Panasonic TV and HDD.

serpico100

SpudGunPaul said:

What’s the playback like? Some reviews say there’s a problem with audio and video syncing. 

I have never had any kind of problems with playback. If you feel like a media player is the way forward, check around for different models and check their reviews. There are many different media players on the market.

facade

If the TV can run plex, just put a plex server on the pc, point the films library at the directory with your mp4s in and stream them from your pc.

Otherwise, just copy a couple of your mp4s onto the HDD, plug it into the TV and see if they play.

No need to buy anything yet.

[Deleted User]

+1 for Plex 

Bonhomie

SpudGunPaul said:

Good afternoon 

I have a Panasonic smart TV and a collection of media (dvds) on my PC. I wish to add the media to a HDD to play back on my tv. As I understand it when I plug the HDD into the TV is needs to format so that the HDD is exclusive to the TV. This process will then wipe any data held on the drive. 

My question is, how do I then add data to the HDD? Will it be a case of plugging into a PC and copying the MPEG-4 files and will the PC still be compatible to the HDD?

Thanks

SGP

I see you've been to Currys/PC World  
As aforementioned, there is likely no need to format the HDD. Start with NTFS if not already formatted in that way. Then transfer a sample file on to the drive using your PC and then disconnect from the PC and plug it into the TV. The Panasonic can play many formats, so that's not an issue. The only issue is whether it can play them via USB. I write that because I know that it also has the ability to play media via an SD card. I hope that it isn't limited to playing all formats other than recordings via SD card. Likely it will be fine and able to play all formats via USB too. No need for a separate media player at this point. These are the formats that it can decode and play: AVCHD 3D/Progressive, SD-VIDEO/AVI/HEVC/MKV/WMV/MP4/M4v/FLV/3GPP/VRO/VOB/TS/PS(Video)
MP3/AAC/WMA Pro/FLAC/Apple Lossless/WAV(Audio)
JPEG/MPO(Photos)

SpudGunPaul

I've tried adding a file to the hdd and can't do anything on the TV until the HDD is formatted. Following the format the HDD isn't accessible on the PC.

Bonhomie

SpudGunPaul said:

I've tried adding a file to the hdd and can't do anything on the TV until the HDD is formatted. Following the format the HDD isn't accessible on the PC.

Have you tried adding the file to an SD card and then slotting that into the TV? Alternatively, add the file on to a USB flash drive and then plug that in to USB 1 or USB 2.
I think you may be choosing the wrong option in the first instance. You will only get asked to format the drive if you are accessing the PVR functions. Simply plugging in an SD Card or USB Flash drive(into USB 1 or 2) will not trigger that. 

SpudGunPaul

Bonhomie said:

SpudGunPaul said:

I've tried adding a file to the hdd and can't do anything on the TV until the HDD is formatted. Following the format the HDD isn't accessible on the PC.

Have you tried adding the file to an SD card and then slotting that into the TV? Alternatively, add the file on to a USB flash drive and then plug that in to USB 1 or USB 2.
I think you may be choosing the wrong option in the first instance. You will only get asked to format the drive if you are accessing the PVR functions. Simply plugging in an SD Card or USB Flash drive(into USB 1 or 2) will not trigger that. 

So what option should I be looking for?

[Deleted User]

Does anybody read instruction manuals any more?

https://tda.panasonic-europe-service.com/docs/2z63cf09fcz1z3bc5az656ez706466z24za32870bbc1af7be1c682a47e6ba73a3a96b2b6b3/tsn3/data/ALL/TX40CX700B/OI/931727/TQB0E2534U-E.pdf

In summary:

1. Page 118: USB port 3 marked HDD is only for TV recording storage and will be formatted to a dedicated format for TV recording which cannot be read by any other device (for copyright protection).

2. Page 131 & Page 158: The other USB sockets (Port 1 & 2) will support USB flash for Media Player provided they are formatted to FAT16/32 or exFAT. "USB HDD's formatted on PC are not guaranteed to work in Media Player" so you may need to revert to USB flash drive.

3.  You also have two other options to play media from your PC which are much easier once set up because you don't need to copy files or plug anything in.

