I have an MPMoviePlayerController where I load a video from a URL. In iOS 3.2.2 the video started downloading when I added it to a view, but it didn't play until I hit the play button (which is what I want). However, since iOS 4.2.1 came out, it started behaving differently; the video starts downloading and plays automatically.
Here's how I load my MPMoviePlayerController:
MPMoviePlayerController *player = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc]
initWithContentURL:[NSURL URLWithString:theVideo.fileUrl]];
player.view.frame = articleVideoFrame;
[mainView addSubview:player.view];
I even tried to perform a [player pause]; after the addSubview part, but it still plays automatically. Could you guys help me with this one?
Got it! I used player.shouldAutoplay = NO; and that did the trick. Documentation says it is by default YES, which explains it all. Probably in 3.2 default was NO, but has been switched in 4.2.
I have noticed some other behavior changes in video playback in 4.2.1...namely the video player does not become visible until it starts receiving the data for the movie...
In the previous versions it used to come up instantaneously with "Loading movie..." text on top.
Sometimes, the player gets stuck in when not in full screen mode, with no Done button available or not responding to touches on Pause and Zoom...
I am having other more subtle issues with the playback but I can't isolate the issue just yet...
Related
In one of my ViewControllers, I have an AVPlayerViewController. In my viewDidLoad I have
self.videoPlayerController = [AVPlayerViewController new];
Then, I play a video using the following method
- (void)playVideo:(NSURL*)videoURL {
[self presentViewController:self.videoPlayerController animated:YES completion:^(){
AVPlayer *player = [[AVPlayer alloc] initWithURL:videoURL];
[self.videoPlayerController setVideoGravity:AVLayerVideoGravityResizeAspect];
[self.videoPlayerController setPlayer:player];
[self.videoPlayerController.player play];
}];
}
When playing a video for the first time, the AVPlayerViewController appears, but the video is stuck on the first frame, and will not play. No audio plays either.
In iOS 10.0, the seekbar in the on screen controls show that the video is playing (it will progress to the end). In iOS 10.2 however, the seekbar is stuck at 0:00 as well.
I am experiencing this problem on iPads with iOS versions 10.0 and 10.2, however, it works in the XCode simulator (both 10.0 and 10.2).
My problem is similar in nature to this.
Also, the video plays correctly if you close the ViewController containing the AVPlayerViewController, reopen it, and attempt to play the video again.
I guess that the problem is in your video file. Try to download another video mp4 video sample. Add it to your project and try.
When initialising a SKVideoNode with a video URL in iOS9 the behaviour changed to automatically starting the video as soon as the node is added, i.s.o. after the play method is called in previous versions of iOS.
doing the following inside the SKScene init
SKVideoNode* videoNode = [SKVideoNode videoNodeWithVideoFileNamed:#"sample.m4v"];
[self addChild:videoNode];
is enough to see the video playing, while previous iOS versions (more logically) required to also call
[videoNode play];
before the video starts playing.
Is this an intended change? A possible workaround I see is always immediately calling pause after initialising a video but it's a bit weird this behaviour changed.
(it feels like a bug to be honest)
(I also found the iOS9 simulator to have issues with SKVideoNodes playing at all, you have to test this on a device)
So, I've tried this a number of ways with the same result.
I've tested by using a YouTube MP4 URL, such as:
This
The way I do it looks pretty much like:
self.moviePlayer = [[MPMoviePlayerViewController alloc] initWithContentURL:[NSURL URLWithString:videoUrlString]];
And then I play the video. If I play the video and it goes fullscreen, the whole app locks up. The video player appears, but parts of the status bar (such as the time and bars) disappear leaving only the carrier name. The volume slider is only half there, and it loads indefinitely, and ignores any further touch input until I kill the app. If I rotate the iPhone, the volume slider and the rest of the status bar reappear, but it still will not respond to touch or finish loading. Screenshot of issue.
