Kodi team releases version 17 release candidate

The team behind the Kodi media center software has released the first release candidate of version 17. It brings several improvements over the previous version, including a new look and better support for controllers via add-ons.

That new look is optional. For example, there are new standard skins in the form of Estuary and Estouchy, which also made their appearance with the release of the first beta. The current Confluence skin will remain available to users who prefer this version. In addition, the settings screen has been improved and it should be clearer what effects certain settings have.

The add-on manager warns users in the new version if they add add-ons outside the official Kodi repository. In addition, it is possible to see which add-ons have recently been updated. The video player has also received some improvements. This allows users to select a video stream, as is already possible with audio streams.

The Android version of Kodi has also received new features and improvements, even though development for that platform is on the back burner. One of the new features is support for HD audio passthrough, for example for dts and Dolby Atmos. To run Kodi on Android, at least version 5.0 of the mobile operating system is now required.

The rc1 version of Kodi 17 can be downloaded from the development downloads page. In total, there were seven beta versions of Kodi that preceded this release. The announcement of the rc1 version does not yet contain a reference to the release of the final version, but it will probably be soon.