Video recorded with Android MediaRecorder is corrupted on Samsung Galaxy S2

Question

Good day! I'm learning how to record video with MediaRecorder but recorded video is corrupted when I play it. See this screenshot: http://www.4shared.com/photo/QtmJCHRi/corrupted-video.html. Picture marked with red rectangle in the left upper corner is what camera can see. But it is so small, it's repeating and there is many green areas. Please advise what am I doing wrong. HW is Samsung Galaxy S2 (GT-I9100, Android 2.3.5). I tried to follow this tutorial: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/camera.html#saving-media

Thank you in advance!

CameraRecorderActivity.java

package cz.ryvo.android.camerarecorder;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.hardware.Camera;
import android.hardware.Camera.CameraInfo;
import android.media.CamcorderProfile;
import android.media.MediaRecorder;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.SurfaceHolder;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.FrameLayout;

public class CameraRecorderActivity extends Activity 
implements SurfaceHolder.Callback, OnClickListener {

private static final String TAG = "CameraRecorderActivity";

public static final int MEDIA_TYPE_IMAGE = 1;
public static final int MEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO = 2;

private Camera mCamera;
private CameraPreview mPreview;
private MediaRecorder mMediaRecorder;
private Button captureButton;
private boolean isRecording = false;

/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);
    // Create an instance of Camera.
    mCamera = getCameraInstance();
    // Create preview view and set it as the content of our activity.
    mPreview = new CameraPreview(this, mCamera);
    int i = R.id.camera_preview;
    Object o = this.findViewById(i);
    FrameLayout preview = (FrameLayout) o;
    preview.addView(mPreview);

 // Add a listener to the Capture button
    captureButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_capture);
    captureButton.setOnClickListener(
        new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                if (isRecording) {
                    // stop recording and release camera
                    mMediaRecorder.stop();  // stop the recording
                    releaseMediaRecorder(); // release the MediaRecorder object
                    mCamera.lock();         // take camera access back from MediaRecorder

                    // inform the user that recording has stopped
                    setCaptureButtonText("Capture");
                    isRecording = false;
                } else {
                    // initialize video camera
                    if (prepareVideoRecorder()) {
                        // Camera is available and unlocked, MediaRecorder is prepared,
                        // now you can start recording
                        mMediaRecorder.start();

                        // inform the user that recording has started
                        setCaptureButtonText("Stop");
                        isRecording = true;
                    } else {
                        // prepare didn't work, release the camera
                        releaseMediaRecorder();
                        // inform user
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    );
}

public void setCaptureButtonText(String s) {
    captureButton.setText(s);
}

@Override
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    // The Surface has been created, now tell the camera where to draw the preview.
    try {
        mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
        mCamera.startPreview();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "Error setting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
    }
}

@Override
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width,
        int height) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
}

@Override
public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
}

/** Create a File for saving an image or video */
private static File getOutputMediaFile(int type){
    // To be safe, you should check that the SDCard is mounted
    // using Environment.getExternalStorageState() before doing this.
    File mediaStorageDir = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(
              Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES), "MyCameraApp");
    // This location works best if you want the created images to be shared
    // between applications and persist after your app has been uninstalled.
    // Create the storage directory if it does not exist
    if (! mediaStorageDir.exists()){
        if (! mediaStorageDir.mkdirs()){
            Log.d("MyCameraApp", "failed to create directory");
            return null;
        }
    }
    // Create a media file name
    String timeStamp = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss").format(new Date());
    File mediaFile;
    if (type == MEDIA_TYPE_IMAGE){
        mediaFile = new File(mediaStorageDir.getPath() + File.separator +
        "IMG_"+ timeStamp + ".jpg");
    } else if(type == MEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO) {
        mediaFile = new File(mediaStorageDir.getPath() + File.separator +
        "VID_"+ timeStamp + ".mp4");
    } else {
        return null;
    }
    return mediaFile;
}

