Using VideoView for streaming or progressive-download video

Question

I'm confused about how VideoView can be used to play video: from a local file, as progressive download and streaming.

This example work for me (on 1.5 and 2.0 at least) by downloading the file and playing it locally.

But is it necessary to download the video before playing: is it possible to play video as progressive download, or by streaming, simply by using setVideoPath or setVideoURI, as in VideoViewDemo in the API samples?

The VideoViewDemo code suggests using setVideoURI for streaming, but I'm not clear what kind of URL I should be using. Does someone have an example URL for a video that can be streamed to the Android emulator using the VideoViewDemo code?

Can progressive download be used with VideoViewDemo? I get a 'sorry, this video cannot be played' message using setVideoPath with URLs that work fine with the blog example linked to above.(Is this a problem in the emulator? I've tried 1.5 and 2.0.)

I've found a lot of examples and documentation online but, so far, nothing that really answers this question.

Answer 1

is it possible to play video as progressive download, or by streaming, simply by using setVideoPath or setVideoURI, as in VideoViewDemo in the API samples?

It should. It certainly works with MediaPlayer, and VideoView is just a ~200 line wrapper around MediaPlayer and a SurfaceView.

The VideoViewDemo code suggests using setVideoURI for streaming, but I'm not clear what kind of URL I should be using.

http:// and rtsp:// can work, if the video was encoded properly.

Does someone have an example URL for a video that can be streamed to the Android emulator using the VideoViewDemo code?

This video works with MediaPlayer, except on the Nexus One.

EDIT: Actually, that link works with the Nexus One as well.

Answer 2

http:// and rtsp:// can work, if the video was encoded properly.

My stream provider only gives me an uri to their proxy server. It seems like Mediaplayer cant handle those kind of uri's. Webviews interpret the uri and transports the user to the video stream tho. Is my research confirmed, in that case I should contact my stream provider or haven't I discovered all possible tools to solve the issue?

Answer 3

It works for simple cases, but only when it is not required to make some custom preparations for requests to get a stream.

This tutorial shows an example of manual streaming emulation for an audio but it can be a little refactored to play video:

http://blog.pocketjourney.com/2008/04/04/tutorial-custom-media-streaming-for-androids-mediaplayer/

(be sure to use FileDescriptor when setting dataSource, the API was changed slightly from those times).