B4A Library ExoPlayer - MediaPlayer / VideoView Alternative

Edit: new version: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/exoplayer-media3-video-player.158204/

ExoPlayer is an open source project that replaces the native MediaPlayer and VideoView types.
https://google.github.io/ExoPlayer/
License: Apache 2.0

It supports more media formats, it is more powerful and more customizable.
It is supported by Android 4.1+ (API 16+).

There are two types: SimpleExoPlayer and SimpleExoPlayerView.

SimpleExoPlayer is the internal engine, it is similar to MediaPlayer. SimpleExoPlayerView provides the interface.
SimpleExoPlayer can be used without the interface.
SimpleExoPlayer should be a process global variable.

Example of video playback from an asset file (same exact code will work with audio files as well):

Sub Process_Globals
   Private player1 As SimpleExoPlayer
End Sub

Sub Globals
   Private SimpleExoPlayerView1 As SimpleExoPlayerView
End Sub

Sub Activity_Create(FirstTime As Boolean)
   If FirstTime Then
     player1.Initialize("player")
     player1.Prepare(player1.CreateFileSource(File.DirAssets, "BLE_Chat.mp4"))
   End If
   Activity.LoadLayout("1")
   SimpleExoPlayerView1.Player = player1 'Connect the interface to the engine
End Sub

You can use player.CreateUriSource to load a remote resource:

player1.Prepare(player1.CreateUriSource("https://..."))

Or you can use one of the following methods for streaming resources:

CreateHLSSource - Http Live Streaming
CreateDashSource - Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over Http
CreateSmoothStreamingSource - Smooth Streaming


You can also create a playlist with multiple sources:

Sub Activity_Create(FirstTime As Boolean)
   If FirstTime Then
     player1.Initialize("player")
     Dim sources As List
     sources.Initialize
     sources.Add(player1.CreateDashSource("http://www.youtube.com/api/manifest/dash/id/bf5bb2419360daf1/source/youtube?as=fmp4_audio_clear,fmp4_sd_hd_clear&sparams=ip,ipbits,expire,source,id,as&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=19000000000&signature=51AF5F39AB0CEC3E5497CD9C900EBFEAECCCB5C7.8506521BFC350652163895D4C26DEE124209AA9E&key=ik0"))
     sources.Add(player1.CreateHLSSource("https://devimages.apple.com.edgekey.net/streaming/examples/bipbop_4x3/bipbop_4x3_variant.m3u8"))
     sources.Add(player1.CreateUriSource("http://html5demos.com/assets/dizzy.mp4"))
     player1.Prepare(player1.CreateListSource(sources))

   End If
   Activity.LoadLayout("1")
   SimpleExoPlayerView1.Player = player1
   player1.Play
End Sub

The library is attached.


It depends on several additional aar files (should be copied to the additional libraries folder):
www.b4x.com/android/files/exoplayer-additional_libs.zip

Updates:

V1.52 - Previous fix was incomplete. New version solves the issue.
V1.51 - Fixes an incompatibility between ExoPlayer and Firebase. Make sure to update the additional libs package.
V1.50 - New version based on ExoPlayer 2.13.3 (https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/blob/release-v2/RELEASENOTES.md). The additional libs package was also updated.
V1.41 - Fixes a bug where the designer properties where missing.
V1.40 - Based on ExoPlayer v2.11.3. Make sure to update the additional libs as well.

V1.30 - New InitializeCustom method that allows creating the native player with JavaObject.

V1.20 - Based on ExoPlayer v2.10.2. This is a large update. Not all existing customizations (based on JavaObject) will work without modifications.

V1.10 - Based on ExoPlayer v2.5.3.

Make sure to update the additional aar files as well.

 

[KZero]

amazing
does it support RTSP ?

 

[Erel]

rtsp is not supported. You can see the supported formats here: https://google.github.io/ExoPlayer/supported-formats.html

 

[blong]

Tried running example and had following message
Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Anywhere Software\Basic4android\libraries\exoplayer.aar'.

Note extension is .aar ??

 

[Erel]

See the instructions in the first post: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/exoplayer-mediaplayer-videoview-alternative.72652/
Note that it requires B4A v6+.

 

[susu]

How can I add SimpleExoPlayerView1 to Activity by code? I tried the code below but my app crash

SimpleExoPlayerView1.Initialize("")
player1.Initialize("player")
player1.Prepare(player1.CreateHLSSource("http://video-site.com/file.mp4"))

Activity.AddView(SimpleExoPlayerView1, 0, 0, 50%x, 50%y)
SimpleExoPlayerView1.Player = player1

 

[Erel]

How can I add SimpleExoPlayerView1 to Activity by code?

You cannot. However you can create a layout file with only the SimpleExoPlayerView and load this layout one or more times and do whatever you like with the view.

probably ...\res/values... should be ...\res\values... but where is this to be found?

It is not related to the slashes.

Which version of Android SDK Build Tools (check it in Android SDK manager) are you using?

 

[Erel]

The correct solution is to upgrade to Windows 7 and upgrade the build tools.

You can try to:

1. Open the aar file with 7zip.
2. Delete the folder res\values-b+sr+Latn

 

[Erel]

You should use SDK build tools v23+.

 

[Edson Freire]

com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.AssetDataSource$AssetDataSourceException: java.io.FileNotFoundException:

I'm using correct path.

Main.Music.Prepare(Main.Music.CreateFileSource(File.DirAssets,"once_upon_a_time.mp3"))

I already checked the file to see if exists, and yes, exist.

Sorry for bad english..

 

[Erel]

Can you post the full error message?

Does it happen in both debug mode and release mode?

 

[Edson Freire]

Can you post the full error message?

Does it happen in both debug mode and release mode?

I get this error in:

Music_Error (Message As String)

 

[Erel]

1. Can you upload the project?
2. Did you test it in release mode?

 

[Edson Freire]

1. I can't upload here (max 512kb). http://www.filedropper.com/project_20
2. Yes.

 

[Erel]

Works fine here (note that exo should only be initialized when FirstTime is true).

1. Are you testing it on a real device?
2. Try to copy the file to File.DirInternal and then play it from there.

 

[DrAlex]

The example with the streaming video works fine, but when I try to play a video file from a web site, it hangs every few seconds for buffering. Is there a way to speed it up? It's not a problem of the connection speed, because in a browser the same file displays fast

 

[Erel]

No. The buffering is handled internally.

 

[DrAlex]

Anyway, it is intolerably slow.

 

[DrAlex]

Have you any ideas how to speed it up?

 

[Erel]

No. It is handled internally by the native library.