Problem encountered when copying Recorded TV files to DVD and SDHC.

[ringway]

I have a lot of 'Recorded TV' files on my external hard drive that I would like to be able to play on our television.

I've not had much success to date.

I've tried copying the files to DVD, but after a successful 'burn', the files fail to play in the stand-alone DVD player.

Our television supports SDHC cards, so I bought a 16gb Sandisk card and successfully copied a TV recording to it.
However, after inserting the card into the TV, the message "No Valid File To Play" is shown on the screen.

I'm guessing that I'm copying in the wrong format for use in anything other than a computer that uses Windows Media Centre or Windows Media Player, but I haven't a clue how I might alter this.

Any help greatly appreciated.

TIA.


Paul.

 

[grober]

You need to burn what is known as an ISO file to DVD if you want it to be readable on any commercial DVD player. There are free programmes out there that will convert various file formats to ISO. The most versatile ones you have to pay for but there are free ones out there. One of the problems is that video files are often compressed down to a smaller size and each time this happens a little of the original quality is lost. They also take a bit of time depending on how fast your computer is? Remember a DVD is about 4.7Gb so longer movies may also need a bit of compression after conversion- You can of course buy dual layer [ DL ] 8.4Gb DVD's reasonably cheaply now [amazon] but older DVD writers won't be able to write to them.

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

Not sure what version of windows you're using but there's lots of advice here.......

Convert a recorded TV file (.wtv) to an older format

Paul

 

[ringway]

Not sure what version of windows you're using but there's lots of advice here.......

Convert a recorded TV file (.wtv) to an older format

Paul

Thanks.

I'm using Windows 7, but some of the files were recorded 5-6 years ago.

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

I have the same problems. The older files are DVR-MS and many burning preoducts support them. The new ones are .WTV and they won't even play on XP machines.
The above link shows how to convert to the older DVR-MS which makes things easier but it's still a bit of a black art!

 

[Igurisu]

It can be a nightmare to convert stuff to run Paul. As mentioned by Merc Owner it's a bit of a black art, not only that but takes hours to re-encode video.

Easiest solution, don't bother Get or borrow a laptop (or small PC), with a HDMI port on then play on the PC using your TV for a screen.

I have an Acer Revo Kikatek.com | (92.G1DYZ.U10) Acer Aspire Revo R3600L Ultra Small Form Factor PC Atom (230) 1.6GHz 1024MB 160GB WLAN Linux (GeForce 9400) Revo Multimedia Keyboard and Optical Mouse with my external HDD plugged into that. Then the HDMI out from the PC to the TV.

 

[Igurisu]

Oops, double post.

 

[ringway]

It can be a nightmare to convert stuff to run Paul. As mentioned by Merc Owner it's a bit of a black art, not only that but takes hours to re-encode video.

Easiest solution, don't bother Get or borrow a laptop (or small PC), with a HDMI port on then play on the PC using your TV for a screen.

I have an Acer Revo Kikatek.com | (92.G1DYZ.U10) Acer Aspire Revo R3600L Ultra Small Form Factor PC Atom (230) 1.6GHz 1024MB 160GB WLAN Linux (GeForce 9400) Revo Multimedia Keyboard and Optical Mouse with my external HDD plugged into that. Then the HDMI out from the PC to the TV.

Thanks, Pete.

I did buy a cable from Currys but it was around £35 and I decided against opening it and took it back!
I'll experiment with the software first, but if that isn't successful I'll buy a lead (surely cheaper online) and run from my laptop.

 

[Igurisu]

Thanks, Pete.

I did buy a cable from Currys but it was around £35 and I decided against opening it and took it back!
I'll experiment with the software first, but if that isn't successful I'll buy a lead (surely cheaper online) and run from my laptop.

If your laptop has HDMI Paul then a £4.99 cable from Amazon is just as good as the £35 cable from Currys.

 

[ringway]

If your laptop has HDMI Paul then a £4.99 cable from Amazon is just as good as the £35 cable from Currys.

Thanks, Pete.

I bought the cable from Currys thinking I'd use it, but when I thought of the cost, I had a change of mind. Something tells me I might even have a cable lying around somewhere.