Maybe it was inevitable. Maybe it was because of the hundreds, if not thousands, of demands on Twitter, in blogs, on Facebook, in Reddit, and in Kickstarter comments. Maybe it’s because many of Team Ouya support XBMC, and nearly a third of Team XBMC members are Ouya backers.
Regardless, we are delighted to announce that XBMC will be working with Ouya to ensure that XBMC works well on the Ouya platform. Ouya’s Android underpinnings and XBMC’s work on Android (soon to be merged into master, pending final sign-offs!) will dramatically speed up that effort, as will early XBMC dev access to Ouya prototypes.
The conversation between our two teams is young, but talk is ongoing and positive. We look forward to providing more exciting news on this front as it develops.
To see what all the Ouya fuss it about, check out the link below.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console/posts/283033
Sweet – XBMC really is advancing quick these days… perhaps it’s time for another donation
Ooh-yeah!!! Here to hoping that XBMC will be the default game / app-launcher on Ouya.
I was one of the ones clamoring for this. Will be absolutely awesome. Makes me want to sign up for one more Ouya!!! And I will definitely be making a donation to Team-XBMC!
This is really great news. I had pledged for it anyway but now it’s even better
amazing news, and inevitable for sure… this is match made in heaven…
This is great news.. I am very happy of this annoucement and wish both groups the success you deserve. Cant wait to get a hold a unit!!!
Awesome news!
Why doesn’t XBMC do a kickstarter? It seriously would go like gangbusters.
I’l be getting a ouya for sure! Hell yeah!
Great news. This will probably replace my ATVs. Finally no more dependance on iTunes and Windows|OSX.
Kickstarter is a great way to raise funds and I’m sure there’s a few XBMC projects that would benefit from it. Has there been any talks about an XBMC Kickstarter?
Great news, many thanks for that!
The _only_ thing that could make me even *REMOTELY* consider buying into the whole Ouya thing.
And you guys do it.
Damn it all!
Awesome! Perhaps you can lobby to assure that the Ouya does have an IR remote receiver in the hardware (which as far as I can tell, is not currently planned)… the XBMC team would be able to make the strongest case to the Ouya team to that end.
IR remotes are necessary, most XBMC users rock IR universal remotes.
YES, yes yes yes – no words are enough !
Will donate when i come home, just to say thank you XBMC!
I hope 10´s of thousend will do the same – lets our money talk.
this is wonderful news!. A partnership that has everything to be fantastic!
So, Now to find out if i can still get a preorder for one of these magical devices.
39 hours left to back the project on Kickstarter! I’m 99% sure I’m going to back it now.
awesome news, i just hope the ouya releases in the UK, surely it should? or will it be a US only release? what do any of you guys reading this think?
also, does the ouya have a digital audio out? or does it all go through hdmi?
Had been waiting for this news.. XMBC is amazing. there would be “something missing” without XBMC on OUYA… Its tooo exciting. ooooouyaaaaa
Glad to be one of the Backers
~Open Source Rox~
@Manu It sports a USB-port, so you can plug in your own IR-reciever.
@kevcambell. The oyou releases worldwide. I live in the Netherlands. And I’ve “ordered”/pledged for one. You just pay 20usd extra shipping.
I would LOVE if they used android phones as the remote for XBMC. I’m sure this is already something they’re thinking about though…
Great news, good luck for creating a great XBMC-experience on this great piece of hardware.
@Manu At the minimum, push for HDMI CEC support for remote operation.
Fantastic news! It was exactly the reason why I ordered OUYA for in the first place, i was planning on using the android XBMC app to do this unofficially! But now its officially announced its even better! Cant wait to stream all my 1080p movies to my projector.
Hopefully it will play 3D content swell? well atleast side by side will be supported.
Ive only ordered one device so far, as I want to test it first to see if it does everything im expecting! If it does do it then I will surely be purchasing another 2 units for my other rooms and replacing all my media players such as popcorn player, apple tv and macbook with xbmc installed! As this will do it all in one!
Could this news mean the death of Jailbroken 2nd Gen Apple TVs? Very much so.
This is great!
Just make sure it has perfect controls, meaning switching it off/on, volume up/down with 1 button press. All that extra stuff is nice and all.. but all we want is a painless way of conrolling our XBMC + the device it’s running on.. The hassle free flawless control solution is STILL not available and therefore it’s still has to be handled as a ‘hobby’ thing.
