covaenant-wont-stream-any-movies

Question

Hello,   I recently updated to the new Kodi 17 build, and went through the whole Ares wizard and Covenant installations. Going into Covanant, I do see the lists and the movies all listed as they should be, but no matter what movie I click on, none of them play. It does show me all of the \"providers\", but after choosing one the little spinner shows itself for a little while, indicating that\'s its working, but then nothing happens. Have they been shut down/crippled? A bit surprising since Covenant is supposed to be new.

vito · Answer

By the way, I just checked with PrimeWire, and I can stream movies at that website no problem. I then checked my \"providers\" in Covenant, and PrimeWire is listed as one of them. Clicking on the very same movie in Covenant does not stream the movie.

vito · Answer

Couldn't find Exodus using Smash, but I was able to download it using another repo. Still need to tinker with it, but so far nothing streams. By the way, do you use the "wrapper"? (default), or the video player? 
I don't think its my VPN , as Ive tried it using 2 different locations, and even risked trying it without the VPN. My VPN does use a very tough firewall, so I will try another VPN to see what happens, but the fact that it wouldn't work even without a VPN indicates that is likely not the problem. By the way, this is all being done on my new KDLinks box.

vito · Answer

On that last point, does it matter which country the VPN server is located? I know they sometimes block IP's originating from certain countries. I've tried both the USA servers and France. Which countries servers do you use?

vito · Answer

I gave up. I've tried everything, and I keep getting the message "wrapper stopped working", or something to that effect. Even after clicking "play using" and then choosing the "video player", it apparently reverts back to that "wrapper".
This is with both Covenant and Exodus.

vito · Answer

Did some digging on the net, and it looks like its a known problem for some people. Its the video player. Looks like Ill just have to wait until they resolve it.

vito · Answer

The OS is android 5.1.1. I think it called Lollipop. The box originally came with the previous Kodi version, which I then updated to the new version via Google Play. 
When I try clicking on the "play using" feature, it gives me the option to choose between using the "wrapper" or the "video player", but it apparently keeps reverting back to the wrapper as indicated by the failure notice.

vito · Answer

It was by pure chance that I discovered the "Wrapper" app in my apps folder. By simply switching the setting from "wrapper" to "Kodi" it fixed the problem. On another note, the movies were playing in a stop-action way, not smoothly, but by turning off the video hardware acceleration it fixed that.

I'm a happy camper now. Thanks for your efforts Nathan.

vito · Answer

I came across a couple of videos that recommended turning the acceleration off. I was surprised too, but its apparently a problem. The recent tutorial I came across is also the only one out there for android boxes (most are for pc's). It does a good job of showing us how to populate the "Movies" and "TV Shows" libraries by clicking on "save to Library" within the menu.

Your readers might appreciate this...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdATpO2LoUo

Nathan Kinkead · Answer

Vito, it seems like Covenant is having an issue for you.  Can you confirm that by checking another plugin to see if those streams work or not?  Try Exodus using the Smash repo because I know that's working for me.

Nathan Kinkead · Answer

Vito, I'm trying to figure out what are you doing with a "wrapper".  Did you install a Kodi wrapper app instead of Kodi itself?  What operating system are you running on your KDLinks box?

Nathan Kinkead · Answer

Awesome!  Glad I could help.  I'm a little surprised that turning off hardware acceleration fixed the video performance.  Usually, it's the other way around.