iOS 7 MPMoviePlayerController seek forward button brings the video to the End and displays Black screen

Question

I am facing an issue with MPMoviePlayerController in iOS 7. I enter the fullscreen and then click (just a single tap) on seek forward button (>>|) , and the video playback ends and gives a black screen with a text "Loading" on the header.

I registered notification for "MPMoviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification".

**[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(moviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChange:)
                                                 name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification
                                               object:self.player];**

It does not get fired on a single click of seek forward button.

Also on registration of "MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification"

**[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(moviePlayerPlaybackDidFinish:)
                                                 name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification
                                               object:nil];**

I get "MPMovieFinishReasonPlaybackEnded" event fired on that single click of seek forward button. Any one knows the reason why? Is this a bug in apple?

I need to either stop this behavior of showing a black screen on single click , or just disable single click of seek forward button so that nothing happens.

Any one knows how to achieve this?

Answer 1

I fixed this by removing the MPMoviePlayer object completely, setting it to nil, removing it from it's superview and re-adding it using the original video Url. Code below:

- (void)addPlayerForUrl:(NSURL *)url {
  self.player = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:url];
  self.player.view.frame = self.videoView.bounds;
  self.player.view.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;
  self.player.controlStyle = MPMovieControlStyleDefault;
  [self.videoView insertSubview:self.player.view atIndex:0];

  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                           selector:@selector(moviePlayerLoadStateDidChangedNotification:)
                                               name:MPMoviePlayerReadyForDisplayDidChangeNotification
                                             object:self.player];

  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                           selector:@selector(moviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification:)
                                               name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification
                                             object:self.player];
}


#pragma mark - Notifications

- (void)moviePlayerLoadStateDidChangedNotification:(NSNotification *)notification {
  self.isVideoPreloaded = YES;
  self.videoPlayButton.hidden = YES;
  self.photoImageView.hidden = YES;
  self.videoLoadingImageView.hidden = YES;
}
- (void)moviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification:(NSNotification *)notification {
      NSURL *url = self.player.contentURL;
      switch (self.player.playbackState) {
        case MPMoviePlaybackStateSeekingBackward:
        case MPMoviePlaybackStateSeekingForward:
          break;
        case MPMoviePlaybackStatePlaying:
          self.videoPlayButton.hidden = YES;

          if (!self.isVideoPreloaded) {
            self.videoLoadingImageView.hidden = NO;
            [self.videoLoadingImageView startAnimating];
          } else {
            self.videoLoadingImageView.hidden = YES;
          }
          break;
        case MPMoviePlaybackStatePaused:
        case MPMoviePlaybackStateStopped:
          self.videoPlayButton.hidden = NO;
          self.videoLoadingImageView.hidden = YES;
          [self.player endSeeking];
          [self.player.view removeFromSuperview];
          [self.player setFullscreen:NO];
          self.player = nil;
          [self addPlayerForUrl:url];
          break;
        default:
          break;
      }
    }

Notice how I keep the NSURL, right before the switch statement in the moviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification. That way, I can re-initialize and re-add the MPMoviePlayer object.

Btw, my mpmovieplayer is on a tableviewCell if you're wondering. Hope this helps and let me know if you have questions. Good luck!

Answer 2

MPMoviePlayerLoadStateDidChangeNotification will be called when you single tap on the fast-forward or rewind button. You should check the loadState and just give it the path to your video and prepareToPlay again.

- (void)moviePlayerLoadStateChanged:(NSNotification *)notification {

    MPMoviePlayerController *moviePlayer = notification.object;
    MPMovieLoadState loadState = moviePlayer.loadState;

    if(loadState == MPMovieLoadStateUnknown) {
        moviePlayer.contentURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:videoPath]
        [moviePlayer prepareToPlay];
    }

    .....
}