MPMoviePlayerController crash when start play a video on iOS 6

Question

I'm using MPMoviePlayerViewController to play video. In my app I am playing video(s) that are in the app, using the standard MPMoviePlayerController class. It works fine on iOS 7 and 8

The first time around around this works great, however after watching 1 video if you try and watch something else the app crashes on MPMoviePlayerController's play method with the error:

: CGContextSaveGState: invalid context 0x0

: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0

: CGContextTranslateCTM: invalid context 0x0

: CGContextDrawShading: invalid context 0x0

: CGContextRestoreGState: invalid context 0x0

*** -[MPMoviePlayerController retain]: message sent to deallocated instance 0x1e5718b0

I can not figure out why this is happening.

Here is my code:

AFPlayerViewController.h

@property (strong, nonatomic) MPMoviePlayerViewController *playerViewController;

- (id)initWithContentURL:(NSString*)movieUrl
         andSubtitlePath:(NSString*)subPath
          withTypeServer:(NSString*)serverType
                withName:(NSString*)name
           withEpisodeId:(NSString*)episodeId
              withFilmId:(NSString*)filmId
            withDuration:(NSInteger)targetDuration
              withSeason:(NSString*)seasonId;

AFPlayerViewController.m

@synthesize playerViewController;

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
    if (_movieURL) {
        self.playerViewController = [[MPMoviePlayerViewController alloc] initWithContentURL: _movieURL];
        self.playerViewController.moviePlayer.initialPlaybackTime = -1.f;
        self.playerViewController.moviePlayer.shouldAutoplay = NO;
        [self.playerViewController.moviePlayer setControlStyle:MPMovieControlStyleNone];
        [self.playerViewController.moviePlayer setFullscreen:NO animated:YES];
        self.playerViewController.moviePlayer.scalingMode = MPMovieScalingModeAspectFit;

        [self.playerViewController.view setFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height)];

        [self.view addSubview:self.playerViewController.view];
        [NSLayoutConstraint alightTopBotLeftRight:self.playerViewController.view inView:self.view];

        [self.playerViewController.moviePlayer prepareToPlay];
        [self.playerViewController.moviePlayer play];

        [self receiveNotificationPlayerViewController];
    }
}

- (void)receiveNotificationPlayerViewController {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(durationAvailable:)
                                                 name:MPMovieDurationAvailableNotification
                                               object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(loadStateDidChange:)
                                                 name:MPMoviePlayerLoadStateDidChangeNotification
                                               object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(playbackStateDidChange:)
                                                 name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification
                                               object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(sourceTypeAvailable:)
                                                 name:MPMovieSourceTypeAvailableNotification
                                               object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(readyForDisplay:)
                                                 name:MPMoviePlayerReadyForDisplayDidChangeNotification
                                               object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(orientationDidChange:)
                                                 name:UIDeviceOrientationDidChangeNotification
                                               object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(didFinishAVideo:)
                                                 name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification
                                               object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];
}

- (void) durationAvailable: (NSNotification*) notification {
    NSLog(@"1");
}

- (void) loadStateDidChange: (NSNotification*) notification {
    NSLog(@"2");
    if ([self.playerViewController.moviePlayer loadState] != MPMovieLoadStateUnknown) {
        [[NSNotificationCenter  defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                         name:MPMoviePlayerLoadStateDidChangeNotification
                                                       object:nil];
    }
}

- (void) playbackStateDidChange: (NSNotification*) notification {
    NSLog(@"3");
    switch (self.playerViewController.moviePlayer.playbackState) {
        case MPMoviePlaybackStateSeekingForward:
        case MPMoviePlaybackStateSeekingBackward:
            break;
        case MPMoviePlaybackStatePaused: {
            NSLog(@"pause");
        }
            break;
        case MPMoviePlaybackStateStopped: {
            NSLog(@"stop");
        }
            break;
        case MPMoviePlaybackStateInterrupted:{
            NSLog(@"interrupted");
        }
            break;
        case MPMoviePlaybackStatePlaying: {
            NSLog(@"playing");
        }
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
}

- (void) sourceTypeAvailable: (NSNotification*) notification {
    NSLog(@"4");
}

- (void) readyForDisplay: (NSNotification*) notification {
    NSLog(@"5");
}

- (void)orientationDidChange: (NSNotification*)notification {
    NSLog(@"6");
}

- (void)didFinishAVideo:(NSNotification*)notification {
    [self removeNotification];
}

- (void)removeNotification {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:MPMovieDurationAvailableNotification
                                                  object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:MPMoviePlayerLoadStateDidChangeNotification
                                                  object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification
                                                  object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification
                                                  object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:MPMovieSourceTypeAvailableNotification
                                                  object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:MPMoviePlayerReadyForDisplayDidChangeNotification
                                                  object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:UIDeviceOrientationDidChangeNotification
                                                  object:self.playerViewController.moviePlayer];
}

AppDelegate.h

@property (strong, nonatomic) AFPlayerViewController *player;

AppDelegate.m

+ (AppDelegate *)shareInstance{
    return (AppDelegate *)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
}

- (UIViewController *)currentVisibleController{
    id rootController = self.window.rootViewController;

    if ([rootController isKindOfClass:[UINavigationController class]]) {
        UINavigationController *navigationController = (UINavigationController *)rootController;
        return navigationController.topViewController;
    }

    if ([rootController isKindOfClass:[UITabBarController class]]) {

        UITabBarController *tabbarController = (UITabBarController *)rootController;
        id topViewController = [tabbarController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:tabbarController.selectedIndex];
        if ([topViewController isKindOfClass:[UINavigationController class]]) {
            UINavigationController *navi = (UINavigationController *)topViewController;

            return navi.topViewController;
        }

        return topViewController;
    }
    return self.window.rootViewController;
}

When I'd like to play a video:

[AppDelegate shareInstance].player = [[AFPlayerViewController alloc] initWithContentURL:link
                                                                            andSubtitlePath:subtitle
                                                                             withTypeServer:serverType
                                                                                   withName:nameFilm
                                                                              withEpisodeId:epObject.episodeId
                                                                                 withFilmId:filmId
                                                                               withDuration:lastDuration
                                                                                 withSeason:epObject.id_season];

[[AppDelegate shareInstance].currentVisibleController presentViewController:[AppDelegate shareInstance].player animated:NO completion:^{

}];

Answer 1

Have you called the removeNotification if you try and watch something else? try to add viewDidDisappear:

- (void)viewDidDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewDidDisappear:animated];

    [self removeNotification];
}

Answer 2

You may well be getting the error because of notifications being sent to a removed controller object as @Bannings says. Nevertheless, I have a couple of other suggestions that will improve your code (and I am fairly sure will remove the error).

Firstly, the documentation says that you should register for the MPMoviePlayerLoadStateDidChangeNotification and use the loadState method to determine when the movie is ready to start playing. I strongly suggest that you do that.

Secondly, you are instantiating a MPMoviePlayerController every time your view appears. I would suggest that you create a single AFPlayerViewController and a single MPMoviePlayerController. Present the same AFPPlayerViewController whenever you wish to play another movie.

When you first instantiate the MPMoviePlayerController, you will need a a URL, for its init method, but subsequent movies can be started using the contentURL property of MPMoviePlayerController

A side advantage of my suggestion is that it will be very easy for a user to pause a movie, go to a different view, and then quickly resume when they return to the movie view.

Answer 3

I think I see the real problem here: you should be using MPMoviePlayerController not MPMoviewPlayerViewController. Make that change, and see if the crash disappears. My suggestion about loadState should be followed too.