With dozens of customizable and versatile media streamers on the market, we’re certainly experiencing a paradigm shift when we’re dealing with video streaming.
Remember those days when you had to drive a mile to a DVD to buy or rent a new DVD?
Those days are long gone!
Now, consumers are concerned with access rather than ownership. They are embracing the services like Netflix or Hulu as they provide instant video streaming.
Kodi is one of the leading media players on the market right now.
Chromecast allows you to stream the content from your smartphone, tablet, PC or laptop to your television.
What is Kodi?
Kodi is a media center which allows you to access numerous videos and audios. It comes with its unique interface which enables you to store and watch the videos whenever you want.
The best thing about Kodi is you can share video and audio content around the home.
It works seamlessly with all the popular operating systems and supports tons of devices. When Kodi was first announced in 2002, it was known as XMBC (Xbox Media Centre). They renamed it to Kodi in 2014.
Kodi enables you to play the content on any device like a laptop, tablet, phone or a TV.
However, Kodi doesn’t come with the readymade videos stored up out of the box! You need to use third-party add-ons to play the videos on your Kodi player.
What is Chromecast?
Chromecast devices are like small dongles which enables the users with smartphone or tablet or PC to stream the audio-visual content on an HD TV.
You can also stream video content on a home audio system with the help of Chromecast web and mobile apps.
As of mid-2015, there are over 20,000 apps which support Google Cast or Chromecast according to Google.
The main reason for its popularity is it’s simple, cheap and provides an easy access to all the popular streaming services like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Google Play etc.
You can also stream content from the Chrome browser on your computer to your big screen television using Chromecast. It just costs you $35 to buy Chromecast device.
How to Stream Kodi with Chromecast?
Method 1 – Long and Power Saving Method.
Step 1: Download Kodi, LocalCast, XML file PlayerFactoryCore and ES File Explorer.
Step 2: Open ES File Explorer on your Android phone or tablet. Go to Settings -> Display Settings. Tick the option called “Show hidden files“.
Step 3: Now, make sure that XMBC media centre and your Kodi is in connection with the Kodi app.
Step 4: Once they are connected, open ES File Explorer again and go to the Downloads folder.
Step 5: You must see the PlayerFactoryCore.xml file there. If you do not see it go to the folder where your downloads are saved.
Step 6: Copy that PlayerFactoryCore.xml file and go to Android -> Data and look for the files which are like “org.xmbc.xmbc” or “org.xbmc.kodi”. It depends on the streamer you are using. As you are using Kodi, it will be “org.xmbc.kodi“.
Step 7: Now open Files folder. Navigate to Kodi or XMBC according to the streamer you are using. -> Userdata. Paste the PlayerFactoryCore.xml in that folder.
Step 8: Open Kodi app and tap on the video you want to stream.
Step 9: Now, LocalCast will be automatically launched by Kodi. Of course, Android asks you to select the casting app of your choice.
Step 10: Once the LocalCast is loaded, you’ll get a prompt to press the “Play” button and asks you to select the device for streaming.
Step 11: Click on the “Play” for the last time and you are good to go! Finally, the video plays on your Chormecast TV.
Though this procedure seems a bit time taking and long, it is an efficient power-friendly way.
There is another way to stream Kodi on Chromecast TV. It’s a simple and super quick way to install Kodi on a Chromecast. But it consumes lots of power and may drain your battery soon.
Method 2 – Quick But Power Draining Method
Step 1: Open Chromecast app on your Android phone or tablet.
Step 2: Go to Menu and select an option called “Cast screen/audio”. Follow the instructions there accordingly to connect it to Chromecast.
Step 3: Open Kodi app. Tap on the video you are interested in watching. Press the “Play” button.
That’s it! Now, you’ll see the video playing on Chromecast TV. But, it plays on your Android device too. You cannot use your smartphone to take calls while it is streaming. You cannot turn off the screen. That’s the reason why it consumes more power when compared to the first method.
Method 3: Install and Stream Kodi on Chromecast using your PC
Streaming Kodi on Chromecast from your computer is not as laborious as it seems. Follow the instructions below to stream Kodi on Chromecast from your Windows computer. It’s recommended to use the latest version of Google Chrome for the better streaming experience.
Step 1: Make sure that you have XMBC or a Kodi client installed on your Windows computer.
Step 2: Download the Chromecast app.
Step 3: Install Chromecast Casting Extension on Google Chrome browser.
Step 4: Open Chrome browser. Go to Chromecast Extension and select the option called “Cast“.
Step 5: Click on the tiny down faced arrow icon which is just next to “cast to“. Click on “Cast entire screen (experimental)“.
Step 6: Now, you’ll see that your desktop is ready to stream on to your TV.
Step 8: Open XMBC or Kodi and play your favorite video!
Wrapping up…
It’s quite simple to stream Kodi content on your Chromecast TV. We hope that the above methods helped you to install Kodi on Chromecast. Both Kodi and Chromecast are the versatile tools and they work together seamlessly. If you are facing any troubles to stream Kodi content on your Chromecast TV, let us know in the comments section below.
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