yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Ouya General] JLCollier2005:
As someone who had never used XBMC or Plex (or anything else like that for that matter) prior to this past month, I am so excited about how well XBMC works with the OUYA!

You sound like someone who has used it before. If you're familiar with the basics then getting the OUYA to run XBMC in (almost) flawless 1080p is...well...easy! With the release of an official version of XBMCHUB last week, I don't think I'll ever hook my laptop up to my TV again.

Going into the OUYA, I had no idea of it's potential as a do-all media center. I was hoping it'd have Netflix and flash content, but that's about as far as I had hoped, so I'm very excited about all of this.

At only $99, I've been hearing people say there is no better box for XBMC, but maybe other, more experienced people could chime in.

EDIT/ADDITION:

I'm not sure what USB port problem you mean? I am using a 1TB WD USB HDD and have no problems with read.
[Ouya General] Skater4599:
I personally bought the ouya strictly for XBMC. I've used xbmc streaming from smb shares since original Xbox and it was called Xbox media center. I still use original Xbox with xbmc and the ouya is its replacement. Xbmc works amazingly better on it even in its alpha state. Those guys are pros and I have every faith they will deliver on the android platform. The only caveats so far is that I'd like a remote control instead of controller and it doesn't exist yet. Perhaps in the future it will. I've set my ouya to boot directly into xbmc but like above poster said the USB support needs work and the issue with the ouya turning itself on when its asleep and not shut down. That's annoying. Also don't plan to use WiFi. Ouyas metal casing hinders WiFi too much for streaming video in decent quality.
[Ouya General] bornagainpenguin:
I have a 2TB WD drive and a 3TB Toshiba drive, both using external power. With either of them if I plug in the drive light comes on and blinks but the OUYA doesn't mount it no matter how long I wait. One is formatted as FAT32, the other as NTFS. It makes no difference.

The workaround I've found (don't remember where I saw this originally) is to plug in the drive while the OUYA is powered off and unplugged, then do a system reset. After this, the external drive is recognized and mounted as /usbdrive and the light on the drive only flashes when being read from or written to. I can install XBMC, scan my movies and shows into the library, use the external drive for my emulator roms, etc, etc. It works.

The problem is if I remove the drive for any reason or if I get an update the drive is no longer recognized and I need to do another system reset again, add back all my games, reinstall XBMC and rescan my library (import doesn't seem to work for me) and hope that I don't have to deal with another system update any time soon....

That's why I'm not currently recommending the OUYA if people plan to use an external hard drive to access their media. I'm not the only one with these issues, if you Google for OUYA and external drive you'll see many others are having the same issues.
[Ouya General] wouwout:
Ouya is stuck on 60hz framerate. So 24hz or 50hz files will have some stutter. Maybe stutter is not the right description, it's not perfectly smooth due to framerate adapting to 60hz. I have XBMC with hardware acceleration installed, it really is framerate conversion (or whatever you call it) that causes this.

I like XBMC on Ouya but prefer a media player that adapts its framerate output to the media file, like my Boxee Box does. You'll have a perfectly smooth picture. It really is a lot better to look at.
[Ouya General] jes7r:
Using the XAF edition while I wait for Gotham to become stable for android. Works amazingly well.
[Ouya General] frigidazzi:
Does Dolby digital and dts work with this?
[Ouya General] lolwatpear:
Yeah, I read about that. Is that a limitation that can be fixed with development, or is it impossible?
[Ouya General] NssOne:
I have a 1TB Seagate with which I used to have the problem with it not being recognized by my Ouya. Since then I have tried different OTG mounting apps. The best I've found is an app called Paragon which mounts USB drives to '/mnt/usbdrive' by default and has full NTFS read/write capabilities. Also it's automated so it mounts the USB drive at startup without any prompting. The only thing is it requires full root and superuser access. Not a big deal, but a formality nonetheless. Mainly I'm just saying that's there's simple enough workarounds for the Ouya's external hard drive issues.

