[SOLVED] When subclassing AVPlayer, is there a more direct way to know when a player item ends, than using notification center?

When subclassing AVPlayer, is there a more direct way to know when a player item ends, than using notification center?

When using AVPlayer,

the only way I know to detect the end of a video being reached,

is to use the notification, just as you would when detecting the end of a video from the view controller. Eg,

class FancyAVPlayer: AVQueuePlayer {
    
    override init() {
        super.init()
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
           selector: #selector(innerEnd),
           name: .AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime, object: nil)
    }
    
    @objc func innerEnd() {
        print("AVPlayer subclass, tape ended")
    }

    override func insert ..etc
    override func remove ..etc
}

I have always wondered, there must be a more sensible way to do this, by overriding something in AVPlayer.

Has anyone solved this issue?

Solution

Unfortunately, no.

In AVFoundation, the notification AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime is indeed the common and recommended way to detect when a video playback has reached its end.

Overriding methods in AVPlayer or AVQueuePlayer to detect the end of playback without using Key-Value Observing (KVO) or notifications isn't supported directly by the API.