Switching to USB flash drive distribution
 

Hello all - looking for some comments & advice. I think this is the year I will finally offer USB flash drive option for delivery of dance recitals. Anyone have comments or advice on what format is the most compatible with most smart tv's? How does this work for anyone that has gone down this road? The only thing I have found so far is the fornat of the usb flash drive should be exFat for best compatibility.

DVD has had a good run , but people have started asking for USB flash drive option.

** by format I am asking what video codec etc. thanks

Re: Switching to USB flash drive distribution
 

Eventhough exfat will play on mac and pc many tv's might not recognize the format and that can result in many client complaining it won't play on their tv, my old samsung HD tv is happy with NTFS formatted usb sticks and as far as I know Mac can read the format as well so I would format the sticks to NTFS. The easiest fileformat that will play on anything is a HD file in .mp4 (h.264) codec.

You also might consider just offering a option to provide a download link which is way less work, in such a case you have to agree a fixed amount for your work since that link can be easily shared to those that don't want to pay, that is also the case with usb sticks which can be shared with family and/or friends who can copy it to their pc for free.

Re: Switching to USB flash drive distribution
 

I format the USB3 pen in NTFS and copy an MP4 file to it and never had any problems with a bride saying it won't play. I use handbrake to encode the MP4 file.

Re: Switching to USB flash drive distribution
 

Noa & Anthony - thanks for the tips - I will try that out with a sample and see how compatible it seems.

Re: Switching to USB flash drive distribution
 

I'm doing digital delivery of individual dances through Smugmug.

This year I delivered full recitals through Dropbox and OneDrive.

I've thought about the USB thing, but wasn't sure the best route for that.

I still offer DVD and BluRay through Kunaki and have lots of parents still order those too.

Re: Switching to USB flash drive distribution
 

I know this is an old topic, but one thing to remember is that dance parents typically have each other's email address, thus it is trivial for one parent to buy a recital on a flash drive and duplicate it for everyone else. At least in the days of BluRay or double density DVD's, the average user had some friction with easy duplication.

I switched to USB only distribution, but rather than sell individual USB flash drives, every family gets a flash drive, and I am paid directly from the Dance studio, who build the cost into their recital fee.

Re: Switching to USB flash drive distribution
 

Hi Vince - good point and thanks for the reply and info. I believe THIS will be the season I switch to usb flash drives.