Hello, we have set up an app in the simulator that appears to function for several different plugins but not the video player. We have tried several different urls from you tube. The video player is linked in the app as it shows up on the home screen but when you click on the link in the menu on the home page it just goes to a blank screen. Do you have any suggestions? We had the same issue with the new picture gallery plugin. Thanks in advance for any advice. Additional related question. Will this video plugin work from any video hosting service such as an Amazon S3 source? thanks Stan Lang

Hey Stan, What versions of buzztouch and xcode are you using? This information is always helpful for others. When you installed/added these new plugins, you also need to add the plugin files into your source code. This means either it should be done manually or you should re-download your source code. I believe your getting the blank screen because the actual plugin files aren't there. It's hard to tell without being there of course ;) Try re-downloading your source code and recompiling in xcode - see what happens, report back, and we'll keep going till it's fixed! Cheers, David buzztouchmods.com

OR, the URL isn't providing a video file. YouTube URL's provide WEB PAGES and not video files. This plugin is asking for an actual media file, not a webpage. The native media players don't understand how to magically turn HTML into .mp4 videos.

*facepalm* You're probably right @David, he's not loading a media file. In that case @Stan, you can use the following URL: http://video.online-convert.com/convert-to-mp4 To download and upload those youtube media files you're trying to use. Cheers, David buzztouchmods.com

Interestingly the bulk of questions I've had @ the plug-in have all been 'can it stream this???' or 'can it stream that' The original idea behind the plug-in was to play local stored videos as that was not something the BT code could do! I would suggest sticking to Custom URL streaming videos and use this plugin for locally stored videos.

@Atrain I'm thinking a good reason to stay away from streaming is to keep his application offline, it will make it bigger through, depending on how many videos he's planning to use. Then again, who knows how important it is for him to keep it offline ;) Look's like its a health app from the mate's name? I imagine it will be a LOT of videos then. Cheers, David buzztouchmods.com

thank you all for your feedback and comments-- I won't be able to act on the suggestions till tomorrow but wanted to clarify your comments. If we were going to use locally stored videos, what would you suggest as the maximum number of videos per app? Most that I have planned would be 3 or 4 that are 2-3 min long to teach something that is health related. Is that too much data to have on an app? @Atrain, when you said "I would suggest sticking to Custom URL streaming videos" -- may I ask where the training is on the site to explain how to do that and also which plugin to use when streaming video is used? It would be my own video content coming off an Amazon S3 host or if necessary you tube. Thanks We are using Buzz touch 2 (we were building in 1.5 and doing OK with the video there but stopped because you're discontinuing it) and Xcode is Xcode-Version 4.3.3 (4E3002) Mac OS X- Version 10.7.3 --- again thank you for your comments and suggestions-- I'll report back but will look forward to advice regarding max number of short vids to be locally stored

max number of videos per app? the size limit for apps is currently 2GB according to Apple. However I would never load a 2GB app on my phone. People will have to wait of that to download. I'd go maybe 100 or 200MB to start at most. maybe 10 videos at 20mb? Your users and download stats will tell you if this is too much. It really depends on your app/audiance/purpose. For instance I would downoad a 500MB app of live exclusive Bob Dylan to have it because it's all about Dylan to me. But the casual Dylan fan would not. You gotta find a medium. Start small and you can always add. (you can use analytics like Flurry to get app stats and know exactly if you want) Streaming video: Use the CustomURL plugin and point to a youtube video. like this url for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u78Bwa1TOz8&feature=plcp make sure you are pointing to a video URL, not a channel or playlist!

Hello, we are now trying to use the video plugin to load videos on the app from the computer rather than to stream. In using the plugin at the stage of trying to upload the video from the computer, it continuously fails to add the video to the file manager. The videos we have tried have all been very short and mp4 and residing in the video folder on the computer. I click "upload" after selecting the file and the text says "uploading, please wait" but it doesn't upload to the file manager and eventually it just fails after about 5 min of trying. So it never makes it into the plugin to use in the first place. I tried several different videos but no difference. Any idea of what to do next? Thanks in advance for your help which I most appreciate.

Additional info. The last time it failed it gave this message: "Invalid File Type. Please choose another file to upload. You tried to upload a file named 100_0981.MP4 with type video/mp4 with file extention .mp4 Please select a folder to upload the files to" I do not know what this means. All I know is that the camera I use formats the video as mp4 and the file came straight off the camera. Does this mean it needs to be further rendered before it can be used? thanks

2 issues here i think- 1) sounds like you are trying to upload videos to your BT file manager. I don't think they allow video files to be uploaded. they just allow small images and documents like pdf files to be stored there. you don;t need to copy it there anyway- 2) what you need to do is drag the videos from 'Finder' to the BT_VIDEO folder in your X-Code project. (when the prompt comes up make sure the box to COPY is checked). that will actually copy the file from your system to that special folder in your xcode project. mp4 is the right format (esp if you took them from the phone, they shpould play!) BT_VIDEO is where the app knows to look for video files to play. (note the special folders in projects like BT_Sound, BT_Docs, BT_Config... these exist for a reason!) now specify the name of the file in the plugin control panel screen as a local video (not a url) just put the name of the file in that field like 'myvideo1.mp4' complie the app, the video will be added into the project and stored on the device.

