MediaRecorder crashes on start()

Question

I am trying to capture video on long press.

Here is the code that initializes the media recorder.

private void initRecorder(Surface surface) {
    if (camera == null) {
        camera = Camera.open();
        camera.unlock();
    }

    if (mediaRecorder == null)
        mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();

    mediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(surface);
    mediaRecorder.setCamera(camera);


    mediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
    mediaRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);

    File file_image = getDirectory();

    if (!file_image.exists() && !file_image.mkdirs()) {
        Toast.makeText(CameraActivity.this, "Cannot Create Directory", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        return;
    }

    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyymmddhhmmss");
    String date = sdf.format(new Date());
    String photoFile = "GIFVideo" + date + ".mp4";
    String file_name = file_image.getAbsolutePath() + "/" + photoFile;
    File picFile = new File(file_name);

    mediaRecorder.setOutputFile(file_name);

    // No limit. Don't forget to check the space on disk.
    mediaRecorder.setMaxDuration(-1);
    mediaRecorder.setVideoFrameRate(15);

    mediaRecorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.DEFAULT);

    try {
        mediaRecorder.prepare();
    } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
        // This is thrown if the previous calls are not called with the 
        // proper order
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    initSuccess = true;


}

This method gets called from on onSurfaceCreated method like this:

 @Override
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    //Open Camera
    try {
        camera = Camera.open();
    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    if (!initSuccess) {
        initRecorder(holder.getSurface());
    }

    setCameraParameters("back");
    try {

        //Camera Started, tell where to draw
        camera.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder);


        camera.startPreview();

    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

}

And the piece of code that is giving me error is:

btnCapture.setOnLongClickListener(new View.OnLongClickListener() {
        @Override
        public boolean onLongClick(View v) {
            if (!recording) {
                mediaRecorder.start();
                Toast.makeText(CameraActivity.this, "Video Recording Started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                recording = true;

            }
            return false;
        }
    });

Here is the error I am getting:

E/MediaRecorder: start failed: -19
E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
java.lang.RuntimeException: start failed.
at android.media.MediaRecorder.start(Native Method)
at me.iwf.PhotoPickerDemo.CameraActivity$6.onLongClick(CameraActivity.java:283)