Also the XBMC Android build found here (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=152005) works great on my Ouya. Navigating using the gamepad may be a little clunky but the capabilities of using the Ouya for full media playback is already there. Hell, I'm working on turning an Ouya into a full-fledged internet/digital PVR box.
[Ouya General] jamdog30:
just got my Ouya yesterday and I had xbmc with the 0.6 release installed and the xbmchub fusion wizard thing installed. The issues I have encountered are typing on that xbmc keyboard with only the touchpad is a very arduous experience. Navi-x is installed alongside all the 1 channel stuff but this has a script error but does not stop it from working.

It does crash in navi-x but the speed at which this thing boots up and restarts is rapid so it does not cause that much of a headache, but dont forget that this info comes from less than 24 hours usage.

Overal i am happy with this device and the xbmc install but i would like a easier way of starting the software similar to netflix on the apple tv as the kids can play what they like and not get on my back.
[Ouya General] binome-:
There are two remotes for XBMC the official remote doesn't seem to work for me. But Yatse works well but drains my phones battery really fast. And as a response to a USB drive not working, I have a 2TB WD Passport for my Ouya that works like a charm.
[Ouya General] Skater4599:
I'm talking an IR remote that can turn the console on/off as well... I have the android app remote working just fine. the official one even.
[Ouya General] bornagainpenguin:
Perhaps, but so far the OUYA has been the only Android device I've not felt a need to root and I'd like to keep it that way. Maybe it's just an artificial distinction, but to my mind if I have to root to get basic functionality then the OUYA ceases to be a console (plug and play) and becomes a small computer. If I'm to treat the OUYA as a small computer then I may as well simply run Cyanogen Mod and not waste any money with the OUYA games, because I'll be too busy mapping the game pad to play the many titles available in the Play Store. It becomes a silly, pointless waste of time and money, because I have several desktops which I can use on my television and had in the past been running XBMC just fine on those desktops with my 5.1 surround sound card and speakers.

I bought the OUYA because it promised me XBMC + Games + Android in a simple to use console. Most of those interested in the OUYA as and XBMC box are also people who've already run XBMC on their televisions via an old desktop or htpc, and want a console which will make doing this easier and standardized to just work. We already hacked together something on the desktop; we're looking for the easy button.

Otherwise, we'd have just bought a Midnight box or a Pivos....
[Ouya General] Shiftone:
I'd say yes.

I've got XBMC running on a load of devices, Raspberry Pi, Pivos Xios DS, Odroid U2, Nexus 7, HTC One X, Intel i5 w/ATI 7770... The RPi and Pivos are sluggish, the Odroid very buggy, the Nexus, One X and Ouya (all tegra 3) are very usable and provide nearly as smooth an experience as the powerful PC.

There are a few bugs still being ironed out but none are show stoppers. The current libstagefright build works nicely enough and will only get better. We should have an interim 12.2 build hit the Ouya store soon which will be mostly bug free and feature complete.

For remote the controller is ok and will be better when they finish key mapping it. You can also connect the ps3 bluetooth media remote which makes for a better experience. Other options are IR remotes that present as keyboards or the FLIRC device.

The main thing to bare in mind is that the Ouya is a pretty new device with lots of development being done every day, something like 10 OS updates in the past 4 months - give the devs time and we'll have a very nice little Tegra 3 box; I'm looking forward to seeing where we'll be in 6 months time. Not to mention the work being done on XBMCs side. A lot of core devs are working on supporting the Ouya as they all have the device.
[Ouya General] Zehrfox:
I am also trying to replace cable TV with my Ouya and use it as a DVR. I would love some help, tips on getting it done.

* I have XBMC installed, but it doesnt see my network drives (shared drives on a Win7 PC), although all my other PCs can see them and use them?

* I planned on downloading the TV shows from 'sources' on the web, but wasn't sure how to setup auto gather new shows?

* I heard about Sick Beard and Coach Potato, but I never used them, I would love a guide or steps to help me set it up

* I wanted to get Amazon Video working too, since I pay for Prime, no official app, and I couldn't get a good Android one yet?

* Wouldn't mind having Hulu and Netflix too, I heard the google tv apks are best - any comments on that?

Anything you could help me with, would be very appreciated. I hate overpaying for Cable, and the service/quality sux :)
[Ouya General] NssOne:
You can't blame the lack of XBMC support on Ouya, it was up to the XBMC team to follow through on that. Ouya only announced it was going to come to the Ouya because that's what XBMC said on their own website. They're finally working on an Ouya fork for the next XBMC release, probably integrating libstagefright into it (because those work best on the Ouya).

