USB to TV how?
 

OK so i am on the band wagon of giving USB out this year for wedding movies and being so used to DVD what is the best way of doing this as my day at having a look has seen me throw things at my computer.

New 8gb USB, 40 minute film, formatted fat 32 in the USB, in Encore downloaded file to folder on hard drive as HD 1080 x 1920 mp4, Tried to find folder on hard driove and its hidden in a cache system on hard drive? Finally found file, dragged and dropped to the USB, USB to TV, folder there on TV, but says no folder when trying to play?
OK start again, back in encore download as 720 x 1280 hd high quality, folder found in drive in cache system again?, drag and drop into USB, same again no folder found but you can see it in a folder on screen..
F............go back to DVD,...

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Steve, not sure why you're using Encore, that's for DVD, Blu-ray and Flash ;)

Grab yourself Handbrake (it's free) for the better h.264 encoding with smaller files.

Then you need to figure out HTML, CSS and maybe some javascript to make an awesome player on a computer, or just have the eh.264 files that play on TVs.

You don't need Encore for any of that!

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Ah OK Dave, i am on prem pro and naturally it links to encore so i thought go ahead and use that as i am used to that. But even so, all USB will not play in certain TV so whats the point i may as well stick to DVD. You know what its like in UK. My son has given me three files on his USB, played in my mums TV to no avail then my TV a year old only and will not play?? So i give my clients USB and then all hell breaks loose ringing you saying they cant play the dam movie...

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Ah ok so just use media encoder full hd and save to drive then use handbrake?

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Hi Steve

Clive in Ireland mentioned he had figured out how to use HTML5, CSS and Java to make his interactive menus on a USB drive . Maybe he will share with us ..just some basic code or a simple template would be great???

Chris

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Maybe Chris...Cmon Clive.....

Re: USB to TV how?
 

This is the issue with providing files on USB they may or may not play on the device that the client plugs them into as there is no standard for playback let alone any standard for menus. This is why discs & Blu-ray will remain the default for years to come. If Apple provided a way for a small business to deliver private videos to targeted clients through iTunes then we could all forget about physical delivery but until that time DVD & Blu-ray are the only standards based way of delivering video to clients.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

There is no standard in TV USB port that can read movie files. Even if it plays on yours, it might not play to many TVs out there.

A safe bet is to have your customer get AppleTV or Chromecast that can mirror content to TV.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Hi guys,

It's probably a pretty low tech solution compared to what Taky has put together.

Any CSS I used was simply for styling. And I'm not keen allow you to fully use my template. I did waste like £18,000 on a student loan to go through uni. I guess 'waste' is too strong a word, but only occasionally doing thinks like this still doesn't go far in justifying my fees at the time!


Anyways, I'll try to explain the barebones.

A main html file which contain the hyperlinks to the video pages. The video pages all contain the html5 video code. The html video code points to the digital video files on your USB (probably in a subfolder). So the main page contains the links - and the user just uses the browser's back button to return to menu. My simplistic version of course offers no 'chapters'. But the videos have a full playbar so moving to a certain point shouldnt be problematic for clients.

Go to 2:10 on my video to see how it looks.


P.S. the jittery look of my videos on the USB is becuase of the screen capture software - not an accurate representation of how they play off the USB.

HTML5 video code:

<video width="320" height="240" autoplay>
<source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>

Re: USB to TV how?
 

I have to disagree. You can do nothing with Blu-Ray/DVD aprt from using on a Blu-Ray/DVD player. Unless of course you 'rip' them.

The flipside is USB has various benefits/uses/methods to play. And if you really want, you could make your own DVD or pay somebody to.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Cheers Clive nice one thanks mate.
OK can someone take me through USB download from original movie from the time line because i am going to blow up the dam thing in a minute.
I have 4gb, 8gb, 16,gb, 32 gb usb flash drives.
From prem pro go through media encoder full hd 1080 x 1920 high quality OK loaded into hard drive good, plays great on computer, ok so in goes USB 16gb.
File is to large for destination drive, soi format to ntfs downloading great, try in TV, will not play, brand new LG TV ... WTF...

Re: USB to TV how?
 

What format did you encode to? mp4?

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Talk about frustration....
Am i being paranoid?
USB flash drives been in production years yes?
So why cant they all play in TVs...
Am i paranoid that i am thinking TV companies don't want you to play movies through a USB stick so that you wont get sky TV and Netflix and all other movie downloads?
Jesus how hard is it to get a film to play through a USB.......