@K405: that shouldn’t be a problem. I have 3 ways of controlling my XBMC: radio remote, android phone/tablet and PS Dualshock 3. Last one, i.e. DS3, is my favourite one – much more powerful than remote (thanks to emulating mouse using one of analog stick) and more convenient than android-based.
Thank you for answering my dreams since the initial OUYA announcement!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was great news to wake up to this morning. I even went so far as to go through the process of pledging $99 and was at the final Amazon check out page. I backed out at the last minute. I’m hoping the project gets completed, but I would rather wait and be sure before pledging. Besides, March is far away, and I’m worried about potential delays. Who knows what the Android landscape will look like by then.
Unfortunately, I’m pulling a wait and see.
Awesome news! Is funny. Was talking to a friend yesterday about how awesome it would be to see XBMC team up with Ouya. He will be getting the Ouya. I plan to get one eventually (sadly cant afford to back the project as I have no income). Heres hoping it will be able to handle 10bit h.264 1080p content with that Tegra 3. Would make ouya a great and cheap replacement for my MediaPC which cant even do 720p 10bit encodes which all the anime fansub groups seem to be using.
OUYA’s Gamepad Touchscreen could be used as a remote for XBMC. Same as a Android phone remote.
Does anyone smarter than me, know if XBMC running on android, will be controllable with a tablet/phone running android (remote) like how it works now for windows?
EG: Will my nook tablet running Official XBMC Android Remote control my OUYA running XBMC?
Now integrate XBMC interface in Ouya interface, so we don’t have to open a separate app and the video/music/game library is integrated. Then it would be perfect!
Does the XBMC see any limits to what will the OUYA be able to decode?
XBMC team*
@Marcin I said: “painless way of conrolling our XBMC”. Which means everyone, even grandma, knows how to use the TV remote nowadays. If I buy a Ouya for running XBMC it should come with a remote which can switch the thing ON/OFF with the remote without having to walk over. It should be able to use all the buttons to get in to all the different MENU options/areas of XBMC.
You don’t need to defend XBMC to me. I have been using XBMC since the day it came out for XBOX.
I see XBMC has the ambition to become even bigger. If nontechnical people ask my advice on what they should get to play their media I’m sure as hell not going to advice them to use XBMC cause they’ll be calling me for support… Catch my drift?
This news was what I was waiting for… Got myself a box!!
I wish you had announced this before, I bet the numbers would be much greater, yet I really look forward an awesome interface and full feature as i know youre capable of doing it. A plus, XBMC donation on the way
Great news. This pushed me over the edge so now I have made a pledge for a console and 2 controllers. Long wait until March though:)
I pre-ordered the OUYA on day 1 and the first thing i suggested was teaming up with XBMC as it’s media player solution and saw immediately how many ppl were thinking the same thing. then i get on the XBMC forum a few days later to see that XBMC for android’s in effect and think man…i might have to order a few more OUYA’s….and THEN i see this announcement today! lol. looking forward to seeing just how well the ouya console and xbmc mesh and i hope to be pushing many of these by the dozen to friends/family to get them acquainted with just how great and robust XBMC is without remotely breaking the bank!
This is really good news! keep up the good work!
and that was the clincher.. pledged!
Nice!! Looks like XBMC is on a roll with the Android hardware. I want to see more Android hardware geared for media streamers now!! Good job XBMC devs!!
http://www.streamernation.com
Great news indeed. XBMC on Ouya shall finally replace my cracked AppleTV’s running xbmc (it keeps hanging, crashing, & run out of memory)
Awesome news – however, it’s still just an infared port away from my support right now…
how about the sound support? does it support truehd and dts master audio? does it support blu ray?
XBMC is going to become mandatory for large platform manufacturers so they will have to chip in (geddit?) with resources.
Any idea if the ouya will be able to passthrough DTS, TrueHd, DTS-HD ?
Yes why not? Or a similar crowd-sourcing donation drive? And why not several separate for specific features?
I for would one would definitly donate to specifically have someone truly embed the WebKit HTML layout engine into XBMC GUI library. Both as an fully integrated web browser and more importantly to allow third-party HTML5 apps to run as native addons in XBMC.
