at full speed (cached artwork)
Automatically get additional artwork (more than Plex offers)
Enjoy Plex features using the Kodi interface

PKC Features

Amazon Alexa voice recognition
Plex Watch Later / Plex It!
Plex Companion: fling Plex media (or anything else) from other Plex devices to PlexKodiConnect
Plex Transcoding
Automatically download more artwork from Fanart.tv, just like the Kodi addon Artwork Downloader
Automatically group movies into movie sets
Direct play from network paths (e.g. "\\server\Plex\movie.mkv"), something unique to PKC
Delete PMS items from the Kodi context menu
PKC is available in the following languages:
- English
- German
- Czech, thanks @Pavuucek
- Spanish, thanks @bartolomesoriano
- Danish, thanks @FIGHT
- Italian, thanks @nikkux, @chicco83
- Dutch, thanks @mvanbaak
- French, thanks @lflforce, @ahivert, @Nox71, @CotzaDev, @vinch100, @Polymorph31, @jbnitro
- Chinese Traditional, thanks @old2tan
- Chinese Simplified, thanks @everdream
- Norwegian, thanks @mjorud
- Please help translating

Download and Installation

Install PKC via the PlexKodiConnect Kodi repository below (we cannot use the official Kodi repository as PKC messes with Kodi's databases). See the github wiki installation manual for a detailed guide. Please use the stable version except if you really know what you're doing. Kodi will update PKC automatically.

Stable version	Beta version

Additional Artwork

PKC uses additional artwork for free from TheMovieDB. Many thanks for lettings us use the API, guys!

Important Notes

If you are using a low CPU device like a Raspberry Pi or a CuBox, PKC might be instable or crash during initial sync. Lower the number of threads in the PKC settings under Sync Options. Don't forget to reboot Kodi after that.
Compatibility:
- PKC is currently not compatible with Kodi's Video Extras plugin. Deactivate Video Extras if trailers/movies start randomly playing.
- PKC is not (and will never be) compatible with the MySQL database replacement in Kodi. In fact, PKC replaces the MySQL functionality because it acts as a "man in the middle" for your entire media library.
- If another plugin is not working like it's supposed to, try to use PKC direct paths

Donations

I'm not in any way affiliated with Plex. Thank you very much for a small donation via ko-fi.com and PayPal if you appreciate PKC.
Full disclaimer: I will see your name and address on my PayPal account. Rest assured that I will not share this with anyone.

Request a New Feature

Known Larger Issues

Solutions are unlikely due to the nature of these issues

A Plex Media Server "bug" leads to frequent and slow syncs, see here for more info
Plex Music when using Addon paths instead of Native Direct Paths: Kodi tries to scan every(!) single Plex song on startup. This leads to errors in the Kodi log file and potentially even crashes. See the Github issue for more details

Background Sync:
The Plex Server does not tell anyone of the following changes. Hence PKC cannot detect these changes instantly but will notice them only on full/delta syncs (standard settings is every 60 minutes)

Toggle the viewstate of an item to (un)watched outside of Kodi
Changing details of an item, e.g. replacing a poster

However, some changes to individual items are instantly detected, e.g. if you match a yet unrecognized movie.

Issues being worked on

Have a look at the Github Issues Page. Before you open your own issue, please read How to report a bug.

Credits

PlexKodiConnect shamelessly uses pretty much all the code of "Emby for Kodi" by the awesome Emby team (see https://github.com/MediaBrowser/plugin.video.emby). Thanks for sharing guys!!
Plex Companion ("PlexBMC Helper") and other stuff were adapted from @Hippojay 's great work (see https://github.com/hippojay).
The foundation of the Plex API is all iBaa's work (https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect).

croneter · March 2016

Some random screenshots using the latest Kodi Titan skin. You can customize pretty much anything with any Kodi skins

For more screenshots, see the wiki on Github.

jmhenry5150 · May 2016

@croneter said:

@jmhenry5150 said:
I just installed the repo and went to install the plugin but the repo was empty...ideas?

Go to kodi user data folder. Delete the addon.db

I don't see a addon.db file...

I also rebooted KODi and it's the same...

When I go to install PKC, I select "Install from repository", when I go into the repo I see these and they are all empty unless otherwise noted:

Addon Repository
------ Plexkodiconnect addons (enabled)
Music add-ons
Pictures add-ons
Video add-ons

Does this mean that it's installed???

If so, how do I get to the addon?

So confused

Edit: Also all I see is v 1.0.0, is that the repo version or the addon version because I see the addon version is 1.1.8?

croneter · March 2016

Some random screenshots using the latest Kodi Titan skin. You can customize pretty much anything with any Kodi skins

For more screenshots, see the wiki on Github.

hstamas · March 2016

I know your still really early in development but wanted to send you a big THANKS for doing this. Really looking forward to this working as I have never been able to get Emby running successfully and really didnt want to leave Plex behind anyway.

