Yeah.. It's the Kodi foundation's way of forcing AMLogic's hand and that of some manufacturers.. I welcome such, as guidelines need to be established and followed for a better experience. Have some time to spare? Do check out the Android HD Audio and more section on the page. Explains why.
Yeah, do try the other methods.. From the link above.. King's still the king.. 
Welcome...

sports devil slow and always crash ...sanctuary also lots of buffering.

Hmm..let me try NJM soccer

Able to watch all england qtr finals goh and tan play or not?

quasar to me is the jewel in kodi.

without it, i have little use for kodi.

Kodi can do what u want with any device or box, i believe.

I personally do not do that, just old fashioned hdds, my own categories, no need artwork, etc.

Most impt is fast start up, play all files, great video, great audio!

Frankly... Kodi is just great at doing what it does that I've never bothered to look elsewhere.. If not using the inbuilt TV player (cuz quick usb plug n play.. Media box off), I use Kodi for pretty much all else. Most other players just go straight to the point and play the file and perhaps read the subtitles included in the same folder as the video... Anything beyond that is usually not considered priority.

If you have a fast paid VPN or feel like getting one? Sure, else not really required. This is not the USA...Yet..
I understand.. Kodi of today is very easy to use. Need to have experienced it back in it's infancy to truly appreciate my statement. So It pretty easy to use as is. Especially for straight up local file playback.. Either from a file manager or from Kodi itself..

Sticking with Kodi? That's where skins come in.. Tons of simple looking skins out there and for local playback, you can install a different Kodi version/fork (minimalist design) and assign that as the default player for local file playback. That's how my setup is.. Official Kodi for addons streaming and a customized version only for local playback.. Library fully integrated in each. IMO.

I just changed my 10mbps router to a 100mbps-capable one and the improvement is significant! I guess i just need to try out quasar now. Thanks guys! more power!

Addon Trakt does maintain watched list but not sure if you can continue on mid way in a show/movie.

TRAKT Link

Edited

Trakt is not an addon but an option in Exodus/Seren and most addon.

As pointed out.. I too use Trakt... And yes, can sync between devices...Install the addon and setup on each device (same account). Then sync up.. Both TV Episodes & Movies will sync up.. Can verify it works in conjunction with the Quasar addon + Library integration. Ratings synced too... Alternatively, there's also "Emby for Kodi"...IIRC, the later "Emby" can also sync last pause/resume positions. I'm unsure of this as never tested it. Usually, I pause and complete watching the same content on the same device.