Any TV techs out there that can clarify this for me. I have a portable hard drive that works on my home TV no probs but when I try and get it working on the caravan TV I can get the menu and movies titles but cant get the movie to play. The TV is a Technovision. Any thoughts.
One thing is possible, maybe the movies are in a file format the TV can't decode? If you have the model number I can look it up for you.
Also, the HDD probably needed to be originally formatted in FAT32 structure. (were the movies loaded from a PC or MAC)?
The movies you have on the hard drive may need to be in an AVI format ... the simpliest format for any TV to read & play.
Also as strange as it seems - some DVDs are regionalised and play in different overall formats: By that I mean there are 2 DVD formats based on the area in the world:
PAL is the TV format used in the most of Europe, most Africa, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Nort Korea, and other countries NTSC is the format used in the most United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Mexico, and some other countries. Both formats are not compatible to each other.
So dependant on where the movie came from - it could be the Region issue only. Dependant on how modern your home TV is - it may adapt to both when it picks up either one. But your Van TV may not.
If they were downloaded from the net onto a PC or MAC or copied to the computer - then to a Portable hard drive then maybe they are in a more advanced movie format ..not avi.
Your home TV may have the "smarts" to play many file types as most do nowdays.... Your Van TV maybe just basic and unable to read anything other than simple movie files like AVI. ie (Not Quicktime, MP4 or DIVX etc...)
You can always download a free converter to convert them on your PC or MAC back to AVI Then save them back to your Portable for playing on anything later...
by the way Cloak is right - the portable hard drive does need to be in FAT32 before any movies or anything is loaded for an external device to read it properly... but some home smart TVs can do it ...with portables in other formats.
Hope this helps Cheers KT
-- Edited by KeenTravellers on Tuesday 19th of August 2014 08:21:25 PM
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I have an external hard drive [portable] on my home computer where I store TV shows & movies. It is set as NTFS and I have no trouble accessing files. It used to be that AVI was the only file for movies etc. Now things have moved on and we have MP4, MKV as well. The TV in my van is 2009 vintage and will only handle AVI. That could be the problem.
Where I have to convert a file I use 'Freemake Video Converter". It is a freeware program and does a great job.
Hi , Fat32 won't do over 4gb whereas ntfs will , do you use a 12v tv or just run 240v ?
If you run off the mains you could buy a WD TV , it will play almost any format , can stream directly from net or pc via wireless or Ethernet , and cost around $100 , they come with hdmi output as well as regular av out
Power consumption is 24w tops from memory and has 2 USB inputs for hard drives etc
Some people even use them in cars etc straight off 12v by just cutting off the tranny and running a cigarette adaptor as the tranny is 240ac / 12dc
if you want to get really carried away you can set up an account in the USA easily and subscribe to and stream Netflix , and other stuff too like BBC in uk etc as far as l know ( all the tech people get into it lol )
anywY that's just with using this little media player , and there's others as well.......
The best way is to download movies is in HD 1080P great quality, and put on to your Portable Drive, he puts movies on just about every day you can go here to have a look, great to do when you are home of course as most are 1 gig or more.
They are Torrents so you need UTorrent to download them, I have never had a problem with Movies from this site.
Any TV techs out there that can clarify this for me. I have a portable hard drive that works on my home TV no probs but when I try and get it working on the caravan TV I can get the menu and movies titles but cant get the movie to play. The TV is a Technovision. Any thoughts.
Johnty, The problem is that the codecs that compressed the file are not available on your van tv. The file format that gives you this problem will be MKV and MP4. These are done with generally using x264 codecs for the MP4.
I give one mate a lot of movies and he has the same problem, I just convert them with Freemake video convertor for him.
http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/
When installing it check every screen and untick all the crap stuff they want to install with it as you only want the program, You can set it up to do multiple files (Movies) at once.
Set the output to AVI, option format export is TV quality xvid MP3.
TV quality it uses xvid (which is Divx spelled backwards) that will be the codec it uses to re compress it with the MP3 is the Audio format you need for the sound to work for you.
Once you set the options in the program once it remembers them and it is easy to use. I setup numerous at a time and just let it do its thing. The quality is very good after its finished.
As some one has said the WD live will do this for you but will cost about $100. I have the WD live and the earlier version and it will not play them. The live version does.
9 out of ten the 12 volt tv's only play avi type movies
and the size of the hard drive can't be more than One Gig
where are you on the moment ?? if close to me you can pop in ( Hervey Bay )
Cheers John
-- Edited by Cruising Cruze on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 03:49:28 PM
It boils down to what codec is imbedded in the firmware on the TV, Maybe the smaller ones in size don't have latest Codec, Not sure about that. Our Panasonic Plasma will decode anything I throw at it.
A 1 gig HD would be 20 year old maybe you mean 1 TB. The size of the drive would only matter if the TV didn't recognize it. I use a 750 Gig drive in our bus with a 12v tv via a WD live and it will play anything I throw at it.
So the WD live is decompressing it and then displays it on the TV, And it would work on any TV as I have used it in many Motels over the years and never once has it not worked so the TV has nothing to do with it when using a WD live.
If you expect the TV to play it then yes it would need the x264 codecs imbedded. I have been playing around with compressed movies for 15 years, I make my own, But I only use xvid or divx codecs.
Cheers Allan
-- Edited by Murraman on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 04:36:55 PM
I still reckon the Wd Tv Live is the go as you don't have to worry formats , it's portable and can be used in the home as well if you have tvs that don't handle stuff, I even use one in my home theatre direct into a Epson 9000 projector , my downloaded movies are usually anywhere between 3 - 15gb depending on length of movie and whether it's 720 or 1080p and DTS sound etc
-- Edited by kesa32 on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 07:35:37 PM
We got ourselves an "Astone" tuner/HDD off ebay many moons ago. I belive it works on most formats and provides 2TB of space, heaps of room for all the Big Bangs, Star Treks etc.
As far as the torrent goes any of them work, I download a few movies and sit coms every month. Beats watching adds!
Safe travels
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Aircraft Avionics tech. Senior high school teacher.
