R – iPhone media player framework : play multiple movie files seamlessly

iphoneiphone-sdk-3.0media-player

I am using the media player framework's MPMoviePlayerController to play local (on device) m4v files. Depending on user's selection, I want to be able to play multiple movies one after the other seamlessly.

To do this, I queue up the movies in an array and in my observer method that is called on the MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification event which is triggered after one movie finishes, I play the next movie in the queue.

However, this is far from seamless. After each movie finishes, the iphone view transitions back to the base view from which the movieplayer was called and then picks up the movie called in the observer method (moviePlayBackDidFinish).

Is there a way to make the movies play one after the other seamlessly without breaking to transition back to the base view?

Just to be very clear, all the movies are local and bundled with the app as resources, not being streamed from anywhere.

Best Answer

You can use AVMutableComposition. It combines media data from multiple file-based sources in a custom temporal arrangement, in order to present or process media data from multiple sources together.

Related Solutions

R – sample code MoviePlayer problem

This problem is occurs only in the simulator not on the actual device. If you want to get rid of this you need to release the MoviePlayer and allocate a new one each time you play a movie. E.g.:

- (void) moviePlayBackDidFinish:(NSNotification*)notification
{
    // remove observer
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] 
     removeObserver:self
     name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification
     object:thePlayer];

    [thePlayer release];
}

and

thePlayer = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:theMovie];

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] 
     addObserver:self 
     selector:@selector(moviePlayBackDidFinish:) 
     name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification 
     object:thePlayer];

[thePlayer play];

elsewhere.

R – MPMoviePlayerController will play once, then throw an error

You have released the movie player. So it has been deallocated.

It seems you have released it elsewhere in your code, probably in the call back method. Just look for every instance you used it.

moviePlayer now points to garbage. So when you try to create a new moviePlayer, your property accessor attempts to send a release message to the garbage stored in moviePlayer.

if you want to deallocate moviePlayer between uses, don't deallocate it, instead set it to nil.

[self setMoviePlayer:nil];

Then when you try to create one you won't be messaging to garbage.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

R – sample code MoviePlayer problem

R – MPMoviePlayerController will play once, then throw an error

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