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FCPF, flashdrive, and Panasonic TV
Hi. I seem to have a weird case here and I am not sure if this is the correct forum. I make a lot of home movies/ slideshows in FCPX, which I then import as a master file, rename the file with an mp4 extension and then copy it to my Lexar exfat flashdrive. My family then is able to enjoy watching the movies when this flashdrive is connected tomthe TV. Today I made another movie, and when I tried to watch it in the TV, it only played the first 10 seconds and then stopped( the TV clearly shows that the movie is 36 min long and it plays just fine when the flashdrive is connected to the computer).
I am wracking my brains, but cant find a solution. Everything was done exactly the same as with previous movies. The only two differences I noticed is that this file is larger than my other movies at 4.36 Gb, and that it was also rendered at 30p, while my other movies were at 24p. Could this be a problem for playback on TV?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. -
9 Replies
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[David Polushkin] “Everything was done exactly the same as with previous movies. The only two differences I noticed is that this file is larger than my other movies at 4.36 Gb”
The SDXC file system is exFAT so there’s no file size limitation there. However 2^32 = 4.29 gigabytes, so it’s possible the TV itself is using 32-bit file pointers and cannot handle a file larger than 4.29GB. Whether it’s a TV OS or any other OS, that OS *and* app must use 64-bit file pointers to avoid this — no matter what the underlying disk filesystem is. Note this is different from whether the OS or app uses 32-bit or 64-bit memory addressing. The application itself must use 64-bit file pointers and pointer arithmetic.
Although 64-bit file pointers have been used by apps for many years even on 32-bit Macs and PCs, it is unfortunately typical for embedded device operating systems and applications to not use these. I’m not certain that’s the problem, but it’s a possibility. You could possibly look up the tech specs on the TV or call their tech support. Just look for what the maximum supported file size is.
From FCPX you can export a version at 720p or some other setting which gets below that file size limit and try it. If that works you’d probably want to tweak the export parameters to just get below that size threshold while maintaining full resolution. FCPX has limited export options, so you’d probably want to use Compressor for that, or you could export it to ProRes and transcode it with Handbrake.
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Hi Joe.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thank you. I will try what you suggested. -
[David Polushkin] “rename the file with an mp4 extension”
Why not just make a legitimate mp4 out of FCPX?
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Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by “legitimate” mp4? When I share with a Master File, it does not give me any options of choosing a format output.
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The culprit was the file size. I shared the movie via Apple Devices and the file size became 2.7 GB and this is playing fine on the TV.
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Change the output to “Computer” from the drop down.
That will create a complaint mp4 not an h264 .mov with an mp4 extension.
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I see that option now. Thank you.
As far as playback, what is the difference between mp4 and mov with mp4 extension?
All my devices are playing the mp4 extensions files. What are the advantages of having a complaint mp4? -
[David Polushkin] “As far as playback, what is the difference between mp4 and mov with mp4 extension?”
File structure. There are very minor differences, really, and if playing back on an Apple device, there’s virtually no difference. It is outside of an Apple environment where things may go wrong.
If the TV is expecting one thing and receives another, it might not work as well.
Joe’s explanation of what is going on is probably correct, but I thought it might be worth trying a real mp4 instead of a mov to see if it solves the problem. 🙂
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I understand. Thank you for your help
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