AVPlayer streaming works and yet it doesn't - ios

Question

Running Xcode 7.1.1 under El Capitan 10.11.2 an IOS 9.2 app
Trying to understand the minimum code I need to implement playback for a Video stream, and crafted this very simply piece here ... don't need the Observer strictly speaking, but it crept in so I left it.
static const NSString *ItemStatusContext;
// a class static
self.avPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/samples/bipbop/bipbopall.m3u8"]];
[self.avPlayer addObserver:self forKeyPath:#"status" options:0 context:&ItemStatusContext];
self.avPlayerLayer = [AVPlayerLayer playerLayerWithPlayer:self.avPlayer];
self.avPlayer.actionAtItemEnd = AVPlayerActionAtItemEndNone;
avPlayerLayer.frame = CGRectMake(128, 128, 512, 386);
[self.view.layer addSublayer: avPlayerLayer];
[self.avPlayer play];
- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object
change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context {
if (context == &ItemStatusContext ) {
AVPlayer *thePlayer = (AVPlayer *)object;
if ([thePlayer status] == AVPlayerStatusFailed) {
NSError *error = [self.avPlayer error];
// Respond to error: for example, display an alert sheet.
NSLog(#"error %#",error);
return;
}
NSLog(#"player status %ld",(long)[thePlayer status]);
// Deal with other status change if appropriate.
}
// Deal with other change notifications if appropriate.
//[super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath ofObject:object
// change:change context:context];
return;
}
It works, but... only on the demo stream provided by Apple, nothing else I give it plays ...
** TRIED **
Tried adding this code into the mix too, which also works with the Apple demo stream, but none of the others I have tried.
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:#"http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/samples/bipbop/bipbopall.m3u8"];
AVURLAsset *avasset = [[AVURLAsset alloc] initWithURL:url options:nil];
avPlayerItem = [[AVPlayerItem alloc] initWithAsset:avasset];
self.avPlayer = [[AVPlayer alloc] initWithPlayerItem:avPlayerItem];
.......
** MORE UPDATES ** ... reworked observer since I wasn't getting useful info from it, now it tells me the Apple m3u8 is really to play; and "fails" on everything else I try...
So .... all these fail for example ...
//self.avPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://content.uplynk.com/209da4fef4b442f6b8a100d71a9f6a9a.m3u8"]];
//self.avPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://content.jwplatform.com/manifests/vM7nH0Kl.m3u8"]];
//self.avPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://walterebert.com/playground/video/hls/sintel-trailer.m3u8"]];
- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object
change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context {
if (object == self.avPlayer.currentItem && [keyPath isEqualToString:#"status"]) {
if (avPlayer.currentItem.status == AVPlayerStatusFailed) {
NSError *error = [self.avPlayer error];
// Respond to error: for example, display an alert sheet.
NSLog(#"AVPlayerStatusFailed error %#",error);
return;
}
if (avPlayer.currentItem.status == AVPlayerStatusUnknown) {
NSError *error = [self.avPlayer error];
NSLog(#"AVPlayerStatusUnknown error %#",error);
}
if (avPlayer.currentItem.status == AVPlayerStatusReadyToPlay) {
NSLog(#"AVPlayerStatusReadyToPlay");
[self.avPlayer play];
}
//[super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath ofObject:object
// change:change context:&ItemStatusContext];
// Deal with other status change if appropriate.
}
// Deal with other change notifications if appropriate.
//[super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath ofObject:object
// change:change context:context];
return;
}

Answer 1

Phew, recall something about this before; no excuses really. Managed to fix it by looking somewhere completely different; in info.plist which needs this key in it to play arbitrary streams.
<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
<key>NSAllowsArbitraryLoads</key>
<true/>
</dict>
I know it is bit lax, but I leave the reader to do so some more research if they want to make their app more bullet proof that I care about right now :) Do this, use the observer code in the EDITED section and cut out the [self.avPlayer play] (line 8) in the main code your be in business.