Develop Reference

Android Video Streaming playing slowly?

I am developing a video based android application. I want to play a video (Video Format: mp4) from a URL. But it's not live stream video stored in the server. Get video URL from JSON object and playing video. The video is playing but not in a good manner.
Sometimes the audio is mismatched then take more time to play some take more time to buffer. But with the same video and same wifi speed I have on my system when playing with chrome it's playing well. I don't know what I am doing wrong? I also tried with android video view but the same problems occurred.
My code to start video player
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.parse(uri), "video/*");
startActivity(intent);
My code to playing with video view
VideoView vidView = (VideoView)findViewById(R.id.myVideo);
String vidAddress = "https://archive.org/download/ksnn_compilation_master_the_internet/ksnn_compilation_master_the_internet_512kb.mp4";
Uri vidUri = Uri.parse(vidAddress);
vidView.setVideoURI(vidUri);
MediaController vidControl = new MediaController(this);
vidControl.setAnchorView(vidView);
vidView.setMediaController(vidControl);
vidView.start();

What android version did you try? Because https is not supported before android 3.1.
Check supported protocols and media formats here

You can use the MediaPlayer to do this.
mMediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
mMediaPlayer.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>();
headers.put("rtsp_transport", "tcp");
headers.put("max_analyze_duration", "500");
mMediaPlayer.setDataSource(context, Uri.parse(videoUrl), headers);

how to differentiate between 3gp audio and 3gp video

I am accessing the videos directly from content provider without storing it in my database. But it is giving me 3gp audio file along with other video and 3gp videos. how could i filter only the video files.I am working for API 8

Try this since you are working on API 8, otherwise METADATA_KEY_HAS_VIDEO could have done the job if API level >= 10.
A work around using MediaPlayer. If media has height it means it is a video.
public boolean isVideoFile(File file) {
int height = 0;
try {
MediaPlayer mp = new MediaPlayer();
FileInputStream fs;
FileDescriptor fd;
fs = new FileInputStream(file);
fd = fs.getFD();
mp.setDataSource(fd);
mp.prepare();
height = mp.getVideoHeight();
mp.release();
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.e(TAG, "Exception trying to determine if 3gp file is video.", e);
}
return height > 0;
}
Source

VideoView vs MediaPlayer?

Please tell me why this would work on with MediaPLayer and not in videoView? And how to make it work with a video view?
Videos are downloaded form an API and saved in this folder I created:
File mediadir = cw.getDir("tvr", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
VideoView
final Uri uri = Uri.parse(path);
// path = /data/data/com.foo.app/tvr/video.mp4
videoView = (VideoView) findViewById(R.id.videoView);
videoView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
videoView.setOnCompletionListener(this);
videoView.setVideoURI(Uri.parse(path));
videoView.start();
Error VideoView Sorry, this Video cannot be player and error (1, -2...)
MediaPlayer --- THIS WORKS
FileInputStream fileInputStream = new FileInputStream(path);
MediaPlayer pl = new MediaPlayer();
pl.setDataSource(fileInputStream.getFD());
pl.prepare();
pl.start();

The basic reason is the MODE_PRIVATE, which disallow VideoView and MediaPlayer from playing non-World Readable files, unless you pass the FD as you have.
Here's a more detailed explanation

Android: Play local video with mediaplayer

I am trying to play a video i have saved in my project. I have download this
(an .mp4 test video) then created a folder within my project called vid on the root of the project. I have then used this code:
public void PlayLocalVideo(View view)
{
VideoView video=(VideoView) findViewById(R.id.video1);
MediaController mediaController = new MediaController(this);
mediaController.setAnchorView(video);
video.setMediaController(mediaController);
video.setKeepScreenOn(true);
video.setVideoPath("android.resource://uk.co.SplashActivity/vid/big_buck_bunny.mp4");
video.start();
video.requestFocus();
}
my xml looks like this:
<VideoView
android:id="#+id/video1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
PlayLocalVideo is a method i have then used on the onclick event on a button. but when i press play nothing happens :(

Just paste the file into res/raw/big_buck_bunny.mp4 instead vid folder and change
your videoPath to:
video.setVideoPath("android.resource://" + getPackageName() + "/" + R.raw.big_buck_bunny);

The problem may be in Android OS defect, which doesn't let you access normally files more than 1Mb size Load files bigger than 1M from assets folder
You probably need to split your video file into 1Mb sized parts. Then merge this parts into one file on sdcard and play it.
For example, I've splited big_buck_bunny.mp4 into 5 parts big_buck_bunny.mp4.part0, big_buck_bunny.mp4.part1 and so on. To merge them you can use this method
private void copyVideoFromAssets(String inFilePrefix, String outFileName) throws IOException {
// Get list of files in assets and sort them
final String[] assetsFiles = getAssets().list("");
Arrays.sort(assetsFiles);
// Open the empty file as the output stream
final OutputStream output = new FileOutputStream(outFileName);
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024 * 128];
for (String file: assetsFiles) {
if (file.startsWith(inFilePrefix)) {
// Open part of file stored in assets as the input stream
final InputStream input = getAssets().open(file);
// Transfer bytes from the input file to the output file
int length = input.read(buffer);
while (length > 0) {
output.write(buffer, 0, length);
length = input.read(buffer);
}
input.close();
}
}
// Close the streams
output.flush();
output.close();
}
public void PlayLocalVideo(View view)
try {
copyVideoFromAssets("big_buck_bunny.mp4.part", "/mnt/sdcard/big_buck_bunny.mp4");
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
VideoView video=(VideoView) findViewById(R.id.video);
MediaController mediaController = new MediaController(this);
mediaController.setAnchorView(video);
video.setMediaController(mediaController);
video.setKeepScreenOn(true);
video.setVideoPath("/mnt/sdcard/big_buck_bunny.mp4");
video.start();
video.requestFocus();
}

