AVPlayer doesn't show anything - ios

Question

I try to embed different videos from youtube vimeo, dailymotion.
Sadly at the Moment nothing is shown except the backgroundcolor of my containerView:
UIView *containerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0, 320.0f, 200.0f)];
//item.url is my url which i get fro my webserver, it looks like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPP6lXaL7KA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
AVPlayerItem *playerItem = [AVPlayerItem playerItemWithURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:item.url]];
AVPlayer *avPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:playerItem];
NSLog(#"%#",playerItem);
AVPlayerLayer *avPlayerLayer = [AVPlayerLayer playerLayerWithPlayer:avPlayer];
avPlayerLayer.frame = self.frame;
[containerView.layer addSublayer:avPlayerLayer];
[self addSubview:containerView];
[avPlayer play];
if (avPlayer.status == AVPlayerStatusReadyToPlay) {
//[playingLbl setText:#"Playing Audio"];
NSLog(#"It works");
} else if (avPlayer.status == AVPlayerStatusFailed) {
// something went wrong. player.error should contain some information
NSLog(#"Not works");
NSLog(#"%#",avPlayer.error);
}
else if (avPlayer.status == AVPlayerItemStatusUnknown) {
NSLog(#"AVPlayer Unknown");
}
containerView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blueColor];
NSLog(#"error: %#", avPlayer.error);
NSLog(#"AVPlayer: %#", avPlayer);
AVPlayer Error is Null and the only Log i always get from the Status is: AVPlayerItemStatusUnknown. Any ideas?
EDIT 1:
Ich changed my Code to:
#implementation VideoView
BlockVideo *list;
- (id)initWithBlock:(GFBlock *)block {
self = [super initWithBlock:block];
if (self) {
if (block.values && block.values.count) {
list = (GFBlockVideo *) [block.values objectAtIndex:0];
for (int i=0; i<list.videos.count; ++i) {
GFBlockVideoItem *item = list.videos[i];
UIView *containerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0, 320.0f, 200.0f)];
//Like i said item.url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPP6lXaL7KA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
//#property (nonatomic, strong) NSString* url;
AVAsset *asset = [AVAsset assetWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:item.url]];
AVPlayerItem *playerItem = [[AVPlayerItem alloc] initWithAsset:asset];
AVPlayer *avPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:playerItem];
AVPlayerLayer *avPlayerLayer = [AVPlayerLayer playerLayerWithPlayer:avPlayer];
avPlayerLayer.frame = containerView.frame;
[containerView.layer addSublayer:avPlayerLayer];
[self addSubview:containerView];
[avPlayer play];
containerView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blueColor];
Sadly the only thing i can see is the blue containerView :/
I think the Problem is not the AVPlayer himself, but the frames and the layer maybe....

Answer 1

You'd have to do the following:
AVAsset *asset = [AVAsset assetWithURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:item.url]];
AVPlayerItem *playerItem = [[AVPlayerItem alloc] initWithAsset:asset];
AVPlayer *avPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:playerItem];
AVPlayerLayer *avPlayerLayer = [AVPlayerLayer playerLayerWithPlayer:avPlayer];
avPlayerLayer.frame = self.frame;
[containerView.layer addSublayer:avPlayerLayer];
[self addSubview:containerView];
[avPlayer play];
Hope this helps.
Addendum:
It also depends on your URL; if as you said, you have one such as in this format:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPP6lXaL7KA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Then you should use this instead:
[NSURL urlWithString:item.url];
Given that item is your object and url is a property there of object type NSString.

Answer 2

AVPlayer Implementation which working for me:
MP4:
player = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:videoPathUrl];
AVcontroller = [[AVPlayerViewController alloc] init];
[AVcontroller.view setFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0,self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.width)];
AVcontroller.player = player;
AVcontroller.showsPlaybackControls = FALSE;
[self addChildViewController:AVcontroller];
[self.view addSubview:AVcontroller.view];
[player play];
MP3 :
playerItem = [AVPlayerItem playerItemWithURL:url];
player = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:playerItem];
player = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:url];
[player play];
For getting thumbnail form video try this
AVAsset *asset = [AVAsset assetWithURL:videoPathUrl];
AVAssetImageGenerator *imageGenerator = [[AVAssetImageGenerator alloc]initWithAsset:asset];
float tempTime = CMTimeGetSeconds(player.currentItem.duration);
CMTime time = CMTimeMake(tempTime, 1); // (1,1)
CGImageRef imageRef = [imageGenerator copyCGImageAtTime:time actualTime:NULL error:NULL];
UIImage *aThumbnail = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef];
For Stop Video
[player pause];
player = nil;
**Setting Play rate/Speed for video **
[player play];
[player setRate:currentRate];
Play From start
[player seekToTime:kCMTimeZero];
[player play];
for checking video is playing or not
if ((player.rate != 0) && (player.error == nil)) {
// playing
}
For seeking video (for some duration ahead)
float tempSeekTime = CMTimeGetSeconds(player.currentItem.duration) + 10;
CMTime targetTime = CMTimeMakeWithSeconds(tempSeekTime, NSEC_PER_SEC);
[player seekToTime:targetTime];

Answer 3

Use the requestPlayerItemForVideo method of PHImageManager to acquire an AVPlayerItem; it is the simplest, sure-fire way to play an AVAsset, performing flawlessly and consistently.
I use it here:
https://youtu.be/7QlaO7WxjGg