Player SDK for Android - Changelog

Changelog

1.4.0 - 2019-07-22

Changed

  • We had to change support-v4 to androidx libraries to solve support lib version collision.
  • Changed flatdir Maven repository to normal local Maven repository: 
    repositories {
  maven {
      name 'IBMLocal'
      url new File("${rootProject.rootDir.path}/m2repository").toURI()
  }
}
  • Changed module naming to *-external. For example: 
    'tv.ustream.player:ibm-player-sdk-android-external:1.4.0'
'tv.ustream.player:ibm-player-sdk-android-plugin-ads-external:1.4.0'
  • Updated external dependency: ExoPlayer to version 2.10.2. Please update your build.gradle files with: 
      implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-core:2.10.2'
  implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-ui:2.10.2'
  implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-hls:2.10.2'

    Changes affecting only Ads Plugin users:

  • Ads Plugin’s external dependencies updated. If you are using the plugin please update your build.gradle files with: 
      implementation 'tv.ustream.player:ibm-player-sdk-android-plugin-ads-external:1.4.0'
  implementation 'com.google.ads.interactivemedia.v3:interactivemedia:3.11.3'
  implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-identifier:17.0.0'
  implementation 'androidx.browser:browser:1.0.0'

1.3.1 - 2018-05-29

Added

  • MediaTrackGroupHolder now has a new field called formatSupportInfo. The FormatSupportInfoProvider instance can be used to query whether a MediaFormat is supported or not. Format support information is based on the decoder’s reported capabilities, it is best used for informational purposes only. A format that is reported unsupported may play correctly or have issues with playback or not play at all. The player will try to avoid unsupported formats, but will try to play them if no other is available. See javadoc for more info.
  • New class SignatureUtil can now be used to generate and check your Key Hash. Call SignatureUtil.keyHashFromContext(Context) in your application.

Changed

  • Updated external dependency: ExoPlayer to version 2.8.1. Please update your build.gradle files with: 
      compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-core:2.8.1'
  compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-ui:2.8.1'
  compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-hls:2.8.1'
  • MediaTrackChangedListener.onMediaTracksChanged now also contains unsupported media formats. Media format support can be queried using the new FormatSupportInfoProvider class.
  • MediaFormat.mimeType is now annotated @Nullable, it was nullable previously but was not annotated by mistake.

Changes affecting only Ads Plugin users:

  • Ads Plugin’s external dependencies updated. We had to add an explicit dependency on customtabs and support-v4 libraries to solve support lib version collision. This happened because ExoPlayer uses different version than Play Services. If you are using the plugin please update your build.gradle files with: 
      compile 'tv.ustream.player:ibm-player-sdk-android-plugin-ads:1.3.1@aar'
  compile 'com.google.ads.interactivemedia.v3:interactivemedia:3.8.2'
  compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:15.0.1'
  compile 'com.android.support:customtabs:27.0.0'
  compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:27.0.0'
  • The above change requires a few excludes to be added to the android packagingOptions in gradle. We put these in a separate gradle file that only needs to be applied. See the sample app for details. Example usage: 
      apply from: "${rootDir}/packaging-opts.gradle" // Apply common packaging options from separate file.

1.1.1 - 2018-02-27

Changed

  • Updated external dependency: ExoPlayer to version 2.6.1. Please update your build.gradle files with: 
      compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-core:2.6.1'
  compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-ui:2.6.1'
  compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-hls:2.6.1'
  • Updated external dependency: JSR-305 library (com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305) to version 3.0.2. Please update your build.gradle files.
  • Fixed a bug where calling UstreamPlayer.play() after UstreamPlayer.disconnect() on the player while an ad is playing would start the video from the beginning instead of the last known position.
  • Seeking the player while an ad is playing seeks the original content.

1.1.0 - 2018-02-07

Added

  • Plugin support for the SDK, through replaceable MediaPlayerModules for custom player behaviour. Plugins will be provided by IBM in separate artifacts.
  • Ads Plugin that enables you to insert your own ads into the content, see the documentation and javadoc for details. To use the plugin put: the aar file in your libs folder and add these lines to your gradle file (Google IMA SDK is a dependency of the Ads Plugin): 
      compile 'tv.ustream.player:ibm-player-sdk-android-plugin-ads:1.1.0@aar'
  compile 'com.google.ads.interactivemedia.v3:interactivemedia:3.7.4'
  compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:11.8.0'
  • UstreamPlayer’s initWithContent(...) can now be provided with a custom MediaPlayerModule via an optional parameter.
  • Introduced getMediaPlayerPlugin() to UstreamPlayer to query the current MediaPlayerModule. You will need to cast this instance to the actual type that was set in initWithContent(ContentDescriptor, MediaPlayerModule) before use.
  • MediaPlayerModule interface to encapsulate media player plugins. It’s only method is getSupportedPlayerViewType() which describes the PlayerView that the plugin is compatible with.

Changed

  • Google ExoPlayer’s Core, HLS and UI components are now dependencies of the SDK. Do not forget to add the following lines to your build.gradle file: 
      compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-core:r2.5.1'
  compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-ui:r2.5.1'
  compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-hls:r2.5.1'

1.0.2 - 2017-11-16

Changed

  • Moved ContentDescriptor.java and ContentType.java to package tv.ustream.content. Please re-import these classes.
  • Renamed interface tv.ustream.player.android.api.UstreamPlayerAndroid to tv.ustream.player.api.UstreamPlayer. Just rename where used, and import.
  • UstreamPlayer.setPlayerView(playerView) now accepts tv.ustream.player.api.PlayerView interface. However tv.ustream.player.android.PlayerView should still be used in the XML layout. This is just cosmetics, no change is required on your end.
  • Fixed occasional connection errors when reconnecting after a reject.