Additional info. The last time it failed it gave this message: "Invalid File Type. Please choose another file to upload. You tried to upload a file named 100_0981.MP4 with type video/mp4 with file extention .mp4 Please select a folder to upload the files to" I do not know what this means. All I know is that the camera I use formats the video as mp4 and the file came straight off the camera. Does this mean it needs to be further rendered before it can be used? thanks

when you say camera - do you mean the iphone 'camera' (that's what I'm assuming, which may be incorrect) if it's another device, then yes it's possible the video may have to be encoded into an "Apple" friendly format... maybe try this - take a video on your iphone and use that as a test video? that will at least tell you if the plug-in is working. once you know that, then you may indeed need to re-encode the videos you want to use. HANDBRAKE is what i use to encode videos to other formats...

Hello ATRAIN53, thanks for your comments. We were able to upload a video according to what you have said. Thanks for your help. Now that we've done it once we can do it again! Again thanks

great news! so it was the file format all along... now you can move along and flesh out the rest of the app and submit for approval. I'm really excited about the description field that David enhanced this plug-in with. great place to explain or into a videos. the description is somewhat lacking on youtube if you ask me. and having local video, plays off line and no internet required - that's what i was after!

@ATRAIN53, I know you don't have a crystal ball, but do you think that apps that are "how to" and contain unique content that is video based have a better chance of acceptance in the itunes and android stores? It would seem to me that from a user experience if I was not into games and after an app with info, unique content that resides on the phone would be a benefit. As we consider some other ideas we have, I was wondering what your thoughts were on this matter since you designed the plugin thanks

Hello @ATRAIN53 - I also had the same problem as @wholehealthdoc. Video not playing. I followed your instructions exactly as described below but my video is still not playing. The log shows: file does not exist in x-code bundle. It is mp4, 6mb file JSON Data for this Plugin (for reference, copy and paste as needed) {"itemId":"A5E234D0164DC7D6BA14C55", "itemType":"At53_video_player", "itemNickname":"Irish song", "navBarTitleText":"Irish song", "videoFileName":"irishsong.mp4", "videoDescriptionColor":"#FFFFFF", "backgroundColor":"#006633", "backgroundImageNameSmallDevice":"images.jpg”} ….any suggestions? 2) what you need to do is drag the videos from 'finder' to the bt_video folder in your x- code project. (when the prompt comes up make sure the box to copy is checked). that will actually copy the file from your system to that special folder in your xcode project. mp4 is the right format (esp if you took them from the phone, they shpould play!) bt_video is where the app knows to look for video files to play. (note the special folders in projects like bt_sound, bt_docs, bt_config... these exist for a reason!) now specify the name of the file in the plugin control panel screen as a local video (not a url) just put the name of the file in that field like 'myvideo1.mp4' compile the app, the video will be added into the project and stored on the device.

@Dervalo Greetings. Thanks for purchasing! "file does not exist in x-code bundle" that seems to indicate your not copying the file into the project. are you dragging it into Xcode and making sure the 'copy items' box is checked. that is what makes sure the file actually gets copied into the project and included when you compile the app.

<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/h3retnok4vus9n8/Screen%20Shot%202012-10-11%20at%204.56.17%20PM.png" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.dropbox.com/s/h3retnok4vus9n8/Screen%20Shot%202012-10-11%20at%204.56.17%20PM.png</a> Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.. Here’s a screen shot which I hope you can view in dropbox. It shows the .mp4 file in the BT_Video folder. The copy items box was definitely checked. What do you think the problem could be?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h3retnok4vus9n8/Screen%20Shot%202012-10-11%20at%204.56.17%20PM.png Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.. Here’s screen shot which I hope you can view in dropbox. It shows the .mp4 in the BT_Video folder. The copy items was definitely checked. What do you think the problem could be?

did you try adding and removing this video a few times? if so, have you tried a Clean on the project? maybe exit Xcode and restart it and use the Product, Clean option. that will reindex the whole project. sometimes necessary. what about trying to copy in another video? if you click that video while in xcode, does it show up and play in the editor window?

Hi again… been working on it since (the fighting Irish don’t give up!) Tried all your suggestions but didn’t make a diffence. In the end, I got the video to play by changing the file type from .mp4 to .mov. Not sure why .mp4 file didn’t play. The .mp4 file was showing in the editor window.

great news! never give up! look like a neat app you have going there. strange iOS is having an issue with mp4, but .mov is the format QuickTime/Apple prefers so that doesn't surprise me. i wonder if this is iOS 6 specific stuff.... where are these videos coming from? videos do have to be encoded properly to play on iOS devices. just renaming a video extension doesn't re-encode it. you have to use a program like Handbrake to properly encode videos. now lets hope the Irish take care of Stanford this weekend!

I am using iMovie to export the movie to QuickTime. You can choose a format when you’re exporting. Previously I choose mp4 but when that didn’t seem to work I switched to creating an .mov format (not just changing the extension but re-creating the video in the new format), and it worked. Yes I am using iOS 6. Maybe it does prefer this format. Good luck to the lads tomorrow! It was fab when they played Dublin last month… what a party that was! Working on my app to have it ready for the biggest party of the year which of course is Paddy’s Day, March 17th when we can all claim to be Irish for the day ;-) Thanks for your help.

Great to see this resolved. The help troubleshooting the .mov vs .mp4 format in iOS6 is much appreciated. Some extra rooting from across the globe is even more appreciated. I can only imagine the party in Dublin. Jealous if you were there. I was at the game last Saturday here in Chicago. Now time to go home and beat up Stanford tomorrow hopefully. Those PAC 12 teams are always our menace. I'll look into the io6 referrence and see if there has been any changes. my hunch is that Apple probably likes .mov so they can tack on DRM. Maybe they realized what I did when I made this plug-in: I no longer need to use iTunes to put videos on my phone! I love that. Great work getting this going and sorry it was tricker than it needed. Great thinking to give yourself 6 months to build the app. I bet you'll be done long before that using BT! Go Irish!