xbmc hardware acceleration on Ouya

This is for people that have an Ouya and are trying to figure out which version of xbmc will work best on it.  I've tried almost all of them, so I thought I would share my findings.

First off, all the versions from 12.2 Frodo, to today's build of Gotham will work.  But almost all versions will have a studder.  So the sound will be fine, but every 2.5 - 3 seconds or so, the movie will speed up.  It's very annoying to watch this.

There are 2 ways to render a video to the TV.  One is with software acceleration, and the other is with hardware acceleration.  The software acceleration is not desirable because it will put the CPU's at very high levels for extended periods of time.  The hardware acceleration will handle all of this and leave the CPU level's very low.  It will also remove the studder (in theory).

The great news is that Ouya is an official sponsor of xbmc, which means that great things will happen for the Ouya on xbmc.

It is easy to recognize a hardware acceleration version from the build names such as Alpha SF, or hwaccel.

My findings are:

Frodo 12.2 - very stable, slight studder, doesn't have hardware acceleration.
Nightly builds - not as stable, noticable studdder, doesn't have hardware acceleration.
All test builds
Alpha1SF - second choice now, it's was the best available until today (the 14th of July), has hardware acceleration
Alpha4SF - not as stable, not a bad build, has hardware acceleration
Alpha5SF - stability getting better, but the video is running too fast, so it drops frames.  It will show 24 FPS, but when you watch it it looks like 5 FPS, and audio sounds really poor, has hardware acceleration
adddroidlibstagefright - use this version, it's the best available at this time (the 14th of July), has hardware acceleration.  There are so many improvements I can't list them.  It is also much more stable, and rock solid frame rates, with great sound.

Installation:

First you need to hit this webpage from within the Ouya.  Select Make, Web browser.  To enter this url press the Y button, now enter in this url.
select adddroidlibstagefright
Wait 2-5 minutes.
From the main menu select: Manage,  System, Advanced, Storage, Downloads
Select xbmc-20130714-6ec63cd-adddroidlibstagefright-armeabi-v7a.apk, and follow the instructions to install.

Run

From the main menu select: Make, xbmc

Recommend:

Note that the links will take you to a how-to install that I searched for you.  Feel free to search any others.

1. Fusion (makes getting addins easier)
2. Navi-X (program addin)
3. Mash Up (video addin)
4. IceFilms (video addin)
5. 1Channel (video addin)
6. EarthCam (video addin)

Comment:

Please post a comment if you liked this blog, this way I know that I'm not wasting my time, and will provide updates.  Thanks for the comment.  I updated the blog, enjoy.