RallyJon Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Has anyone gotten a video to play from a USB drive? Supposedly it plays, h264, mp4 and wmv. So far I've tried: 720x480: h264 640x480: mp4 (ipod, zune) and wmv Then, reading the specs suggesting 320x240 (welcome to 1997 ) I tried wmv in 480x360 and 320x240. Nothing plays. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RallyJon Posted September 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 OK, got one to play: 320x240 mp4 basic at a very low bitrate. 320x240 h264 does not play. Now I'll try ramping up the size and bitrate using mp4. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
whobedaplaya Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Between the USB max files limitation and this (which Kenwood at least gets right), you have to wonder what Pioneer is doing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RallyJon Posted September 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Now I tested a version of the same video that worked, but at 512 x 384 instead of 320 x 240, 1000kbps instead of 64kbps and 30fps instead of 15fps. It would play, but totally choked on it--stuttering, audio dropouts, etc. Unless anyone has a better explanation, this thing just doesn't have the processing power to render video from USB. Next I'll start testing various video formats and sizes burned on DVDs and SD cards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RallyJon Posted September 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Now, on to SD. Better results here. The 512 x 384 mp4 played fine from an SD card, with no stuttering. Then I tried a larger version, 640x480 and 1480kbps, and it also played fine. That one wouldn't even load from USB. Still, none of the WMVs played at all. So now it looks like maybe a bandwidth problem with USB, rather than processing power? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spolkyc Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 Wow that is kinda lame... but it sounds like people are happy with the iPod video playback and if that is true would that make it a SW issue because the iPod and usb use the same port? Or am i missing something here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
whobedaplaya Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 I'm assuming vid from USB is buggered atm and will be compromising by using a large iPod + 16GB SD card. Will post more results here once I get mine installed in the 06 Lincoln LSE. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dratifk Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 So no one has any luck with a USB powered Hard Drive. I want to put my kids video collection on a Passport and go at it. But No one has posted any type of hard drive that works. Ipod 160gb is way too expensive to use just for its hard drive capabilities. My unit will be installed next week. Looking for a hard drive which will work even though there is a 2500 file limitation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Interlude Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 I have been having trouble with this as well. After reading the manual, on page 197 it says that DivX video files can only be played via CD or DVD. The USB/SD supports video play back, but only on low resolution (320x240) .mpg, .avi (non-divx ones) and .wmv. So, yeah. We can't play downloaded/ripped tv shows from a USB hard drive, cause most of them are encoded with DivX. The only way is to burn them on DVD with a max resolution of 720x576. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VBLUE42 Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 You can use a hard drive to play video files as long as it is receiving enough power from the vehicle. Most people have had to provide an external power supply sense there will not be enough power provided from the USB on the unit. As far as the type of files playable, I dont know as I dont use this type of setup. My guess is you would have to convert you video files to something the unit support from a mass storage unit. Just so you will know, mpg 4 files from the ipod look great on the screen so I dont think there would be a problem getting good quality video from a mass storage drive using mpg 4 format. Just keep in mind there is the 2500 file limit from a mass storage drive. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
urtruelove78 Posted January 20, 2010 Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 I'm using following on 16 gb usb flash drive and it works flawless.I use Any video converter to convert files. Frame Size: 624*272 (640*480 worked but video was cinescope) Video Bit rate: 768 (I think this is critical for divx video to work from usb or sd) Audio: mp3 Audio BitRate: 128 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BenBrown Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 I have been having trouble with this as well. After reading the manual, on page 197 it says that DivX video files can only be played via CD or DVD. The USB/SD supports video play back, but only on low resolution (320x240) .mpg, .avi (non-divx ones) and .wmv. So, yeah. We can't play downloaded/ripped tv shows from a USB hard drive, cause most of them are encoded with DivX. The only way is to burn them on DVD with a max resolution of 720x576. I did get a Divx avi to play via SD card. It was 528 X 288 & the bitrate was 117 kbps. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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