Prerequisites¶
Before you install NZB-DAV, make sure the surrounding pieces are in place. NZB-DAV is the glue between Kodi and your existing Usenet stack — it doesn't replace any of these components.
Required¶
| Component | What you need | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kodi 21 (Omega) or later | A working Kodi install | Runs on CoreELEC, LibreELEC, OSMC, Windows, macOS, and Linux. |
| nzbdav | A running, reachable nzbdav instance | Provides both the SABnzbd-compatible submission API and the WebDAV server that streams the file. You don't need a separate SABnzbd. |
| A Usenet provider | Configured inside nzbdav | nzbdav connects to your news server; NZB-DAV never talks to Usenet directly. |
| At least one search provider | NZBHydra2, Prowlarr, or direct Newznab indexers | You can enable more than one; results are merged. See below. |
| TMDBHelper | plugin.video.themoviedb.helper installed in Kodi |
This is how you browse titles and trigger playback. |
Choose your search provider¶
NZB-DAV supports three provider types. Enable any combination:
- NZBHydra2 — a Newznab aggregator that fronts many indexers. Best if you already run Hydra.
- Prowlarr — an alternative aggregator. NZB-DAV queries Prowlarr's native search API and keeps only Usenet (not torrent) results.
- Direct Newznab indexers — connect straight to individual indexers (NZBGeek, NZBFinder, NZBPlanet, DrunkenSlug, DOGnzb, NZB.su/NZB.life, and more, plus custom entries). Use this when you don't run Hydra or Prowlarr.
You need only one of these to start. For details on how each behaves, see Search and indexers.
Recommended¶
| Component | Why |
|---|---|
| ffmpeg on the Kodi device | Enables the optional remux and HLS compatibility tiers for large or awkward files. NZB-DAV works without it — the proxy simply falls back to direct pass-through. |
Optional: NZBGet instead of nzbdav¶
NZB-DAV can use NZBGet as the download and playback backend instead of nzbdav. In this mode NZB-DAV submits to NZBGet, waits for post-processing, and plays the finished file from an SMB share. The nzbdav streaming and fallback features don't apply in NZBGet mode. See NZBGet backend.
About dependencies¶
The add-on's runtime is pure Python and 3.8-compatible, with every library
vendored. There's nothing to pip install, and no compiled extensions — so it
runs cleanly on ARM64 CoreELEC boxes as well as x86-64 desktops.
Next step¶
Once these are ready, install the add-on.