Try this code....
1st make folder name raw in res directory, Copy your video in that folder and try out this code...
video1=(VideoView)findViewById(R.id.myvideoview);
video1.setVideoURI(Uri.parse("android.resource://" +getPackageName()+ "/"+R.raw.YOUR_VIDEO_FILE_NAME));
video1.setMediaController(new MediaController(this));
video1.requestFocus();
video1.start();

Streaming AAC audio with Android

As I understand it, Android will only play AAC format audio if it's encoded as MPEG-4 or 3GPP.
I'm able to play AAC audio encoded as M4A when it's local to the app, but it fails when obtaining it from a server.
The following works, as the m4a file is held locally in the res/raw directory.
MediaPlayer mp = MediaPlayer.create(this, R.raw.*file*);
mp.start();
The following doesn't work. (But does with MP3's).
Uri uri = Uri.parse("http://*example.com*/blah.m4a");
MediaPlayer mp = MediaPlayer.create(this, uri);
mp.start();
Can anyone shed any light on why it fails when the m4a audio file is not local?
Here's (some of) the error...
ERROR/PlayerDriver(542): Command PLAYER_INIT completed with an error or info UNKNOWN PVMFStatus
ERROR/MediaPlayer(769): error (200, -32)
WARN/PlayerDriver(542): PVMFInfoErrorHandlingComplete
DEBUG/MediaPlayer(769): create failed:
DEBUG/MediaPlayer(769): java.io.IOException: Prepare failed.: status=0xC8
DEBUG/MediaPlayer(769): at android.media.MediaPlayer.prepare(Native Method)
DEBUG/MediaPlayer(769): at android.media.MediaPlayer.create(MediaPlayer.java:530)
DEBUG/MediaPlayer(769): at android.media.MediaPlayer.create(MediaPlayer.java:507)
...
I'm targeting SDK 1.6.

This work-around allows you to play M4A files from the net (and AAC files in other containers such as MP4 & 3GP). It simply downloads the file and plays from the cache.
private File mediaFile;
private void playAudio(String mediaUrl) {
try {
URLConnection cn = new URL(mediaUrl).openConnection();
InputStream is = cn.getInputStream();
// create file to store audio
mediaFile = new File(this.getCacheDir(),"mediafile");
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(mediaFile);
byte buf[] = new byte[16 * 1024];
Log.i("FileOutputStream", "Download");
// write to file until complete
do {
int numread = is.read(buf);
if (numread <= 0)
break;
fos.write(buf, 0, numread);
} while (true);
fos.flush();
fos.close();
Log.i("FileOutputStream", "Saved");
MediaPlayer mp = new MediaPlayer();
// create listener to tidy up after playback complete
MediaPlayer.OnCompletionListener listener = new MediaPlayer.OnCompletionListener() {
public void onCompletion(MediaPlayer mp) {
// free up media player
mp.release();
Log.i("MediaPlayer.OnCompletionListener", "MediaPlayer Released");
}
};
mp.setOnCompletionListener(listener);
FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(mediaFile);
// set mediaplayer data source to file descriptor of input stream
mp.setDataSource(fis.getFD());
mp.prepare();
Log.i("MediaPlayer", "Start Player");
mp.start();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

I tried it too but I could not find out the solution!
At the last Google I/O I saw something that helped me a lot. It is Extending from MediaPlayer and improve a lot of things! Take a look.
EXOPLAYER CAN HELP YOU A LOT
Check this part of the example:
private static final int BUFFER_SEGMENT_SIZE = 64 * 1024;
private static final int BUFFER_SEGMENT_COUNT = 256;
...
// String with the url of the radio you want to play
String url = getRadioUrl();
Uri radioUri = Uri.parse(url);
// Settings for exoPlayer
Allocator allocator = new DefaultAllocator(BUFFER_SEGMENT_SIZE);
String userAgent = Util.getUserAgent(context, "ExoPlayerDemo");
DataSource dataSource = new DefaultUriDataSource(context, null, userAgent);
ExtractorSampleSource sampleSource = new ExtractorSampleSource(
radioUri, dataSource, allocator, BUFFER_SEGMENT_SIZE * BUFFER_SEGMENT_COUNT);
audioRenderer = new MediaCodecAudioTrackRenderer(sampleSource);
// Prepare ExoPlayer
exoPlayer.prepare(audioRenderer);
EXOPLAYER- I can play anything from streamings (video and audio)!
LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED HELP TO IMPLEMENT IT! :)

This is a wild shot in the dark, but I have seen similar behavior with the flash player where it actually ignores the file name and only relies on the MIME type sent by the server. Any idea what headers are being sent down from example.com? You might want to try wrapping your blah.m4a in a page that can set the headers and then stream the binary data. Give these types a shot and the community would appreciate a confirmation of what works:
audio/mpeg
audio/mp4a
audio/mp4a-latm
audio/aac
audio/x-aac

I found that if you record the audio file on Android with the following properties, you are then able to play it on your server. It also plays well in the HTML Audio Element, however only on Firefox at the moment. This may change in the future.
Android (JAVA):
mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
mediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
mediaRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);
mediaRecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.HE_AAC);
mediaRecorder.setAudioSamplingRate(44100);
mediaRecorder.setAudioChannels(1);
mediaRecorder.setOutputFile(filePath);
HTML:
<audio id="audioMediaControl" controls src="yourfile.m4a"> Your browser does not support the audio element. </audio>

try --
1) MP.prepareAsync()
2) onPrepared() { mp.start() }