Prevent re-buffering on changing max bit rate in ExoPlayer

Question

I am using setMaxBitrate provided by DefaultTrackSelector to set max bit rate when user changes video quality.

val parameters = defaultTrackSelector.buildUponParameters()
            .setMaxVideoBitrate(bitrate)
            .build()

defaultTrackSelector.parameters = parameters

But as soon as this function is called, the current buffer is discarded & re-buffering is shown right away. Is there any way to keep playing using old buffer & just load the new buffer using the new bitrate settings like YouTube does?

This issue has been discussed here: https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/3522 https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/2250

But there doesn't seem to be any solution yet. Any help regarding this issue would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Easily you can do it.You have to use ExoPlayer already and ExoPlayer is provide a seekTo() method.

On this method,You should pass only player current position at which point you stopped before.

Step:-1 You have to change your Quality like 144p to 720p. on this Changing time you have to store your current ExoPlayer current position used this method:-

Private int currentPosition=player.getCurrentPosition();

Step -2 After you have to build your exoplayer media source:-

// Measures bandwidth during playback. Can be null if not required.
        DefaultBandwidthMeter bandwidthMeter = new DefaultBandwidthMeter();
        // Produces DataSource instances through which media data is loaded.
        DataSource.Factory dataSourceFactory = new DefaultDataSourceFactory(this, Util.getUserAgent(this, getString(R.string.app_name)), bandwidthMeter);
        // This is the MediaSource representing the media to be played.
        MediaSource videoSource = new ExtractorMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory).createMediaSource("Pass Your Video Url");
        // Prepare the player with the source.
        player.prepare(videoSource);

Step 3:- check this condition

if (this.currentPosition > 0) {
        player.seekTo(this.currentPosition);
        this.currentPosition = 0;
        player.setPlayWhenReady(true);
    } else {
        player.setPlayWhenReady(true);
    }

and it's work good you have to watch your video in where are you left.

Step 4:- If your quality his not good that time used is method.

public int getWifiLevel()
{
    WifiManager wifiManager = (WifiManager) context.getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
    int linkSpeed = wifiManager.getConnectionInfo().getRssi();
    int level = WifiManager.calculateSignalLevel(linkSpeed, 5);
    return level;
}

Based on wifi level or link speed you can decide if it has the low connection or high connection internet.