Question

I’m playing video via MediPlayer in my android application and have SeekBar displayed. Now I want this seeks bar to automatically update as the video progresses so it should automatically move from left to right. At the moment, (code below) the bar updates and this is done via running thread, that every second updates the progress of seekBar. The problem is it is not smooth and as seekBar is updated via its seekProgress() the video stops for split second and all is very jumpy. Now I would like it to have updated more often then every second as well as keep functionality that I already implemented to allow user to tap on the bar and change progress of the video.

I’m after something like Android MediaPLayer application have, seekBar is on transparent background and all is smooth and I have no idea how it is done.

No, currently as you see from the code below thread updates every second as it sleeps inside f run method. I’ve also tried to use handlers to update UI thread, effect was the same. I also extended SeekBar to its own class, had thread there and this was no good either, exactly same effect.

If anyone can explain to me how to solve this problem and how its done with other player appls that would be great.

public class FightPlayerActivity extends Activity implements Runnable, OnSeekBarChangeListener, SurfaceHolder.Callback, OnPreparedListener {

    private MediaPlayer mp=null;
    private SeekBar seekBar;
    private Thread progressBarUpdater;
    private String filePath;
    private Handler handler=new Handler();

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        Toast.makeText(this,"Create ", 2000).show();


    }

    public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width,
            int height) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

    }

    public void onStop()
    {
        super.onStop();

        mp.stop();
        mp.reset();
        mp.release();
    }

    public void run()
    {
        while(true)
        {
            try {
                progressBarUpdater.sleep(1000);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
            seekBar.setProgress(mp.getCurrentPosition());

            // handler does have same effect, so video stops for split second
            //handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);

        }
    }

    public void onStart()
    {
        super.onStart();

        setContentView(R.layout.fight_player);

        filePath=getIntent().getStringExtra("filename");
        filePath=Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DCIM)+"/FightAll_BJJ_Scoring/"+filePath;

        Toast.makeText(this,filePath, 2000).show();
        // seek bar

        seekBar=(SeekBar) findViewById(R.id.seek_bar);
        seekBar.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(this);

        try {
            SurfaceView sv=(SurfaceView) findViewById(id.video_preview);

            SurfaceHolder sh=sv.getHolder();
            sh.addCallback(this);

            sh.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);

        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (SecurityException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }    


    }

    public void stop(View view)
    {
        mp.seekTo(0);
        mp.pause();
    }

    public void pause(View view)
    {
        mp.pause();
    }

    public void play(View view)
    {
        mp.start();
    }

    public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {

        try {
            mp=new MediaPlayer();
            mp.setDataSource(filePath);
            mp.setDisplay(holder);  
            mp.setOnPreparedListener(this);
            mp.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
            mp.prepare();

            //handler.removeCallbacks(this);

            //handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);

        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } 
    }


    public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

    }

    public void onPrepared(MediaPlayer mediaplayer) {
         mp.start(); 
         seekBar.setMax(mp.getDuration());

         progressBarUpdater=new Thread(this);
         progressBarUpdater.start();

         //handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
    }

    public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar sb,int progress,boolean fromUser)
    {
        //Toast.makeText(this, progress, 2000).show();
        mp.seekTo(progress);
    }

    public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        onProgressChanged(seekBar,seekBar.getProgress(),true);
    }

    public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

    }
    }

Answer 1

Your major problem is in your onProgressChanged() method.

You are seeking to the specified position every time the seekBar progress changes, even when it is done programmatically. Which means that every time you call seekBar.setProgress(mp.getCurrentPosition()), onProgressChanged() will be fired.

So we change it to the following:

public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar sb, int progress, boolean fromUser) {
    if (fromUser) {
        mp.seekTo(progress);
    }
}

That way it will only be fired when the user moves the seekBar.

Moreover, according to this answer, it would be better to replace your while(true) loop with:

public void run() {
    seekBar.setProgress(mp.getCurrentPosition());
    if (mp.getCurrentPosition() < mp.getDuration()) {
        seekBar.postDelayed(this, MILLISECONDS);
    }

}