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Ye Clive.

The movie 45 minutes long about 11gb.. Full HD high quality 1080 x 1920 HD.264, media encoder upload, plays brilliant on three computers, two TVs noooooooo.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

hehehe Clive!!!!

I'm at this point won't be sharing online tutorial or stuff like that for several reasons. Actually those HTML5 codes are very simple. You can google it.. it's all there.

If you want to create a chapter, there're several ways to do. But the easiest way is to specify the video start time. You add the #t= with the number of seconds when you want the video to start. For example, you want to start the video at 1:26 of the video file, add #t=86 like this.. (1 min x 60 sec. + 26 sec = 86)

<video width="320" height="240" autoplay>
<source src="movie.mp4#t=86" type="video/mp4">
</video>

Also the auto play feature is disabled for mobile browser by default. They did it on purpose so people won't incure huge data cell phone bill. Because of that, you should add a poster frame to the video. Same like the thumbnail setting on YouTube or Vimeo. Say like I have a file called thumbnail.jpg I want to use when the video placeholder is displayed on the page.

<video width="320" height="240" autoplay poster="thumbnail.jpg">
<source src="movie.mp4#t=86" type="video/mp4">
</video>

Re: USB to TV how?
 

There isn't a standard governing what can playback on TV USB port. Every manufacturer come up their own. My 3 years old 55" LG TV only play pictures from USB stick. No movie at all.

There are also complaince fee TV manufacturer need to pay organizations if their USB port need to decode MPEG2 or MPEG4. So it's really up to them to include those feature or not.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

if you want max compatibility, you need to format the USB drive in FAT32 format. well, limit to 4GB max per file. I encoded a whole hour reception video to MP4 using 12/15 mbps settings. It is less than 4GB in size.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

I did that Taky..
How do i choose that setting 12/15 mbps? Is that in the settings in media encoder. Thanks by the way....

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Check out my blog for encoder setting

Recommended Encoder Settings for USB Thumbdrive Delivery | L.A. Color Pros Blog

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Brilliant my old mate thanks... Steve

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Yeah I'm not 100% sure about USB delivery yet, but it is interesting.

We have 4 TVs with USB ports, and only 1 of them can actually play video. lol

I have another friend who has one with USB ports, and it couldn't play mp4s, but only mp2s... I know because we took it to a wedding show and I had done mp4 files... and I was re-rendering on site to about a dozen different formats until we found mp2 worked.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

We just include a Roku media player when we ship our deliverables. That way we know 100% it'll work. It's also a surprise gift so they don't expect it :)

Re: USB to TV how?
 

That's a great idea! Which model of the Roku do you include? Do you load the MP4 onto the Roku before shipping? Or do you give them the USB drive along with instructions on how to load it?

Re: USB to TV how?
 

The TV compatibility thing is a slight concern but doesn't put me off. I only advertise it as one of the benefits. It works on my TV but I haven't tried my USB on many others.

At the end of the day it's a USB - everyone knows it's primary use is on a computer device. TV viewing is a bonus. But hopefully in the next few years it will become standard for TVs.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

So for this to work they'll still need to copy across to a tablet/phone or play it from a USB drive plugged into a laptop?

Seems only the Roku 3 has a USB slot - at £99 might be a bit much to add on to the cost

Re: USB to TV how?
 

+1 Peter, my clients get a good deal already in UK prices, i am not laying out £99 for them

Re: USB to TV how?
 

I did some research last night and it looks like the Roku Streaming Stick will allow you to copy the files directly onto it before sending it to the bride. This would require you to open the package of course, but that might not be bad as I'm thinking of getting a custom box with the bride and groom's name on it. Here's a link to the one I'm looking at which is $49 US:

https://www.roku.com/products/streaming-stick

It might be something that I'll offer as an add-on that they can upgrade to this year, or I may just build it into the cost next year. Certainly not for everyone, but it's an interesting option that I had not thought of because I want to do whatever I can to get away from making DVD copies.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

After doing more research (calling Roku customer support) it appears that the Roku 3 is the only one that will play MP4 files so I was incorrect about the Roku Streaming Stick having that ability. I also found out that (according to the tech support person) it's not possible to copy the files onto the Roku 3 as you simply have to plug your own USB drive into the Roku 3 and play the file off of the USB drive.

