title: Android: 'Can't play this video'; MediaPlayer & VideoView Error 1 -38
body: <p>I tried to play a video with the code below. However, I get the classic error of 'Can't play this video' pop-up at run time. I did my due diligence in searching the android literature and looking through other people's questions, but I can't seem to find the problem a) because no where in the documentation can I find the error code (1 ,-38) for MediaPlayer and b) my video meets the specifications required for android media formats (h.264 and MPEG-4). If anyone can help point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it! Thanks </p>
  
  <pre><code>private void startVideo() {
      Log.v(TAG, "videoUrl = " + mVideoUrl);
      Uri uri = Uri.parse(mVideoUrl);
      mVideo = (VideoView) getView().findViewById(R.id.preview_videoView);
      MediaController mediaController = new MediaController(getActivity());
      mediaController.setAnchorView(mVideo);
      mVideo.setMediaController(mediaController);
      mVideo.setVideoURI(uri);
      mVideo.start();
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>These are the logs</p>
  
  <pre><code>10-07 21:08:38.529    9986-9986/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid V/﹕ videoUrl = http://files.parsetfss.com/2bb9a4a0-9f35-4124-a634-d2fa7f8b165e/tfss-ca535209-4b4c-4022-95b8-8f011ed41daf-High%20Knees.mp4
  10-07 21:08:38.579   9986-10011/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid W/EGL_emulation﹕ eglSurfaceAttrib not implemented
  10-07 21:08:38.579   9986-10011/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid W/OpenGLRenderer﹕ Failed to set EGL_SWAP_BEHAVIOR on surface 0xa5245c20, error=EGL_SUCCESS
  10-07 21:08:38.609    9986-9986/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid D/MediaPlayer﹕ Couldn't open file on client side, trying server side
  10-07 21:08:39.582    9986-9986/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid D/MediaPlayer﹕ getMetadata
  10-07 21:08:39.637    9986-9999/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid E/MediaPlayer﹕ error (1, -38)
  10-07 21:08:39.637    9986-9986/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid E/MediaPlayer﹕ Error (1,-38)
  10-07 21:08:39.637    9986-9986/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid D/VideoView﹕ Error: 1,-38
  10-07 21:08:39.650   9986-10000/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid E/MediaPlayer﹕ error (1, -38)
  10-07 21:08:39.702    9986-9986/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid E/MediaPlayer﹕ Error (1,-38)
  10-07 21:08:39.702    9986-9986/com.trainwithtanya.hiitandroid D/VideoView﹕ Error: 1,-38
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here is the video format 
  <a href="http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll185/akhan007/mediaType_zpsjfvfdpto.png" rel="nofollow">http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll185/akhan007/mediaType_zpsjfvfdpto.png</a></p>