How to use MediaCodec without MediaExtractor for H264

Question

I need to use MediaCodec without the MediaExtractor and I'm reading the file using a FileInputStream. Currently it is not working, it is showing a greenish scrambled image on the screen.

This is the whole source code:

FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream("/sdcard/sample.ts");

String mimeType = "video/avc";
MediaCodec decoder = MediaCodec.createDecoderByType(mimeType);
MediaFormat format = MediaFormat.createVideoFormat(mimeType, 1920, 1080);

byte[] header_sps = { 0, 0, 0, 1, 103, 100, 0, 40, -84, 52, -59, 1, -32, 17, 31, 120, 11, 80, 16, 16, 31, 0, 0, 3, 3, -23, 0, 0, -22, 96, -108 };
byte[] header_pps = { 0, 0, 0, 1, 104, -18, 60, -128 };
format.setByteBuffer("csd-0", ByteBuffer.wrap(header_sps));
format.setByteBuffer("csd-1", ByteBuffer.wrap(header_pps));
format.setInteger(MediaFormat.KEY_MAX_INPUT_SIZE, 1920 * 1080);
format.setInteger("durationUs", 63446722);

decoder.configure(format, surface, null, 0);
decoder.start();

ByteBuffer[] inputBuffers = decoder.getInputBuffers();
ByteBuffer[] outputBuffers = decoder.getOutputBuffers();
BufferInfo info = new BufferInfo();
boolean isEOS = false;
long startMs = System.currentTimeMillis();

while (!Thread.interrupted()) {
    if (!isEOS) {
        int inIndex = decoder.dequeueInputBuffer(1000);
        if (inIndex >= 0) {
            byte buffer2[] = new byte[18800 * 8 * 8 * 8];
            ByteBuffer buffer = inputBuffers[inIndex];
            int sampleSize;

            sampleSize = in.read(buffer2, 0, 18800 * 4);

            buffer.clear();
            buffer.put(buffer2, 0, sampleSize);
            buffer.clear();

            if (sampleSize < 0) {
                decoder.queueInputBuffer(inIndex, 0, 0, 0, MediaCodec.BUFFER_FLAG_END_OF_STREAM);
                isEOS = true;
            } else {
                decoder.queueInputBuffer(inIndex, 0, sampleSize, 0, 0);
            }
        }
    }

    int outIndex = decoder.dequeueOutputBuffer(info, 10000);
    switch (outIndex) {
    case MediaCodec.INFO_OUTPUT_BUFFERS_CHANGED:
        Log.d("DecodeActivity", "INFO_OUTPUT_BUFFERS_CHANGED");
        outputBuffers = decoder.getOutputBuffers();
        break;
    case MediaCodec.INFO_OUTPUT_FORMAT_CHANGED:
        Log.d("DecodeActivity", "New format " + decoder.getOutputFormat());
        break;
    case MediaCodec.INFO_TRY_AGAIN_LATER:
        Log.d("DecodeActivity", "dequeueOutputBuffer timed out! " + info);
        break;
    default:
        ByteBuffer buffer = outputBuffers[outIndex];
        Log.v("DecodeActivity", "We can't use this buffer but render it due to the API limit, " + buffer);

        while (info.presentationTimeUs / 1000 > System.currentTimeMillis() - startMs) {
            try {
                sleep(10);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
                break;
            }
        }
        decoder.releaseOutputBuffer(outIndex, true);
        break;
    }

    if ((info.flags & MediaCodec.BUFFER_FLAG_END_OF_STREAM) != 0) {
        Log.d("DecodeActivity", "OutputBuffer BUFFER_FLAG_END_OF_STREAM");
        break;
    }
}

decoder.stop();
decoder.release();

If I use the MediaExtractor, everything works fine. I got the SPS/PPS values by looking at the MediaFormat when using MediaExtractor. If I remove the section below, nothing is shown on the screen.

byte[] header_sps = { 0, 0, 0, 1, 103, 100, 0, 40, -84, 52, -59, 1, -32, 17, 31, 120, 11, 80, 16, 16, 31, 0, 0, 3, 3, -23, 0, 0, -22, 96, -108 };
byte[] header_pps = { 0, 0, 0, 1, 104, -18, 60, -128 };
format.setByteBuffer("csd-0", ByteBuffer.wrap(header_sps));
format.setByteBuffer("csd-1", ByteBuffer.wrap(header_pps));
format.setInteger(MediaFormat.KEY_MAX_INPUT_SIZE, 1920 * 1080);
format.setInteger("durationUs", 63446722);

What I am missing? How can I get the SPS/PPS values programatically without MediaExtractor?

Answer 1

I'm assuming you're reading a raw H.264 elementary stream and not an MP4 file.

It looks like you're feeding fixed-size blocks of data to the decoder. That doesn't work. You need to put a single access unit into each buffer.

Answer 2

To your last question i.e. how can you get SPS and PPS values, you need to have a mechanism to read the same from the file.

If you are having an elementary stream file, then you would need to parse the file, identify NALU headers and extract the content.

If you have container format, you will need to have a mechanism to read the file format of the container type and extract the information.

If you have a streaming input, then you can receive the content from the incoming SDP information.

As for your current code, I would recommend concatenating both SPS and PPS into one buffer and provide the same to the underlying codec as shown below

byte[] csd_info = { 0, 0, 0, 1, 103, 100, 0, 40, -84, 52, -59, 1, -32, 17, 31, 120, 11, 80, 16, 16, 31, 0, 0, 3, 3, -23, 0, 0, -22, 96, -108, 0, 0, 0, 1, 104, -18, 60, -128 };
format.setByteBuffer("csd-0", ByteBuffer.wrap(csd_info));
format.setInteger(MediaFormat.KEY_MAX_INPUT_SIZE, 1920 * 1080);
format.setInteger("durationUs", 63446722);