I think that would make it easier for XBMC to have third-party plugins that require DRM, like Netflix.
I too think that the OUYA hardware needs both HDMI CEC support and an IR receiver for universal remotes.
It would also be nice if OUYA themselves sold an optional IR remote control with QWERTY for around $30
I for one am pleased wth this news. I am truthfully excited about OUYA! It’ll be like having a gaming console AND a gaming PC ALL IN ONE!!!!!! Even though it has 8GB of memory (not talking RAM here), I think that’s plenty of space for some games, and interesting apps! I will most certainly be keeping a CLOSE eye on this project! I can’t wait for this one of a kind console to come out! It’ll fly off of store shelves like crazy, and before you know it, this tiny gaming console will have a myriad of awards!
we don’t do kickstarters cause we’re not for sale. monies cannot dictate what we work on in this project – that’s reserved for our day jobs.
clarification: that’s team xbmc as a team/organization, what individual devs do is utterly up to them.
@Ultratails42
Not to throw too much cold water your way, but 10bit is almost certainly not gonna happen with Ouya. Generally speaking, it’s considered out of spec for hardware decoders, and under all the hype Tegra3 remains a hardware decoder.
@Dan J
Your kiddin right? :S theres been an Android remote for years!
This just made me back Ouya and buy a unit
can’t wait to see, and can’t wait to get my hands on ouya… been using xbmc for quite some times now… i love xbmc…
I already knew about Ouya but my current financial situation prevented me from pledging. But now I have no other choice… I have to have one!!
I hope it lives to the hype. For me, as long as it runs xbmc with 1080p… Goal achieved!
@Dan J
That’s already a reality. I don’t get your point.
@Pop006
Of course. That’s a standard. The android remote will control any XBMC running device as long as they are connected to the same network…
Let’s hope there is an inbuilt IR receiver on the Ouya so we can use a real remote whilst sitting on the couch enjoying XBMC!
Great! So it will run 1080p. How smooth will interface be like Aron mq3? Currently on asrock ion 330 but have no reference if this would be a step forward for me or not.
@Manu
Bluetooth all the way.
According to developers no official xbmc will come for tegra2 based devices. So is the story different for tegra3 based OUYA?
Here is XBMC for android Tegra2 http://depositfiles.com/files/76p6jemki
@Y S
Tegra2 doesn’t support “Neon” while Tegra3 should, i would think that’s the reason for the missing support.
This looks an interesting small box, looking at the specs, I don’t see an Ethernet port!! Not to sure about if your watching a 1080p movie or playing a game, I still prefer connecting a cable
I really hope to see
- ‘Real’ Remote Control (not a useless APP on a Phone/Pad) and please no BT for the love of everything holy. Something that doesn’t need pairing and works ALL the time.
- Power on / StandBy / On Button on Remote
I love XBMC but WTH can’t they fix better Remote Control support. Or even better XBMC developers. Start a kickstarter for a Remote Control for the XBMC that works on Windows / OSX / XBMCLive
without massive configuration. Now that would be awesome.
My two cents.
Blu ray? Is that one of those physical medias that were popular in ancient times?
@Paul
If this article is correct, it has an Ethernet port
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya#Hardware
@Konstigt
Yeah, its one of those formats that offer way superior video and audio quality compared to any streaming solution. Wonder why anyone wants that
Well I was going to pass on Ouya but XBMC was the clincher. Can’t wait to see what this $100 with a Tegra3 can do with an optimized version of XBMC. I already have a great IR receiver that I purchased on Ebay for ~$15 – so hopefully that works. Considering they are just glorified input devices – I’m assuming it will.
As far as Android XBMC remote apps – I’m still waiting for XBMC commander. That’s the only app I wish I had on my android. I guess it really doesn’t matter since I have an ipad but it would be nice to see it on a nexus 7.
It will be interesting to see how well everything works in OUYA, including XBMC (and Plex). But, has anybody looked into Equiso Smart TV, I know they will have Plex support with Google Play store app. I just wonder if XBMC Dev’s looked into it and possibly having app on Google store?
@Manu
That’s a bit old fashioned, isn’t it? So 20th century! These days we use much more programmable remotes: Tablets and Smartphones. The only thing, which needs a IR these days is, if you’ve got an old fashioned TV. But then, there is HDMI-CEC and DLNA.
