Samsung DVD 1080P9 + External HD

[ih8winter]

Hey guys,

Been searching through the forum for an answer to my problem but haven't been able to find it.

I currently have a 1080P9 DVD player with a 2TB WD external HD connected via USB. I transferred all my divx/xvid movie and show files...when i open the "Movie" folders/subfolders, the dvd player has no problem recognizing and playing the files. In the "show" folders/subfolders, all of the root folders of the shows can be seen but none of the individual files within those folders can be seen.

When i copy those same exact show files onto a smaller USB stick (i have a 4gb kingston), the dvd player has no problem with recognizing and playing the show files!

Any thoughts?

[jman98]

I can think of a couple of possibilities.
1) Your disk drive and USB stick are different file system formats. For example the stick may be FAT32 and the disk drive may be NTFS. Check the Properties tab on each when they are connected to a PC to see if they are the same format or not.
2) Many DVD and BluRay players actually have hard limits on how many files can be on attached media and maybe your disk drive has so many files that it has exceeded the ability of the player to read the disk. I don't remember the exact numbers but I've seen some Philips models listed as not being able to handle more than 200-something files in one directory and not more than 500-something files on the entire media source. If you have, say, 300 files on the disk drive you might try creating new directories and putting some of the files in them to see if having fewer files in each directory helps.

[jman98]

One more thing. Does your disk drive contain its own power source? Various players have problems with large external hard drives that are not self-powered. Sometimes the USB port on the player can't really provide enough power to drive a large external hard drive.

[ih8winter]

hey jman... thanks for the reply

1) yes, both the HD and Kingston are FAT32 formatted
2) i have a few hundred files on the HD...hopefully it's not the issue with the hard limit. I find it strange that it's only the shows that don't work...i can continue adding additional movies and it will read them. i'm wondering if it has something to do with the coding of the folders...maybe I need to transfer the files separately instead of transferring the entire folder?
3) the HD is self powered

Thanks.

[ih8winter]

alright...figured it out last night. there were too many subfolders for the shows.

before, the typical directory for a show was:
Shows > Entourage > Season 1 > Episode 1

realized that the samsung doesn't read files beyond the third level of subfolders. Since the movie files were listed simply under the "Movies" folder, they were fine. Changed it so that the directory is now:
Shows > Entourage S1 > Episode 1

By removing that last subfolder, the dvd player now has no problem reading the file.

[jman98]

Thanks for coming back to let us know. We appreciate that. Hopefully your answer will help others who have this player and may experience this problem. I would not have thought that 4 levels deep was too many so that's a new one for me.

[derts]

Please help me with this. I have a 2tb external hdd and have had trouble finding a dvd player that will read this hdd drive via usb. Your Samsung DVD 1080p9 does this perfectly????? If so that will solve my problem and I will be able to purchase the dvd player and not have a problem with this any more. Please get back to me, I would appreciate it more then you know

[ih8winter]

yes...it reads files that are divx/xvid/avi format no problem.

in order to do this, you have to make sure the hard drive is formatted to FAT32...most likely, your HD will come formatted from the factory in NTFS format. when you format, you'll lose everything on the HD so make sure you save everything somewhere else first, then format, then copy back onto the HD.

use this to convert format to FAT32: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/formatting-external-hard-drive-to-fat-32/

[derts]

Awesome, 2 other things Id like to ask, 1, how much did the player cost you??? Also ive been looking online and I cant seem to find this dvd player at any of my local stores. Is their a place online that you personally purchased it from??

[ih8winter]

i paid $70 at a walmart store (not online). i'm sure you can get the same one on amazon or even ebay....but walmart might still carry it.

[derts]

Samsung DVD-C500 1080p Up-Converting DVD Player


is that the correct dvd player

[derts]

sorry, its not, ill take a look around, thanks for your help