Guide
Guide
https://orionoid.com
[email protected]
Orion User Guide
Contents
Contents .................................................................................................................................................................. 1
Overview .................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Supported Networks................................................................................................................................................ 2
Torrents .............................................................................................................................................................. 2
Usenet ................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Hosters................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Account Limits ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Addon Installation ................................................................................................................................................... 6
Addon Integration ................................................................................................................................................... 7
User Authentication ................................................................................................................................................ 7
General Settings ...................................................................................................................................................... 7
Interface ............................................................................................................................................................. 7
Notifications ....................................................................................................................................................... 8
Scraping .............................................................................................................................................................. 8
Settings ............................................................................................................................................................... 9
Filter Settings ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
Limits .................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Sorting .............................................................................................................................................................. 10
Streams ............................................................................................................................................................. 10
Access ............................................................................................................................................................... 11
File .................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Meta ................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Video................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Audio ................................................................................................................................................................ 14
Subtitles ............................................................................................................................................................ 14
1
Orion User Guide
Overview
This document serves as a guide for using Orion in Kodi. The supported networks, limits, addon
installation, integration into other addons, authentication, settings and filters will be covered.
Supported Networks
Orion supports three different types of streams or networks, each of them working slightly differently.
We recommend that you use torrents as far as possible, followed by usenet, and only hosters if there is
no other option.
Torrents
Torrents are files on the per-to-peer BitTorrent network. The files are not hosted on a central server, but
are distributed among the users of the network. User who share the file are called seeds. Many debrid
services, including Premiumize, OffCloud, and RealDebrid, support torrents. Debrid services download the
torrent on your behalf, and you therefore do not have to worry about being tracked or your IP address
being revealed on the torrent network. Alternatively, you can use third-party Kodi addons, like
Elementum, to download the torrent without the need of a debrid service.
• Magnet Links: A short link containing all the necessary torrent information. Magnets do not require
the download of additional files and are therefore faster to process. Most torrent sites these days
have magnet links. All Kodi addons supporting torrents can handle magnet links.
• Container Files: A separate .torrent container has all the necessary information. The .torrent file has
to be downloaded first, although it is very small, before being able to download the actual files.
Hence, processing can take a few seconds longer. Few sites still operate on .torrent files and only
few Kodi addons can handle them. Most private torrent sites and trackers still use .torrent files in
order to including account credentials. Orion keeps copies of .torrent containers and if possible,
generates a magnet link for them. Hence, you can get the .torrent file even if the site that hosted it
is inaccessible. Orion does not keep .torrent containers for private trackers, since they contain
authentication credentials unique and private to each user.
2
Orion User Guide
• Take-down Resilience: Since torrents are distributed over the network, it is near impossible to take
the files down. The torrent will be available as long as users seed it, which can be years or more.
• Higher Quality: Most torrents have better video and audio quality.
• Better Metadata: Torrents have file names, which allows for better metadata detection, such as the
video and audio codec, number of audio channels, uploader, release type, language, and much
more.
• Debrid Cache: Torrents have a hash which allow you to do a cache lookup on debrid services. Cached
torrents can be accessed immediately through a debrid service, irrespective of its age or the number
of seeds.
Usenet
Usenet is a decentralized news and file network that has been around for decades. The network is often
referred to as newsnet, newshosters, or newsgroups. Usenet is made up of many free and subscription-
based servers around the world. Some debrid services, like Premiumize and OffCloud, support usenet.
There is currently no know Kodi addon that allows you to download usenet files locally. Usenet servers
have what is called retention times. Files are only kept for a certain period before being automatically
deleted. The retention time depends on the usenet server, but is typically between 3 to 10 years.
• Container Files: Usenet files are released as .nzb containers which contain all the necessary
information. The .nzb file has to be downloaded first before the actual files can be accessed. There
are many free usenet sites, but subscription-based usenet indexers generally provide more and
better results. Orion keeps copies of .nzb containers. Hence, you can access the .nzb files even if the
site that hosted it is inaccessible, or if you do not have a premium account for the given usenet site.
3
Orion User Guide
retention period.
• Higher Quality: Most usenet files have better video and audio quality.
• Better Metadata: Usenet has file names, which allows for better metadata detection, such as the
video and audio codec, number of audio channels, uploader, release type, language, and much
more.
• Non-English Content: Many users from European countries prefer usenet over torrents. You might
therefore find non-English content that might otherwise be unavailable as torrents.
Hosters
Hosters are centralized servers that allow users to upload and download files. Some hosters can be
accessed for free and other hosters require a premium subscription. Hosters are notoriously unreliable
and links might stop working after a while. Files are often removed by the uploader or deleted by the
hoster itself due to DCMA takedowns or other reasons.
• Indirect Links: Hosters provide access to files using HTTPS or HTTP links. Some hosters are for free,
some require you to solve a captcha before accessing the file, and others require a paid premium
subscription. Debrid services provide access to a range of hosters. Hence, if you have a debrid
account, you can access premium hosters without requiring a separate subscription with them. If
you do not have a debrid account, you need a third-party addon like ResolveURL or URLResolver to
process the link and give you access to the file.