And you could've gone for one of those other boxes. They're around the same price as an Ouya. I was a KS backer but I supported it hoping, yet not expecting, some ROM dev support for the console. I know there's CM10 but I'm going to wait for better unlocking of the system before I go full custom ROM. Unless the custom ROMs have better overscan compensation support already (a huge issue with Ouya on my TV).

1) I don't use network shares on my XBMC Ouya setup right now. All video files are stored locally to the external hard drive I have connected to my Ouya.

2 & 3) I actually couldn't get the Sick Beard Android app to load on the Ouya. I ended up buying an app called PowerNZB which came with its own Sick Beard server. It's just not as automated right now as it would be on PC when used in conjunction with SabNZBd and I hope to see that change soon. I don't know if I can talk about what 'web sources' I use openly either, but you can figure it out. Also I'll just bluntly tell you to Google Sick Beard tutorials to get a better idea of how to use it.

4 & 5) No clue. I don't have any of these on my Ouya at all. Sorry if I'm not as much help as you'd like.
[Ouya General] bornagainpenguin:
I don't.

As far as I'm concerned, XBMC has already produced a build for the OUYA which works quite well and which I expect to continue to get better and better. Instead I blame OUYA for being unable to (or unwilling?) to fix USB drive detection.
[Ouya General] Zehrfox:
I appreciate the help

* at NssOne

- Thanks, I do appreciate the help :) I wanted to use the network shares, that way I could have my win7 pc obtain all the shows and movies for me, using PC software, then place it on a shared network drive, where the Ouya could access them and play them. I figured that would be easier that having the Ouya run all that software and handle all those processes.

Which version of XBMC works best on Ouya, I saw several people post different versions, I know you need HW accel, but an exact file name or link would be appreciated.

Is Sick Beard better than Coach Potato? - I have never used either one? will they look for new shows and grab them for me?

Any one else trying to replace Cable TV with Ouya and XBMC? - Any advise, tips, software suggestions?
[Ouya General] NssOne:
For XBMC Google the libstagefright version. And I don't know the difference between Sick Beard and Couch Potato. I've stuck with Sick Beard the whole time.
[Ouya General] NssOne:
I'll admit, I'm not necessarily happy about it; but I'm not wholly bothered by it either. Since I've been able to find other means to mount my drive without it being an arduous task on a regular basis I've gotten over it.

But then again, I've always been the type of person to be happy with solving a problem and knowing I did it properly even if I knew it shouldn't've been a problem in the first place. Granted, if the Ouya cost more or I was unable to find an easy enough fix for it myself, I would be a lot more perturbed.
[Ouya General] javiertoti:
Hi guys, I have had very bad experiencies for replace my xbox1 XBMC with a raspberry and I wonder if it OUYA it's fine or not running XBMC.

For me it's very important:

-Sharing files with SMB. I use an external computer to storage the video files.

-Ultra -Fast load of folders with hundred of video files. The raspberry takes a time to open folders but my xbox1 it's like a rocket in this task. Faster than my computer sometimes.

-Open movies fast and jumping throguh video.

-Fast load of video streaming like netflix or similar services.

-1080p H264& x264 capable device. At least 720p 100% without errors.

Will I have all of this in OUYA now?

1.000.000 THANKS.
[Ouya General] Skater4599:
I'm in this exact same boat almost exactly, I have an Ouya and have made the best out of XBMC I could. Here's my experience.

Sharing Files with SMB, Ultra fast, faster than my xbox ever was. Fanart is way higher quality too (I had to use toDDS compression on xbox to get it to load faster)

I have a Movies folder with around 600~ files in it. It loads up twice as fast as my xbox

Open Movies is just as fast if not faster, same with jumping back and forth, but I found mixed results depending on file type/encoding on the xbox1.

I've never used streaming services through XBMC so can't chime in there

I don't have 1080P encoded video files to test this but I've read mixed results. I can tell you full 720P video works a treat though no issues at all. (Make sure your using a build with libstagefright)

It lacks some things though, but the software is beta! in fact there is not even an official release yet so keep that in mind! IMO XBMC is 100000x faster/smoother/better than Ouya's stock software/launcher even in beta status. However we need a good remote solution. There are ton's of options out there for this, I've read plenty. I've yet to find the perfect solution though that could power on/off the Ouya and is close to or just like the xbox1 dvd remote.

