Background video recording in Android 4.0

Question

I try to organize background video recording in Android 4.0. But I can't do it because of these problems:

1. Dummy Surface does not work in MediaRecorder (error: invalid surface)

2. If you use Surface 1 x 1 px on Activity, Surface is destroyed on Activity pause (recording is stopped)

3. If you use Surface 1 x 1 px on WindowsManager, Surface is destroyed on Application pause (recording is stopped)

4. SurfaceTexture does not work in MediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(new Surface(SurfaceTexture))

5. Widget does not allow to handle Surface 1 x 1 px

6. Status Bar does not allow to handle Surface 1 x 1 px

Please, help me to find right way.

Answer 1

Sample and simple code (tested on Jelly Bean, SGS2):

public class BackgroundVideoRecorder extends Service implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {      private WindowManager windowManager;     private SurfaceView surfaceView;     private Camera camera = null;     private MediaRecorder mediaRecorder = null;      @Override     public void onCreate() {          // Start foreground service to avoid unexpected kill         Notification notification = new Notification.Builder(this)             .setContentTitle("Background Video Recorder")             .setContentText("")             .setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher)             .build();         startForeground(1234, notification);          // Create new SurfaceView, set its size to 1x1, move it to the top left corner and set this service as a callback         windowManager = (WindowManager) this.getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE);         surfaceView = new SurfaceView(this);         LayoutParams layoutParams = new WindowManager.LayoutParams(             1, 1,             WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_OVERLAY,             WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_WATCH_OUTSIDE_TOUCH,             PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT         );         layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.LEFT | Gravity.TOP;         windowManager.addView(surfaceView, layoutParams);         surfaceView.getHolder().addCallback(this);      }      // Method called right after Surface created (initializing and starting MediaRecorder)     @Override     public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder) {          camera = Camera.open();         mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();         camera.unlock();          mediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder.getSurface());         mediaRecorder.setCamera(camera);         mediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.CAMCORDER);         mediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);         mediaRecorder.setProfile(CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_HIGH));          mediaRecorder.setOutputFile(                 Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()+"/"+                 DateFormat.format("yyyy-MM-dd_kk-mm-ss", new Date().getTime())+                 ".mp4"         );          try { mediaRecorder.prepare(); } catch (Exception e) {}         mediaRecorder.start();      }      // Stop recording and remove SurfaceView     @Override     public void onDestroy() {          mediaRecorder.stop();         mediaRecorder.reset();         mediaRecorder.release();          camera.lock();         camera.release();          windowManager.removeView(surfaceView);      }      @Override     public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder, int format, int width, int height) {}      @Override     public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder) {}      @Override     public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) { return null; }  } 

Don't forget about permissions:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" /> 

Answer 2

try {          mediaRecorder.prepare();      } catch (Exception e) {}     mediaRecorder.start();     Timer t = new Timer();     t.schedule(new TimerTask() {         @Override         public void run() {             stopSelf();         }     }, 5000); }catch(Exception e){} 

Just a small modification to the above code...it will save the 5sec file to the root folder in ur sdcard...modify the timer according to ur need. and it worked on Nexus 4 and Micromax as well..