• Direct Links: Direct links allow files to be accessed directly without an intermediary, that means
4
Orion User Guide
without a premium hoster or debrid account, and also without a third-party addon. If you paste
these links into your browser, you will get a video player or direct file download. Direct links mostly
run over HTTPS or HTTP. There are also FTP links which often point to servers of private users.
Because these FTP servers have limited disk space, old files get quickly deleted in order to make
room for new ones.
Account Limits
Orion accounts have different limits for different purposes. Limits are applied on a 24-hour sliding
window. Hence, the total requests over the past day are added up and limits are not reset after midnight.
• Link Limit: The limit on the number of torrent, usenet, and hoster links that can be retrieved within
a 24-hour period. This limit is under your direct control, as you can adjust the Link Limit option in
the Orion addon settings.
• Hash Limit: The limit on the number of hashes that can be retrieved within a 24-hour period. The
.torrent and .nzb containers do not contain an explicit hash which is required for debrid cache
lookups. The only way to get it, is to download the container file and manually calculate the hash.
Since this process takes very long and is heavy on your internet connection, Orion allows you to
quickly and efficiently retrieve a list of hashes without having to download these large containers
individually. This limit is not directly under your control, as addons will do as many hash lookups in
the background as necessary.
• Container Limit: The limit on the number of .torrent and .nzb containers that can be downloaded
5
Orion User Guide
within a 24-hour period. Sites that have .torrent containers might go down and you will not be able
to access the torrent anymore. Many usenet indexers that offer .nzb containers require a premium
account. Orion solves these two issues by keeping copies of the containers so that, even if the source
website goes down, or if you do not have a premium usenet account, you can still access the
containers. This limit is not directly under your control. Addons will conserve the limit by first trying
to get the container from it’s original source, and only retrieve it from Orion if the previous approach
failed.
The unlimited accounts do not have any hard limits. However, these accounts are subject to a Fair Usage
Policy (FUP). If you share your account with other users, use it to run a third-party service, or submit too
many requests that are not normal for a single high-end user, we reserve the right to temporarily block
your account. If your abuse impedes other people from using our service, we reserve the right to
permanently close your account.
Addon Installation
There are different ways to install Orion. The recommend way is to install Orion through the official
repository located at:
https://repo.orionoid.com
6
Orion User Guide
Addon Integration
You can integrate Orion into a variety of Kodi streaming and scraping addons. Some addons support Orion
natively and there is therefore no need for integration. Note that the integration feature will insert code
into the third-party addons. To integrate Orion, follow these steps:
1. Integrate Code: Open the Orion addon → Tools → Integration. Select the addon of your choice and
in the dialog, select the Integrate option. Choose Yes on the reintegration option to automatically
reintegrate Orion if the addon of your choice is updated. You have to restart Kodi for the integration
to take effect.
2. Clean Code: If you ever want to remove the Orion integration from an addon, open the Orion addon
→ Tools → Integration. Select the addon of your choice and in the dialog, select the Clean option.
This will completely remove Orion’s code from the addon.
3. Other Addons: If the addon of your choice is not listed in Orion, please submit a ticket on our
website. We will then try to add support for the addon if possible.
User Authentication
In order to use Orion, you have to authenticate your account as follows:
1. Open Settings: Open Orion’s settings by opening the Orion addon → Tools → Settings → Account.
2. Enter Details: Under the Account tab, enter your API key. You can find your unique API key on our
website. Alternatively, you can authenticate by using your email address and password of your Orion
account.
3. Verify Details: After entering your details, a loading icon will appear for a few seconds while your
account is being verified. If the authentication was successful, you should see your account details
under the Account tab in the settings.
General Settings
The general settings for the Orion addon can be found under the General tab.
Interface
• Background (Default: Enabled – Recommended: Your preference)
7
Orion User Guide
Whether or not to use the addon’s background when Orion is launched. If disabled, the Kodi skin’s
background will be used.
Notifications
• API Notifications (Default: All – Recommended: All)
Change which API popup notifications to show. API notifications are useful for detecting problems
with your Orion setup and showing how many links were retrieved from Orion.
Scraping
• Scraping Timeout (Default: 40 seconds – Recommended: 30 seconds or more)
The maximum time, in seconds, that an Orion search is allowed to take. If you have a slow internet
connection, you might want to increase the timeout if Orion does not finish the search on time.
8
Orion User Guide
Settings
• Settings Cache (Default: Enabled – Recommended: Enabled)
Cache the addon settings in memory to improve access time and increase the overall addon speed.
It is not recommended to disable this option, since it will drastically slow down the addon.
Filter Settings
The filter settings allow you to customize which links to retrieve from Orion. The Filters tab has the global
filters that apply to all addons. You can also customize the filters on a per-addon basis by selecting the
settings tab with the addon’s name. Note that you have to do at least one scrape in your streaming addon
to make it show up in Orion’s settings.