On a side note I have XBMC auto load through a program called auto-pilot found in the Ouya Discover store, But after XBMC is deemed stable release, I'd LOVE an option to replace the Ouya Launcher completely with XBMC, similar to xbox1 ;)
[Ouya General] reposter432:
I programmed my Onkyo receiver remote to a Flirc (I love this thing). Works great using one remote for volume and XBMC control. Of course it doesn't power on the Ouya, but that doesn't matter to me. I had to get a USB hub to plug both my HDD and Flirc. I play only local files, so I don't tinker with streaming video. I've played 1080p and 720p files with no problems. Pausing and resuming does cause it to skip a few frames, but it gets back to normal after a second. I've been using the nightly builds.

I would have preferred to use my bluetooth PS3 Media Remote, but I can't pair it the Ouya. :rolleyes:
[Ouya General] View2Askew:
cases jaastre

Good guides at Ouyaforum
[Ouya General] DeeBG:
Don't you mean "Xbox Media Player"? Or were you late to the homebrew scene =p. I recently booted up my Xbox (probably first time in years, although it has always been plugged in) and launched what appeared to be a late build. I never had the HD cables for the first Xbox, but I believe it could support up to 1080i. It served me many great years just at 480i (now with an HDTV it does do 480p), but I went into the OUYA Kickstarter knowing that worse comes to worse, I could turn it into a secondary media box (I have successful been able to install Linux4Tegra onto it, but it's fairly outdated and not very easy to work with; su'd Android is actually simpler in this case).
[Ouya General] ThaDraGun:
Right now i use xios with linux xbmc installed. Works pretty good, but could be better. Been considering Ouya, but just not sure how it turns on. Do you always have to push the button on the ouya, or can it be turned on with the remote?

My setup now hides the xios in a media cabinet one floor below and i control it with an rf remote that i programed to control the xios. I wouldn't mind using the ouya remote if it worked through the floor and can turn on the system. If it cant do either, ill have to wait for something better to come out..
[Ouya General] FrostyWolf:
Instead of reading through 3 pages and trying to answer questions, I'll post my experience with XBMC on Ouya and what I think, and if anyone else has questions after that, feel free to ask.

I run XBMC on 5 devices in my home. A nexus 10, nexus 4, Acer Aspire Revo (openelec), Windows 8 desktop, and the Ouya.

I have 2,346 movies and 267 TV shows (17,800+ episodes) on a Drobo FS on the network. I use MySQL for the XBMC database to sync it across all the devices.

I have also run XMBC on a ATV2, but lost it in a lighting strike.

I have some friends that use various versions of those "HDMI pen drive" looking XBMC devices.

IMO, for 100 dollars, you really aren't going to beat the Ouya for a streaming device for XBMC. It does just as good as everything else on my network already, and the build in the Ouya store is essentially a duct tape together build of XBMC 12.2 with the libstagefright hardware acceleration stuff built in, and is not there official supported Ouya build yet (that won't be to XBMC 13). It does have a few issues, them being:

1) The default control setup gets the job done, but little else. There are 8 buttons on the controller is isn't even using, and desperately needs a update.

2) I have a few (very few) videos that aren't displaying properly. The video displays as vertical bars and every other bar isn't in sync.

3) The volume control doesn't work yet

Aside from that, and some occasional minor things that are so minor I can't even remember them, it is already amazing and it isn't even a "official" release yet.
[Ouya General] dexter84:
You didn't came across HDMI handshake issue ?

With so many movies you mast have.
[Ouya General] FrostyWolf:
I wasn't even aware there is one, and my Ouya hasn't stopped playing XBMC since I put it on there. It streams random 720/1080/480 tv shpws all day, and at night I watch movies on it.
[Ouya General] dexter84:
What amplifier do you use and have you played anything with dts or Dolby sound ?
[Ouya General] FrostyWolf:
On...on the Ouya? None. It's a 100 dollar device made to be a game console, not a proper HTPC. Don't get me wrong, I said it was a great XBMC device for that price point, but I have other devices (as I had listed) in the house for the two rooms that have major sound set ups, I wouldn't let the Ouya (or any other 100 dollar device for that matter) be the center of my main home theater system. The Ouya is in my bedroom connected directly to a 32 inch TV. I have had no sounds issues with it (other than volume control). I would not be surprised that the Ouya is having upper tier sound issues right now considering you can't even control the volume right with it yet, lol.

