I am trying to run an .mp4 on a USB drive on an LED TV that will accept these types of files. I would like it to loop and the TV's functionality puts a title when the loop starts each time. I like the looping feature in QuickTime. Is there any way to load QuickTime onto a USB drive and run my looping movie that way?
QuickTime-OTHER
Do you have QuickTime Player 7 Pro installed?
This approach works with MOV files (haven't tried it with .mp4).
Open the file in QuickTime Player 7 (with Pro key enabled).
Select all the frames, then copy and paste them at the end of the movie. Repeat the paste until you have pasted the frames as often as you would like to the movie to loop.
When saving, save a "referencing" movie. As long as the TV properly sees the reference information (the repeat frames), the file should loop for as many times as you pasted the frames.
If the referencing movie approach does not work, do this again and save the movie as a "self-contained" movie. The file size will be larger as you're writing a new file that contains the repeat frames for each loop.
With either approach, the TV menu will appear at some point, but you'll be delaying it.
-Warren
Thanks, Warren. I am actually running this all day at a trade show, so placing multiples would be tough. I want to run through the USB port on the TV, as I don't have space for a DVD player or PC. My biggest problem right now is that my TV will do the loop, but it puts the file title at the top of the screen each time the video starts a new loop. Not a pretty sight.
1. Change the title to the shortest, most innocuous label that the TV's software will accept. For example, "-.mp4" or even "-" without the extension if the TV will recognize it.
Or . . .
2. Modify Warren's copy/paste technique. Create a movie that contains many instances of your clip--as many as you can fit on the largest flash drive you can afford. Save the final product as an .mp4 and put it on the flash drive.
Or . . .
3. Same as #2, but use a hard drive instead of a flash drive. Myself, I have a 500G 2.5" SATA drive in a small USB-powered enclosure for this purpose. Works great on a 46" Samsung.
Option 2 is what I was trying to describe. mns stated it very well.
You should be able to assemble a movie that's just under three hours if you use Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, After Effects, etc. and then export that to mp4 (so, if your loop was 10 minutes, you would simply place that in your timeline 18 times).
If the TV displaying the title simply can't be there at any time, ever (even once every few hours - and I know it isn't ideal in any way), you'll have to find a TV that doen't do that via its own playback cababilities. There's probably a HD display designed for video wall use that will do this. Although, many of those models offer an optional Windows unit or dedicated VIDEO_TS playing unit for this type of thing (pricey add ons for an already expensive, yet usually beautiful display). If you find a consumer model that doesn't display the mp4 file name when the playback repeats, be sure to post it here.
I know you mentioned that there's no space for a DVD player or a computer, but have you considered a Mac mini attached to the back of the TV via a VESA mount adapter patched via HDMI? Secure and out of the way, it will really open up your options. I've used this setup with great results, especially now that recent Mac minis have HDMI out (sound goes via this port as well).
I'm a video artist and I have been looking into this exact same problem.
I found it has almost nothing to do with Quicktime and everything to do with:
- what kind of television display you're using
- what file format (mov, mp4, avi) you're using
I know I've seen a clean loop without display information before.
I think it was from using avi as the format.
I'll test this tonight and repost if I have success.
In the meantime, if you find an answer please post here.
The previous replies are clever work arounds, but not practicle solutions for 100% professional display.
I have this solution for all of you.
My stores in Singapore have been using this media player.
Advantages:
- It will auto play video when power is on
- No display information when looping.
- Support almost all formats in the market
- And the best is : It is small n cheap.
I've found the Western Digital TV Live media player is an exceptionally versatile player for purposes of looping a video endlessly without overlays. It’s more than the player spizzy suggested, around $100 at most electronic stores but it's something you can pick up locally if you need it right away. Make sure to install the latest firmware updates, the autoplay function on the early firmware was a little glitchy. Once the firmware is updated you can point the system to a thumb drive, the next time you turn it on it will autoplay the contents of the thumb drive in an endless loop after the initial startup screen.
Running a looping video from a USB Drive with QuickTime
