IMA-SDK .m3u8 video play issue

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello Support,

We are getting black screen issue in the sample app when we load livestream URL(.m3u8 type) with preroll ads. If we remove preroll ads code then it works fine. We have attached sample app screenshot for the same. This scenario also happens in latest IMA SDK as well.

Expected Result - Video should be play after preroll ads completed. 

If you want anything from us to fix the issue then please let us know.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

It happens in iOS sometimes and not in Android. I am attaching your sample app with your .m3u8 URL. It happens in our .m3u8 URL as well. You can try the 3-4 times preroll option (first in a row - attached screenshot) in the app then you will get black screen at least once. You will get black screen after the pre roll Ad is completed. 

Please let me know if you need any help.

Attachment - 1 screenshot and sample app source code (Advance Example). 

Sample App source code download link - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vGMQBoNB9CpvHVfvR0H9euI2yvyqaCU6/view?usp=sharing

Thanks,

Gaurav

On Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 7:43 PM devendra bind <devendr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Can you please provide me app android id or app store link 

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[IMA SDK]

Hi,

Thank you for providing details, we will get back to you once we have an update on this. For further investigation kindly provide your URL as well via "Reply to author" option.
 

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vFHec:ref" (ADR-00264666)

Thanks,
 

IMA SDK Team

[devendra bind]

Can you please provide me app android id or app store link 

On Fri, 23 Aug 2024 at 17:48, Gaurav Purohit <gau...@whizti.com> wrote:

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[IMA SDK]

Hi,

We have tried running provided sample app and unable to reproduce the issue. Can you let us know whether the issue is observed in simulator or any specific device?

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi, 

Any update on this? This issue is happening lots of times in our app. Please do the needful.

Thanks,

Gaurav 

On Fri, 23 Aug 2024, 11:02 pm Gaurav Purohit, <gau...@whizti.com> wrote:

Hi,

I shared with you a sample app source code in my last email which has an ad code. Did you test it? We tried your ad code only in the sample app.

It is your sample Ad tag and it is not working sometimes, you can check on your Advance example source code. If you try 3-4 times preroll ad then you will get black screen at least once. I am sharing you source code link again  : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vGMQBoNB9CpvHVfvR0H9euI2yvyqaCU6/view?usp=sharing

static NSString *const kPrerollTag = @"https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/"

    @"ads?iu=/21775744923/external/single_ad_samples&sz=640x480&"

    @"cust_params=sample_ct%3Dlinear&ciu_szs=300x250%2C728x90&gdfp_req=1&"

    @"output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=";

Here is our Ad tag which is behaving same as yours and displaying black screen after Ad completion:

https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/132916964,22587986447/wdrb.ott/vod-preroll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwdrb.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=300x250%7C320x250%7C400x300%7C640x480%7C1280x720&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=

Thanks,

Gaurav

Thanks,

Gaurav

On Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 10:39 PM devendra bind <devendr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Can you share me which ad code you have implemented, I think we need to share other ad code

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

We will look into it. Meanwhile, I am attaching video, please go through it. In second try, I got black screen in the sample app. Play Video URL is from your sample app and m3u8. M3u8 is not compatible sometimes?

Let me know about the same.

Thanks,

Gaurav 

On Sun, 25 Aug 2024, 12:28 pm devendra bind, <devendr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Gaurav,

In your ad code mentioned below, I can see the response, you can check it on the vast inspector.

link to check preroll ad code 

https://googleads.github.io/googleads-ima-html5/vsi/

ad code given by you 

https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/132916964,22587986447/wdrb.ott/vod-preroll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwdrb.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=300x250%7C320x250%7C400x300%7C640x480%7C1280x720&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=

On Sun, 25 Aug 2024 at 12:23, devendra bind <devendr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Gaurav,

This is not live right, you have an update in the staging server. We need to share another preroll code which is associated with the app account.

[IMA SDK]

Hi Gaurav,

Thank you for getting back to us.

Yes, indeed the issue is reproducible in the sample project you have provided. However, the issue is not reproducible in our Google Advanced example. Having said that kindly provide us the VAST tag URL privately to check and confirm the mentioned behavior on our end. 

