How to play local .avi videos in Node.js?

Help & Support
1

I’m actively looking for advice on how to integrate video playback for a local.avi file within a Node.js environment as a developer. I’m keen to understand the exact steps needed to complete this project successfully.
I need knowledgeable guidance on the best way to incorporate video playback capabilities into my Node.js application, especially when working with locally stored.avi files. Any in-depth explanations suggested practices, or insightful information that could help me in this development effort to improve my Node.js project would be immensely appreciated.

1 Like
2

To play local .avi videos within a Node.js application, you can use the node-omxplayer package, which enables you to interact with the OMXPlayer application via Node.js.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Install the required packages

Use the following command to install the node-omxplayer package using npm:

npm install node-omxplayer

2. Create Node.js script

Insert the following JavaScript code into a file called play-video.js

const omx = require('node-omxplayer');
const path = require('path');

// Define the path to your local .avi video file
const videoPath = path.resolve(__dirname, 'path/to/your/video.avi');

// Initialize an instance of OMXPlayer
const player = omx(videoPath);

// Manage playback events
player.on('close', () => {
  console.log('Video playback concluded.');
});

player.on('error', (err) => {
  console.error('Error:', err);
});

3. Execution

Navigate to the directory containing the play-video.js file using your terminal. Put the script into action with Node.js
node play-video.js

This is how you can play local .avi videos in Node.js.

1 Like
3

How can I enhance the Node.js script to include custom playback controls, such as pause, resume, stop, or seeking to a specific time in the .avi video?

4

You may use the features offered by the node-omxplayer package to improve the Node.js script for local.avi video playback with custom controls such as pause, resume, stop, or seek to a certain moment. This is an extended version of the script:

const omx = require('node-omxplayer');
const path = require('path');
const readline = require('readline');

const videoPath = path.resolve(__dirname, 'path/to/your/video.avi');
const player = omx(videoPath, { audioOutput: 'local' });

const rl = readline.createInterface({ input: process.stdin, output: process.stdout });

player.on('close', () => { console.log('Video playback concluded.'); process.exit(); });
player.on('error', (err) => { console.error('Error:', err); process.exit(1); });

rl.question('Enter a command (pause, resume, stop, seek [time]): ', (command) => {
  switch (command.toLowerCase()) {
    case 'pause': player.pause(); break;
    case 'resume': player.resume(); break;
    case 'stop': player.quit(); break;
    case 'seek': rl.question('Enter the time to seek to (in seconds): ', (time) => { player.seek(parseFloat(time)); rl.close(); }); break;
    default: console.log('Invalid command.'); break;
  }
});

rl.on('close', () => { process.exit(); });

This short script uses readline to process user input while maintaining specific playback controls (pause, resume, stop, and seek). When the user stops it, or after playback, the script ends gracefully.