Video playback via external HDD

Norbert666 · 12 Oct 2013 at 07:46

EDIT: RESOLVED BELOW

Sorry, I wasn't sure if this is a General, Video, Storage or Software issue, so opted for General. It relates to poor video playback via an external USB, using an old laptop.

My wife has just bought a new, fancy camcorder.
The camera has a level 10 micro SD card, might be relevant, I'm not sure.
She also bought an external USB HDD to store the videos, as her old laptop is running out of space. It is a Toshiba HDTB105EK3AA 500GB Stor.E Basics USB 3.0 2.5 Inch External Hard Drive.

If she downloads the video direct to the C drive, playback is fine.
If she puts the video onto the external HDD, playback is pixelated.

Is the HDD not fast enough?
Is the USB not fast enough?
Is there a driver issue?

What can I do to fix? There is not enough space on the laptop to store the videos.

Thanks

RevBillyG · 12 Oct 2013 at 08:01

Have you tried different media players?
VLC, MP Classic etc?

Norbert666 · 12 Oct 2013 at 08:09

No I'll try now. Using VLC.

Some more info: I took the HDD and tried it in my desktop, running USB 2.0 and playback straight off it was fine. I'm now just booting her old laptop to see what USB ports it has.

Norbert666 · 12 Oct 2013 at 08:26

The laptop has USB 2.0 (as well as USB 1.1), but I've tried all the ports and they all pixelate the image.

The videos won't play using Media Player or QuickTime as the file type isn't supported.

I'm wondering now:
Can it be missing codecs on the laptop? I've got K-Lite Codec pack on the desktop.
Lack of processing power of the laptop?
Lack of memory in the laptop?

Norbert666 · 12 Oct 2013 at 08:31

RESOLVED

seems it plays fine using the bundled Sony software that came with the camera. I just point it to add the files on the external HDD and they playback perfectly.

Odd, and is don't know why, but nor do I care!!

Thanks for your assistance.