You can provide the following details via reply privately to the author option. 

[devendra bind]

Hi Gaurav,

This is not live right, you have an update in the staging server. We need to share another preroll code which is associated with the app account.

[devendra bind]

Hi Gaurav,

In your ad code mentioned below, I can see the response, you can check it on the vast inspector.

link to check preroll ad code 

https://googleads.github.io/googleads-ima-html5/vsi/

ad code given by you 

https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/132916964,22587986447/wdrb.ott/vod-preroll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwdrb.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=300x250%7C320x250%7C400x300%7C640x480%7C1280x720&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=

On Sun, 25 Aug 2024 at 12:23, devendra bind <devendr...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello Support Team,

We have not heard anything from you since last week. We have provided sample app as well as video issue. 

In addition, we provided you with the Pre Roll Ad Tag, stream URL that you asked us. 

Let us know when we will get a solution. Our customer is waiting for the same.

Thanks,

Gaurav

On Tue, Aug 27, 2024 at 8:05 PM Gaurav Purohit <gau...@whizti.com> wrote:

Hello Google Support,

Any update on this ?

Thanks,

Gaurav

On Mon, Aug 26, 2024 at 7:18 PM Uttam Gawas <ut...@whizti.com> wrote:

Hi,

    We can reproduce this issue both in a simulator as well as a device.

    Here is the VAST tag URL :

https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640x480&iu=/21886259135/news9/app-news/news_livestream&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&ciu_szs=&url=http://www.news9.com&vpos=preroll

   You can also try with the following .m3u8 links we are using :

https://fuel-streaming-prod01.fuelmedia.io/v1/sem/a7574990-c736-4b1f-afa7-f6fe3ff6dfea.m3u8"

It created the issue of black screen in our app as well as in IMA SDK Google Advanced example.

In previous mail we provided the sample app and you were able to reproduce the issue. This app is the same IMA SDK Google Advanced example, we did only one change that we used the .m3u8 url inside it (See screenshot)

If you do the above change in your sample app then you can get black screen sometimes. You can also try with a low network.

So according to us, this issue is coming from your sample app only(Google Advanced example). 

Thanks & Regards,
------------------------
Uttam Gawas
Skype-uttam.gawas
Mobile-7774965480
ut...@whizti.com

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello,

When we use IMA SDK with AVPlayer then we are getting black screen issues for some time when pre roll AD is completed. If we don't use IMA SDK then AVPlayer works fine every time. Any update on this ?

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hi,

I will check with our team regarding your issue and one of my team members will reach out to you once we have an update on this. Meanwhile, your patience is highly appreciated.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

We appreciate your reply. We have given you issue details 2 weeks ago so we hope we will get a solution early. You have accepted the issue is there in your sample app given by us. 

We are waiting for your reply.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello Support Team,

Any update ?

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

Your issue has just been escalated to the L2 support team for IMA. I'll be managing your case from here to make sure we can get a resolution for you.

Can you confirm for me, is this issue reproducible in the iPhone simulator or only on live devices? If live device, can you confirm the model and os version involved? If simulator, can you confirm your Xcode version and which simulator profile you are running against?

Thank you,

Greg Schoppe
IMA SDK Team

 

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vFHec:ref" (ADR-00264666)

Thanks,
 

Greg Schoppe IMA SDK Team

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello Support Team,

Thanks for the information. 

The issue is reproducible in all types of iPhone devices as well as iPhone simulators. I am using xCode version 15.3. 

The issue comes sometimes when we use AVPlayer with IMA SDK and we get black screen immediately after the AD is completed. If we do not use IMA SDK, AVPlayer works every time.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello Support Team,

Any update ?

Thanks,

Gaurav

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi Support Team,

Any update from the L2 support team ?

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guavarit,

I've tried repeating the test 20 times in a row now, without reproducing the issue you captured. I want to try to get as detailed a reproduction case as possible to be able to properly test against. I understand that you are seeing this issue in all of your tests. Because we are having reproduction issues, I want to isolate a very specific instance to work against for testing.

