MPMoviePlayerController stretches / distorts live streaming video (m3u8)

Question

I am using MPMoviePlayerController to play live streaming m3u8 video for iOS 3.1.2. It opens in full screen landscape, which is fine. However, usually after playing for 10-20 seconds, the screen resizes on its own. The screen maintains its width, but shrinks the height, resulting in a narrow, stretched image. I don't have this problem when playing pre-recorded mp4 videos, though.

Any idea what's going on and how to fix it?

Here's my code:

MyViewController.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <MediaPlayer/MediaPlayer.h>

@interface WatchNowViewController : UIViewController {
    MPMoviePlayerController *mMPPlayer;
}
@property (nonatomic, retain)           MPMoviePlayerController *mMPPlayer;

@end

MyViewController.m:

mMPPlayer = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.mysite.com/myVideo.m3u8"]];
mMPPlayer.scalingMode=MPMovieScalingModeFill;
mMPPlayer.backgroundColor=[UIColor blackColor];
[mMPPlayer play];

Christian Christian · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-19T17:52:01

MPMovieScalingModeFill does not preserve aspect ratio. You should use either MPMovieScalingModeAspectFit or MPMovieScalingModeAspectFill if you want the aspect ratio preserved.

Check out the MPMovieScalingMode documentation for information on all the modes.

MPMoviePlayerController stretches / distorts live streaming video (m3u8)

2 Answers