Why doesn't the Android Google Cardboard SDK offer the ability to load videos from urls into a VRVideoView widget?

Question

The iOS Cardboard SDK offers the ability to load videos from URLs. Whereas the Android Cardboard SDK requires that you download the entire video to the device before loading the video. I'm confused as to why Google would have a more convenient API for iOS rather than Android.

Is there a reason why the Android SDK's VRVideoView API doesn't offer a 'loadFromUrl' method like the iOS SDK?

iOS: https://developers.google.com/cardboard/ios/reference/interface_g_c_s_video_view.html#method-detail

Android: https://developers.google.com/cardboard/android/latest/reference/com/google/vrtoolkit/cardboard/widgets/video/VrVideoView.html#public-methods_2

Just opinion: due to the fact that ExoPlayer developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/exoplayer.html is completely different standalone library and local file has a better chance of smoother playback. — Morrison Chang

Balint Miklos Balint Miklos · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-23T09:58:41

I didn't try it but according to https://github.com/googlevr/gvr-android-sdk/issues/65 they added the support for remote URLs in v0.8.

Why doesn't the Android Google Cardboard SDK offer the ability to load videos from urls into a VRVideoView widget?

1 Answers