• Can you give me an example of a device simulator profile where this issue can be reproduced? ("iPhone 15 Pro" is our default choice, if you can confirm it is occurring on that platform)
• Are you running Xcode on and x86 or an apple silicon device? (M1 macbook, for example)
• Can you provide click-by-click instructions to reproduce, just to avoid any potential misunderstandings? (for example, I am clicking back and selecting the pre-roll option again to start the stream again... are you doing this, or are you exiting and re-running the app for each attempt?)

Thanks,

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

Any update on this?

Thanks,

Gaurav 

On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 8:56 AM Gaurav Purohit <gau...@whizti.com> wrote:

Hi,

Any update on this?

Thanks,

Gaurav 

On Wed, 11 Sept 2024, 12:17 pm Gaurav Purohit, <gau...@whizti.com> wrote:

Hi,

• Can you give me an example of a device simulator profile where this issue can be reproduced? ("iPhone 15 Pro" is our default choice, if you can confirm it is occurring on that platform) 

• I am able to reproduce the issue in iPhone 15 Pro. I have just downloaded your sample app from your git repository. I have done only 2 changes in Constants.h file as follow:

//static NSString *const kDFPContentPath =

//    @"https://storage.googleapis.com/gvabox/media/samples/stock.mp4";

static NSString *const kDFPContentPath =

    @"https://fuel-streaming-prod01.fuelmedia.io/v1/sem/a7574990-c736-4b1f-afa7-f6fe3ff6dfea.m3u8";

// Standard pre-roll

//static NSString *const kPrerollTag = @"https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/"

//    @"ads?iu=/21775744923/external/single_ad_samples&sz=640x480&"

//    @"cust_params=sample_ct%3Dlinear&ciu_szs=300x250%2C728x90&gdfp_req=1&"

//    @"output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=";

static NSString *const kPrerollTag = @"https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640x480&iu=/21886259135/news9/app-news/news_livestream&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&ciu_szs=&url=http://www.news9.com&vpos=preroll";

I have attached a video for the issue ("Videonotworkingsmall.mov"). Please look into it.

Here is Sample App source code access link with above 2 lines changes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18SYZ6tR7nCa-utzTiRKIuXoXPg4EXOVF/view?usp=share_link

• Are you running Xcode on and x86 or an apple silicon device? (M1 macbook, for example)

• - xCode 15.3, M2

• Can you provide click-by-click instructions to reproduce, just to avoid any potential misunderstandings? (for example, I am clicking back and selecting the pre-roll option again to start the stream again... are you doing this, or are you exiting and re-running the app for each attempt?)

• We open the app and click on the Preroll section. Please watch the video for the same.

           You can try VPN and set India location. You will surely get black screen sometimes.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello Google Support Team,

Any update?

On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 8:56 AM Gaurav Purohit <gau...@whizti.com> wrote:

Hi,

Any update on this?

Thanks,

Gaurav 

On Wed, 11 Sept 2024, 12:17 pm Gaurav Purohit, <gau...@whizti.com> wrote:

Hi,

• Can you give me an example of a device simulator profile where this issue can be reproduced? ("iPhone 15 Pro" is our default choice, if you can confirm it is occurring on that platform) 

• I am able to reproduce the issue in iPhone 15 Pro. I have just downloaded your sample app from your git repository. I have done only 2 changes in Constants.h file as follow:

//static NSString *const kDFPContentPath =

//    @"https://storage.googleapis.com/gvabox/media/samples/stock.mp4";

static NSString *const kDFPContentPath =

    @"https://fuel-streaming-prod01.fuelmedia.io/v1/sem/a7574990-c736-4b1f-afa7-f6fe3ff6dfea.m3u8";

// Standard pre-roll

//static NSString *const kPrerollTag = @"https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/"

//    @"ads?iu=/21775744923/external/single_ad_samples&sz=640x480&"

//    @"cust_params=sample_ct%3Dlinear&ciu_szs=300x250%2C728x90&gdfp_req=1&"

//    @"output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=";

static NSString *const kPrerollTag = @"https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640x480&iu=/21886259135/news9/app-news/news_livestream&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&ciu_szs=&url=http://www.news9.com&vpos=preroll";

I have attached a video for the issue ("Videonotworkingsmall.mov"). Please look into it.

