Small video playback

Question

From what I have gathered from internets the MPMoviePlayerController class doesn't support small video playback. So, in an effort to beat a dead horse I was wondering what kind of methods could be used to get a small video playing in a corner of the screen without interrupting the rest of the screen.

So far we've come across two solutions that may work: using a UIImageView and flopping images through it like a madman and using a large fullscreen video with all the animations we need already on it and skipping around as needed.

Am I wrong about the MPMoviePlayerController not supporting non-fullscreen video? Is their an easier solution than making UIImageView flip-books? Is cutting around a video a performance hazard?

Answer 1

After researching for about 1 hour, I didn't find anything. It appears impossible to play video non-fullscreen on the iPhone. I didn't check for openGL ES though.

Answer 2

I think you're stuck with flip books. Pretty sure the fullscreen video issue is a limitation of the hardware video decoder.

Answer 3

well.. i have been looking for and haven't found the alternate yet!

But there are some applications already does it! check TVUlite from TVUNetworks

Answer 4

As I mentioned in another reply, this blog post http://www.nightirion.com/2010/01/scaling-a-movie-on-the-iphone/ mentions a method that will allow you to play non-fullscreen video. However, I'm not sure if this method will be approved by the app store verification process.