Like I said, it's a great 100 dollar budget xbmc device, but if you are looking for it to have full features of XBMC, you might want to wait till it gets a proper XBMC 13 release.
[Ouya General] floateruk:
I play mine through my onkyo. Never had any issues audio, and never crashed out. Longest run time must be about 12 hours. Streams 720p over wifi. Using libstage alpha 1 from the wiki page, but might go to alpha 7 cos I hear it's good....
[Ouya General] dexter84:
Well I'd like to use it as HTPC, and I've plugged it into my Yamaha.

I have setup xbmc to use hdmi as sound output with 5.1 speaker setting.

I had issues from day one.

Couple of days ago I moved cable connecting ouya from hdmi 1 in Yamaha to hdmi 3, booted up my ouya and after that for a brief moment I had it - everything was working ok, and correct sound settings were appearing on amplifier. No handshake issue whatsoever. Then I've rebooted ouya and everything is back to normal, meaning I have to restart amp to get sound properly.
[Ouya General] ThaDraGun:
No one has answered my questions yet. Just have two:

1) Can the Ouya be turned on and off with the controller, or do you have to push the button on the media box?

2) Can the controllers be used through floors/walls, or do you have to sit directly in front of the box for it to work?

thanks!
[Ouya General] bornagainpenguin:
No. For various reasons the Ouya refuses to stay off. Also, there does not seem to be a way to power on from the controller. At least in my experience. I'm curious to see whether these things are hardware or firmware issues, but the only known Cyanogen rom hasn't seen update in weeks.

This heavily depends on the unit and the controllers. It varies.
[Ouya General] myself11:
I'm thinking of buying an Ouya so I've been lurking here and on Ouyaforum.

I'm a bit confused: the external storage issue is just related to app2sd or you it isn't possible to simple plug in an external hard drive to watch some movies?
[Ouya General] robinscp:
You can watch movies from a hdd no problem.

I love my little box. Xbmc is awesome on Ouya.
[Ouya General] coachclass:
I checked back on the Ouya forum now after a few months away. It seems like quite a lot of people are saying XBMC now works - is that right?

I brought Ouya when it was available to general public, thinking XBMC should work. But then after side loading it from versions other people claimed works, it was kind of disappointing. Maybe the media files I was using (h264 w/ dts audio, xvids, etc) weren't the same ones other people used to test. But it was skippy and just unwatchable. The Ouya also got really hot, definitely not hardware accelerated.

Just wanted to see if the situation has changed. Are your Ouyas really hot when playing even 720p?
[Ouya General] floateruk:
The fan turns on on mine, but i don't think it gets damagingly (is that a word?) hot. I have read reports of them getting very very hot though.

What I'd say is, you've already bought it, so there's no point it just sitting there in a box. Either sell it, bin it, or get it out, hook it up, and start playing with what it will do.

From my experience libstagefright alpha 1 from the ouya xbmc wiki page, OR alpha 7 which is the August monthly, are the most stable. You can try nightlies if you're adventurous, but these two seem on consensus the best. They are hardware accelerated, and I stream 720p from the net or from smb pretty well. It was perfect until this last week, but somethings gone wrong and I don't know what. It's still watchable though.

Get autopilot to open xbmc when you turn the unit on, unless you're interested in it as a console, but by the sounds of it you aren't.

Set up an advacedsettings with maximum buffer and go.

There's also a tweak through terminal you can do if you're rooted and you're having trouble streaming youtube etc over wifi.

I've invested £15 in a tp-link wifi range extender with an ethernet port to try and improve connectivity from average/good, to good/excellent. I'll let you know if it works. I have a piece of crap router that I can't change at the moment so this seems a cheap way to get it done.

Maybe we should get a tweaks page going with a guide for each tweak. There seems to be loads dotted about. It's just trying to find them.

Anyway, I've rabbled on for long enough about stuff you probably already know. Go enjoy your toy