Ouya, XBMC and cmyth - choppy video
#1
So I'm a Mythbuntu user for last several years. I backed the Kickstarter for Ouya totally to try XBMC as a remote frontend.

Got it all set up with my mythbox. Cmyth almost works but the video is erratic. The frame rate falls behind then surges to catch up. High motion scenes are distorted.

It is so close. Does cmyth use the hardware acceleration?

I side loaded the Gotham stagefright version from 4.3.2013.

XMBC works fairly well (except for some UI issues and a few crash to desktop issues).

Any ideas on why cmyth would be so doggy?
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#2
cmyth doesn't play the video, it is a library for accessing the mythtv protocols and streams.

What format is your TV signal? Probably mpeg2 or h264.

A lot of arm machines support h264 out of the box, but not mpeg2. With RPi you can buy a key to unlock the mpeg2 acceleration in the chip, but it is not enabled unless you do so.

I have no idea what video formats are supported by ouya.

Some debug logging may assist sorting this out. So might pressing the o button during playback and seeing what is reported.

EDIT: This http://www.ouyaface.com/2012/07/ouya-har...specs.html seems to say mpeg2 acceleration is supported. back to logging Smile
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#3
(2013-05-19, 17:43)DeweyOxberger Wrote: So I'm a Mythbuntu user for last several years. I backed the Kickstarter for Ouya totally to try XBMC as a remote frontend.

Got it all set up with my mythbox. Cmyth almost works but the video is erratic. The frame rate falls behind then surges to catch up. High motion scenes are distorted.

It is so close. Does cmyth use the hardware acceleration?

I side loaded the Gotham stagefright version from 4.3.2013.

XMBC works fairly well (except for some UI issues and a few crash to desktop issues).

Any ideas on why cmyth would be so doggy?

Are you using the libstagefright build from the android development sub forum?
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#4
I'm using the Gotham alpha with libstagefright. The video is mpeg2 for sure. H264 works fine. I looked over the cmyth code and I can see it just ask the main code to play the stream. (Nice looking code). I can turn on logging but I have no idea how to access the log on this little cube.

Thanks for the help. I'll see what solid info I can gather and report back.

I attached a keyboard. Pressing "O" during the playback shows:

D(Audio:ac3(AC-3)/0x332D4341), 48000 Hz 5.1 (side), s16, 448 kb/s)
P(aq:91% Kb/s 422.09, att:0.0dB)

D(Video: mpeg2video (Main) ([2][0][0][0] /0x0002), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 14758 kb/s)
P(fr:59.90, vq: 99%, dc: ff-mpeg2video, Mb/s 12.78, drop: ** a number that shoots up in spurts ** pc: none)

C(ad:0.000, a/v:0.100, edl-b7s13, dcpu: 0% acpu: 0% vcpu: 0%, cache 0 B 88%)
W(fps 30 to 33 CPU0: 0% CPU1 0% CPU2 0% CPU3 0%)

So it's dropping frames...
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#5
2 potential issues here
Quote:D(Audio:ac3(AC-3)/0x332D4341), 48000 Hz 5.1 (side), s16, 448 kb/s)
P(aq:91% Kb/s 422.09, att:0.0dB)
does ouya do ac3 passthrough? I know it doesn't do DTS. What are your audio settings?
Quote:D(Video: mpeg2video (Main) ([2][0][0][0] /0x0002), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 14758 kb/s)
P(fr:59.90, vq: 99%, dc: ff-mpeg2video, Mb/s 12.78, drop: ** a number that shoots up in spurts ** pc: none)
OK so it is mpeg2 video, and being decoded in software by the look of things.

