Permissions problem?

Here is what I have:

Asrock AM1H-ITX mini-ITX board, AMD CPU/GPU, 8 GB RAM
(TWO SATA controllers, max. 4 drives)
fanless PSU, fanless CPU cooler, generic keyboard + mouse

I am running Ubuntu 14.04.1 64-bit (kernel 4.4.0-31-generic #50) with XBMC 12.3

SATA drive #1 is a BOOT drive – a 480 GB Samsung EVO 850.

SATA drive #2 and #3 are 3 TB spinners, they are in an LVM2 configuration (Ubuntu thinks it is one giant 6 TB drive formatted as btrfs). This is where my content is.

I have set up a shared directory on the LVM and content travels just fine over the network and plays on my Windows 7 machine.

Libdvdcss2 is installed on the Ubuntu machine, and VLC will play the content on the Ubuntu machine, but when I try to add a decrypted ISO to Kodi (Video –> Files) I just see the message “working…” indefinitely in the lower right corner of the Kodi screen; I must use “kill -9” to regain control.

If I set up a shared directory in Ubuntu, what owner/group/chmod do the files AND DIRECTORIES need? What will Kodi (on the Ubuntu machine) require so they will play on the Ubuntu machine? I tried putting some ISOs in /home/mike with owner mike, group mike. I even made the file rwxrwxrwx, and Kodi did not play it.

Somehow, the LVM2 seems to be mounted as “user: nobody” and “group: nogroup”. If a file is on the LVM drives, is this going to cause a problem for Kodi to play files on the local Ubuntu machine? (I know permissions of files, directories and PARENT directories are all important in Linux.)

I have Kodi 12.3 on Ubuntu 14.04.5. Please don’t tell me to “just upgrade”. If the problem is permissions-based, a newer version won’t suddenly start disregarding permissions and playing files. I don’t want to switch to Windows 7 (“Dynamic Disks”, “Shared Directories”), but it would work, and only take a few mouse clicks to set up.

If I set up Kodibuntu over again, I think the installer lets me choose where the LVM2 is mounted (the two 3TB spinning drives). Where should I mount it – should I choose /home/mike/shared instead of /media/mike like it is now? Are there special options I should use?

PLEASE let me know any ideas to get this working.