image - thumbnailImageAtTime: now deprecated - What's the alternative?

Question

Until iOS7 update I was using...

UIImage *image = [moviePlayer thumbnailImageAtTime:1.0 timeOption:MPMovieTimeOptionNearestKeyFrame];

...with great success, so that my app could show a still of the video that the user had just taken.

I understand this method, as of iOS7 has now deprecated and I need an alternative. I see there's a method of

- (void)requestThumbnailImagesAtTimes:(NSArray *)playbackTimes timeOption:(MPMovieTimeOption)option

though how do I return the image from it so I can place it within the videoReview button image?

Thanks in advance, Jim.

****Edited question, after trying notification centre method***

I used the following code -

[moviePlayer requestThumbnailImagesAtTimes:times timeOption:MPMovieTimeOptionNearestKeyFrame];

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(MPMoviePlayerThumbnailImageRequestDidFinishNotification::) name:MPMoviePlayerThumbnailImageRequestDidFinishNotification object:moviePlayer];

I made the NSArray times of two NSNumber objects 1 & 2.

I then tried to capture the notification in the following method

-(void)MPMoviePlayerThumbnailImageRequestDidFinishNotification: (NSDictionary*)info{

UIImage *image = [info objectForKey:MPMoviePlayerThumbnailImageKey];

Then proceeded to use this thumbnail image as the button image as a preview.... but it didn't work.

If you can see from my coding where I've went wrong your help would be appreciated again. Cheers

Answer 1

Managed to find a great way using AVAssetImageGenerator, please see code below...

AVURLAsset *asset1 = [[AVURLAsset alloc] initWithURL:partOneUrl options:nil];
AVAssetImageGenerator *generate1 = [[AVAssetImageGenerator alloc] initWithAsset:asset1];
generate1.appliesPreferredTrackTransform = YES;
NSError *err = NULL;
CMTime time = CMTimeMake(1, 2);
CGImageRef oneRef = [generate1 copyCGImageAtTime:time actualTime:NULL error:&err];
UIImage *one = [[UIImage alloc] initWithCGImage:oneRef];
[_firstImage setImage:one];
_firstImage.contentMode = UIViewContentModeScaleAspectFit;

Within header file, please import

#import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

It works perfect and I've been able to call it from viewDidLoad, which was quicker than calling the deprecated thumbNailImageAtTime: from the viewDidAppear.

Hope this helps anyone else who had the same problem.

* **Update for Swift 5.1 ****

Useful function...

    func createThumbnailOfVideoUrl(url: URL) -> UIImage? {
        let asset = AVAsset(url: url)
        let assetImgGenerate = AVAssetImageGenerator(asset: asset)
        assetImgGenerate.appliesPreferredTrackTransform = true

        let time = CMTimeMakeWithSeconds(1.0, preferredTimescale: 600)
        do {
            let img = try assetImgGenerate.copyCGImage(at: time, actualTime: nil) 
            let thumbnail = UIImage(cgImage: img)
            return thumbnail
        } catch {
          print(error.localizedDescription)
          return nil
        }
    }