I need to get a (local) video\'s duration, and then get access to its individual frames as UIImages. So far I\'ve been using MPMoviePlayerController fo
Calling setShouldAutoPlay:NO does the trick with MPMoviePlayerController:
moviePlayerController = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL: movieURL];
[moviePlayerController setShouldAutoplay:NO];
[moviePlayerController prepareToPlay];
Edit: I'm getting downvoted without explanation, but I'll stand by this answer. If you need to use MPMoviePlayerController then this will prevent autoplay of the media, yet still allow you to get duration and thumbnails as per my original question.