MediaPlayer cutting off playback too early on Lollipop when Screen is off

Question

I've been running into an issue with the MediaPlayer on Lollipop devices. Basically when the device screen is off (i.e. user locked the device) the playback continues, but ends about 1 - 2 seconds too early. This doesn't happen when the screen is on though.

I have an onCompletionListener on the MediaPlayer:

@Override
public void onCompletion(final MediaPlayer mediaPlayer) {
    int progress = mediaPlayer.getCurrentPosition();
    int duration = mediaPlayer.getDuration();
    Log.d("PlaybackController", "progress: " + progress + " duration: " + duration);
    Log.d("PlaybackController", "Delay: " + (duration - progress)); // I'm seeing a difference of 1 - 3 seconds :(.
    mServiceHandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            broadcastCompleted();
        }
    }, Math.max(duration - progress, 0));
}

This usually prints: Delay: [1500 - 3000]. I was wondering if there was a wake lock I'm missing, but I'm making the correct locks mentioned here: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/mediaplayer.html, which include a PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK and a WifiLock. Is there something else I'm missing?

Answer 1

Ok it looks like the issue is Android 5.0.1's experimental MediaPlayer called NuPlayer. NuPlayer is being enabled by default on all Android 5.0.1 devices and is only disabled through Developer Options. I've filed a bug against Android here: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=94069&thanks=94069&ts=1420659450

Here's a sample email you can send your users when they face issues with Media playback on Android 5.0.1 devices:

It looks like this might be a bug on Android's new experimental MediaPlayer called NuPlayer. To fix this, please follow these steps:

1. Go to Android Settings
2. Go to "About Phone"
3. Scroll down to "Build Number" and tap the Build number 7 times.
   • You'll see a message saying "you are now X steps away from being a developer".
   • After tapping it 7 times it will say "You are now a developer!"
4. Go back to the main settings screen and you'll see a new option called "Developer Options" right above "About Phone"
5. Go into Developer Options and Unselect "Use NuPlayer (experimental)" under the Media section.