If, instead, I pass the MPMoviePlayerViewController object to a UINavigationController with presentViewController:, the app seems to hang: until I rotate, then suddenly the video appears correctly and starts playing! However, again, all touch input is ignored and the application is essentially locked.
This is one of the strangest issues I've troubleshot.
So I tried using tools others have built. I tried XCDYouTubeKit and YKMediaKit using the Youtube ID instead of the direct link, with the exact same result. After looking at their code, they both use MPMoviePlayerViewControllers.
What's happening here? Can anyone help me figure out what's wrong?
That's surprising. Have you tried playing around with AV Foundation? It's a more modern media API than MediaPlayer.framework.
If you can target iOS 8 only, then AVPlayerViewController is a simple way to playback media via AVPlayer.
Using MPMoviePlayerController, if I make a fullscreen video with ControlStyleFullscreen, then I close it, then I instantiate a new one, the progress bar is gone from the controls in iOS 8 in the second one. This happens 100% of the time. Has anyone else encountered this? Is this an iOS bug? It still happens in 8.2.
Another way to reproduce: using an embedded video with ControlStyleEmbedded, if I run the following code, the progress bar also disappears. Note that the code is intended to force the controls to show after a programmatic pause:
[self.videoPlayer pause];
self.videoPlayer.controlStyle = MPMovieControlStyleNone;
self.videoPlayer.controlStyle = MPMovieControlStyleEmbedded;
I'm working on an iPad project where i have to play short video files one after another smoothly. For playing the videos i'm using MPMoviePlayerController. The problem i'm facing is that when i call
[self.moviePlayer setContentURL:videoURL]
it does start the next video, but there is ±1 sec delay of black screen before it starts to play the next video (the videos are read from the disk, not streamed). I need to avoid this black screen as well as the delay.
So maybe some of you also experienced this problem and have some solutions? Thanks.
Btw, for now, as to at least avoid the black screen, I capture the last frame of the ending video, show it in a UIImageView, and remove it after 1 sec delay. But i'm hoping to find a more elegant fix.
The effect you are talking about is actually a combination of two problems: a black blink when you change the video (which doesn't happen upon assigning the video for the first time) and the delay before the controller starts playing video.
I'm currently screwed with the second one and don't know how to solve yet. As for the first one, just try to use another instance of MPMoviePlayerController. I mean when a video finishes playing (you can subscribe to a corresponding notification) just remove the old player, create a new one and put video there. This way you will avoid blinking, but there will be a delay (not sure, because of loading the video or because of player creation) before the next video starts playing.
Hope this helps a bit.
Fond solution here
http://joris.kluivers.nl/blog/2010/01/04/mpmovieplayercontroller-handle-with-care/
you need to use [self.moviePlayer prepareToPlay]; and catch MPMoviePlayerReadyForDisplayDidChangeNotification to use [self.moviePlayer play];
Old post but Googlers will still come. :)
Creating a new MPMoviePlayerController then assigning it back to my previous player worked for me, no more black screen!
...
[self playVideoWithFilename:#"video1.mp4"];
}
- (void)playVideoWithFilename:(NSString *)fileName
{
MPMoviePlayerController *player = [MPMoviePlayerController new];
_myVidPlayer = player;
player = nil;
NSURL *vidPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] URLForResource:fileName withExtension:nil];
[_myVidPlayer.view setBackgroundColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
[_myVidPlayer.view setFrame:CGRectMake(0, 64, 320, 320)];
[_myVidPlayer setContentURL:vidPath];
[_myVidPlayer setControlStyle:MPMovieControlStyleNone];
[_myVidPlayer setRepeatMode:MPMovieRepeatModeOne];
[_myVidPlayer prepareToPlay];
[self.view addSubview: _myVidPlayer.view];
[_myVidPlayer play];
}
Note:
Available in iOS 2.0 and later
Deprecated in iOS 9.0
"Use AVPlayerViewController in AVKit."
I think that the problem is that the controller will fade out and back in between the movies.
You can control the background view color and contents, but I'm not sure that you can eliminate the fade in/out.