Android Question Is there REALLY no way to play MP4 files?

[wimpie3]

I'm struggeling with VideoView (included in the Audio library). VideoView uses the internal MP4 player, and this gives mixed results - on some of my devices the rotation is not respected, which is really a big problem in a professional application. I know there is vitaminio, but this requires an additional plugin to be installed.

Can anyone point me to a NATIVE and reliable MP4 player that can be used in B4A?

 

[Erel]

The only NATIVE video player in Android is VideoView or a similar solution based on the same APIs.

 

[wimpie3]

Erel, so you're actually saying that there is no reliable way to play MP4 files in B4A? You always have to use the (buggy) VideoView and cross your fingers?

 

[thedesolatesoul]

MP4 is just a container. What is the codec?
See here: http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html

Also, this is not a B4A problem, all developers are struggling with the VideoView for one reason or the other.

 

[wimpie3]

The codec used is MP4/H264, but that is not the problem. Some internal videoplayers play portrait oriented videos in landscape format.

I agree, this might not be a B4A problem and indeed, lots of people are having problems with VideoView. However, I cannot imagine there is no solution for this problem in the form of another library that embeds its own MP4/H264 decoding. If not, the only conclusion is that B4A (and Android) cannot play an MP4 file reliably.

 

[thedesolatesoul]

Is it a particular device + android version issue?
I am not surprised it behaves differently on different devices. I dont think a native solution it is reliable. (An MP4 seemed to play on every device except for my SGS).

 

[wimpie3]

Soooooooo... once again: you cannot be 100% sure an MP4 file will be played correctly in B4A (and Android for that matter)?

 

[Erel]

Erel, so you're actually saying that there is no reliable way to play MP4 files in B4A?

B4A is a development tool. It calls the system APIs under the hood. If the native Android video playback features are unreliable then B4A VideoView will also be unreliable.

There is nothing that we can do about it. If you like post an issue here: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list