Limits
• Limit Mode (Default: Combined – Recommended: Your preference)
If set to Combined, the same limit will be used for both movies and shows. If set to Separate, you
can specify different limits for movies and shows.
○ Link Limit (Default: 200 – Recommended: Your preference)
The maximum number of links to retrieve from Orion per scrape. Set the value to your
subscription’s daily link limit divided by the number of movies and episodes to watch per day.
For instance, if your subscription has a daily limit of 5000 links and you watch 2 movies/episodes
per day, set your limit to (5000 ÷ 2) = 2500. If you watch 5 movies/episodes per day, set your
limit to (5000 ÷ 5) = 1000.
○ Retry Limit (Default: 0 – Recommended: Your preference)
Sometime no links are returned from Orion if you have very strict filters. In such a case, you can
retry the search without any filters by specifying a separate link limit. For instance, you might
configure Orion to only return HD4K streams. If a movie does not have any HD4K links, nothing
will be returned if your Retry Limit is set to 0. However, if you have the Retry Limit set to let’s
say 500, then a maximum of 500 unfiltered links will be returned if your normal filtered scrape
9
Orion User Guide
is unsuccessful. Hence, you can setup very strict filters in combination with a Retry Limit, so that
low quality links are always returned if no high quality links are available.
Sorting
• Sort Value (Default: Disabled – Recommended: Best)
The attribute for sorting links after all your filters were applied and before the link limit will be
applied. For instance, assume your link limit is 500 and there are 500 HD1080 links and 500 HD720
links. If you set the sorting attribute to Video Quality, then the top 500 HD1080 are returned, and
no HD720 links at all, since they were sorted in order of quality. You could also sort by other
attributes, such as File Size, to only retrieve want you need. The Best option combines all attributes
with a complex sorting algorithm in order to retrieve the best available links. The Best option is
recommended, but is only available to premium users.
Streams
• Stream Types (Default: All – Recommended: Your preference)
The type of streams to retrieve, including torrents, usenet, and hoster links. Torrents and usenet
links might require a debrid account or third-party addon to play. Hoster links are not reliable and
are often taken down, but can be played without a third-party addon and many of them even
without a debrid account. If you have a debrid account, stick with torrents and usenet streams. If
you are a free user without a debrid account, you will have to stick with hoster links.
10
Orion User Guide
Access
• Access Status (Default: All – Recommended: All)
The way the stream is accessed. If set to Cached, only links that are cached on a debrid service are
returned. Note that the cached status on Orion depends on when the link was last updated. The
cached status might be incorrect if the stream was not updated in a very long time. Hence, this
option will only increase the chances of links being cached, but it does not guarantee it. If set to
11
Orion User Guide
Direct, hoster links that can be directly accessed without a debrid service are returned. If set to
Indirect, hoster links that require a debrid service or a third-party resolving addon, like ResolveURL
or URLResolver, are returned.
○ Premiumize Cache (Default: All – Recommended: All)
The type of streams to be cached on Premiumize. Non-cached hoster links can be downloaded
quickly, whereas non-cached torrents and usenet files can take longer to download.
○ OffCloud Cache (Default: All – Recommended: All)
The type of streams to be cached on OffCloud. Non-cached hoster links can be downloaded
quickly, whereas non-cached torrents and usenet files can take longer to download.
○ RealDebrid Cache (Default: All – Recommended: All)
The type of streams to be cached on RealDebrid. Non-cached hoster links can be downloaded
quickly, whereas non-cached torrents and usenet files can take longer to download.
File
• Season Packs (Default: Include – Recommended: Include)
Include, exclude, or require episodes to come from a season pack. Older seasons are mostly
available as packs, whereas seasons that are currently airing are released as individual episodes.
12
Orion User Guide
Meta
• Release (Default: All – Recommended: All)
The release type of the stream, such as WebRip or BluRay. Note that this option is dynamically
updated and new values may be added over time.
Video
• Video Quality (Default: Disabled – Recommended: Enabled)
The video quality of streams to retrieve. Qualities are ordered from CAM (cam coders), SCR
(screeners), SD, HD720, HD1080, to HDULTRA between 2K and 8K.
○ Minimum Quality (Default: None – Recommended: SD)
The minimum video quality of streams to retrieve.
○ Maximum Quality (Default: None – Recommended: None)
The maximum video quality of streams to retrieve.
13
Orion User Guide
The video codec of streams to retrieve, such as H264 or H265. Note that this option is dynamically
updated and new values may be added over time.
Audio
• Audio Type (Default: All – Recommended: Standard)
The type of the audio stream to retrieve. Either retrieve normal audio, or voiced-over and dubbed
audio. Note that this option is dynamically updated and new values may be added over time.
Subtitles
• Subtitle Type (Default: All – Recommended: All)
14
Orion User Guide
The type of subtitles, such as soft-coded subtitles that can be turned off, or hard-coded subtitles
which cannot be turned off. Note that this option is dynamically updated and new values may be
added over time.
15
ORION USER GUIDE
An easy guide for using Orion with Kodi addons
https://orionoid.com
[email protected]