Hey all,

Just bought a Z130BT and have been converting some DVDs to .avi and .mp4 to play on my 32GB SD card. Strange problem though-

Certain videos will not play. One example is Gladiator. I convert it to an AVI or MP4 file and when i try to play it, the unit says "Tracks not playable will be skipped" and skips the movie. most others will work fine. I tried bringing the AVI file below 1GB. No dice. I made sure the bitrate is below 1kbps. Still no dice. Tried other codecs such as MPEG-4 and I also tried other converting software such as Any Video Converter and CloneDVD Mobile.

Other videos that exhibit this behavior are- Heat and Aliens (directors cut). The only correlating factor is that all problem videos are 2.5 hours or longer. Is there a playtime limitation here? The AVI files for these movies will play on my computer without issue.

Thanks for the help.

SD

Okay, through researching I have answered my own question...

On page 214 of the operators manual of the Z130bt it states that the maximum playback time for video on SD or USB is 150 minutes. Not sure WHY there is a playback time limit, but there you all go. If you want to convert a DVD over 150 minutes to play on your SD or USB flash drive you must split it into two or more files under the 150 limit. Oh and it also states that the file SIZE limit is 2GB as well.

So there are your two SD and USB playback restrictions- 150 minutes or under AND 2GB file size or less.

thanks safaridave, useful info.

i found that having video and music on the same sd card, in two folders called video and music, the videos are not selectable.

seems the videos must be on there own sd card?

I have my videos in one folder and music in another on the same card. videos/music play without issue. One other thing I forgot to mention about video playback is that if your video is too high a bitrate (above 1000Kbps) then you risk the video being unplayable. Keep the total bitrate below 1000Kbps (that including video AND sound!) and your videos should be reliable. This is weird, as i have one or two videos at 1300Kbps and just those two play fine... the majority,though, need to be at 1000 or below.

Perhaps your videos are ripped at too high a bitrate?

+1 on dave's comment on bit rate plus look at the video size... I have a few problems with videos that I cut but left the hieght over 480 so wouldn't play.

I will have to check the file sizes of the videos.

If memory serves, I put a few videos into a folder called "video" and a few songs in a folder called "music" or whatever they were supposed to be called as per the manual.

All worked well.

When i purchased a 17GB SD card and loaded it with 11GB of music and the rest with video is when the problem of not being able to select the video folder started.

I have since purchased another sd card just for videos and will play around some more.

When i purchased a 17GB SD card and loaded it with 11GB of music and the rest with video is when the problem of not being able to select the video folder started.

The max number of files that the HU can handle on SD is 2500 (and 300 directories). If your average file is, say 4MB, that would be over the 2500 file limit. ( 11GB / 4MB = 2750, then add in your vid files too) So maybe the HU stops building its index when the limit is exceeded.

The max number of files that the HU can handle on SD is 2500 (and 300 directories). If your average file is, say 4MB, that would be over the 2500 file limit. ( 11GB / 4MB = 2750, then add in your vid files too) So maybe the HU stops building its index when the limit is exceeded.

Thanks for the reminder, Ron S.

I should have remembered that 2500 number from our 2010 GMC Terrain stock Alpine HU limits with file system on USB.

I think I will just leave it as 2 separate SD's, one for music, one for videos.

I do still have the problem of ""Tracks not playable will be skipped"" with audio files and no way they are over 150 minutes or 2 GB long.

They are 3 to 5 minute mp3 songs .