Burning for TV--too many options

[adelemh99]

I am confused...……. I am burning to CD for TV mostly. I am guessing using MPEG2 with the 4:3 aspect ration and default of 720 but think I should be doing more or better than that. Most TV's these days are larger screens and HD...……...My videos are not bad considering a lot but not all are coming from old VHS tapes, but that said, can I do something that makes them even better...…….

I admit, all the options are a bit confusing for this non-pro user.

Thanks in advance.

[canuck]

I assume you mean DVD and not CD for TV viewing.
Unless you have a BlueRay player and a BlueRay burner the best you can do is mpg video at 720x480 or 720x576.
If most of your video is coming from VHS then you cannor improved quality and in fact the video may even look worse on the large screen TVs

[Ken Berry]

It also depends on what kind of TV you yourself have. If it is a large flat screen type from the past ten years or so, there is another option. Many, indeed most, TVs of this type made in the last 6 to 8 years have USB ports in them which allow you to transfer your video from the computer to a USB flash drive or external hard drive and plug that directly into the TV which can then play the video with suitable adjustment of the remote control. These days, probably the best format would be mpeg-4, though others like mpeg-2 and either 4:3 or 16:9 are possible.

[Jan1954]

I have Video Studio Pro X8. I wanted to finish a movie before upgrading. My question is regarding "burning" the video to a flash drive. When I look at the two Share options, Computer or Portable Device, which one should I select to burn to a flash drive, so I can then plug the flash drive into my HD TV and start the movie?

[tletter]

When I look at the two Share options, Computer or Portable Device, which one should I select to burn to a flash drive, so I can then plug the flash drive into my HD TV and start the movie?

Many newer TV sets can play movies from a USB without the need to "burn to a flash drive" - perhaps yours is one of them. For those sets you just need to have the USB formatted with a compatible filesystem that's storing movies in a compatible video file format.

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[Jan1954]

Thanks for the note about "the USB formatted with a compatible file system..... compatible video file format." I have a Bravia and have looked at photos from a USB stick or flash drive but realized I did not have the Bravia setup correctly to make it easy to view movies, or even the photos. I need to use the Bravia manual and at the same time research which software I should download onto the Bravia instead of the one I did download, which seemed cumbersome.

Should I select Computer or Portable Device in the Share section of Video Studio? Sounds like it would be a Portable Device

[canuck]

What make/model of the Sony Bravia do you have?

[Ken Berry]

I know that Sony, who make the Bravia, usually required that any USB drive (stick drive or external hard drive) be formatted in FAT32 rather than NTFS. I am not really sure why they do this, though perhaps it is because Apple devices use -- or used to use -- FAT32. So the TVs want to make it possible to be used to play video from as many sources as possible, and not just PCs...

[Peem]

Ken,
Is there any way around the 4GB file size limit using FAT32? Peter

[Ken Berry]

I never found it, though my own videos were almost never longer than that. If they were, then I would split them at an appropriate point, and the break was not so obvious when playing them on the Bravia.

[alanball]

Have you tried using the EXfat32 format, I used that on a tv a couple of years back.

[lata]

What format are your original video files
I have a Sony Bravia, using a USB memory stick Fat32 I can play M2t, MP4, mov, MPG, not tried any other formats

I use Share – to render a video “that you can play on a computer” nothing special there.
I did have issues playing Motion Transport Stream with an older tv but renaming the file to use MPG as its file extension allowed the TV to play the file.

I then tried NTFS, no luck there the TV not recognising the USB drive.

Have you considered playing the video on another device, tablet etc then mirroring the video to TV.

Post Updated
Sony 43xf8796
I formatted my USB memory stick to use NTFS added a 5.5Gb m2t video file which played ok
I used the default Sony Media Player which recognised the USB, no problems.

[Ken Berry]

So it sounds like more recent Bravias will now recognize NTFS-formatted USB drives, which is good... though I won't be going out to buy one right now just to see for myself!

[Jan1954]

Here is an update on what I found out so far. I registered the Bravia in 2017. I can use the USB port on the Sony Bravia for a movie I made several years ago on a ScanDisk USB stick, using the Bravia "Media Player." I just checked the format and it is exFAT. Ok techys, I guess you know what that means, since I created the movie with Video Studio! I found out yesterday that the Bravia did not recognize a USB stick that was received on a dive trip years ago. I just checked that format and it is FAT32. I can play the FAT32 on my laptop and hook it to the TV via the HDMI cable, so that is OK. I also updated the software on the Bravia yesterday, which took quite a while.

So it sounds like in Video Studio, I select Share, and then the option to play on a computer. Do I need to format the USB stick first? I honestly don't remember if I did that for the exFAT Video Studio video I made that worked on the Bravia. I will try that out first and then proceed to Share in Video Studio to create this latest movie.

FYI: The movie I am getting ready to put on the USB stick is 38+ minutes. I found that is about the length of time for viewers, like my husband, when viewing. It isn't real exciting stuff!

[Jan1954]

I meant Sandisk, not Scandisk. Duh...