Samsung TV won't read video files from My Book Live

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stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#85803 25-Jun-2011 11:07

I have a the new Samsung UA55D8000 TV (and it is just brilliant) and getting it set up has been fairly easy. It picked up my wifi and identified all the network devises including My Book Live which has a whole lot of .mp4 videos stored on it in the Shared Videos Folder.

I cannot however get the TV to “see” them – get the message “there is no video file currently available”.

Anyone any ideas on why the Samsung is not picking up these videos please?!

Thanks

BTW - Videos stream brilliantly to the iPad2 via the Air Video Server from My Book Live

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

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192 posts

Master Geek

#485744 25-Jun-2011 13:21

Just tried it on my LA46C750 and it can't play .mp4's either.

Would suggest they don't support the format, our TV has the latest firmware installed too so not much hope of a quick fix.

Google isn?t providing much help either :(

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#485754 25-Jun-2011 13:50

Check out the appropriate section of your user manual.
The manual I checked online at Samsung indicates it supports .mp4 files so it should work unless the NZ models are different.
Does it find any playable files (i.e other formats)?
I have a Sony 32 but it's very limited in files format it will play.

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#485782 25-Jun-2011 15:17

The Samsung manal has a long list of most supported formats.

Am making some progress though - in All Share– have got the video files to show up on screen but when go to open a .mp4 file – says it is loading but nothing happens – have to then hard reset the TV. Did actually get a mpg video to play but it was a very squashed picture. The .avi file said it was not supported.

I might be getting a little testy but why should consumers have to go through this battle to get something like this working after all the advertising saying how easy it is to access all your media!!

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

Spyware

3764 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#485798 25-Jun-2011 16:17

I thought the My Book Live had a DLNA server, if so then try that. I have a 46C7000 and plays mkv, m4v, mp4 etc. via TwonkMedia DLNA server perfectly. Also check your picture size setting in Tools.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#485810 25-Jun-2011 16:59

This is new stuff to me – the TV says it is MyBookLive Twonky – how do I change that?

Thanks

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#485879 25-Jun-2011 19:57

Just to double check something here...
Can you copy your MP4's to a USB drive and play them by plugging the drive directly into your 8 Series Samsung?

Just trying to see if it's an issue with DLNA or the TV's codec support...

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#485979 26-Jun-2011 10:45

Brilliant thinking! So tried an .mp4 video on a USB drive and it worked just fine – great picture.

The exact same file on My Book Live said file not supported!!

So what do you think is going on here and how do I fix it?

Really appreciate this help.

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#486023 26-Jun-2011 13:05

OK tried hardwiring the TV to the network to see if it was the wifi was causing the prob – still no joy!

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

robjg63

4098 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#486031 26-Jun-2011 13:23

stuffed: Brilliant thinking! So tried an .mp4 video on a USB drive and it worked just fine – great picture.

The exact same file on My Book Live said file not supported!!

So what do you think is going on here and how do I fix it?

Really appreciate this help.

Is the issue something to do with the way the My Book is formatted?
Maybe the USB stick was FAT and the My Book was NTFS or vice versa?
Might pay you to check that out if you have proven the file can play.

Also, welcome to the world of media files. You will probably find that while something supposedly supports a certain file type (say mp4) that it will actually support certain types of mp4 files.

If you already know this forgive me - but briefly - the mp4/avi/mkv is a container that is used to package the contents. They all have a different sort of structure. Within those containers the actual video can be stored in all sorts of way - with things like bit rates/ frames per second/audio tracks/video size etc in different formats etc. If one of those things is not supported by your TV (media box whatever) then it will probably just refuse to play. So you will probably find that some of these gotchas might cause issues occasionally.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Spyware

3764 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#486036 26-Jun-2011 13:30

Twonky, running under Ubuntu at least, has a setting to tell it that media receiver is Samsung TV etc.

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#486049 26-Jun-2011 13:39

Now you may be onto something here – the USB stick is FAT and My Book Live is NTFS. I know nothing about these types of file systems – what do I do now?!

Thanks heaps

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#486235 26-Jun-2011 22:34

Excuse my ignorance about your MyBook... but can it plug into the TV via USB? If so, will it see the file?

The issue, of course, could lie with the Twonky server software...
It's just a case of removing possible causes.

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#486268 27-Jun-2011 07:53

Thanks but MBL only has a network connection.

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#486448 27-Jun-2011 14:50

Well for some unknown reason am starting to make progress!

Today I can get .avi and .mpg files to play – not .mp4 though.

Me has a sneaking suspicion that either My Book Live and or Samsung have done a software upgrade as there has been a huge wall of silence from their support teams.

As I have said before it is a pity that poor sods like muggins have to go through so much grief to get a product to run – that should work right out of the shrink wrap!

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

robjg63

4098 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#486466 27-Jun-2011 15:36

Do you have the mains power connected to the My Book?

I found this comment in a review:
USB-Connected Devices

The TV will playback media on USB storage devices such as external hard drives. Some drives (e.g. Freecom Mobile) which are powered simply via the USB port might not receive enough power from the TV so a powered USB hub (e.g. a Belkin 4 port powered hub with surge protection) is one way around this & also means you don't have to scrabble around the back of the TV.

If the drive doesn't receive enough power it will either not power up at all, or it will suffer from erratic playback problems (sometimes working, sometimes not).

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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