Android SDK: Media Player - Load video stream from HTTP url

Question

I have a MediaPlayerActivity with the following code: This code basically tries to get a video stream from a http url and load it but for some reason it keeps crashing.

public class MediaPlayerActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        this.setContentView(R.layout.video_player);
        SurfaceView v = (SurfaceView) findViewById(R.id.surface_video); 
        SurfaceHolder holder = v.getHolder(); 
        holder.setFixedSize(400,300); 

        MediaPlayer mp = MediaPlayer.create(this, Uri.parse("http://stream-url.com/playlist.m3u8")); 
        mp.setDisplay(holder);
        //mp.setAudioStreamType(2); 
        try {
            //mp.prepare();
            mp.start();
        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }


    }

}

video_player.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
android:orientation="vertical" 
android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
> 
<SurfaceView android:id="@+id/surface_video" 
android:layout_width="250px" 
android:layout_height="250px"> 
</SurfaceView> 
<LinearLayout 
android:orientation="horizontal" 
android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
android:padding="10dip" 
> 
</LinearLayout> 
</LinearLayout> 

When I go to this activity using the following code it crashes:

Intent myIntent = new Intent(HomeActivity.this, MediaPlayerActivity.class);
                    HomeActivity.this.startActivity(myIntent);

What am I doing wrong?

Onionskin

Answer 1

Without logs, two suggestions:

1. try implementing SurfaceHolder.Callback.surfaceCreated().
2. try using MediaPlayer.create() that accepts SurfaceHolder

Details of (1)

Maybe your surface is not yet created when you call start(). You should use MediaPlayer.setDisplay() and MediaPlayer.start() only after surface is created. To do this, you should add overrideSurfaceHolder.Callback.surfaceCreated()`. For example, your code could look like this.

public class MediaPlayerActivity extends Activity implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {
    MediaPlayer mp; 

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        this.setContentView(R.layout.video_player);
        SurfaceView v = (SurfaceView) findViewById(R.id.surface_video); 
        SurfaceHolder holder = v.getHolder(); 
        holder.setFixedSize(400,300);
        holder.addCallback(this). 

        mp = MediaPlayer.create(this, Uri.parse("http://stream-url.com/playlist.m3u8")); 

    @Override
    public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {

        mp.setDisplay(holder); 
        try {
            mp.start();
        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Details of (2)

There seems to be other MediaPlayer.create() that accepts SurfaceHolder as one of the arguments - you could try it: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/MediaPlayer.html#create(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri, android.view.SurfaceHolder)

Barquentine

@Onionskin I've changed my answer, because previous was totally wrong (as create() seems to put MediaPlayer in prepared state). – Barquentine

@Onionskin Did my answer help you with your problem? Also if not, some logs would help. – Barquentine