I had hoped that you could pre-load the Roku Stick with the MP4 file and let the bride just plug it in to their TV and play it but apparently that's not possible. I would be interested if there is something else that has an HDMI input built in that will allow you to pre-load it with an MP4 file because that would be very convenient for the bride.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Well you still would have to supply the wedding on USB but this should send the HDMI to a TV and only for £20

Sumvision Cyclone Micro 2+ Full HD HDMI 1080p Multi: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Pete

Re: USB to TV how?
 

That looks very cool! It's very reasonably priced as well

Re: USB to TV how?
 

OK Bingo!!
Got the feature 45 minute film to play on USB 4 GB stick
Settings.
Premiere pro, media encoder, 1280 x 720 HD setting 25 progressive, target bit-rate 6 max 12 maximum render, the file came out at 2.60 GB , which is less than i thought. No stuttering on HD TV, quality great and as good as a blu-ray.
Tried on three different TVs, and all good, all good in laptops, Bobs your uncle!!
So late today i am going back to full HD setting but going to try the bit-rate at same settings target 6 max 12 to see if i can get it in just under the 4 gb aloud for fat 32 system. I figure use all these settings and the client will have no messing around just slot in TVs and laptops without pestering us!!

Re: USB to TV how?
 

These simple low cost HD media players have been around for more than a couple of years. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-...ml#post1745089

We were giving them out at one time. I think that trying to cover all the bases with some universal format is impossible unless it's DVD or Blu-ray disc. Just give them the basic files & let them get on with it. Most people in the relevant demographic for wedding videos are going to be computer savvy enough to be able to copy the files to their intended devices without hand holding them all the way.

Taky's solution is clever & a nice way of packaging up the video files but is by no means foolproof & will still require the user to have sufficient knowledge to play the files on their tablet or TV etc & is never going to be as simple as putting a disc into a player.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

You can easily squeeze the bit rate down lower. If it looks good enough to you on Vimeo then get Vimeo to compress it for you. Just upload the original file to Vimeo then download the file they encoded. Last time I looked Vimeo used just 5Mbps for both 1920x1080p & 1280x720p.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Ah OK great Nigel thank you got the hang of it now cheers. Steve

Re: USB to TV how?
 

UPDATE
OK, so for the record if it helps others, i went through encoder again with a full HD setting 1080 x 1920, 25 frames, progressive VBR 2, target bit-rate 6, max 12, the file size came out at 3. 40 GB, played in the TV and all laptops but found that it stuttered slightly only slightly so i tried the 1280 x 720 HD setting again but 8 target bit-rate and 12 max and it played better on the TV.
So in the future i will use that setting, that way all my clients will get the DVD plus the USB with the 1280 x 720 HD setting so i am sure it will play in all TV. I have tried the USB in all 5 different TV and all work superbly. Steve

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Nice work steve - so that's playing directly into the TV from a USB?

Regarding 1280 X 720 - what do you tell your clients - do you just tell them it's HD and leave it at that? - do clients even know the difference between 720 and 1080?

Pete

Re: USB to TV how?
 

I did some searching and found media players with SD card reader slots in the $25-$35 range. They had HDMI out and a few also had "AutoPlay" to use for digital signage. Would something like that be an alternative? You could preload the video on a SD card and set the player to autoplay it when powered up. No worrying about video compatibility.

The ones I checked out were about the size of a deck of playing cards.

Re: USB to TV how?
 

They work well although the remotes are pretty crappy. As I noted in an earlier reply we used to give them out at one time before realising that none of our clients were so technically challenged that they couldn't figure out how to download a file from Dropbox. What they did with it afterwards was up to them. We always provided Blu-ray & DVD so the HD files were just a freebie. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-...ml#post1745089

Re: USB to TV how?
 

Hi Peter,
Yes the 4 GB USB straight into the TV and plays lovely, if the film is more than one hour you may have to drop the bit-rate again, but my 45/50 minute film came in at 3.25 GB on the higher bit-rate so you can drop down and still keep the quality.
Yes i will just say its HD, your right they don't know the difference but i must say 1280 x 720 looks great...

Re: USB to TV how?
 

It's been a few years now. so things may have changed a bit. How are you guys getting USB flash drives to work on TVs now?