best ways to handle libvlc

[cpg]

We have discussed this before, and as we move forward, we will want to handle libvlc as smoothly as possible.

From my point of view (not being an Android expert), I see two main issues:

1. compilation process for this app to bundle it in. we talked about using gradle to get it in. I am not sure if this is settled or not, though I see people compiling apks that crash with [1] when trying to stream video. I think we had a branch for this, but I don't know the status of it. Perhaps someone can review? This task has been separated for Integration with libvlc 2.1.1 #33.
2. the policy of when to invoke libvlc at run time. i don't know the current policy shipped, but the policy in iOS (which worked well), was: whitelist a default set of media types that will stream well in the main built-in video player in the platform (which means it will get Chromecast support, etc.), and for the rest of media types, fall back to vlc

[1] Can't load vlcjni library: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: dlopen failed: /data/app/org.amahi.anywhere-2/lib/arm/libvlcjni.so: has text relocations

[megabitdragon]

I agree we need to use Android media library to handle all the media it can support. And fall back to libvlc for unsupported formats.

The libvlc used by the app is outdated. I'll build the newest version against the latest sdk/ndk and make it available.

[cpg]

I created a separate issue, #33, for integration with libvlc 2.1.1 and we will keep this issue for dealing with policy changes as to when to invoke the vlc player.

[csoni111]

@cpg Closing this as resolved.

We now have the following setup:

• All videos are played using libvlc player.
• The native android video player code is there in the app, but it is never called for playing videos.
• Chromecast support is there with libvlc player itself. Native video player disabled #289