I have two DVB servers in my LAN, which deliver TV. And a fileserver, which delivers the rest. And a computer monitor in my bedroom (this will get the OUYA) and a bigger one in my living-room (connected to an HTPC). Not a single device needs IR. Oh, and my preamp is controlled either via RS232 or Ethernet.
Call me arrogant, but I do not want to shelve out extra money for something, that those, who need IR could not substitute via an USB-IR dongle hooked to a USB-HUB. Then I’d better see an HDMI-CEC chip in it.
@atv420
XBMC for Android will eventually be on the Google Play store.
@Nils Jorgensen
The complication from remotes comes from the massive number of different remotes, receivers, and remote softwares. That being said, there are a number of remotes that work with XBMC out of the box, including the Nyxboard from Pulse Eight (which does IR and/or RF).
Shame and disgrace to OUYA for annoncing that they will also support Plex!
Fantastic news! I pre-ordered the ouya today.
I would like to see a crowdfounded XBMC hardware player. (it could be based on android).
It think OUYA is a great idea, but thats mainly because xbmc is supported. (i really doesn’t care for the games).
But think of it; what if some developers got together to build a affordable mediacenter for 59-99$.
You could make it in different stages.
A Hire a great designer and meka a spec
B Get founding for licenses, and hire programmers that will work on unit+ develop for xbmc as well. (devoted fulltime development for a year or two) + others.
C Get a shitload of money that well surpass the manufacturing cost (so that each unit will cost less when they are massproduced).
(Think boxee but with xbmc instead) or apple-tv
or we get OUYA to include features that are missing; Right now there are no optical audio output, a larger storing capability (like 16-40 GB) – yes, mediafiles are bigger that small games (think pre-buffering et.c.). an extra usb port (one is not simply enough. a remote (backlit) remote would be nice. But maybe they will include that as they have raised so very much that they can afford a very large advertising campaign and still can buy a nice office. As of now they easily can afford it. i hope they use the extra cash to update their spec.
@Konstigt
On the page you linked, nothing is said about the speed of the ethernet port. Because if you want to stream some 1080p Bluray without the need to reencode it, 100mb often is not even enough.
@Konstigt I agree. In the meantime, I think one of the IR WMC remotes along with a couple of hacks (e.g., to customize the green start button to start XBMC rather than WMC) is the best bet. I do hate that many functions that use the XBMC onscreen keyboard can only be access by (crappy) mouse emulation on WMC remotes rather than the ordinary up/down/left/right keys.
@Nils Jorgensen
You can’t do that easily without adding lots of code to XBMC and possibly pairing up with a hardware vendor.
You can give this a try:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/wireless-multimedia-infrared-ir-remote-controller-with-usb-receiver-for-pc-2-aaa-34435?item=4
The system sees it as a USB HID (generic input device) under Windows (and I’m assuming probably under linux, too), most commands will work out of the box, like mouse control, up/down/left/right arrows, enter key etc.
I’ve used it for a while under Windows, but I got annoyed about being IR so I just switched to my phone for remote control.
@Nils Jorgensen
@Znuff
Sorry, I meant to link this one not the previous one: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/driver-free-universal-usb-ir-media-remote-controller-for-pc-2-aaa-27596?item=8
@Vinny
It’s technically not possible for a bluray to max out on a 100mb connection unless you have something wrong with the network. From Wikipedia: “BD Video movies have a maximum data transfer rate of 54 Mbit/s”
I personally have never had any issues on any of my devices/HTPCs that only had a 100 ethernet port.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t ouya useless as a media player if we don’t have a digital sound port (optical)?
@Nick
I believe the presumption these days is that users will have upgraded their optical sound port to more powerful HDMI standard.
AWESOME!!! Guess I’ll finally be able to retire my softmoded original Xbox as my SMB stream player.
Bang on mate!!!!
Tegra3 dosn’t H/W decode AC3 audio. Dolby licence problems.
S/W decode works but performance is poor.
Unless that is fixed, “I’m out”
@Lobo . . I never knew that! I really hope they find a way around this! I bought the Ouya just for streaming and XBMC. (Second as a game system) I hope that somehow people figure out a way around this! If it can pass through the audio to my A/V receiver, then I’ll be happy with that.