Page 133: Network Device - Share the folder containing your media on your PC and connect via network to play directly.
Page 167: Use your PC as a DLNA server.

facade

Deleted_User said:

Does anybody read instruction manuals any more?

https://tda.panasonic-europe-service.com/docs/2z63cf09fcz1z3bc5az656ez706466z24za32870bbc1af7be1c682a47e6ba73a3a96b2b6b3/tsn3/data/ALL/TX40CX700B/OI/931727/TQB0E2534U-E.pdf

In summary:

1. Page 118: USB port 3 marked HDD is only for TV recording storage and will be formatted to a dedicated format for TV recording which cannot be read by any other device (for copyright protection).

2. Page 131 & Page 158: The other USB sockets (Port 1 & 2) will support USB flash for Media Player provided they are formatted to FAT16/32 or exFAT. "USB HDD's formatted on PC are not guaranteed to work in Media Player" so you may need to revert to USB flash drive.

3.  You also have two other options to play media from your PC which are much easier once set up because you don't need to copy files or plug anything in.

Page 133: Network Device - Share the folder containing your media on your PC and connect via network to play directly.
Page 167: Use your PC as a DLNA server.

So

1) use a usb flash drive, these will format as FAT32 or exFAT if they aren't already

2) see if PLEX is available as an app on your TV (some Panasonics will run it others won't), install it and see if it will open. Then goto plex.tv and download plex media server and the plex app for pc. Register an account with plex, start the media server and the pc plex app and create a library with your media files in. Then link plex on the TV to your plex account and it works (as long as the pc is on and connected to the network)

(Plex is very picky with filenames though, they have to match what it expects, tv programs have to have S01E01 etc.)

 

You could format the HDD to FAT32 but no doubt the TV can't provide enough power for a HDD in any port except the dedicated recording one.

Congratulations on being the only person in the entire world who has ever wanted to plug a HDD of media files into their TV, sometimes you have to wonder what drugs the manufacturers R&D departments are on )

Bonhomie

facade said:

Deleted_User said:

Does anybody read instruction manuals any more?

https://tda.panasonic-europe-service.com/docs/2z63cf09fcz1z3bc5az656ez706466z24za32870bbc1af7be1c682a47e6ba73a3a96b2b6b3/tsn3/data/ALL/TX40CX700B/OI/931727/TQB0E2534U-E.pdf

In summary:

1. Page 118: USB port 3 marked HDD is only for TV recording storage and will be formatted to a dedicated format for TV recording which cannot be read by any other device (for copyright protection).

2. Page 131 & Page 158: The other USB sockets (Port 1 & 2) will support USB flash for Media Player provided they are formatted to FAT16/32 or exFAT. "USB HDD's formatted on PC are not guaranteed to work in Media Player" so you may need to revert to USB flash drive.

3.  You also have two other options to play media from your PC which are much easier once set up because you don't need to copy files or plug anything in.

Page 133: Network Device - Share the folder containing your media on your PC and connect via network to play directly.
Page 167: Use your PC as a DLNA server.

So

1) use a usb flash drive, these will format as FAT32 or exFAT if they aren't already

2) see if PLEX is available as an app on your TV (some Panasonics will run it others won't), install it and see if it will open. Then goto plex.tv and download plex media server and the plex app for pc. Register an account with plex, start the media server and the pc plex app and create a library with your media files in. Then link plex on the TV to your plex account and it works (as long as the pc is on and connected to the network)

(Plex is very picky with filenames though, they have to match what it expects, tv programs have to have S01E01 etc.)

 

You could format the HDD to FAT32 but no doubt the TV can't provide enough power for a HDD in any port except the dedicated recording one.

Congratulations on being the only person in the entire world who has ever wanted to plug a HDD of media files into their TV, sometimes you have to wonder what drugs the manufacturers R&D departments are on )

What you write about hard drives is not quite right...if it's a 3.5" HDD, it will have it's own power source. If a 2.5" HDD, they'll need one of the connecting leads with a extra USB Type A plug to supply adequate power. That means using both ports 1 & 2. But it will work.
I would format any HDD to ex FAT otherwise they won't be able to transfer any files over 4GB in size.