Couldn't help myself and tried the beta out just now on a Windows 10 PC running Jarvis 16.0. Install goes fine but once the sync starts I get an error that the thread has crashed and I should restart Kodi. Restarting results in the same error.

bigbadrabbit · March 2016

Same here.
Followed the instructions on git but after the welcome message i also get the error "Library sync thread has crashed..."

I'm on Mac OS 10.11.3, running Kodi 16 RC (Jarvis).

EDIT:
Also did a complete fresh install of Kodi 16 RC. Same error.

KJKingJ · March 2016

Same here, here's the relevant lines from Kodi's log;

16:59:26 T:3856 NOTICE: PlexKodiConnect LibrarySync -> run_internal : ---===### Starting LibrarySync ###===--- 16:59:26 T:3856 NOTICE: PlexKodiConnect LibrarySync -> run_internal : Db version: 16:59:26 T:3856 NOTICE: PlexKodiConnect LibrarySync -> run_internal : Initial start-up full sync starting 16:59:26 T:3856 NOTICE: EMBY -> fullSync : Toggling screensaver: {"id":0,"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":true} 16:59:29 T:3856 ERROR: Exception in thread Thread-5: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Kodi\system\python\Lib\threading.py", line 810, in __bootstrap_inner self.run() File "C:\Users\Kodi\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.plexkodiconnect\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 1116, in run self.run_internal() File "C:\Users\Kodi\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.plexkodiconnect\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 1195, in run_internal librarySync = self.fullSync(manualrun=True) File "C:\Users\Kodi\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.plexkodiconnect\resources\lib\utils.py", line 35, in wrapper result = func(*args, **kwargs) File "C:\Users\Kodi\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.plexkodiconnect\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 376, in fullSync if not self.maintainViews(): File "C:\Users\Kodi\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.plexkodiconnect\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 544, in maintainViews "{server}/library/sections") File "C:\Users\Kodi\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\plugin.video.plexkodiconnect\resources\lib\downloadutils.py", line 204, in downloadUrl url = url.replace("{UserId}", self.userId) TypeError: expected a character buffer object

This was on a fresh install of Kodi 16.

To echo those above, many thanks for working on getting this plugin ported over. It worked great with Emby, so having it work with Plex as well will be fantastic!

croneter · March 2016

Wierd, I tested from scratch and didn't catch that. Did u try rebooting? You guys using Plex Home?

I will look into it.

hstamas · March 2016

@croneter said:
Wierd, I tested from scratch and didn't catch that. Did u try rebooting? You guys using Plex Home?

I will look into it.

Single user setup here. Restarted and still getting the error. Here is my part of the log:

12:54:16 T:228 NOTICE: PlexKodiConnect LibrarySync -> ---===### Starting LibrarySync ###===---
12:54:16 T:228 NOTICE: PlexKodiConnect LibrarySync -> Db version:
12:54:16 T:228 NOTICE: PlexKodiConnect LibrarySync -> Initial start-up full sync starting
12:54:16 T:228 NOTICE: EMBY -> Toggling screensaver: {"id":0,"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":true}
12:54:19 T:228 ERROR: Exception in thread Thread-5:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Kodi\system\python\Lib\threading.py", line 810, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File "C:\Users\hstam\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\PlexKodiConnect-1.0.0\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 1116, in run
self.run_internal()
File "C:\Users\hstam\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\PlexKodiConnect-1.0.0\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 1195, in run_internal
librarySync = self.fullSync(manualrun=True)
File "C:\Users\hstam\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\PlexKodiConnect-1.0.0\resources\lib\utils.py", line 35, in wrapper
result = func(*args, **kwargs)
File "C:\Users\hstam\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\PlexKodiConnect-1.0.0\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 376, in fullSync
if not self.maintainViews():
File "C:\Users\hstam\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\PlexKodiConnect-1.0.0\resources\lib\librarysync.py", line 544, in maintainViews
"{server}/library/sections")
File "C:\Users\hstam\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\addons\PlexKodiConnect-1.0.0\resources\lib\downloadutils.py", line 204, in downloadUrl
url = url.replace("{UserId}", self.userId)
TypeError: expected a character buffer object

bigbadrabbit · March 2016

Yes, Plex Home is activated.

croneter · March 2016

@bigbadrabbit said:
Yes, Plex Home is activated.

Several users?

bigbadrabbit · March 2016

Mmh... No. Just one user (me) for now. Could that be the problem?

EDIT:
So i just created a second user for Plex Home. Now i'm prompted to login but cannot get pass this:

"Could not log in user xxxxx. Please try again"
Not able to login with any username now and stuck with a loop of the login pop up.

saitoh183 · March 2016

I will give it a try

mini.PLEX · March 2016

thanks for the hard work @croneter...

