USB HDD + TV = Video Freeze?

[Mooh]

Hello everyone,
a friend pointed me to this forum, praising its members expertise when it comes to all things video-related, so I would like to ask for your help
Sorry, if I didn't choose the right section I wasn't sure where to put my question...

Previously, on 'Mooh's Home Entertainment Front'
A few months ago, I got me my first real TV, a Sharp Aquos 60" (my baby!) and I was very happy with it until recently. I have been using it strictly as a means to play the latest TV show eps and movies from a 500GB USB drive which worked perfectly fine. Unfortunately, my USB drive croacked two weeks ago, so I decided to get a WD My Passport 2TB which is pretty nifty.

The Menace
Just one problem: while I was able to play MKV files that were as big as 12 GB smoothly and without a problem on my old drive the new one has serious trouble with even the smallest files sizes / bitrates. After the first 2-3 minutes the video starts freezing up like it's buffering, after two seconds or so it continues to run, then after another minute, it starts stuttering again and freezes up completely.

The Unsuccessful Heroine
I've tried various video files, ranging from MP4s, MKV to AVI with file sizes between 400 MB ("Daily Show with Jon Stewart") and 12 GB ("Star Trek into Darkness"), getting different results. Sometimes it takes around 10 minutes to freeze, other times like with the latest "Almighty Johnsons" episode, it runs smoothly from start to end which so far has been the ONLY file that was a success.

I transferred 850 GB of data from my PC via USB 3.0 just to make sure the file transfer rate is as good as it should be and it showed me a decent 50 MB/s. When plugging the drive into my laptop which only has USB 2.0 like the TV and playing the same files directly everything was fine as well. I have no idea what's going on or what to do about it.

The Plea
Help me, VideoHelp community, you're my only hope


Thanks
Mooh

[Cauptain]

Probably REFRAMES problem. If >4 most TVs like PANASONIC VIERA, SONY, SAMSUNG 5 series on Brazil, get stutter, freeze or skip problems.

Check your movies about this.

General
Unique ID : 242657209803653750425964753619246212369 (0xB68E1422F222DC9490FE1F78E5B56511)
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 6.55 GiB
Duration : 1h 53mn
Overall bit rate : 8 260 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-02-09 18:09:04
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.0.0 ('Coming Up For Air') built on Jan 20 2013 09:52:00
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0
Attachment : Yes

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 53mn
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 542 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 24.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 53mn
Channel count : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Text #1
ID : 3
Format : VobSub
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : The same subtitle format used on DVDs
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No

Text #2
ID : 4
Format : VobSub
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : The same subtitle format used on DVDs
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No

Claudio

[fritzi93]

Cauptain neglected to tell you to use MediaInfo to check the attributes of a video file.

Anyway, am I right in supposing that:

1) The same problematic files worked okay with your previous external hard drive.
2) That My Passport external drive has no power adapter, getting its power from the USB port?

If so, the drive isn't getting enough power. Get a power adapter or powered USB hub.

BTW, I have a Sharp 70LE640U and the inbuilt player is fairly good, as inbuilt players go. But as Cauptain implies, it's limited in what it will tolerate as to reframes, header stripping and level (format profile). So if you didn't make these yourself, goodness knows if they were done competently.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[Mooh]

Great, thanks.

So, I checked two files, on that's working, one that isn't.
The "good" one has a reframe setting of 5, the "bad" one has 9.

If we assume, that 5 is still in the TV's "tolerance level" that would be an explanation.

However: It still would not explain why I do not have any problems watching the file with 9 reframes without a problem when using two other USB drives.

Any other idea?

[fritzi93]

First things first:

Does the drive have an AC power adapter or does it not?

[jman98]

First things first:

Does the drive have an AC power adapter or does it not?

THIS.

I cannot emphasize this enough.

The default configuration for external drives sold in stores is for them NOT to have external power supplies. While this works fine on PCs, TVs and BD/DVD players almost never have USB slots that are capable of providing enough power on a consistent basis to large (1 TB and over) disk drives. If you buy an external drive bay that has its own power supply and start to use it, I am sure it will fix your problem. This is issue is so common that I personally won't buy an external bay unless it comes with a power supply.

[Mooh]

Oh hey, sorry, totally forgot about the AC thing.
No, it does not have one.

Also explains why the 500 GB drives work fine.

So, in other words: Dammit.

Uhm...probably a stupid question: how does a USB hub help? I still have only the one connector from the HDD since the drive only comes with one USB 3.0 port? Sorry

[usually_quiet]

Some USB hubs are equipped with a power supply that plugs into the wall so the hub itself can power the devices connected to it instead of drawing power from a PC (or TV). Check the manual's section on USB devices before buying one. You may not be able to use a hub to connect a TV with a hard drive. For example the manual for my LG TV says "If the USB storage device is connected through a USB hub, the device is not recognizable."

Edit: Unfortunately the manual does not explain why a USB hub prevents connected drives from being recognized.

[fritzi93]

I heartily agree with jman98 as to external hard drives. I'd never buy one without a power adapter.

If I were you, I'd just get a bare desktop 2 TB hard drive and a USB 3 enclosure with adapter. Use the Passport for whatever. If that doesn't suit, take the drive out and put it in a powered enclosure.

I confess I only mentioned a USB hub based on other members' posts in other threads re hard drives powered by USB only. What usually_quiet mentioned about the possibility of an external not being recognized through a hub is unfortunate for you. I dunno if that would apply with your Sharp, so you'd be taking a chance buying a powered hub.

Note that your Sharp will *not* recognize a hard drive larger than 2 TB (mine won't). This is because MBR (master boot record) partitioning has a 2 TB limit. Partitions over that size must be GPT partitioned and neither of my TVs' inbuilt players will recognize such. I wonder if there are any TVs that will. And in case you think hey, I'll just do two MBR partitions, well, there's a workaround that can do it. But your TV will only recognize one partition anyway on a hard drive so partitioned. (Tried it, no go).

[betwixt]

Had similar problems with my Samsung TV and a 320GB "pocket drive". The solution came from contacting the drive manufacturer who sent me a free "Y" cable to try. It fixed the problem. It's two USB plugs, one wired as normal and the other only has the power and ground wires connected. It plugs into two USB sockets on the TV and effectively doubles the power allowed from the single socket. If you have two sockets close to each other it might be worth a try.

Brian.