Pioneer DV400vk, using a USB2 HD

[Tom35]

I finally bought this unit and an External 250gb USB2 HD.
I'm happy, it plays everything, except I have not tested .mpeg files
mainly because they take up far to much space on my HD's.
Thus I use Divx and Xvid formats only.

I also want to get away from burning DVD's, hence the USB2 HD purchase.

Now for the how to part:

"Playing Stuff thru the USB port on the Pioneer DV400vk, using a USB2 HD"

1. Reformat the USB2 HD to FAT32. NTSF formatting wont work.
2. IF you are using WinXP you wont be able to format to FAT32.
If you are using W2K you will have that option. Otherwise you will have to use
a utility like DiskWizard by Seagate.
If you use DiskWizard it will only be able to make a 32meg partition in FAT32 format
3.You can then use PartitionMagic or Acronis Disk Director to enlarge the 32meg partition.
4.Don't increase the partition to the full 192meg limit for FAT32.
I found the Pioneer DV400vk had trouble reading the directory, and it could not read the files on the HD
when connected to the USB2 port.
5. I have my partition size set currently at 50megs. That still allows me to store about 40 Titles.
that I can play without having to burn them first.
( I have not experimented further to find the upper limit of the partition size that will allow the Pioneer
still to function before the reading errors creep in)
6. Shorten your movie title names. You wont be able to see the entire title on the Pioneer DV400vk
screen, and probably never will. Because Microsoft wont license its NTFS format.

Conclusion; buy a smaller External USB2 HD, you wont be able to use the entire capacity in any event.

cheers, I hope you find this info useful.

[jeanluc]

How does it handle subtitles? Apparently it's very fussy.

[Bjs]

Information regarding fat32 partitioning is in correct .

When it comes to players with usb facilities , its not meant for anything apart from a usb key / flash drive ... which may indicate fat32 partition max may fall around 8gig , but then , none of the manufacturer's include this in their manual's .

If you must use an external hard drive , make sure it has it's own power , or risk damaging the player .

Seagate tools will create fat32 partitions of "x" ... here's mine .



==

Why 230gig fat32 partition ... it's a test ... so far , no problems .

[Tom35]

Thanks for the info Bjs, I did not know that Seagate had upgraded their software.
and yes My USB HD has its own power supply, almost all of them do except for the usb key flash drives.

However just because I can now format the entire drive to Fat 32. that does not mean the
Pioneer will be able to read the entire directory of the HD......it still wont.
So at present I'm still staying with a 50 gig partition on the USB HD, which the Pioneer reads just fine.

I'm simply reporting that USB HD's can be used, instead of the limits of a 4gig USB flash drive.

cheers!

[suomiaussie]

Yes ive used an external HDD 250Gb with its own power supply and it works a treat
although it wont play dvd(format) movies only avi(divx/xvid format) but thats fine you get more on the disk any way..

[lostboytexas]

Hi,

Quick question before I buy one of these: when you plug in a hard drive via usb, does it show the full filenames of files or shorten them? my philips divx dvd player shortens them to 8 characters and sucks

thanks in advance

[hgh]

So the Pio 400 usb port does not support bus powered hds? does it support .avi files larger than 1 gb?

[somebodeez]

I haven't tired using an external powered HD with mine but when using discs (both DVDrs and CDrs) or a USB flash drive, the file names can't be completely viewed.

Mine is able to play AVI files over 1 GB (usually 1.36 w/AC3) and has no trouble with VBR mp3 audio.

[RabidDog]

the 8 char filename is a feature of FAT32 . If you have files on a dvd-r it will show more than 8 chars. So blame FAT32. ALso blame mfrs for not licensing reiserfs or jfs or some other great filing system, not more money for microsoft (NTFS), also if its open source it is mfr independent, to some degree.