Cannot play mp4 video

Question

I am trying to make a video player in android. It plays the 3GP format videos. But it does not support the mp4 video.Below is my code in android for the same.Why does it not support the mp4 format on the device and emulator?

package com.example.videoplayer;


import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLConnection;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import android.annotation.SuppressLint;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.ProgressDialog;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.StrictMode;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.webkit.URLUtil;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.ImageButton;
import android.widget.Toast;
import android.widget.VideoView;

public class VideoViewDemo extends Activity {
    private static final String TAG = "VideoViewDemo";

    private VideoView mVideoView;
    private EditText mPath;
    private ImageButton mPlay;
    private ImageButton mPause;
    private ImageButton mReset;
    private ImageButton mStop;
    private String current;

    @SuppressLint({ "NewApi", "NewApi", "NewApi" })
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {
        super.onCreate(icicle);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        StrictMode.ThreadPolicy policy = new StrictMode.ThreadPolicy.Builder().permitAll().build();

        StrictMode.setThreadPolicy(policy); 
        mVideoView = (VideoView) findViewById(R.id.surface_view);

        mPath = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.path);
        mPath.setText("ooklnet.com/files/368/368007/video.mp4");

        mPlay = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.play);
        mPause = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.pause);
        mReset = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.reset);
        mStop = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.stop);

        mPlay.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View view) {
                playVideo();
            }
        });
        mPause.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View view) {
                if (mVideoView != null) {
                    mVideoView.pause();
                }
            }
        });
        mReset.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View view) {
                if (mVideoView != null) {
                    mVideoView.seekTo(0);
                }
            }
        });
        mStop.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View view) {
                if (mVideoView != null) {
                    current = null;
                    mVideoView.stopPlayback();
                }
            }
        });
        /*runOnUiThread(new Runnable(){
            public void run() {
                sleep(2000);
                playVideo();

            }

        });*/
        Thread _trd1 = new Thread() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    sleep(2000);
                    runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {


                    public void run() {
                        playVideo();
                    }
                });

                } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        };
        _trd1.start();
    //  new DoBackgroundTask().execute();
    }

    public class DoBackgroundTask extends AsyncTask
    <String, Void, String> {
        @Override
        protected void onPreExecute() {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        }
        protected String doInBackground(String... locationNames) {
            playVideo();
            return null;    
        }

        protected void onPostExecute(String addresses){


            }
        }
    private void playVideo() {
        try {
            final String path = mPath.getText().toString();
            Log.v(TAG, "path: " + path);
            if (path == null || path.length() == 0) {
                Toast.makeText(VideoViewDemo.this, "File URL/path is empty",
                        Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

            } else {
                // If the path has not changed, just start the media player
                if (path.equals(current) && mVideoView != null) {
                    mVideoView.start();
                    mVideoView.requestFocus();
                    return;
                }
                current = path;
                mVideoView.setVideoPath(getDataSource("ooklnet.com/files/368/368007/video.mp4"));
                mVideoView.start();
                mVideoView.requestFocus();

            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e(TAG, "error: " + e.getMessage(), e);
            if (mVideoView != null) {
                mVideoView.stopPlayback();
            }
        }
    }

    private String getDataSource(String path) throws IOException {
        if (!URLUtil.isNetworkUrl(path)) {
            return path;
        } else {
            URL url = new URL(path);
            URLConnection cn = url.openConnection();
            cn.connect();
            InputStream stream = cn.getInputStream();
            if (stream == null)
                throw new RuntimeException("stream is null");
            File temp = File.createTempFile("mediaplayertmp", "dat");
            temp.deleteOnExit();
            String tempPath = temp.getAbsolutePath(); 
            FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(temp);
            byte buf[] = new byte[128];
            do {
                int numread = stream.read(buf);
                if (numread <= 0)
                    break;
                out.write(buf, 0, numread);
            } while (true);
            try {
                stream.close();
            } catch (IOException ex) {
                Log.e(TAG, "error: " + ex.getMessage(), ex);
            }
            return tempPath;
        }
    }

}


Please advise as soon as possible.
Thanks.

Answer 1

The problem might be with the video encoding. Android Froyo and Gingerbread doesn't support H264 formats other than "Baseline" H264. So if your video is Mp4 & H264 encoded make sure its "AVC baseline" encoded. Use some tools like "Media info" in windows/Linux and check your video encoding. Convert the video to Baseline if possible.

An alternative workaround is to skip the Videoview and use a video play intent and redirect the playback to an app. User will be prompted to pick a player to handle the playback. Obviously if the video view cant play the file, the default player also wont be able to handle the file. you can choose some other installed player like Mx-Player which will stream the file perfectly. Hope that solved your issue.

Answer 2

Try correct video url with protocol: http://www.ooklnet.com/files/368/368007/video.mp4