StageVideo on iOS startup problems

[gordogre]

I have an Air for iOS mobile application that utilizes StageVideo to play locally cached h.264 mp4 files.

My video playback code is very bare-bones and relies on using NetStream directly - I'm not using OSMF.

In general I have no problem playing the video files, but there are two problems I'm facing that seem peculiar because they only occur for H.264 content - if I run the same code with vp6 content, these problems do not occur.

1) all calls to NetStream.play(videoUrl, startTime, duration) always play the full duration of the video file, even if I specify '1' for the duration.

This is a problem because I would prefer to load up the first frame and wait for user interaction to begin further playback.

This problem occurs with both vp6 .flv files as well as for H.264 .mp4 files.

2) when I invoke NetStream.play() the first time, the StageVideo renders some strange "zoom in" effect, where the video appears to be initially rendered at a size of (1,1), then within about 250 milliseconds it grows to be the full size I had requested for the StageVideo.viewport.

I have tried all manner of different .mp4 content, and this very odd "zooming" effect is always present. I've never seen it happen with vp6 .flv content and I always see it happen with H.264 .mp4 content.  I am particularly perplexed because it is so jarring to see, and yet I've never come across anyone else mentioning this behavior.

I could probably post a full demo application if need be, but I'm hoping some of the folks with existing experience with StageVideo on iOS can shed some light on these two issues.

Thanks.

[Brett Forsyth]

I am experiencing the zooming issue as well. Did you find a solution?

[Jamie_McDaniel]

I think I encountered this issue (one of many issues) when working with NetStream and StageVideo on iOS.  If I recall, I used the width and height of the video found in its metadata to initially size the StageVideo. 

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/flash/net/NetStream.html#event:on...

[Applauz78]

Just curious ..   is netStream absolutely needed ?   I have found great performance in loading local videos with the iOS native player instead.  This way you can take advantage of AirPlay as well

[Jamie_McDaniel]

Using a StageWebView for the iOS native player provides great performance, but limited control.  For example, in my app I need a carousel of video objects that the user can scroll horizontally.  If I did that with a StageWebView, the WebView would capture the touch events instead of the AIR app. I could pass that "touch" to AIR via JavaScript, but only to close the video.  The user would need to lift up their finger and touch a second time to then scroll the carousel.

[Applauz78]

Why not have the carousel of poster images...  when you click on the poster image it opens a fullscreen stageWebView playing in the native player.   Have a custom Close button that returns you to the carousel ?

[Jamie_McDaniel]

Your idea would have been the best way to have a carousel and still use a StageWebView.  The client, however, really wanted the video to play in the carousel with the option of pausing, scrubbing, and enlarging as it played.  Also the user could swipe across the playing video carousel to horizontally scroll.  That scroll capability wouldn't work with a StageWebView.

[Applauz78]

Ah .. I see.   ..   Thats too bad that you have to play it inline.  In my opinion its too distracting to watch a video that way ( with so much busyness around it ). 

The scroll capability would work with stageWebView .. you would just have to screenshot the state of the video when the swipe happened.. hide the webview .. place the bitmap .. then remove the bitmap when the swiping animation completes. 

Did you create those controls on your video from scratch ? They look good.  Very simple & clean!

[gordogre]

Someone else has posted this same issue here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4334071

There is apparently a bug open for this, but I don't know the bug number of the current status.

[illuminix-gene]

Hey guys, i am also having the same issue as well. which is bit frustrating.

also, i had the same issue with animation just starting, even though i have netStream.pause().

basically i wanted to load the video (without the zooming effect) and load it paused till user decides to play it.

did you have any luck with either of this problem? thanks!