CameraController.startRecording(filepath) is saving video of too much length

[AkshitOstwal]

I am trying to record and save a video to device using
import 'package:camera/camera.dart';

import 'dart:async';
import 'dart:io';

import 'package:camera/camera.dart';
import 'package:firebase_storage/firebase_storage.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:path_provider/path_provider.dart';
import 'package:path/path.dart' as Path;

import 'package:video_player/video_player.dart';

class VideoRecorderExample extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  _VideoRecorderExampleState createState() {
    return _VideoRecorderExampleState();
  }
}

class _VideoRecorderExampleState extends State<VideoRecorderExample> {
  CameraController controller;
  String videoPath;

  List<CameraDescription> cameras;
  int selectedCameraIdx;

  final GlobalKey<ScaffoldState> _scaffoldKey = GlobalKey<ScaffoldState>();

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();

    // Get the listonNewCameraSelected of available cameras.
    // Then set the first camera as selected.
    availableCameras().then((availableCameras) {
      cameras = availableCameras;

      if (cameras.length > 0) {
        setState(() {
          selectedCameraIdx = 0;
        });

        _onCameraSwitched(cameras[selectedCameraIdx]).then((void v) {});
      }
    }).catchError((err) {
      print('Error: $err.code\nError Message: $err.message');
    });
  }

  @override
  void dispose() {
    controller.dispose();
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      key: _scaffoldKey,
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: const Text('Camera example'),
      ),
      body: Column(
        children: <Widget>[
          Expanded(
            child: Container(
              child: Padding(
                padding: const EdgeInsets.all(1.0),
                child: Center(
                  child: _cameraPreviewWidget(),
                ),
              ),
              decoration: BoxDecoration(
                color: Colors.black,
                border: Border.all(
                  color: controller != null && controller.value.isRecordingVideo
                      ? Colors.redAccent
                      : Colors.grey,
                  width: 3.0,
                ),
              ),
            ),
          ),
          Padding(
            padding: const EdgeInsets.all(5.0),
            child: Row(
              mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.start,
              children: <Widget>[
                _cameraTogglesRowWidget(),
                _captureControlRowWidget(),
                Expanded(
                  child: SizedBox(),
                ),
              ],
            ),
          ),
        ],
      ),
    );
  }

  IconData _getCameraLensIcon(CameraLensDirection direction) {
    switch (direction) {
      case CameraLensDirection.back:
        return Icons.camera_rear;
      case CameraLensDirection.front:
        return Icons.camera_front;
      case CameraLensDirection.external:
        return Icons.camera;
      default:
        return Icons.device_unknown;
    }
  }

  // Display 'Loading' text when the camera is still loading.
  Widget _cameraPreviewWidget() {
    if (controller == null || !controller.value.isInitialized) {
      return const Text(
        'Loading',
        style: TextStyle(
          color: Colors.white,
          fontSize: 20.0,
          fontWeight: FontWeight.w900,
        ),
      );
    }

    return AspectRatio(
      aspectRatio: controller.value.aspectRatio,
      child: CameraPreview(controller),
    );
  }

  /// Display a row of toggle to select the camera (or a message if no camera is available).
  Widget _cameraTogglesRowWidget() {
    if (cameras == null) {
      return Row();
    }

    CameraDescription selectedCamera = cameras[selectedCameraIdx];
    CameraLensDirection lensDirection = selectedCamera.lensDirection;

    return Expanded(
      child: Align(
        alignment: Alignment.centerLeft,
        child: FlatButton.icon(
            onPressed: _onSwitchCamera,
            icon: Icon(_getCameraLensIcon(lensDirection)),
            label: Text(
                "${lensDirection.toString().substring(lensDirection.toString().indexOf('.') + 1)}")),
      ),
    );
  }

  /// Display the control bar with buttons to record videos.
  Widget _captureControlRowWidget() {
    return Expanded(
      child: Align(
        alignment: Alignment.center,
        child: Row(
          mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,
          mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.max,
          children: <Widget>[
            IconButton(
              icon: const Icon(Icons.videocam),
              color: Colors.blue,
              onPressed: controller != null &&
                      controller.value.isInitialized &&
                      !controller.value.isRecordingVideo
                  ? _onRecordButtonPressed
                  : null,
            ),
            IconButton(
              icon: const Icon(Icons.stop),
              color: Colors.red,
              onPressed: controller != null &&
                      controller.value.isInitialized &&
                      controller.value.isRecordingVideo
                  ? _onStopButtonPressed
                  : null,
            )
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }

  String timestamp() => DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch.toString();

  Future<void> _onCameraSwitched(CameraDescription cameraDescription) async {
    if (controller != null) {
      await controller.dispose();
    }

    controller = CameraController(cameraDescription, ResolutionPreset.high);

