How to Get an Error Description When Playback Fails on Mpmovieplayercontroller

How to get an error description when playback fails on MPMoviePlayerController

Unfortunately, MPMoviePlayerController (up until but not including iOS 4.3) has no verbose identification of problems from what is available from the documentation. It simply returns MPMovieFinishReasonPlaybackError in case of any problem within the UserInfo of that MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification.

With iOS 4.3 we finally got the errorLog and accessLog properties containing extended and pretty helpful information.
See MPMoviePlayerController Reference.

With iOS 5.0 there is an error key coming with that notification also on device builds and not just within the simulator. That error is an instance of NSError and supplies very helpful information. Unfortunately that has not been documented by Apple, hence it may change at any release of iOS. Additionally, there seems to be no explanation on the given error-codes. For example an HTTP-Status:404 would result into an error-code -1100 within the given error instance. However, this would be an example of how to handle this notification in the most proper way.

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

That would be a proper notification handler:

- (void)handleMPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinish:(NSNotification *)notification
{
    NSDictionary *notificationUserInfo = [notification userInfo];
    NSNumber *resultValue = [notificationUserInfo objectForKey:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishReasonUserInfoKey];
    MPMovieFinishReason reason = [resultValue intValue];
    if (reason == MPMovieFinishReasonPlaybackError)
    {
        NSError *mediaPlayerError = [notificationUserInfo objectForKey:@"error"];
        if (mediaPlayerError) 
        {
            NSLog(@"playback failed with error description: %@", [mediaPlayerError localizedDescription]);
        }
        else
        {
            NSLog(@"playback failed without any given reason");
        }
    }
}

Last but not least, do not forget to remove that notification handler from the default center when releasing the instance of the object you are handling it within.

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification
                                              object:nil];

Can MPMoviePlayerViewController return error if video file is corrupt?

I found the similar problem, and I resolve this issue. Try below code:

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(playerPlayingErrorNotification:) name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification object:playerViewController.moviePlayer];

 -(void)playerPlayingErrorNotification:(NSNotification*)notif
{

    NSNumber* reason = [[notif userInfo] objectForKey:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishReasonUserInfoKey];
    switch ([reason intValue]) {
        case MPMovieFinishReasonPlaybackEnded:
            NSLog(@"Playback Ended");        
            break;
        case MPMovieFinishReasonPlaybackError:
            NSLog(@"Playback Error");
            [self performSelector:@selector(CorruptVideoAlertView) withObject:nil afterDelay:1.0];
            break;
        case MPMovieFinishReasonUserExited:
            NSLog(@"User Exited");
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
}

Accept it if it works for you too. Hav a nice day.

Movie player failed to play

MPMoviePlayerController can't play Youtube video. You have to paste direct link to file to play video in such way.

MPMoviePlayerViewController not playing on 2nd run

I see that in your movieFinishedCallback: implementation, you remove the MPMoviePlayerController view, but in your playUrl: implementation, you are only setting the view's frame, presumably after you have already added the view in viewDidLoad.

One obvious change which is worth trying, is update you code to use the AVPictureInPictureController or AVPlayerViewController class from the AVKit framework, or the WKWebView class from WebKit. According to the MPMoviePlayerViewController docs, it is deprecated as of iOS 9:

The MPMoviePlayerViewController class is formally deprecated in iOS 9. (The MPMoviePlayerController class is also formally deprecated.) To play video content in iOS 9 and later, instead use the AVPictureInPictureController or AVPlayerViewController class from the AVKit framework, or the WKWebView class from WebKit.

Try moving the line where you add the view to the hierarchy, to the playUrl: method. Generally, it is good practice to have countering implementations in opposing methods for your event counterparts. For instance, implement a method to build and add a view when an event starts, and have a corresponding method where you tear down and remove the same view when the same event ends. But, I say 'generally' because there are always exceptions, and you may have very compelling reasons for not doing so. So, in this case, the opposing calls are presentMoviePlayerViewControllerAnimated: and dismissMoviePlayerViewControllerAnimated:, available from the UIViewController category.

After changing the view access to using dot-notation, to be consistent with your callback implementation, here is what your new playUrl: implemntation would look like, assuming you're adding the view to self.view:

- (void) playUrl:(NSURL *)movieInfo
{
    NSURL *streamUrl   = movieInfo;
    MPMoviePlayerViewController *mpvc = [[MPMoviePlayerViewController alloc] initWithContentURL:streamUrl];
    [mpvc.view setFrame:self.view.bounds];
    [self.view addSubview:mpvc.view];

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

    mpvc.moviePlayer.movieSourceType = MPMovieSourceTypeStreaming;
    [mpvc.moviePlayer setControlStyle:MPMovieControlStyleFullscreen];
    [mpvc.moviePlayer setShouldAutoplay:YES];
    [mpvc.moviePlayer setFullscreen:NO animated:YES];
    [mpvc setModalTransitionStyle:UIModalTransitionStyleCoverVertical];
    [mpvc.moviePlayer setScalingMode:MPMovieScalingModeNone];
    [mpvc.moviePlayer setUseApplicationAudioSession:NO];
    [self presentMoviePlayerViewControllerAnimated:mpvc];

}

Another option is to simply not remove the player's view in your callback method. If that is not the culprit, then the next thing I would investigate is check if you are sending messages to nil objects. Also, see what happens when you take out all the implementation from movieFinishedCallback:, except for getting and stopping the player.

I hope that helps!

MPMoviePlayerController playback terminates before video finishes

If you're not assigning the newly created MPMoviePlayerController instance to anything other than a variable with local scope (moviePlayer), then the movie player will be deallocated before the movie gets playing. (I imagine the thumbnailImageAtTime call keeps it around for a bit longer.)

Try assigning the movie player instance to a retained (strong) instance variable or property. Of course it should be released when finished, as multiple movie player instances don't play well together.

Also, note that, as of iOS 5, calling prepareToPlay is required. The following is from chapter 28 of Matt Neuberg's Programming iOS 5, Second Edition:

Before you can display a movie in your interface with an MPMoviePlayerController, you must call prepareToPlay, which is supplied through the MPMediaPlayer protocol (adopted by MPMoviePlayerController). This requirement is new in iOS 5, and is a major difference from previous versions of the system; your old code can break if it didn’t make this call.

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