Getting error Start failed -16 while starting MediaRecorder in Android

Question

I am new to advanced technologies like Video recording in android. I am trying to create a simple application to record video.

This is the following code, I have used to record video.

    private PrintWriter out = null;
    private final MediaRecorder mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
    private final Camera camera = getCameraInstance();
    private CameraPreview surfaceView = null;


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        surfaceView = new CameraPreview(this, camera);
        FrameLayout frameLayout = (FrameLayout)findViewById(R.id.frameLayout);
        frameLayout.addView(surfaceView);

        Parameters params = camera.getParameters();
        List<Size> sizes = params.getSupportedPreviewSizes();
        Size optimalSize = getOptimalPreviewSize(sizes, 200, 200);
        params.setPreviewSize(optimalSize.width, optimalSize.height);

        mediaRecorder.setCamera(camera);
        mediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceView.getHolder().getSurface());
        mediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.CAMCORDER);
        mediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
        mediaRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);
        mediaRecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB); 
        mediaRecorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.MPEG_4_SP);
        mediaRecorder.setVideoSize(optimalSize.width, optimalSize.height);
        mediaRecorder.setOutputFile("/sdcard/test.mpg");
    }

And I am calling the start() Method inside onClick() method of a button

public void startRecording(View view){
        try {
            mediaRecorder.start();
        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
            releaseMediaRecorder();
        } catch(Exception e){
            e.printStackTrace();
            releaseMediaRecorder();
        }
    }

And this is my SurfaceView Code

/** A basic Camera preview class */
public class CameraPreview extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {
    private SurfaceHolder mHolder;
    private final Camera mCamera;
    private final Context context;

    public CameraPreview(Context context, Camera camera) {
        super(context);
        mCamera = camera;
        this.context = context;
        mHolder = getHolder();
        mHolder.addCallback(this);
        mHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
    }

    public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
        try {
            mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
            mCamera.startPreview();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            Log.d(this.getClass().getName(), "Error setting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
        if(context instanceof MainActivity){
            ((MainActivity)context).stopMediaPlayer();
        }
    }

    public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int w, int h) {
        if (mHolder.getSurface() == null){
          return;
        }
        try {
            mCamera.stopPreview();
        } catch (Exception e){
          // ignore: tried to stop a non-existent preview
        }
        try {
            mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(mHolder);
            mCamera.startPreview();
            if(context instanceof MainActivity){
                ((MainActivity)context).prepareMediaPlayer();
            }
        } catch (Exception e){
            Log.d(this.getClass().getName(), "Error starting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

And I am getting the following error

08-01 16:17:39.121: I/MediaRecorderJNI(29423): prepare: surface=0x202790 (identity=1681)
08-01 16:17:44.911: E/MediaRecorder(29423): start failed: -16
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423): java.lang.RuntimeException: start failed.
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.media.MediaRecorder.start(Native Method)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at com.sample.recorder.MainActivity.startRecording(MainActivity.java:149)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.view.View$1.onClick(View.java:2163)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:2552)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:9229)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:587)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3701)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:866)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:624)
08-01 16:17:44.911: W/System.err(29423):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
08-01 16:17:44.921: I/com.sample.recorder.MainActivity(29423): Media Recorder released successfully.

In that error code, 1st line is printed when the activity gets loaded, the remaining lines produced when tapping on start button which internally call the startRecording() function

Permissions used in AndroidManifestFile

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.STORAGE" />

Answer 1

OK, so I've managed to get around this error by removing

mediaRecorder.setVideoSize(width, height)

on devices with android version before 3.0 (HoneyComb)

this is my code:

        mMediaRecorder.setCamera(mCamera);

        mMediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.CAMCORDER);
        mMediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {

            mMediaRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.DEFAULT);
            mMediaRecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.DEFAULT);
            mMediaRecorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.DEFAULT);

        } else {

            if (! isFrontCamera) {
                CamcorderProfile camcorderProfile = CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_HIGH);
                mMediaRecorder.setProfile(camcorderProfile);

            } else {
                CamcorderProfile camcorderProfile = CamcorderProfile.get(mFrontCamId, CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_LOW);
                mMediaRecorder.setProfile(camcorderProfile);
            }

            mMediaRecorder.setVideoSize(720, 480);
        }

        mMediaRecorder.setOutputFile(filePath);
        mMediaRecorder.setMaxDuration(60000);
        mMediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(mPreview.getHolder().getSurface());

        try {
            mMediaRecorder.prepare();
        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            releaseMediaRecorder();

        } catch (IOException e) {
            releaseMediaRecorder();

        }

after this change it works on all testing devices that I have.

Hope this will help you as well.

Answer 2

try to change it with:

private PrintWriter out = null;
private final MediaRecorder mediaRecorder;
private final Camera camera;
private CameraPreview surfaceView = null;


@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
    camera = getCameraInstance();}