Playing Video Files on DVD Player with USB

[Seachd12]

I recently bought a DVD player with a USB port, in order to play video files off a USB drive, holding much more than a DVD.

It's great when it works, but not all files do, unfortunately.

It looks like everything I try to play is an AVI file, but some work, most don't.

Since I know next to nothing about video, I'm wondering what my next step is. I've tried using a few video converters I've found online, trying different things, but nothing has been successful there.

How do I find out what the videos that DO play have in common, and/or how to I get the other files to the same specifications.

For the record (and I'm not sure if it matters or not), here are some of the specs from the DVD player's manual:

Type of Disc: DVD/VCD/HDCD/CD/DVD+R/DVD-R/RW, DIVX 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, WMA, MP3, Kodak Picture CD
Video Format: MPEG 4
Audio Format: MPEG 1, LAYER 1, LAYER 2, LAYER 3

Thanks.

[yoda313]

Couple of things first off without having a model number to be more specific.

99% of dvd players won't read ntfs drives. That means fat32 and won't play a single file that is larger than 4gb.

Second - if its high definition 99% of dvd players won't play high definition video files. - though that may be changing now but that is usually reserved for bluray players.

Also you have to convert the file if it doesn't meet those vague descriptions you gave. Any number of converters can change the format.

Use a program like gspot or avicodec to identify the video information that is inside the video file. From there you can find out what you need to change it too.

If your resolution is higher than 720x480 (for ntsc) than you will have to downconvert.

[Seachd12]

Thanks for your reply and the information.

I reformatted the USB, just to be sure, and the first few videos I put on there worked. But starting with the 6th, they stopped. No matter which video I tried after that, it wouldn't work.

I'm wondering would it be possible for 4GB to be the limit for all files on the drive, and not just one?

EDIT: I guess I should mention that the videos that don't work with the USB in the DVD player also don't work while it's in the laptop.

[Seachd12]

Now I'm wondering if it isn't just the USB drive, which, if I remember correctly, wasn't exactly expensive.

[jagabo]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/295067-Common-DivX-DVD-Players-AVI-Playback-problems!

4 GB is the limit for a single file. Not the entire drive. Your problem sounds like it's the drive, not the files. Is it USB 2.0 or 1.1?

[jman98]

Check out the link that jagabo posted. Likely one of those things is your problem. I've heard of some DVD players that won't play AVI files larger than 2 GB so the single file limit may be smaller than 4 GB on some players. The link contains the answers to your questions.