HDR1000S 2TB. Best film formats for external USB HDD?
I have tried MKV and VOB, AVI and MP4. All play OK but some do not fast forward but skip in sections, some work to x4 speed only, none fast rewind except skipping, MKV after fast rewind then pause simply crash the system to restart.
Can somebody please give their knowledge so I don't waste time flogging a dead horse, so I can concentrate on one or two formats until I get it working to the standard of the internal playback.
Thank you.
I have now done extensive tests on converting a single film from VOB to various formats and tested that they play via dlna (Twonky on Zyxel NAS) and usb direct. I then tested each fast forward and fast reverse up to x32 and observed the smoothness or otherwise, and the pause, play and stop. Not scientific but it may be useful.
MKV very poor jerkiness all speeds, pause/stop locks up via usb.
MKV slightly better via NAS, inconsistent.
AVI (MSMPEGV3) Perfect in every sense, via both.
MP4 (H264) as above but more jerky in rewind, via both.
TS (MPEG-2)slightly jerky both ways, via usb
TS (MPEG-2) very jerky both ways, only x4 fwd, no bkwd, via NAS
WMV very jerky, via both.
AVI (DIVX) no play via NAS, very poor via USB
MPEG2 via NAS play only no fast either way.
M2TS via USB not even listed, via NAS play only no fast either way
DV not listed either way.
[EDIT]
M4V (MP4) oddly seems slightly more jerky than MP4 though they ought to be the same??
MKV seems to be very bad so it seems the winner is MSMPEGV3 AVI which may be Microsoft MP4.
I do not know much about codecs and container formats, just observations on my setup HDR1000S 2TB with WD My Passport USB powered HDD into Humax USB socket. Hope it may give a start to some more serious study by somebody who knows more (almost anybody). If anybody wants to tell me that what I have written does not make sense regarding formats, please go ahead.
M2TS files will play from usb if you simply change the file extension to .ts.
I just use the button to move forward 4 mins at a time as I do with the usual HD and it works ok for me that way. Cant say I have ever had a problem and I have 2 HD external drives with both 1TB in each.
I do however copy films etc on to a 64gb drive that is USB3 and it copies over really fast plus plays better than USB2 .
Thank you grahamlthompson, very useful.
Further tests seem to have shown that the smoothest rewind and therefore easiest to stop accurately is definitely AVI with MP43 codec. Can you make any comments as to why this seems better, since I know so little about the subject and I note your name just about everywhere, indicating your obvious knowledge.
[EDIT] Or are things not what they seem regarding my tests?
I never use anything but the native transport stream container (.ts). It will play back High Definition content in any of the following formats 1080i50 1080p25 1080p24 (At full Blu-ray bitrates) 1080p50 (not tried 1080p60). There's no DTS-HD passthrough (and no internal decoder) so you have to replace HD audio with ac3 5.1. Replacing the audio is simple if you have the means to create a ac3 copy (I use FLV MP3 converter for convenience). TSMUXERGUI (Free) will remux the video and audio to a .ts format (Or to AVCHD or BD folders suitable for burning to optical media).
I am not streaming HD nor probably likely to since I have no source. Mine are old films recorded on an old (2008?) Panasonic DMR-EX75EB but they seem to look better played through the Humax to the Panasonic Viera. Many are nature documentary hence the preference for more accurate fast forward/reverse.
Thank you for the information.
donaldjamessimm - 35 minutes ago »
I am not streaming HD nor probably likely to since I have no source. Mine are old films recorded on an old (2008?) Panasonic DMR-EX75EB but they seem to look better played through the Humax to the Panasonic Viera. Many are nature documentary hence the preference for more accurate fast forward/reverse.
Thank you for the information.
Easiest way would be to losslessly convert the .vob files to programme stream .mpg files. The actual content will be mpeg2 576i.
Thanks for continuing here. MPEG2 did not seem to play.
I have been trying to find something to convert the container mkv to avi (MS-MPEG v3) lest I degrade the video but without success.
I tried ffmpeg and it produced sound only, no video.
Avidemux would not open muxer. The MKV sound is AC-3.
I tried Bigasoft which worked fine to mp4 except that fast fwd/rev caused tearing a bit like a kaleidascope or mixing paint colours.
I canachieve good results with AVS converter but it takes for ever because it re-encodes the video and will reduce quality.
Any advice please?
What was the file extension - MPG?
You did not mention the type of USB HD used but have you tried playing some of the same containers over the LAN and if so, are the results the same?
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