How To Install OSMC & Exodus (Free Netflix Alternative)

Netflix has became so popular these days that new terms are even being created based on the service (Binge watching, Netflix & Chill etc..). In the same way Googling something has just became synonymous with internet searches, the same can be said for Netflix and streaming content. Besides being a service that people need to pay for Netflix also has very limited content, especially outside of the United States. Luckily there is a free and open source alternative that can easily be setup by anyone with a raspberry pi. This article will explain how to setup OSMC along with a very useful add-on called Exodus that will allow you to stream (nearly) any TV show or movie.

What is OSMC, Kodi and Exodus?

OSMC (Open Source Media Centre) is essentially just an operating system that has been built specifically for the Kodi media player. Kodi is the base media player that allows people to view many different types of content and OSMC provides the infrastructure to run it on a raspberry pi or other small computer boards. Content can be ran from files on a USB or hard drive is you have downloaded files but the most popular way to use OSMC is with add-ons. There are official add-ons for many major TV Networks on genres that provide content completely for free. However, a very popular add-on called Exodus helps provide much more content than the official ones and allows people to view more movies and shows than even Netflix itself. It works by scraping the internet for streaming sites and displaying the content when it finds working links. It's essentially the same as watching those various streaming sites online but it takes all the legwork out of searching for working streams.

The Technical Steps

You'll need the following things before you start.

* A raspberry pi development board (2 or newer).

* Micro SD card for the OSMC image.

*USB or hard drive to install Exodus from.

If you're familiar with setting up a Raspberry Pi then the steps are pretty much the exact same. First go onto the OSMC download page here. If you're on Windows or MacOS then you can download their Installer tool that will make the setup much easier. After you've downloaded it simply follow the steps on the installer tool and flash the image to your SD card. If you're on linux then download the disk image from the same page above. You can run the below commands to flash the SD card.

NOTE: The dd command can be very dangerous so make sure you're flashing the SD card. You can see how it's done in my video at the top of the article.

# Find the location of the SD card
lsblk

# Flash the card with the image
sudo dd if=<image location> of=<sd card location> source=progress

Once you've installed OSMC on the SD card you can put it into your raspberry pi, power it up and connect it to your TV with a HDMI cable. There will be some basic setup such as choosing a language and putting in your Wi-FI details that are pretty self explanatory.

Now you have OSMC setup. If you just want view the official add-ons or watch movies you've already downloaded from a hard drive, then you can stop here. Next I'm going to show you how to setup Exodus so you can stream content for free.

Click on this link to download the KodiBae Exodus add-on as a zip file. Once you've downloaded that you can put it onto a USB or hard drive and plug it into your raspberry pi.

Go into settings on the main screen of OSMC and then scroll down to the "Add-on browser" option. Select the "Install from zip file" option then navigate to the USB storage and select the file.

This sets up the Kodibae repository where the Exodus add-on (as well as others) can be installed. Go back to the add-on browser screen and selet the "install from repository" section. You can the select the newely added Kodi Bae repository, select video add-ons and select the Exodus.vpn option.

Once everything is complete you can go to the videos section on the main OSMC screen, click add-ons and inside Exodus you'll be able to view any number of Movies and TV shows you wish. If you're looking for recommendations then Derry Girls is a personal favourite (And not fully viewable on Irish Netflix I might add, despite it being filmed here).

You can now happily stream any content availible online from the comfort of your home without paying for a Netflix subscription ever month.

Stay happy and stay private.