Programming iOS 6, 3rd Edition

Chapter 28. Video

Basic video playback is performed in a view owned by an MPMoviePlayerController. You’ll need to link to MediaPlayer.framework and import <MediaPlayer/MediaPlayer.h>. There are two relevant classes supplied by the Media Player framework:

MPMoviePlayerController

Vends a view that plays a movie, along with controls letting the user regulate playback.

MPMoviePlayerViewController

A UIViewController subclass that owns an MPMoviePlayerController and displays its view, along with controls letting the user regulate playback.

Warning

The behavior of MPMoviePlayerController has changed significantly from one system version to the next. It is difficult to use it compatibly with multiple system versions. In this chapter, I describe only its current behavior, with no attempt to discuss earlier differences or to advise you on backward compatibility.

A simple interface for letting the user trim video (UIVideoEditorController) is also supplied.

Sophisticated video playing and editing can be performed through AV Foundation. I’ll introduce it at the end of this chapter, describing AVPlayer, an alternative class for playing a movie or a sound, and demonstrating AV Foundation’s video- and audio-editing capabilities.

A movie file can be in a standard movie format, such as .mov or .mp4, but it can also be a sound file. An MPMoviePlayerController or MPMoviePlayerViewController is thus an easy way to play a sound file, including a sound file obtained in real time over the Internet, along ...