Google Pixel stops instantly when trying to capture video

[Boyan1912]

Bug Information

Version Number of Plugin: 3.1.3
Device Tested On: Google Pixel
Device Android Version: 8.1.0
Simulator Tested On: does not reproduce on simulators (Genymotion, Android Studio simulators and others)
Version of VS: Visual Studio Enterprise 2015, Version 14.0.25431.01 Update 3
Version of Xamarin: 4.9.0.752
Versions of Xamarin.Android SDK: 8.2.0.16

Expected Behavior

Shooting video should be uninterrupted until either stopped by the user or reached the desired size.

Actual Behavior

When I tap on the button to start recording the device makes the sound for the beginning of the record and right after that the sound for the end of the recording and the recording stops. It generates a MediaFile with the length of 0 seconds. When you play it it looks like a single picture.
Also tried without the DesiredSize property of StoreVideoOptions.

Code snippet

var mediaOptions = new StoreVideoOptions
{
Directory = "HCS",
Name = $"{DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss")}.mp4",
SaveToAlbum = true,
Quality = VideoQuality.Medium,
DesiredSize = 45 * 1000000
CompressionQuality = 0,
};

                        MediaFile video = await CrossMedia.Current.TakeVideoAsync(mediaOptions);

[caseyniemann]

@jamesmontemagno confirming we are seeing this same issue

[caseyniemann]

@jamesmontemagno @Boyan1912 Do we have a fix or workaround on this? @softsan

[jamesmontemagno]

I tried:

var mediaOptions = new StoreVideoOptions
{
Directory = "HCS",
Name = $"{DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss")}.mp4",
SaveToAlbum = true,
Quality = VideoQuality.Medium,
DesiredSize = 45 * 1000000
CompressionQuality = 0,
};

When you do this the "DesiredLength" is set to 600, which should be 600 seconds according to documentation, however on the Pixel it is not respected. I would have to not set this specific flag perhaps.

The issue seems to be that previously they wanted an int.. but now want a double. I have a new beta nuget to try: 3.2.0.246-beta

I don't have any other phones except for my pixel here to test, so please test this out and i will push to stable when validated.

[philmoz]

3.2.0.246-beta - records video on Pixel phone; but does not stop when 'DesiredLength' value is reached.

[jamesmontemagno]

Not all phones and camera apps actually respect the desired length. I think the new camera app is one f them.

[jamesmontemagno]

what about other phones?

[softsan]

Tested it on android 6(Moto G) and Pixel 8.1, but it does not respect the desired length on both of the device.

[caseyniemann]

@jamesmontemagno confirming we tested multiple android devices and the desired length is not respected

[jamesmontemagno]

Did they work previously? Interesting.... Did it work previously on 8.0?

[jamesmontemagno]

What I will probably will do is turn off the functionality on 8.1+ devices.

[softsan]

@jamesmontemagno - Also is there any possibility (or may be feature suggestion) for showing countdown when taking video? e.x. if desired length is set to 1 minute, then it should show 60,59,58,57.....1 seconds.
if possible, You may also put physical upload limit of xx Mb for video (Max size or something). That might help you to bypass android version issue.

[jamesmontemagno]

@softsan that is all dependent on the a camera app, we have no control. You can also request a max size in bytes already.

[Boyan1912]

@jamesmontemagno I don't think "desired length" was working on Android before. We are using "desired length" for iOS and "desired size" for Android in our project.

[caseyniemann]

@jamesmontemagno confirming that "desired length" in MB is not working on Android...nor is "desired length" in time.

[jamesmontemagno]

Yes, but did it ever work is my question and on what devices? Did it stop working after this "fix" on those devices?

[caseyniemann]

@jamesmontemagno desired length prior version worked on android 6 and 7. It was not recording at all on Android 8.1 prior to the "fix"...now it captures but doesn't respect your limits.

[BenReierson]

Confirmed that 3.2.0.246-beta now records successfully on Pixel 2. Previously it would stop immediately.

[philmoz]

3.2.0.246-beta - recorded video on Pixel phone; but whatever was fixed did not make it to 3.2.1, this still stops immediately on Pixel phone.

[jamesmontemagno]

I have rolled back 3.2.1

[jamesmontemagno]

try 4.x-pre

[philmoz]

Not fixed in 4.0.0.3-beta.

If DesiredLength > 0 on Google Pixel Phone (Oreo 8.0, API 26), then video recording stops immediately.

Samsung S9 also running Oreo 8.0 works correctly using 3.1.3 version of the plugin. So it seems this might be a Google Pixel bug.

[jamesmontemagno]

you can try 4.0.0.4-beta, i now filter out all pixel phones