Added

  • New callback in ErrorListener to indicate that the content is GeoLocked and can not be watched in the user’s area. This restriction can be applied on your dashboard to black or white list certain countries. When the onGeoLock() callback is fired notify your users that they are unable to view this content from their region.

Removed

  • Deprecated values from MetaData.java class.

0.10.2 - 2017-10-09

Changed

  • Jsr305 library is now a requirement. Do not forget to add compile 'com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:3.0.1' to your build.gradle file. The sample app already contained this dependency, if you copied those dependencies you should be fine.
  • The method: UstreamPlayerAndroid.setPlayerView(playerView) now accepts null. You can now explicitly remove a previously set PlayerView from the ustreamPlayer instance, but keep the other listeners. Just like with all other setter methods of the UstreamPlayer the player instance must be detached first, then should be the setter called. The changes will only take effect after calling attach.

Added

  • Documentation for pre-buffering content to be played later. A previously buffered content can be played instantaneously when calling play(). Note: This is only applicable for RECORDED content. See the documentation for more details.

0.9.6 - 2017-08-28

Changed

  • Updated media player
  • Faster track switching in general (fewer rebuffers when changing subtitle tracks for example)
  • Reduced playback gap on Surface change

0.9.3 - 2017-07-24

Changed

  • Correctly display CEA-608 type closed caption names. In some previous versions this displayed a generated name instead of the desired one.
  • When opening a RECORDED content ContentNotPlayable is no longer reported if the requested content is not available immediately only after our servers prepare the content.
  • When connected to a LIVE content that is Offline at the moment, ContentNotPlayable is not reported right away when the channel goes online. We wait for the content to be available in the requested format. (This only affected the first viewer of the broadcast, because the server might need time to prepare a supported format.)

0.9.2 - 2017-07-20

Changed

  • MetaData class’ mediaDate field’s value is now always in UTC timezone. Previously it was PST for RECORDED and UTC for LIVE.
  • In a scenario when the client is connected to an offline channel (the SDK is in the WaitingForContent state) and the channel goes live. The mediaDate is now updated with the new value.
  • Disabled eCDN support for now.

0.9.0 - 2017-07-04

Added

  • Support for multiple players on the same Activity. In order for this to work the API had to be changed. More specifically, the creation of the player changed from PlayerView.getUstreamPlayer() to a Factory based implementation: 
      private final UstreamPlayerFactory ustreamPlayerFactory = new UstreamPlayerFactory(USTREAM_PLAYER_SDK_KEY, context);
  // Where playerId is the identifier of our player. Must be persisted in order to retrieve the same instance 
  // in case of a configuration change.
  // IUstreamPlayer interface is changed to UstreamPlayerAndroid.
  UstreamPlayerAndroid ustreamPlayer = ustreamPlayerFactory.createUstreamPlayer(playerId);
  if (!ustreamPlayer.isInitialized()) {
      ustreamPlayer.initWithContent(contentDescriptor);
  }
  ...

    The playerView must be set along with the listeners. This enables the player to be initialized (and to be buffered) without a view to render on. This can come in handy when implementing a news feed like application, where the content is in a RecyclerView. It can reduce the time your users need to wait in order to see the video.

      ...
  ustreamPlayer.setPlayerListener(listener);
  ustreamPlayer.setErrorListener(errorListener);
  ...
  ustreamPlayer.setPlayerView(playerView);
  ustreamPlayer.attach();

    For further information, see the documentation.

  • Support for eCDN.

Changed

  • Various bugfixes include:
    • Inconsistent player init when a process is restarted from savedInstanceState by the Android framework. After a process restart the player is no longer implicitly initialized. Calling ustreamPlayer.isInitialized() will return false, and the player needs to be initialized manually.
    • No more crash if the Activity’s context is ContextThemeWrapper.
    • No more crash on certain devices on Android 4.2 with Qualcomm 800 SoCs, where the renderer reported negative video size.

0.7.0 - 2017-05-15

Changed

  • Joda-Time dependency has been removed from the sample application (was added in [0.5.0])

0.6.0 - 2017-04-19

Added

  • Track selection API:
    • Ability to manage subtitles, audio, video tracks
    • Ability to select specific video formats (resolution, bitrate)
    • Track selection example in the sample application
    • Default subtitles are selected and displayed by default

0.5.1 - 2017-03-01

Changed

  • Sample application dependencies changed: Joda-Time added.
  • Player SDK deployment moved from local Maven repo to AAR file. We are switching to the simple AAR file deploy until a proper artifact repository is available.
  • Bug fixes and stability improvements

Removed

  • Removed Joda-Time dependency from the user facing interface for greater flexibility. Though Joda-Time is still used inside the Player SDK for now, therefore it must be included as a dependency.

0.4.0 - 2016-05-31

Added

  • Added IUstreamPlayer.isInitialized() method to check whether the player is already initialized. This is most useful on a configuration change event. The information representing the init state of the player does not need to be manually saved anymore.

Changed

  • Tweaks around IUstreamPlayer.destroy(). This is not bound to Android lifecycle anymore, can be called anywhere after initialization.
  • Bugfixes and stability improvements

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