Mac mini, PMS & Kodi running on the same machine with static IP and multiple home users.

issues I am experiencing...

couldn't install on Jarvis from zip, dependancies not met etc.

tried on Isengard (can't seem to even find an old version of Helix to test)

found an old Isengard version from kodi website and synced one of my home users (not the main admin account)... PlexKodiConnect started 1st sync run got to roughly 100 movies and stopped, have to force quite Kodi to relaunch

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, runs (and on) it syncs anywhere between 10 - 20 movies at a time and then freezes (at least I think its freezing, the sync progress bar doesn't progress) so I force quite to see the added movies show up.

any hints, or any settings I should try changing?

like I said, many thanks for your obvious hard work... respect!

Edit: syncing 1000 movies after 10-15 restarts I'm up to letter 'B' and the processed movies have slowed to 1 movie per restart.

mini.PLEX · March 2016

no idea if this is relevant... just a hunch here... I have noticed that the sync stops (crashes) when a movie title with ':' is in the title.

Edit: yup, convinced stops syncing every time a 'colon' is present within a movie title.

hstamas · March 2016

Are you saying that the file name itself has a colon in it? I didnt think that was allowed or even possible on a Mac?

@mini.PLEX said:
no idea if this is relevant... just a hunch here... I have noticed that the sync stops (crashes) when a movie title with ':' is in the title.

Edit: yup, convinced stops syncing every time : is present within a movie title.

mini.PLEX · March 2016

@hstamas said:
Are you saying that the file name itself has a colon in it? I didnt think that was allowed or even possible on a Mac?

@mini.PLEX said:
no idea if this is relevant... just a hunch here... I have noticed that the sync stops (crashes) when a movie title with ':' is in the title.

Edit: yup, convinced stops syncing every time : is present within a movie title.

correct it is not possible to give a 'file name' a colon on a mac, what I meant to refer to was the PMS titles...

if there is a colon present in a movie title within a Plex Media Server movie title the sync process stops and I have to force quite Kodi relaunch and then it carries on until it meets the next movie title with a colon then it stops syncing again.

The Hobbit movies were a nightmare, I found a lot of dragons! - lol. Had to restart kodi 3x to get past the 3 movies...

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

*note: the movies with a colon are being added, (once relaunched and continued)

croneter · March 2016

Thanks for your time and nerves for testing :-)

I do have colons : in my movie titles; works fine. Does it help if you turn off "Show syncing Progress" in the Settings?

mini.PLEX · March 2016

@croneter said:
Thanks for your time and nerves for testing :-)

I do have colons : in my movie titles; works fine. Does it help if you turn off "Show syncing Progress" in the Settings?

no afraid not... turning off "show syncing progress" does not appear to have stopped the colon issue I am experiencing.

ps. happy to assist.

Edit: on a mac, running latest PlexPass PMS... grabbed the last Isengard release... is there any known issues running Jarvis with PlexKodiConnect? I only ask as I could not install any of the zips due to dependancy issues

mini.PLEX · March 2016

just spotted for the first time the sync actually processed/passed a movie with a colon without freezing the sync process. intrigued I looked into the movie from PMS and noticed that the 'sort title' for the said movie did not have a colon in the sort name, but did in the 'title' ...

...so it would seem that maybe its the 'sort titles' rather than the 'title' that is creating havoc for me. (again may be irrelevant)

bigbadrabbit · March 2016

@mini.PLEX said:
Edit: on a mac, running latest PlexPass PMS... grabbed the last Isengard release... is there any known issues running Jarvis with PlexKodiConnect? I only ask as I could not install any of the zips due to dependancy issues

Yes - it's not working! ( At least for me...

xyrgh · March 2016

This is great! I'm currently torn between emby server and Plex server. The main reason being, the PlexBMC addon is quite laggy. My understanding is the difference between emby for kodi and plexbmc is that emby for kodi caches the artork locally (so it utilises the local client's sqlite database).

Is this the same for PlexKodiConnect? If so, wow, this is exactly what I want. I'm going to hold off from trying this out for now until it's developed more, but this very addon could make me switch back to Plex.

croneter · March 2016

@mini.PLEX said:

@croneter said:
Thanks for your time and nerves for testing :-)

I do have colons : in my movie titles; works fine. Does it help if you turn off "Show syncing Progress" in the Settings?

no afraid not... turning off "show syncing progress" does not appear to have stopped the colon issue I am experiencing.

ps. happy to assist.

Edit: on a mac, running latest PlexPass PMS... grabbed the last Isengard release... is there any known issues running Jarvis with PlexKodiConnect? I only ask as I could not install any of the zips due to dependancy issues

Don't really have a Mac for testing. Did you install the 3 (!!) correct packages WITHOUT the "1.0.0" at the end of each filename? @hstamas for example installed the PlexKodiConnect source zip if I see the "addons\PlexKodiConnect-1.0.0" in his log

Got to figure out how to tell Github not to version the folder names :-)