I have a toshiba tv with usb ports and some films on my external drive. All 720p. It plays great anything under 2hrs 6min but anything over 2hr6min it just gets to there and skips to start menu

Tech guy at toshiba said its the buffer memory and cannot be altered and only way round it is to split the files. Convert it to a lower quality or only watch films shorter than 2hr6min

Last option is easy but annoying. First two tho I havent a clue on how to do

So any input experts 😉 thanks

Some limitation of the file format the software in the TV is using i’d imagine.
DVDfab will be able to reduce the quality and hence the file size.

How big are the movie files ? If it always cuts out at 2hr 6 mins it would suggest its not file size.

You might like to think of a wifi style connection like a Chromecast, £30. tThen send the movie to the TV via your computer

All files of various sizes all play perfectly til 2hrs6min

tech fella just said buffer memory exceeds at that time and its a common complaint hes heard

He suggested splitting to 2 files or reducing quality

How old is the TV ? Is there an updated firmware available for the TV to fix the problem ? If not then it doesn’t sound fit for purpose and returning it would be a good option – basically tell the retailer that your money doesn’t cut out after 2 hours 6 minutes and neither should their telly.

Its pretty new im thinking that tbh

How big are the files ? I have ripped full movies at 8GB which compress to 1080 at less than 1GB, still good quality.

My mate bought a Sony and it will play 3hr+ movies from a 16GB USB stick which has multiple films on it.

What do you think of the Chromecast idea ? It plugs into your HDMI then you can stream from your phone/computer ?

Have a look here

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-software-cut-split-or-merge-video-files.htm

Jam the ones that work are all under 800mb any over 2 hours are around 900mb and cut out.

Re chrome cast not really wanting to buy any more bits as tv is meant to do it all. Its got wifi and streams my netflix and all other bits I want but this usb is only bit I cant figure out

I’ll have a look geoff cheers

OK got it. Yes my mates Sony will play 1.5gb files no problem. Can the TV see your PC via Wifi, I know some can access media libraries ?

TBH I have gone very much for the smart functionality to exist outside the TV (via Apple TV) for exactly the reason you are having problems. I think TV companies make good TVs but I am hesitant of their ability to build in smart features and in any case they will be out of date quickly

Good luck with it

When I plug in a usb its asks me to pick the device and sees my laptop but cant find any applicable files even tho they are there. Very confusing tbh

… if you have an HDMI port on your laptop can you run the movies on that and stream to the TV through an HDMI cable. That’s what I do with BT Sport – but I guess you are looking to use the Wi-Fi functionality of the TV

I’m also one for running the smart stuff outside the TV – Netflix, amazon prime and catch-up TV from my xbox rather than the built in apps. My TV barely has enough processing power to run these so it’s really slow to navigate and all sorts of audio synch issues – all cured by running from an external device.

But my TV is a bit older than yours and I might expect better performance if I got a new one

If your TV can download apps, then I can recommend the plex app. All files are stored on a media server (in my case a hard drive connected to a Macbook Pro) and the plex server streams the selected film to the tv.

I think for the files on your laptop to show up you would have to set up some sort of DNLA service. I’m reasonably tech savvy, but home networking media really does my head in.
Someone will be along soon to correct me I’m sure.

Out of interest, how is the external drive formatted ?

Fat32 iirc

Talk about complicating factors. Just split the files using one of the tools I linked to.

i bought one of these to play my films on a tv that has hdmi but not usb. it plays everything including mkv and rar files

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-SUMVISION-CYCLONE-MICRO-2-PLUS-HD-MKV-RM-SD-USB-AVI-MULTI-MEDIA-PLAYER-HDMI-/181335136493?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item2a386a98ed