Display MP4 file on android tv

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Level 1

4 points

Display MP4 file on android tv

Ive been trying to get the output files of my Imovie to display on my TV for years without total success. I am running imovie 10.0.5 on osx 10.9.5. I want to run my movies on a new Sony TV which is essentially like any android device.

I output my files to the desktop and then copy them to a Thumb drive. Case in point: I output a 2.5gig file to a memory stick with 32gb of storage. The memory stick is formatted for DOS as I also have a Windows machine. The movie is read and plays on the TV just fine.

Now I have a 8.5gig movie. It will not load on the memory stick "file too big for format". I then reformat the memory stick to an Apple format using Disk Utility. The file transfers to the stick just fine. The TV will not recognize the memory stick.

This barrier between Apple and Windows brands has plagued me for years.

I am reading that the Sony TV needs MP4 files with a certain CODEX. I found an App that claims to reformat MP4s into a wide variety of formats, but there is no documentation. Besides I have already proven that the TV can read the file. The problem appears to be with the fundamental storage of Apple MP4 on a DOS formatted stick.

Any ideas?

OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), Safari 7.0.2

Posted on Aug 8, 2017 7:05 AM

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Answer 1

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Aug 8, 2017 9:22 AM in response to FirstForty

Hi,

I had the same problem getting a Panasonic widescreen TV to read a USB thumb drive formatted for Apple. It seems that TV's are set up to read DOS FAT 32. As you have discovered, FAT 32 has a 4 GB limit on file size. Like your situation, my movie was larger than 4GB so I had to format for Apple Mac OS extended (journaled). Never was able to get the TV to read that stick, however. The problem is with the TV not supporting Apple formatted drives. I finally ended up connecting my laptop to the TV and viewing the movie that way. My other option was to split the movie, which I did not want to do.

I hadn't thought of it at the time, but what you might try is formatting your thumb drive to Ex FAT. That format is an extended version of FAT 32 that is compatible both with Apple and Windows systems. It has no file limitation. It still may not be compatible with your TV. EX FAT is not as widely compatible as FAT 32. But since it is an extended FAT 32, it just might work. You might read the TV's specs to see what types of drive formats it supports.

Here's a link that explains the difference between the various formats:

What’s the Difference Between FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS?

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