Easily Play Movies using the MediaPlayer Framework

[mxweas]

Streaming video using the SDK is incredibly easy thanks to the MPMoviePlayerController class. To start playing a movie just run this code below:

NSURL *myMovieURL = // NSURL that points to a file locally or on the internet.
MPMoviePlayerController* theMovie = [ [ MPMoviePlayerController alloc ] initWithContentURL: myMovieURL ]; // Initialize a MPMoviePlayerController object with the movie.
theMovie.scalingMode = MPMovieScalingModeAspectFill; // Set the scaling mode to fill the screen with the movie.
[ [ NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter ] addObserver: self selector: @selector(movieFinishedCallback:) name: MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification object: theMovie ]; // Add an observer so we can be told when the movie has finished playing.
[ theMovie play ];

Now we need to implement the movieFinishedCallback method to release theMovie.

- (void)movieFinishedCallback:(NSNotification *)notification;
{
    [ [ NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver: self name: MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification object: [ notification object ] ];    
    [ [ notification object ] release ]; // Release the object that sent the notification which is our theMovie object.
}

Max

[bainfu]

This is almost identical to the code I wrote today for this, thanks for the validation . I should have some example code I can release very soon, to give back.

[adeem]

ok, i have one question. Can i loop any video..... ?

i just need to know -- can a 20 second video be looped without any break
i think, you have to call the media player framework?

[bainfu]

I'm not sure if this would work, but one thing you can try on the moviePlayer callback isPlaybackFinished, (or whatever the delegate method's name is) Get the notification object and send the message start back to the movie.

I'll try it later and see if it works.

[mxweas]

I've tried it and the moviePlayer fades out, then fades back in. If you're looking for a loop like in the iPod app, this is not it.

Max

[bainfu]

If the fading is the problem, then maybe paste a UIView overlay with a background color to match your MPMoviePlayerController when beginning the movie.

However after thinking about it the bigger problem would be, that the moviePlayBackDidFinishNSNotification*)notificati on delegate call happens anytime the movie stops.

Even if you click done halfway through.

[adeem]

Thanks Max and Bainfu for your quick replies.

[hypercrypt]

Is there a way to make the movie player follow HTTP 302 Founds? I am trying to use a URL to play that redirects a few times before getting to the actual file. When using the final URL it works fine, but the original won't.

[mxweas]

I use redirects with my videos and they work fine. You could check NSURL or whatever you are passing to it to see if you can tell it to follow redirects.

Max

[allspain]

I was wondering if there was a possibility of having a movie be played in the middle of a UIView and have a button affect the movie, have it replay the movie or a different one altogether.

Basically im looking to have an animated character on a UIView and I was hoping to use videos that i have of the character to have him demonstrate different functions. Would this be possible ?