Android: Video recording output orientation flipped

Question

I have developed an app that can record video. When the recording starts the video is recorded in a rotated orientation. The video view while recording is flipped to the left. I cant figure out why its like that. Can someone help me with this issue. My codings are as follows:

MainActivity.java:

import android.app.Activity;
import android.media.CamcorderProfile;
import android.media.MediaRecorder;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.view.SurfaceHolder;
import android.view.SurfaceView;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements SurfaceHolder.Callback{

Button myButton;
MediaRecorder mediaRecorder;
SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder;
boolean recording;

/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    recording = false;

    mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
    initMediaRecorder();

    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    SurfaceView myVideoView = (SurfaceView)findViewById(R.id.videoview);
    surfaceHolder = myVideoView.getHolder();
    surfaceHolder.addCallback(this);
    surfaceHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);

    myButton = (Button)findViewById(R.id.mybutton);
    myButton.setOnClickListener(myButtonOnClickListener);


}

private Button.OnClickListener myButtonOnClickListener
        = new Button.OnClickListener(){

    @Override
    public void onClick(View arg0) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        if(recording){
            mediaRecorder.stop();
            mediaRecorder.release();
            finish();
        }else{
            mediaRecorder.start();
            recording = true;
            myButton.setText("STOP");
        }
    }};

@Override
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder arg0, int arg1, int arg2, int arg3) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub

}
@Override
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder arg0) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    prepareMediaRecorder();
}
@Override
public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder arg0) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub

}

private void initMediaRecorder(){
    java.util.Date date= new java.util.Date();
    String timeStamp = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss")
            .format(date.getTime());
    String path = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath() + "/MyFolder/";
    File dir = new File(path);
    if(!dir.exists())
        dir.mkdirs();
    String myfile = new String(path + File.separator +
            "VID_"+ timeStamp + ".mp4");

    mediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.CAMCORDER);
    mediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
    mediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(0);
    CamcorderProfile camcorderProfile_HQ = CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_720P);
    mediaRecorder.setProfile(camcorderProfile_HQ);
    mediaRecorder.setOutputFile(myfile);
    mediaRecorder.setMaxDuration(60000); // Set max duration 60 sec.
    mediaRecorder.setMaxFileSize(5000000); // Set max file size 5M


}

private void prepareMediaRecorder(){
    mediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder.getSurface());
    try {
        mediaRecorder.prepare();
    } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}
}

activity_main.xml:

<FrameLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

<SurfaceView android:id="@+id/videoview"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    </SurfaceView>

<LinearLayout
    android:id="@+id/linearLayout1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical">

</LinearLayout>

<Button
    android:text="Rec"
    android:id="@+id/mybutton"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal|bottom">

    </Button>
</FrameLayout>

There is no error in logcat. Any suggestions/help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

Output depend on setOrientationHint(..)

set orientationHint using below

mediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(mOrientation);

        if (Build.MODEL.equalsIgnoreCase("Nexus 6") && flag == 1) {

            if (mOrientation == 90) {
                mediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(mOrientation);
            } else if (mOrientation == 180) {
                mediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(0);
            } else {
                mediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(180);
            }

        } else if (mOrientation == 90 && flag == 1) {
            mediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(270);
        } else if (flag == 1) {
            mediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(mOrientation);
        }


mOrientation you can get from `OrientationEventListener`

You need to enable() orientation listener and disable onDestroy()

Step 1: Declare veriable and Object:

 OrientationEventListener myOrientationEventListener;
 int iOrientation = 0;
 int mOrientation = 90;

Step 2: add this method onCreate()

private void identifyOrientationEvents() {

        myOrientationEventListener = new OrientationEventListener(this, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_NORMAL) {
            @Override
            public void onOrientationChanged(int iAngle) {

                final int iLookup[] = {0, 0, 0, 90, 90, 90, 90, 90, 90, 180, 180, 180, 180, 180, 180, 270, 270, 270, 270, 270, 270, 0, 0, 0}; // 15-degree increments
                if (iAngle != ORIENTATION_UNKNOWN) {

                    int iNewOrientation = iLookup[iAngle / 15];
                    if (iOrientation != iNewOrientation) {
                        iOrientation = iNewOrientation;
                        if (iOrientation == 0) {
                            mOrientation = 90;
                        } else if (iOrientation == 270) {
                            mOrientation = 0;
                        } else if (iOrientation == 90) {
                            mOrientation = 180;
                        }

                    }
                    mPhotoAngle = normalize(iAngle);
                }
            }
        };

        if (myOrientationEventListener.canDetectOrientation()) {
            myOrientationEventListener.enable();
        }

    }

also enable() in onResume()

 @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        try {
            if (myOrientationEventListener != null)
                myOrientationEventListener.enable();
        } catch (Exception e1) {
            e1.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

Step 3: Disable after preparing MediaRecorder using

myOrientationEventListener.disable();