Oct132011

Why can’t I play .AVI files from my external hard drive on my DVD player?

asks:

My movies are stored in my 500GB Seagate external hard drive which is connected to my DVD player. I have formatted it to FAT32. An error appears whenever I try to plug in my hard drive to my DVD. The error message says “Unsupported file”. I tried to use a flash drive to watch AVI files and it worked! Should I buy a new dvd player? HELP!



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6 Answers -

0 votes

Mjevolve

October 13, 2011

the Hard Drive wont work with the DVD Player .

i guess you are connecting the hard drive with DVD via a USB port …

you have to have the necessary drivers to enable compatability between two hardwares .
and DVD player’s do not come with drivers for a Hard Drive .

they can support flash storage like the USB Sticks and Memory Cards but not drives ..

get a bigger USB Memory Stick , they are too cheap now a days ..
transfer what you want to watch to it and enjoy your stuff ..

no need for a new hard drive ..  :)

0 votes

Mike

October 13, 2011

A DVD Player doesn’t require special drivers for a Hard Drive. It either supports external Hard Drives with specific File System (mostly FAT32) or it doesn’t.

All you have to do is take a look into the DVD Player manual and find out what it’s capable to read from and what not. Same applies to the file types it can play.

0 votes

FIDELIS

October 14, 2011

Hello, can you check what other files are supported by your dvd player?  Some of them play mkv, mp4, avi, divx, etc.  Try saving a video file supported by your player and see if it works.  Also, have you checked connecting your drive straight to your computer just to see if the drive is working ok?

0 votes

Jay

October 14, 2011

If it can not detect hard disk and the list of files :

Is it self powered ?

I have an external hard disk, which requires two usb slots to be detected, Its cable has two USB points, single can not work.

May be It requires more power from the device to which it is attached than your dvd player can provide ?
It may be a power problem.

Transfer your data to a small pen drive with a big memory.

If it reads the list of files but can’t play them because of “unsupported format” ?

Are these the same Avi files you played from your flash drive ?
If not, try to convert the Avi files, there are different AVi files according to codecs.
I could run one avi file, and could run the other from a pendrive once.

0 votes

Anonymous

October 14, 2011

possible that USB port doesn’t provide enough power for the hard  drive, you need extra power source.

0 votes

Rajiv_bond2000

March 21, 2012

HI
Is there any player which supports 2.5.1 codec in xp. plz help me out. I have downloaded many players but no use…