    // If the controller is updated then update the UI.
    controller.addListener(() {
      if (mounted) {
        setState(() {});
      }

      if (controller.value.hasError) {
        print(controller.value.errorDescription);
      }
    });

    try {
      await controller.initialize();
    } on CameraException catch (e) {
      _showCameraException(e);
    }

    if (mounted) {
      setState(() {});
    }
  }

  void _onSwitchCamera() {
    selectedCameraIdx =
        selectedCameraIdx < cameras.length - 1 ? selectedCameraIdx + 1 : 0;
    CameraDescription selectedCamera = cameras[selectedCameraIdx];

    _onCameraSwitched(selectedCamera);

    setState(() {
      selectedCameraIdx = selectedCameraIdx;
    });
  }

  void _onRecordButtonPressed() {
    _startVideoRecording().then((String filePath) {
      if (filePath != null) {
        print('recoding start');
      }
    });
  }

  void _onStopButtonPressed() {
    _stopVideoRecording().then((_) async {
      if (mounted) setState(() {});
      print('video path $videoPath');
      File _video = File(videoPath);
      StorageReference storageReference = FirebaseStorage.instance.ref().child(
          'videos/${Path.basename(DateTime.now().toIso8601String())}}'); //use basename(_image.path) if dont want duplicate
      StorageUploadTask uploadTask = storageReference.putFile(_video);
      await uploadTask.onComplete;
      print('File Uploaded');
      storageReference.getDownloadURL().then((fileURL) {
        print('the downloading url is $fileURL');
      });
    });
  }

  Future<String> _startVideoRecording() async {
    if (!controller.value.isInitialized) {
      print('please wait');
      return null;
    }

    // Do nothing if a recording is on progress
    if (controller.value.isRecordingVideo) {
      return null;
    }

    final Directory appDirectory = await getExternalStorageDirectory();
    final String videoDirectory = '${appDirectory.path}/Videos';
    await Directory(videoDirectory).create(recursive: true);
    final String currentTime = DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch.toString();
    final String filePath = '$videoDirectory/$currentTime.mp4';

    try {
      await controller.startVideoRecording(filePath);
      videoPath = filePath;
    } on CameraException catch (e) {
      _showCameraException(e);
      return null;
    }

    return filePath;
  }

  Future<void> _stopVideoRecording() async {
    if (!controller.value.isRecordingVideo) {
      return null;
    }

    try {
      await controller.stopVideoRecording();
    } on CameraException catch (e) {
      _showCameraException(e);
      return null;
    }
  }

  void _showCameraException(CameraException e) {
    String errorText = 'Error: ${e.code}\nError Message: ${e.description}';
    print(errorText);
  }
}

And uploading it to the FireBase storage.
even if i record a video of 3 sec and then try to play the same video in device gallary/files app.
its showing the length like this

Flutter Doctor

Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[√] Flutter (Channel stable, v1.9.1+hotfix.4, on Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18362.356], locale en-IN)
 
[√] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 28.0.3)
[√] Android Studio (version 3.2)
[!] IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate Edition (version 2018.3)
    X Flutter plugin not installed; this adds Flutter specific functionality.
    X Dart plugin not installed; this adds Dart specific functionality.
[√] Connected device (1 available)

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

I think the error might be in MetaData of the video while saving.

here are the dependencies i am using

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  provider: ^3.1.0
  firebase_storage: ^3.0.6
  image_picker: ^0.6.1+4
  camera: ^0.5.5+1
  video_player: ^0.10.2+3
  path_provider: ^1.3.0

[AkshitOstwal]

I have also tried using other example code from other blogs and stackoverflow.
but all seems to have this problem.
Also the video is not playing at all it just shows one frame all the time

[anniek-valk]

Hi @AkshitOstwal,

The MediaRecorder class doesn't work correctly on an emulator, as stated in the documentation:

Note: Currently, MediaRecorder does not work on the emulator.

For the function that makes for this problem, I narrowed it down to either the setAudioSource() or the setAudioEncoder() function. So in order to test your app you can either use a real Android device or disable the audio to make sure these functions aren't called.

Since this is an Android problem, I can't make it so that you can test it with audio on an emulator. I will however add it to the documentation so other people won't have the same question.

[mvanbeusekom]

Closing this issue as per comment of @valconetti this is not related to the camera plugin, but rather a problem in the Android emulator.

[TrieuCan]

why await controller.startVideoRecording(filePath); error again?
camera version: ^0.6.4+3

[github-actions]

This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. If you are still experiencing a similar issue, please open a new bug, including the output of flutter doctor -v and a minimal reproduction of the issue.