Videos truncated when played on TV

[benjamj]

I have some videos ripped to mp4 format. I can play them in full on a computer, from either the internal hard drive or from an external hard drive to which they've been copied. However, when I plug the portable HD into the USB port on our TV and try to play them, some videos do not play to completion, but just end abruptly at some point. The TV screen just goes blank and after a couple of seconds the next video in the directory tree starts to play. The behavior does not seem to be correlated to file size, as some files of comparable size will play until the end, while others will not. However, the behavior is consistent for a particular file, with the cut-off point always occurring at the at the same place in the video. I plan to try playing the problem files on the TV from a thumb drive, just to see if this makes a difference. However, the portable HD is much more convenient in terms of capacity and also is cheaper pr MB, so I'd like to get other suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

[flashandpan007]

Take a look at MediaInfo to see what files you have. post the text so we can help

[benjamj]

Here is the data for a couple of the problem files:

General
Complete name : F:\Movies\ .mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 3.96 GiB
Duration : 3h 20mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 824 Kbps
Encoded date :
Tagged date :

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3h 20mn
Bit rate : 2 422 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 12.5 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.066
Stream size : 3.39 GiB (86%)
Writing library : FASM Quality Enhancer Bitrate Squeezer 5.0 (c)2011 Fachman
Encoded date :
Tagged date :
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 3h 20mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 399 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 460 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel(s)_Original : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 572 MiB (14%)
Language : English
Encoded date :
Tagged date :


General
Complete name : F:\Movies\ .mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 2.19 GiB
Duration : 2h 6mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 473 Kbps
Encoded date :
Tagged date :

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2h 6mn
Bit rate : 1 964 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 12.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 816 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.052
Stream size : 1.74 GiB (79%)
Writing library : x264 core 140 r2377 1ca7bb9
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=4 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1964 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=78125 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date :
Tagged date :

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2h 6mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 433 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 344 MiB (15%)
Language : English
Encoded date :
Tagged date :

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2h 6mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 124 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 142 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 113 MiB (5%)
Language : English
Encoded date :
Tagged date :


General
Complete name : F:\Movies\ .mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 2.40 GiB
Duration : 2h 19mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 473 Kbps
Encoded date :
Tagged date :

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2h 19mn
Bit rate : 1 966 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 9 890 Kbps
Width : 1 792 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 5:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.042
Stream size : 1.91 GiB (79%)
Writing library : x264 core 140 r2377 1ca7bb9
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=4 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1966 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=78125 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date :
Tagged date :

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2h 19mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 489 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 375 MiB (15%)
Language : English

Thanks again, I appreciate the help.

[newpball]

Unfortunately it is nothing new, some videos will simply not play on those devices.

The firmware/software on those devices produced by engineers borders utter crap, it only supports limited settings for absolutely no valid reason except for shoddy engineering.

You best solution is to simply not use the built-in player functionality but hook it up to a HTPC.

[flashandpan007]

Unfortunately it is nothing new, some videos will simply not play on those devices.

The firmware/software on those devices produced by engineers borders utter crap, it only supports limited settings for absolutely no valid reason except for shoddy engineering.

You best solution is to simply not use the built-in player functionality but hook it up to a HTPC.

That's exactly what I do. Integrated players are s***
MPC-HC on a HTPC is very nice ... integrated LAV Filters

I think it has to do with the resolution but just a guess, there is something that is not so like the player wants it to be ...

[usually_quiet]

I have some videos ripped to mp4 format. I can play them in full on a computer, from either the internal hard drive or from an external hard drive to which they've been copied. However, when I plug the portable HD into the USB port on our TV and try to play them, some videos do not play to completion, but just end abruptly at some point. The TV screen just goes blank and after a couple of seconds the next video in the directory tree starts to play. The behavior does not seem to be correlated to file size, as some files of comparable size will play until the end, while others will not. However, the behavior is consistent for a particular file, with the cut-off point always occurring at the at the same place in the video. I plan to try playing the problem files on the TV from a thumb drive, just to see if this makes a difference. However, the portable HD is much more convenient in terms of capacity and also is cheaper pr MB, so I'd like to get other suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

newpball is a troll whose main concern is insulting engineers and disrupting the forum for his own amusement, so I wouldn't take very much of what he says seriously.

The built-in media players for TVs are definitely more limited in what they can play than dedicated media players or PCs. They are fine for people like me who do their own capturing and encoding, so their media files are always compatible with the playback devices they own.

A dedicated hardware media player makes more sense for those who need to play files encoded by others who don't always care about compatibility with TV hardware media players. Some files that you download probably still won't play, but not as many. The WD TV Media Player is frequently recommended by members here who use media players.

Dedicated HTPCs can play more, but are not for everyone due to cost, or the amount of technical expertise needed to set one up, or insufficient user-friendliness, or the all-important spouse approval factor. If you are a single geek or everyone in the family is a geek, then feel free to go for it. Yes, I have one but only I use it. My friends and family prefer to use more traditional consumer electronics.

[Krispy Kritter]

Check the TV User Manual and it may list the basic specs for supported files.

Things to watch: resolution, video codec, video bitrate, audio codec, and audio bitrate.

If any one thing is not supported on within spec, the files will not play.