video playback from memory stick

[Skaperen]

i want to create videos that can be downloaded and saved to a USB memory stick (thumb drive, minne pinne). i can save it "raw" and play it "raw" on my Linux computer, where "raw" is actually a mp4 or webm file written without a filesystem. what i am interested in is what else i need to do to make it ready to play in other places. i suspect that saving in a DOS filesystem would be the first and possibly only step needed make it playable on Windows (for the typical user). what about other things like TVs that have a USB port?

[Cornucopia]

TVs, media player boxes, etc. use storage that does have a filesystem (even those that record internally - those are usually just also encrypted). Often it is FAT32, but not necessarily (ExFAT, ISO9660, NTFS...), so you should always check the manual. The embedded player apps on those devices are dumber than most PCs' capabilities, so you likely will need to keep the file extension. May or may not need a particular folder structure, again depending on the device. Occassionally, some types need the files to use a particular naming convention.

Seriously, you aren't doing yourself a favor by trying to reinvent the wheel.
Just format a USB using the appropriate filesystem and copy the files. Done.


Scott

[Skaperen]

i was wanting to do this is in a way that anyone could download a raw copy of that file as a device image to the memory stick. the utilities that are used to put bootable Linux ISOs onto memory sticks while on Windows can be used on Windows (since most people don't have Linux). but if different playback devices use different ways to layout the videos, any hope of selling ready-to-play memory sticks (or other flash media like SD cards, etc.) has gone "out the window". so we are stuck with oversized optical media for distributing and playing videos or movies.

[Cornucopia]

Yes, if you consider distribution requiring of a physical medium, and requiring universality.

Otherwise, merely providing standard files (e.g. MP4) for users to DL (w possible subsequent copy to usb) and/or stream is probably the most efficient way. Which is I think why we are where we are today.


Scott