Here is Sample App source code access link with above 2 lines changes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18SYZ6tR7nCa-utzTiRKIuXoXPg4EXOVF/view?usp=share_link

• Are you running Xcode on and x86 or an apple silicon device? (M1 macbook, for example)

• - xCode 15.3, M2

• Can you provide click-by-click instructions to reproduce, just to avoid any potential misunderstandings? (for example, I am clicking back and selecting the pre-roll option again to start the stream again... are you doing this, or are you exiting and re-running the app for each attempt?)

• We open the app and click on the Preroll section. Please watch the video for the same.

           You can try VPN and set India location. You will surely get black screen sometimes.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

I've attempted to recreate this issue with your version of our sample several times, including through a VPN in India, and I am still not able to reproduce this issue. We are running the same code on the same version of xcode with the same simulator profile, so at the moment I am a bit confused as to why we are seeing different results.

Can you capture a network log of this issue occurring? I am hoping that being able to see a charles file or HAR file of the event in question may provide some further context to the issue.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

We will do that meanwhile let us know if you are able to reproduce the issue in future.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

Any update on this issue?

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

One of our other team members was able to reproduce the issue and capture a network log for me. The issue they are seeing appears to be caused by a failed request to the stream's selected media playlist (also known as a rendition manifest).

Assuming this is the same issue, I am not certain as to why the behavior would differ between an IMA SDK implementation and an unmodified player, as the IMA SDK doesn't modify player behavior until the playback is triggered on a successfully loaded media item. 

One solution that you may be able to implement in your code to remedy the issue, would be to add an observer to your AVPlayerItem to catch any stream errors such as this, and reissue the request.

Have you had any luck reproducing the issue on your end, and capturing a network log?

Thanks,

Greg Schoppe
IMA SDK Team
 

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi Google Support Team,

Thanks for your reply. We did not find a network log. 

failedToPlayToEndTimeNotification AVPlayer observer is not called in the app when black screen issue comes. Do you know any other observer for stream errors with AVPlayerItem that we can try and how to reissue the request.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

I am still investigating why an intermittent segment request issue would potentially cause this problem with IMA, but not in a clean player, but as a workaround, can you try storing the stream url at the time you issue your ads request, and then reissuing it when the "ENDED" event is fired on the pre-roll? I believe reissuing the load request for your stream should resolve the issue.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

I got your point but what if we have mid roll ad in the video. Can you tell me how you reissue the request?

Thanks,

Gaurav 

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

I am not sure I understand your question. Are you experiencing this black screen issue after any breaks other than pre-roll? My understanding was that this issue only occurs on the transition from pre-roll to content.

To re-issue the content request, I would create a new AVPlayerItem with the same URL, and then simply load it into your AVPlayer instance when the pre-roll's "COMPLETE" event fires.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

Black screen issue occurs only after pre roll ad.

"To re-issue the content request, I would create a new AVPlayerItem with the same URL, and then simply load it into your AVPlayer instance when the pre-roll's "COMPLETE" event fires."

We tried above things, it works but this thing is not available in your sample app. So is it convenient/safe to do this thing? I don't think this is proper way of IMA SDK integration with our app. What do you think?

Thanks,

Gaurav 

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

This is certainly not an ideal implementation, and I have filed a bug with our engineering team to resolve the issue internally. That said, so long as the replacement AVPlayer item targets the same HLS manifest that the original request did, this replacement should not affect the functionality of the IMA SDK. This solution should be seen as a temporary workaround to unblock your team while our engineers work to resolve the issue internally. I do not yet have an estimate for how long it may take to resolve the issue within the IMA SDK, but it's likely to require us to release a new version of the iOS SDK.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

Thanks for the update.

Could you provide us a tentative timeline to resolve this bug ?

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

Unfortunately, our engineers are still investigating potential resolutions for this issue. We do not yet have an ETA at this time.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

Ok, got it. We hope the issue will be resolved soon.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

Any update on this ?