EDIT: according to the wiki the log file on android will be at
Code:
<data/sdcard/Android>/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/cache/temp/xbmc.log
although see http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Log_file/Advanced
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#6
Spent some time trying to figure out how to pull log files off Ouya via the usb connection. Ouya enumerates as MTP on its usb. <insert Indiana Jones Quote>Snakes, why did have to be snakes?<end quote> I can't figure out how to side load SSHDroid. Whatever. I used xbmc's add on to get the logs.

http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=22160
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#7
- adb shell
- su
- cat /data/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/cache/temp/xbmc.log > /sdcard/xbmc.log
then copy it via MTP or use adb pull /sdcard/xbmc.log

or you could use the xbmc log uploader plugin in xbmc Wink
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and: Denon 1912 - Nubert/Jamo 7.1 System - Sanyo PLV-Z800


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#8
I've been eyeing an Ouya, since the RaspberryPi doesn't handle skipping through HD MPEG2 too well; it needs about 3-5seconds per skip. With the faster processor, are you seeing a more fluid experience skipping through MPEG2 video on the Ouya?
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#9
It skips forward and backward just fine. It's darn close to working. Mpeg2 seems to playback in software and max out the cores. I think it should have mpeg2 decode in hardware so it might just be a matter of libstagefright getting a bit more awesome.
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#10
That's good news that the Ouya is snappy when skipping video! I would think that MPEG2 hardware decode will eventually be developed, especially since XBMC team has committed to providing XBMC on the Ouya.
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#11
It's more the commitment of the manufacturer to provide mpeg2 acceleration that counts.
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#12
(2013-05-29, 23:43)321liftoff Wrote: I've been eyeing an Ouya, since the RaspberryPi doesn't handle skipping through HD MPEG2 too well; it needs about 3-5seconds per skip. With the faster processor, are you seeing a more fluid experience skipping through MPEG2 video on the Ouya?

yes skipping is fluid for me for most material. I don't want to get too off topic here but you should know that the Ouya fan is pretty loud. It might not be a problem for everyone but I often watch tv at night and have to keep the volume down and I am not happy about the fan level. It's not first gen xbox loud but it's on par with my desktop pc with both cpu and psu fans.
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#13
(2013-06-11, 19:03)Merdique Wrote:
(2013-05-29, 23:43)321liftoff Wrote: I've been eyeing an Ouya, since the RaspberryPi doesn't handle skipping through HD MPEG2 too well; it needs about 3-5seconds per skip. With the faster processor, are you seeing a more fluid experience skipping through MPEG2 video on the Ouya?

yes skipping is fluid for me for most material. I don't want to get too off topic here but you should know that the Ouya fan is pretty loud. It might not be a problem for everyone but I often watch tv at night and have to keep the volume down and I am not happy about the fan level. It's not first gen xbox loud but it's on par with my desktop pc with both cpu and psu fans.

I bet it's noisy because it's decoding MPEG-2 (or whatever video) in software and is maxing out the CPU. Or is it noisy even when idle on the Ouya start screen? If the manufacturer helps to get hardware MPEG-2 decoding, maybe it will play videos without needing to speed up the fan!
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#14
(2013-06-11, 20:24)321liftoff Wrote:
(2013-06-11, 19:03)Merdique Wrote:
(2013-05-29, 23:43)321liftoff Wrote: I've been eyeing an Ouya, since the RaspberryPi doesn't handle skipping through HD MPEG2 too well; it needs about 3-5seconds per skip. With the faster processor, are you seeing a more fluid experience skipping through MPEG2 video on the Ouya?

yes skipping is fluid for me for most material. I don't want to get too off topic here but you should know that the Ouya fan is pretty loud. It might not be a problem for everyone but I often watch tv at night and have to keep the volume down and I am not happy about the fan level. It's not first gen xbox loud but it's on par with my desktop pc with both cpu and psu fans.

I bet it's noisy because it's decoding MPEG-2 (or whatever video) in software and is maxing out the CPU. Or is it noisy even when idle on the Ouya start screen? If the manufacturer helps to get hardware MPEG-2 decoding, maybe it will play videos without needing to speed up the fan!

No unfortunately the fan is on all the time while in xbmc, idle or playback. The only time the fan is off is when I'm in the ouya launcher or apex. All apps and games starts the fan almost immediately.
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#15
I can't hear the fan on mine. I guess I got a good one. There is zero noise from the box (but I can feel airflow).
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