Android Question Vitamio licensing problem...

[wimpie3]

I'd like to use the Vitamio plugin to show a short video clip in my app, since VideoView is not available or reliable on every phone. However, it appears you have to pay to use Vitamio. I've filled in the form on the website of the creators, but never got an answer. Did anyone ever get a response? Does this mean I'm unable to use this library? Are there alternative solutions available?

 

[RandomCoder]

The solution I use is to check if other players are installed such as mxplayer or vplayer etc. if they are then call up an intent to allow the user to chose which to use. I only resort to using a videoview if no other player is installed. But the native videoview is very hit and miss as it is only guaranteed to work with mpeg files encoded in the correct format. Some devices such as the galaxy series of mobiles seem to perform better because Samsung has added extra multimedia support to the device.

Regards,
RandomCoder

 

[moster67]

@RandomCoder - that's a good solution if you'd like to use an external player. Vitamio is better suited if you want to integrate the video-player within your app (like standard videoview) since most codecs are supported.

@wimpie3: yes, I got a reply to an enquire I did (standard license) and I fell off my chair. I tried to get a discount but there was very little room for negotiation. You should expect an amount in thousands per year and per app. If you read the license and you are a personal developer not making any money, I guess you can use it without any problems. Alternatively I think you can use Vitamio 3 (or lower versions) even for commercial apps. The license changed if I recall correctly from version 4. But you better check with them (if they reply).

 

[wimpie3]

@moster67: as far as I can see with archive.org, the same license was already in place with version 3. My app is free, but the publisher is a company... I'm not going to pay 1000's of dollars for a simple video clip!

This is a BIG BIG BIG problem, as this means there is NOT ONE SINGLE reliable and cheap way to show an integrated video clip in my B4A app... videoview is really not realiable. Not only because of the codecs, but also because some implementations show the video in the wrong orientation etc etc etc...

 

[hookshy]

Relevant specifications:
1. Everyone except individual needs to buy the Vitamio license, such as: government agency, education,institution, association, enterprise etc.
2. The Vitamio standard edition only limited to individual developers is free.
3.Android and IOS must be separate for authorization.
4.The followings do not belong to the "Standard version"service.

* Problems caused by modifying or using non-original Vitamio programme code;
* Database running errors or crash due to directly manipulate database;
* Faults caused by installing plugins;
* System faults caused by server, virtual machine;
* Re-development or customization
5. Effective Date: 2013.2.17--2014.12.31

It seems standard edition is free to use but I've seen some other libs here ..how do you know if it is standard or not .