Memory stick for recording from Smart TV?

homeworkgirl

Hi, hope someone can help. Got new LG Smart TV today with built in freeview. Says you can pause/record live tv if you plug memory stick in usb port but doesn't give you any detail about size, speed etc. Hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks.

S0litaire

Any empty USB over 90gb will do (that what it says for my lg smart TV anyway.)

Though I went for an external drive, it'll be larger and last a lot longer than a USB stick.

I had a 1tb laptop drive that I'm using. Can record a few days worth of shows in HD.

almillar

Stick any old USB stick in. It'll probably need to be USB2 speed at least. The TV will probably want to format it.
They can be fussy about proper hard drives, as they have higher power requirements that the TV may or may not want to supply. You don't want to overload it!

homeworkgirl

Thanks for your replies.

I have tried a couple of spare memory sticks I had lying around but tv says not compatible. One is 64gb and the other 32. Dont know about speed.

almillar

If you plug them into a computer, go into My Computer, right click on the USB stick and click properties, does it say the stick is formatted as FAT32 or NTFS? TV might not like NTFS, so you would want to format the stick (again, right click on it, format) as FAT32. LOSING ALL DATA!

S0litaire

almillar wrote: »

If you plug them into a computer, go into My Computer, right click on the USB stick and click properties, does it say the stick is formatted as FAT32 or NTFS? TV might not like NTFS, so you would want to format the stick (again, right click on it, format) as FAT32. LOSING ALL DATA!

LG tv's don't use fat32.

When you initialise a drive for TV recording, the TV formats 2 partitions on to the device.
One is a small 50Mb "Ext3" partition to store it's own recording and program database.
The rest of the drive is in a format called "JFS" which it uses to store the actual recordings.

Windows can't read either partition without additional drivers.


and the USB drive has to be over *90Gb* so the 64Gb usb stick will be to small and it won't like it.

homeworkgirl

Thanks. So I need to get a memory stick 90gb or over with a speed of 2.0 then?

Chino

S0litaire wrote: »

LG tv's don't use fat32.
...
and the USB drive has to be over *90Gb* so the 64Gb usb stick will be to small and it won't like it.

These restrictions clearly don't apply to all LG Smart TVs. From the User Guide (http://www.lg.com/uk/support-product/lg-32LN578V#) for an LG TV model that I picked at random:

"Use only USB storage devices formatted with the Windows FAT32 or NTFS file system."

and:

"It is recommended that you use USB memory sticks of 32 GB or less and USB HDDs of 2 TB or less."

S0litaire

That's USB requirements for USB playback. (i.e. you rip a DVD from your PC and stick the file on to a USB drive)

I'm talking about DVR (Called "Time Machine II) option, it has different requirements.
In the manual you linked to it's page 196:

LG_Manual_p196_to_p197 wrote:

To connect a USB device for Time Machine II
1 Prepare a USB device to be used for Time Machine II.
2 Connect a USB storage device to the port with the HDD IN label at the back
or on the side of your TV.
3 To use a USB device only for the Time Machine II function, you must
initialise the device.
Select SMART
➾ Time Machine II ➙ Option ➙ USB device
initialisation if you connect a device that has not been initialised. The USB
device initialisation screen appears.
4 To complete USB Device Initialisation and use TimeShift, set the TimeShift
mode to ON.✎ ✎ You can use a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SSD) as a USB
device for Time Machine II only.
✎ ✎ It is recommended that you use a USB device with a capacity between
40 GB and 2 TB.
✎ ✎ For an SSD, there is a limit to the amount of reading/writing that can be done.
Therefore, it is recommended that you use a HDD.
✎ ✎ To remove a USB device, select Quick Menu ➙ USB Device. Make sure you
receive the confirmation message that the USB device has been removed.
✎ ✎ If a USB device is faulty, the Time Machine II function may not operate
normally.
✎ ✎ If you use a USB extension cable, the USB device may not be recognized or
may not work properly.

almillar

Homeworkgirl - you'd be better looking for a hard drive, if your TV is the specs that S0litaire is talking about. If there's such a thing as a 128GB USB stick, it'll be expensive.
I think you're better off with a set top box for recording TBH...

homeworkgirl

Still getting nowhere fast with this, have tried couple more memory sticks but still says not compatible. Have emailed LG to see if they can give me more details of what is actually needed.

In the meantime is there anyone else out there who has an LG tv and uses one of thse? Please can you tell me what stick you are actually using please?

Many thanks.