MediaRecorder gives start error or IllegalStateException

Question

I am using MediaRecorder for recording a video through Camera API of android. I am stucked with a very strange problem.

    private void startRecordingVideo() {
    recorder = new MediaRecorder();
    recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
    recorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
    recorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);
    recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);
    recorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.DEFAULT);
    File file = getAlbumDir();
    recorder.setOutputFile(file.getAbsolutePath());
    recorder.setMaxDuration(50000);
    recorder.setMaxFileSize(5000000);
    recorder.setPreviewDisplay(CameraBridgeViewBase.surfaceHolder.getSurface());
    try {
        recorder.prepare();
        recorder.start();
    } catch (IllegalStateException | IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }     
}

Now this gives me MediaRecorder: start failed: -19 error. I have checked this and this links which says to remove mediaRecorder.setVideoSize(sView.getWidth(), sView.getHeight()); but I didn't usesetVideoSize(sView.getWidth(), sView.getHeight()). With try and error I found that if I remove encoders recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB); and recorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.DEFAULT); app doesn't crash but gives new exception as:

03-23 16:50:06.213 28226-28226/com.scenera.android.surveillance E/MediaRecorder: audio source is set, but audio encoder is not set

I don't understand what I am doing wrong here. Any help would be appriciated. Thanks in advance.

Is this code working on any device or throwing error every time? — global_warming, Mar 23 '18 at 13:03
I tried even different combinations of audio/video source and audio/video encoder, but everytime it gives same error. — Megha Maniar, Mar 24 '18 at 04:20
Did you follow this guide ? https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/camera.html#capture-video It looks like you need to do a MediaRecorder.setCamera() first. — Jerome, Mar 28 '18 at 13:10

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 28 '18 at 15:24

The problem is that you're not setting the camera, using Camera 1 API you should first open the camera, then unlock it and set it to the recorder. Only after that you can continue with the configuration of MediaRecorder (which is btw a very beautifully written piece of API)

MediaRecorder recorder = new MediaRecorder();

Camera camera = Camera.open();
camera.unlock();
recorder.setCamera(camera);
recorder.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder.getSurface());

recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
recorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);

recorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);

recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);
recorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.DEFAULT);

File file = getAlbumDir();
recorder.setOutputFile(file.getAbsolutePath());

recorder.setMaxDuration(50000);
recorder.setMaxFileSize(5000000);
try {
    recorder.prepare();
    recorder.start();
} catch (IllegalStateException | IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Your answer is definitely correct, but what I was looking for is to record a video of motion detected by openCV library. And for that I need to pass `SURFACE` as a video source. Here +1 to you because I didn't know we have to unlocak and release camera while using media recorder. I got solution of my problem from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28663864/recording-live-opencv-processing-on-android. Thank you for your efforts. — Megha Maniar, Apr 02 '18 at 11:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 29 '18 at 09:33

  boolean mStartRecording=false;

first create this variable in the activity and later try below code

if( recorder == null ) {
        recorder = new MediaRecorder();
        recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
        recorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
        recorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);
        recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);
        recorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.DEFAULT);
        File file = getAlbumDir();
        recorder.setOutputFile(file.getAbsolutePath());
        recorder.setMaxDuration(50000);
        recorder.setMaxFileSize(5000000);
        recorder.setPreviewDisplay(CameraBridgeViewBase.surfaceHolder.getSurface());
    }
    if(!mStartRecording) {
        try {
            recorder.prepare();
            recorder.start();
            mStartRecording = true;
        }  catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    } else {
        mStartRecording = false;
        recorder.stop();
        recorder.reset();
        recorder.release();
        recorder = null;
    }

try this and let me know if its work.

MediaRecorder gives start error or IllegalStateException

2 Answers2