Getting Started - jbinkley60/MezzmoKodiPlugin GitHub Wiki
Last updated January 19, 2025
There is a lot of information in this Wiki and it may feel a bit daunting to get started. My experience is that running Mezzmo with Kodi, leveraging the Mezzmo Kodi addon, is actually much simpler than trying to manage Kodi itself with a multitude of addons all trying to manage your library and viewing experience. This is especially true if you have a large library, different types of content and multiple Kodi clients. If you also have non-Kodi clients then the other solutions support overhead is even greater, often with far more pieces to cobble together.
The Mezzmo Kodi addon was designed to minimize the time spent supporting your Kodi clients and automate as much as possible so you can spend more time enjoying your media library. Suggestions for improvement are always welcomed. A proposed new features Wiki page highlights potential new enhancements.
Before starting: While the Mezzmo Kodi addon does its utmost not to interfere with any of your current Kodi database data, it is highly suggested to do a backup before starting.
Using the Mezzmo and the Mezzmo Kodi addon is a fairly simple 3 step process:
- Install Mezzmo. Detailed instructions.. If you are using the Mezzmo Kodi addon with another UPnP / DLNA server then skip to step 3.
- Import your video, music and pictures into Mezzmo. Click here to see how to manage your library and add content. For this phase I suggest going slow and starting with a single folder (i.e. path) in your existing Kodi library. Remember you are building a new library in Mezzmo but Mezzmo can import your existing NFO files.
- Installation of the Mezzmo Kodi addon is as simple as downloading from GitHub and installing from the zipfile in Kodi. Detailed instructions can be found here .
The Mezzmo Kodi Addon has two operating modes, GUI mode and Native Kodi mode. Native mode is disabled by default but can be enabled in the settings. When native mode is enabled you can flip back and forth between the modes seamlessly. GUI mode has tighter integration with Mezzmo and more features but many folks are accustomed to native mode. Click here to see a comparison of the features with both operating modes. With other solutions this level of flexibility often requires separate addons or isn't even supported.
If you want to understand how the pieces fit together click here.
If you want to see what it might look like running for you click here.
Important Note
Beginning in April 2024 the TMDB folks have required that Mezzmo users each have their own TMDB API Key in order to fetch artwork and metadata for movies. This is a one time activity involving these steps:
1. Get the latest Mezzmo server patch here.
2. Get a TMDB API key here
3. The value API_KEY= Your-API-Key should be placed in the General section of the MezzmoMediaServer.ini file with the TMDB API key you were issued. The API_Key entry will not be in your MezzmoMediaServer.ini by default. You need to add it.
4. Your MezzmoMediaServer.ini file can typically be found at: c:\Users\YourWindowsLogin\AppData\Local\Conceiva\Mezzmo . You can always search for it too.
Here's an example of what it should look like when you make the update:
[General]
mz_language=Language\mz_en.txt
Version=300
PreferAudioEnforced=0
PreferAudioLanguage=en
StartupMode=0
RunMode=0
API_KEY=Your YMDB API Key
I am here to help. I volunteered to take over maintaining the Mezzmo Kodi addon as a labor of love and a passion to improve UPnP server integration with Kodi and provide a superior media sharing alternative for environments with multiple Kodi / non-Kodi clients. I have tried some of the other solutions and decided to tackle the problem myself to improve my own Kodi experience. Team Kodi has done a great job adding UPnP capabilities to Kodi and there are a number of other solutions available to share your media with Kodi. However, I found them lacking in features or overly complex and have watched too many people struggle and get frustrated with these solutions. A simple perusing of the Kodi support forums with the number of reported SMB sharing issues, metadata scraper and Kodi database issues will give you an idea of the complexities and challenges.
I will warn you upfront that if you are a longtime Kodi user you will want to think differently about a number of items, especially things like prior limitations of a flat database structure, much greater flexibility on managing your library and thinking about all the new things you can do with your new setup (and free time). Daily I read the Kodi forums and see folks asking questions on whether they can do XYZ with Kodi and some of the other library sharing solutions. The answer is regularly either "No" or "Yes but" whereas the answer most often with Mezzmo and the Mezzmo Kodi addon, is "definitely yes." I believe over time you will agree.
There are two main support mechanisms: a Kodi user forum and via GitGub . Both of which you can use for help. I monitor both of them.
Good luck and happy viewing.
Jeff