It has been a few months since XBMC was renamed Kodi and now we have the first beta of Kodi 14.0 Helix. The first beta uses FFmpeg 2.2.4 so Kodi will playback h.265 (HEVC) and VP9 video codecs. The library scanning process has been received a speed boost so the initial scan on Android and iOS devices should be a lot quicker. UPnP support has improved so Kodi has better compatibly with Media Browser and other UPnP systems.

Android hardware playback has been improved as it now supports more chipsets. You also get improved fast forward and rewind capabilities as well as 4k support for devices with AMLogic s802 chipset. Windows, OSX and Linux versions have better audio playback and the Windows version better DXVA video playback.

You can download Kodi 14.0 Beta 1 from the Kodi download’s page and you can read full details on their blog.

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