MPMoviePlayerController showing black empty screen

[erritikamathur]

i use MPMoviePlayerController to play a local file in my Application Document folder which have i have downloaded for a server URL

itemMoviePlayerController = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:fileURL];
 [self.view addSubview:itemMoviePlayerController.view];
 itemMoviePlayerController.fullscreen = YES;
 itemMoviePlayerController.movieSourceType = MPMovieSourceTypeFile;
 itemMoviePlayerController.initialPlaybackTime = -1.0;
 [itemMoviePlayerController play];

When i play .mov file just after i downloaded it ,It shows up a black empty screen & app UI is unusable. But if play same local file next time ,it plays fine. I even verified playState & localState for MPMoviePlayerController they seems fine. What could be reason for black empty screen?

[MozyMac]

Is there sound?

[MBaldo83]

I've had that symptom when the .mov file was not encoded using the codec that MPMoviePlayerController understands, which as I remember is H.264.

Check if it's the code that's the problem by making a movie in iTunes that's formatted to work on the iPhone by selecting any movie that plays in iTunes, and selecting advanced - create iPod / iPhone version.

Check if this one will play, if it does, chances are it's the .mov you're downloading is the wrong codec.

[erritikamathur]

I donot even hear the sound for video.It seems video had ended before it could be played.
Also those videos were the one i created on iPad & upload to server,from where i am basically downloading same file.So i feel its nothing to do with wrong codec
As i mention i am question "When i play same local file next time ,it plays fine"
So it seems too weird

[MBaldo83]

Originally Posted by erritikamathur

As i mention i am question "When i play same local file next time ,it plays fine"
So it seems too weird

Ok, sorry missed that, I guess maybe double check you're getting the correct path to the file you've just downloaded.

Not sure if it'll help, but here's a snippet of how I insert the movie player onto the screen

self.moviePlayer = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:videoUrl];
            [self.moviePlayer.view setFrame:self.view.bounds];
            [self.view insertSubview:self.moviePlayer.view atIndex:10];
            [self.moviePlayer setFullscreen:YES animated:YES];
            [self.moviePlayer play];

good luck!

[erritikamathur]

Path is correct for file which i have downloaded & now playing
Also could iPhone 3G play .mov files using MPMediaPlayerController because MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification gives error log "Unsupported file format"

[MBaldo83]

Originally Posted by erritikamathur

Path is correct for file which i have downloaded & now playing
Also could iPhone 3G play .mov files using MPMediaPlayerController because MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification gives error log "Unsupported file format"

Could there be any difference with the local .mov that plays fine, and the downloaded .mov that doesn't?

Whenever I export movies for playing on iPhone, I always end up with a .m4v, although it does say in the docs that a .mov should work as well. I had your same black screen when I tried to play a .mov, so I thought it must something in the codec.

[erritikamathur]

Thanks MBaldo83 for quick responses.
I am actually saving the downloaded copy of video to App document directory then playing it.So i dont see any differences in both cases.
The only thing is same file plays fine next time.It not only plays on first instance

[wolkje]

Originally Posted by erritikamathur

Thanks MBaldo83 for quick responses.
I am actually saving the downloaded copy of video to App document directory then playing it.So i dont see any differences in both cases.
The only thing is same file plays fine next time.It not only plays on first instance

Hi there erritikamathur,

I've the same problem when I copy a video file from my photo library to my documents. The video doesn't play the first time. And after restarting the app it magically plays.
Did you solve the problem? It's kinda weird to ask the user to restart the app to play the video.