Watching movies on an Xbox from a HP SimpleSave portable HDD

[loziv]

Hi

I have just purchased a HP SimpleSave 320GB portable USB hard disk drive to store Divx films, Movies and pictures on.

However when connecting the HP SimpleSave to either a XBox 360 or a Blu Ray player via USB to watch a Divx movie it does not work, and does't allow me to watch videos from it?

Any ideas - would I be better getting another portable hard disk drive as perhaps the HP SimpleSave drive is not compatible with Blu Ray or Xbox 360 players?

TIA

 

[Gavtech]

Hi

I have just purchased a HP SimpleSave 320GB portable USB hard disk drive to store Divx films, Movies and pictures on.

However when connecting the HP SimpleSave to either a XBox 360 or a Blu Ray player via USB to watch a Divx movie it does not work, and does't allow me to watch videos from it?

Any ideas - would I be better getting another portable hard disk drive as perhaps the HP SimpleSave drive is not compatible with Blu Ray or Xbox 360 players?

TIA

You need to check the specifications of the Xbox and the Blluray player to find out what kind of file system the USB connection supports ... and if there are any other limitations that apply to USB connected devices.

Typically, only FAT file systems are supported.

This below for example are the limitations applying to Panasonic Bluray player USB connection:

FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 file systems are supported.
UDF/NTFS/exFAT file system is not supported.
Depending on the sector size, some files may not work.
Only the first partition on USB devices with multi-partition is supported.​

 

[tinytim]

You need to check the specifications of the Xbox and the Blluray player to find out what kind of file system the USB connection supports ... and if there are any other limitations that apply to USB connected devices.

Typically, only FAT file systems are supported.

This below for example are the limitations applying to Panasonic Bluray player USB connection:

FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 file systems are supported.
UDF/NTFS/exFAT file system is not supported.
Depending on the sector size, some files may not work.
Only the first partition on USB devices with multi-partition is supported.​

In addition there may well be a disk size or partition size limitation of 128GB as with the Panny Bluray Freesat Recorder.

 

[loziv]

Thanks all

So are all portable HDD drives suffer from this same problem? The reason I purchased a portable HDD was to keep all my films etc on the drive and then plug into the 360 or Blu Ray via USB rather than what I usually do which is put the videos onto a USB stick which works fine when connected to the 360?

 

[Gavtech]

Thanks all

So are all portable HDD drives suffer from this same problem? The reason I purchased a portable HDD was to keep all my films etc on the drive and then plug into the 360 or Blu Ray via USB rather than what I usually do which is put the videos onto a USB stick which works fine when connected to the 360?

Yes - possibly. But it is not the drive that is 'the problem' but the requirements of the unit you are connecting to.

What you need to do is make them match.... if possible...possibly by reformatting the drive to the correct format structure... but you MUST check the requirements first by checking the specifications of the particular units you are connecting to or else you may be wasting your time.

Generally speaking, manufacturers do not want you to do what you are doing and only half-heartedly support these activities and there are often limitations.

In recorders especially, the limitation mentioned by tinytim above is commonplace. The USB is meant to be a convenience for transporting material to watch by USB memory key... They do not want you changing the whole function of the machine by attaching bulk storage devices ... and so restrict it so you cannot.
It may not be so stringently applied with players.
I cannot comment on the PS3 limitations - You'll have to check.

 

[loziv]

Thanks for the help so far.

Are there any portable HDD available (perhaps HFS?) that will be compatible with watching Divx movies on an xbox and LG blueray player - rather than having to make the portable HDD FAT32?

 

[loziv]

any ideas?