MPMoviePlayerController causes flash of black at start of video

Question

The movie plays just fine but there is a quick black flash right before it plays. Is this a quirk resulting from setting the controlstyle to MPMovieControlStyleNone?

NSString *url = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"00" ofType:@"mov"];
MPMoviePlayerController *player = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] 
    initWithContentURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:url]];

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

//---play video in implicit size---
player.view.frame = CGRectMake(80, 64, 163, 246);
[self.view addSubview:player.view];

// Hide video controls
player.controlStyle =  MPMovieControlStyleNone;

//---play movie---
[player play];

Answer 1

I just had this problem and fixed it by adding an observer to the default NSNotificationCenter to find out when the movie was completely ready to play, and THEN adding the view as a subview to my main view.

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(checkMovieStatus:) name:MPMoviePlayerLoadStateDidChangeNotification object:nil];

...

if(moviePlayer.loadState & (MPMovieLoadStatePlayable | MPMovieLoadStatePlaythroughOK))
{
    [pageShown.view addSubview:moviePlayer.view];
    [moviePlayer play];
}

Answer 2

In IOS 6 mpmoviewplayer added a new property :readyForDisplay

this is what I'm playing around with and so far so good:

1. create mpmovieplayer ,add to stage, hide it.
2. add notification for play state on the movieController

3. wait for the displayState to Change and once its ready show the video controller:

   - (void)moviePlayerPlayState:(NSNotification *)noti {
   
   if (noti.object == self.movieController) {
   
       MPMoviePlaybackState reason = self.movieController.playbackState;
   
        if (reason==MPMoviePlaybackStatePlaying) {
   
                [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name: MPMoviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification object:nil];
   
           dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_LOW, 0), ^{
   
               while (self.movieController.view.hidden)
               {
                   NSLog(@"not ready");
                   if (self.movieController.readyForDisplay) {
   
                    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void) {
                        NSLog(@"show");
                        self.movieController.view.hidden=NO;
                    });
   
                   }
                   usleep(50);
               }
           });
        }
   
   }
   

   }

When the play state changes to MPMoviePlaybackStatePlaying we start checking for the readyDisplayState to change.

Answer 3

Evidently there is a flash of black in the movie rect until enough movie loads so it can start playback. Here is my workaround:

1. Create a UIImageView and put the MPMoviePlayerController in it. That way you can set the alpha to 0.

2. As soon as you call [player play]; to play the video, set up a .5 second timer.

3. When the time is done, change the alpha to 1.

This will make the player invisible for 1/2 second (which hides the black flash).

Answer 4

Create video without addSubview and play instructions:

    NSString *filepath   =   [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"video" ofType:@"mp4"];
    NSURL    *fileURL    =   [NSURL fileURLWithPath:filepath];
    MPMoviePlayerController *moviePlayerController = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:fileURL];
    [moviePlayerController.view setFrame:CGRectMake(80, 64, 163, 246)];
    moviePlayerController.controlStyle = MPMovieControlStyleNone;

Prepare video to play and add notification:

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(checkMovieStatus:) name:MPMoviePlayerLoadStateDidChangeNotification object:nil];
    [moviePlayerController prepareToPlay];

Create function checkMovieStatus with addSubview and play instructions:

- (void)checkMovieStatus:(NSNotification *)notification {
    if(moviePlayerController.loadState & (MPMovieLoadStatePlayable | MPMovieLoadStatePlaythroughOK)) {
        [self.view addSubview:moviePlayerController.view];
        [moviePlayerController play];
    }
}

Answer 5

I believe the black flash may be related to the movieSourceType property of MPMoviePlayerController.

If you don't set it, it defaults to MPMovieSourceTypeUnknown which causes the UI to be delayed until the file is loaded.

Try adding this line:

player.movieSourceType = MPMovieSourceTypeFile;

Right after initializing player.

Answer 6

Or simply change the color of the view, that is what your actually seeing...

player.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:1 green:1 blue:1 alpha:0];

Answer 7

To avoid the black flash, use a MPMoviePlayerViewController instead of a MPMoviePlayerController. I think that this class creates the background on view display, rather than on video load (like MPMoviePlayerController does).

Before adding the moviePlayerViewController.moviePlayer.view to your display view, you have to add a white subview (or a subview appropriate for your content) to the backgroundView, like this:

[moviePlayerViewController.moviePlayer.view setFrame:[displayView bounds]];

UIView *movieBackgroundView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:[displayView bounds]];
movieBackgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
[moviePlayerViewController.moviePlayer.backgroundView addSubview:movieBackgroundView];
[movieBackgroundView release];

Answer 8

Fond solution here http://joris.kluivers.nl/blog/2010/01/04/mpmovieplayercontroller-handle-with-care/ from iOS 6 you need to use [self.moviePlayer prepareToPlay]; and catch MPMoviePlayerReadyForDisplayDidChangeNotification to use [self.moviePlayer play];