private boolean prepareVideoRecorder(){
    //mCamera = getCameraInstance();
    mMediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
    // Step 1: Unlock and set camera to MediaRecorder
    mCamera.unlock();
    mMediaRecorder.setCamera(mCamera);
    // Step 2: Set sources
    mMediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.CAMCORDER);
    mMediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
    mMediaRecorder.setVideoSize(720, 480);
    // Step 3: Set a CamcorderProfile (requires API Level 8 or higher)
    mMediaRecorder.setProfile(CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_HIGH));
    // Step 4: Set output file
    mMediaRecorder.setOutputFile(getOutputMediaFile(MEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO).toString());
    // Step 5: Set the preview output
    mMediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(mPreview.getHolder().getSurface());
    // Step 6: Prepare configured MediaRecorder
    try {
        mMediaRecorder.prepare();
    } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "IllegalStateException preparing MediaRecorder: " + e.getMessage());
        releaseMediaRecorder();
        return false;
    } catch (IOException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "IOException preparing MediaRecorder: " + e.getMessage());
        releaseMediaRecorder();
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}


@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
    /*
    Log.i("onClick", "BEGIN");
    if(!recording) {
        recording = startRecording();
    } else {
        stopRecording();
        recording = false;
    }
    Log.i("onClick", "END");
    */
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
    super.onPause();
    releaseMediaRecorder();       // if you are using MediaRecorder, release it first
    releaseCamera();              // release the camera immediately on pause event
}

private void releaseMediaRecorder(){
    if (mMediaRecorder != null) {
        mMediaRecorder.reset();   // clear recorder configuration
        mMediaRecorder.release(); // release the recorder object
        mMediaRecorder = null;
        mCamera.lock();           // lock camera for later use
    }
}

private void releaseCamera(){
    if (mCamera != null){
        mCamera.release();        // release the camera for other applications
        mCamera = null;
    }
}

  private Camera getCameraInstance(){
          Camera c = null;
          try {
              c = Camera.open(); // attempt to get a Camera instance
              //c = this.open(); // attempt to get a Camera instance
          }
          catch (Exception e){
              // Camera is not available (in use or does not exist)
          }
          return c; // returns null if camera is unavailable
    }

    public Camera open() {
        int numberOfCameras = Camera.getNumberOfCameras();
        CameraInfo cameraInfo = new CameraInfo();
        for (int i = 0; i < numberOfCameras; i++) {
            Camera.getCameraInfo(i, cameraInfo);
            if (cameraInfo.facing == CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_BACK) {
                return Camera.open(i);
            }
        }
        return null;
    }     
}

CameraPreview.java

package cz.ryvo.android.camerarecorder;

import java.io.IOException;
import android.content.Context;
import android.hardware.Camera;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.SurfaceHolder;
import android.view.SurfaceView;

public class CameraPreview extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {

private static final String TAG = "CameraPreview";

private SurfaceHolder mHolder;
private Camera mCamera;

public CameraPreview(Context context, Camera camera) {
    super(context);
    mCamera = camera;
    // Install a SurfaceHolder.Callback so we get notified when the
    // underlying surface is created and destroyed.
    mHolder = getHolder();
    mHolder.addCallback(this);
    // deprecated setting, but required on Android versions prior to 3.0
    mHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
}

public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    // The Surface has been created, now tell the camera where to draw the preview.
    try {
        mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
        mCamera.startPreview();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "Error setting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
    }
}

public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    // empty. Take care of releasing the Camera preview in your activity.
}

public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int w, int h) {
    // If your preview can change or rotate, take care of those events here.
    // Make sure to stop the preview before resizing or reformatting it.

    if (mHolder.getSurface() == null){
      // preview surface does not exist
      return;
    }

    // stop preview before making changes
    try {
        mCamera.stopPreview();
    } catch (Exception e){
      // ignore: tried to stop a non-existent preview
    }

    // make any resize, rotate or reformatting changes here

    // start preview with new settings
    try {
        mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(mHolder);
        mCamera.startPreview();

    } catch (Exception e){
        Log.d(TAG, "Error starting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

Answer 1

I read about it somewhere (I think it was in SO). The problem is that apparently, the Samsung Galaxy doesn't support recording in HIGH QUALITY (CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_HIGH).

Try with CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_LOW. to see if it works.

EDIT: I found the question with the same issue here