tvOS AVPlayerViewController Video Info

Question

In the built in apps for tvOS when you watch a video it shows information about that video when you swipe down. I can't find any information on how a developer can do this same thing. I'm sure it is designed to be possible as it says "Swipe down for info" Has anybody figured this out? I'm using AVPlayerViewController. Thanks.

Answer 1

To get the "Info" section to show up in the "Swipe down for info" pane in AVPlayerViewController you create AVMutableMetadataItems with the AVMetadataKeySpaceCommon keyspace and any of the following keys:

AVMetadataCommonKeyTitle
AVMetadataCommonKeyDescription
AVMetadataiTunesMetadataKeyContentRating
AVMetadataQuickTimeMetadataKeyGenre

and add them to the AVPlayerItem's externalMetadata array. In order for each AVMutableMetadataItem to show up you must at least set the identifier, extendedLanguageTag, and value properties. Here's an example:

let mediaItem = AVPlayerItem(URL: mediaURL)

let titleMetadataItem = AVMutableMetadataItem()
titleMetadataItem.locale = NSLocale.currentLocale()
titleMetadataItem.key = AVMetadataCommonKeyTitle
titleMetadataItem.keySpace = AVMetadataKeySpaceCommon
titleMetadataItem.value = "The Title"

let descriptionMetadataItem = AVMutableMetadataItem()
descriptionMetadataItem.locale = NSLocale.currentLocale()
descriptionMetadataItem.key = AVMetadataCommonKeyDescription
descriptionMetadataItem.keySpace = AVMetadataKeySpaceCommon
descriptionMetadataItem.value = "This is the description"

mediaItem.externalMetadata.append(titleMetadataItem)
mediaItem.externalMetadata.append(descriptionMetadataItem)

This isn't well-documented. This forum post was critical to figuring this out.

---

Objective-C example for @JenelEjercitoMyers:

AVPlayerItem *mediaItem = [[AVPlayerItem alloc] initWithURL:mediaURL];

AVMutableMetadataItem *titleMetadataItem = [[AVMutableMetadataItem alloc] init];
titleMetadataItem.locale = NSLocale.currentLocale;
titleMetadataItem.key = AVMetadataCommonKeyTitle;  
titleMetadataItem.keySpace = AVMetadataKeySpaceCommon;  
titleMetadataItem.value = @"The Title";

NSArray *externalMetadata = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:titleMetadataItem, nil];

mediaItem.externalMetadata = externalMetadata;

Answer 2

The accepted answer is correct. We can use AVMutableMetadataItem to provide video related information.

But if you need to have more options in player menu, it is better to create a UIViewController with custom information and settings option [based on your requirement] and set it as AVPlayerViewController's customInfoViewController.

This is available from tvOS 11.0

Official apple docs on this: Apple Docs Link

Answer 3

In addition to Jeff's answer, this is the function I use to avoid repetivity:

private func setupMetadata(data: String, key: (NSCopying & NSObjectProtocol))->AVMutableMetadataItem{

    let metadataItem = AVMutableMetadataItem()
    metadataItem.locale = NSLocale.current
    metadataItem.key = key
    metadataItem.keySpace = AVMetadataKeySpaceCommon
    metadataItem.value = data as (NSCopying & NSObjectProtocol)?

    return metadataItem

}

and in use:

    //in AVPlayerViewControler
    //Suppose you have an already initialized avPlayerItem
    avPlayerItem.externalMetadata.append(self.setupMetadata(data: "title of video", key: AVMetadataCommonKeyTitle as (NSCopying & NSObjectProtocol)))
    avPlayerItem.externalMetadata.append(self.setupMetadata(data: "RugDealer", key: AVMetadataCommonKeyAuthor as (NSCopying & NSObjectProtocol)))
    avPlayerItem.externalMetadata.append(self.setupMetadata(data: "Description of the video", key: AVMetadataCommonKeyDescription as (NSCopying & NSObjectProtocol)))

Answer 4

In addition to the above answers, I also wanted to add artwork, genres and content rating to the top shelf. This being slightly different from whats mentioned. They can be added as follows to the externalMetadata array.

//Sets the content rating on the top shelf
AVMutableMetadataItem *ratingInfo = [[AVMutableMetadataItem alloc] init];
ratingInfo.key = AVMetadataiTunesMetadataKeyContentRating;
ratingInfo.keySpace = AVMetadataKeySpaceiTunes;
ratingInfo.locale = [NSLocale currentLocale];
ratingInfo.value = @"PG-13"; //Rating of the video
ratingInfo.extendedLanguageTag = @"und";
[externalMetadata addObject:ratingInfo];

//Sets the thumbnail on the shelf
AVMutableMetadataItem *artwork1 = [[AVMutableMetadataItem alloc] init];
artwork1.key = AVMetadataCommonKeyArtwork;
artwork1.keySpace = AVMetadataKeySpaceCommon;
NSData *imageData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:artworkAddress]];
artwork1.value = imageData;
artwork1.locale = [NSLocale currentLocale];
[externalMetadata addObject:artwork1];

//Sets the Genre on the shelf
AVMutableMetadataItem *genresInfo = [[AVMutableMetadataItem alloc] init];
genresInfo.key = AVMetadataQuickTimeMetadataKeyGenre;
genresInfo.keySpace = AVMetadataKeySpaceQuickTimeMetadata;
genresInfo.locale = [NSLocale currentLocale];
genresInfo.value = @"Drama, Medical";
[externalMetadata addObject:genresInfo];

Answer 5

FYI, I couldn't get this to show up on a simulator running tvOS 12.2 or 13 (beta). What finally got it working was adding metadataItem.locale = NSLocale.current. Comment that out, it doesn't appear.