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

I don't yet have any additional information on this bug. I do believe that the fix will likely require a new release to be made for the IMA SDK. Since this is a low-level issue involving AVPlayer behavior, it may take some time to identify and roll out a solution. I will update this thread once I know more.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

Ok. Our customer is waiting since two months and users are suffering the issue. We hope you fix the issue soon. Do you have any update?

Thanks,

Gaurav 

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

Unfortunately our engineers are still working on this issue. I do not have an ETA on resolution at this time.

Have you tried implementing the workaround that we recommended? It should help reduce impact while we are moving towards an official solution.

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi,

We tried your recommendation but when the AD is completed in PiP mode then the PiP exit instead of playing live video.

Please fix the issue.

Thanks,

Gaurav 

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

Thank you for letting us know about the issue with the workaround we provided. I've updated the engineers with this prioritization and will respond with an update as soon as they get back to me.

Thank you,

Greg Schoppe
IMA SDK Team
 

[IMA SDK]

Hello Guarav,

Our engineering team has finished their investigation of the bug. Unfortunately, there is not a good way forward for resolving the issue within the IMA SDK.

That said, they were able to provide a version of the workaround that should not interfere with PiP state. if you use `contentPlayer!.replaceCurrentItem(with: AVPlayerItem(url: contentUrl!))` to replace the AVPlayerItem on the RESUME_REQUESTED event, the PiP player should be able to continue playback seamlessly, without exiting.

Thanks,
 

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hello Support Team,

I am writing to follow up on the black screen issue that occurs after the preroll ad plays. It has been approximately four months since we had discussed this issue and I have not received any updates regarding its resolution.

In your last response, you mentioned that your engineers were still working on the problem but an estimated time of resolution was not provided. Could you kindly share the current status of this issue and any progress that has been made? I would appreciate any additional details or a revised timeline for when this might be resolved.

I look forward to your prompt response.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hello Gaurav,

This is Jackson from the IMA SDK team to help with your issue. I'm filling in while Greg is out of office. I wanted to make sure you saw our last email on this thread, since the engineering team had finished their investigation and a work-around was shared.

We had last emailed on Nov 4, 2024 with the following:

```

Our engineering team has finished their investigation of the bug. Unfortunately, there is not a good way forward for resolving the issue within the IMA SDK.

That said, they were able to provide a version of the workaround that should not interfere with PiP state. if you use `contentPlayer!.replaceCurrentItem(with: AVPlayerItem(url: contentUrl!))` to replace the AVPlayerItem on the RESUME_REQUESTED event, the PiP player should be able to continue playback seamlessly, without exiting.

```

Please let me know if you had already seen the above message, need additional assistance, or if you have any questions

Thanks,
 

Jackson Sui IMA SDK Team

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[2025-02-27 15:47:46Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vFHec:ref" (ADR-00264666)

[Gaurav Purohit]

Hi Jackson,

Thanks for the update but...

We have implemented the changes for switching the AVPlayerItem in our application. However, we are experiencing a performance issue where the video takes a few extra seconds to load after the ad has completed, specifically when using the IMA SDK.

We have observed that without the IMA SDK, there are no such issues and the video loads as expected. It seems that there might be something specific to the IMA SDK that is causing the black screen issue after the ad ends.

We would appreciate your insights or suggestions on how to resolve this issue and optimize the performance so that the transition from the ad to the main video is seamless and efficient.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your assistance in resolving this performance issue.

Thanks,

Gaurav

[IMA SDK]

Hi Guarav,

To resolve your issue, I think we may need some more information about your implementation of IMA.

• Are you using the IMA Client Side library to provide preroll advertisements in an otherwise DAI-enabled stream, or are you using client side ads throughout the livestream?
• Could you provide us with a modified version of our sample app that shows how you are currently replacing the content url? It would help for us to be able to debug from a common implementation without the complexities of a full app being involved.

Thanks,

Greg Schoppe
IMA SDK Team

Thanks,
 

Greg Schoppe IMA SDK Team

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[2025-03-03 15:32:53Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vFHec:ref" (ADR-00264666)