Playback Issues - Audio/Video & Power

[choatelodge]

Hi all. I have a Roku 32" in my motorhome. I tried to plug in a 1 terabyte storage device but the TV does not acknowledge it. The USB input plays video off a thumbdrive just fine but does not seem to 'see' when the bigger device is plugged in, even after a long wait. 
I tried loading just one 1 gig movie and plugging it in but again, nothing. Is there a recognized limit on the capacity of storage device one can use with the Roku platform? Thanks.

[RokuTannerD]

@choatelodge

You can see additional details here about supported drive and file formats:

https://support.roku.com/article/230160368-why-does-my-roku-streaming-device-not-recognize-my-extern...

I'd recommend double checking your formatting to see if that helps clear up the issue. 

Keep us posted! 

Thanks,
Tanner

[choatelodge]

Some success! The storage device was indeed formatted to exFAT. I followed the directions and re formatted it to NTFS and now it recognizes the drive and lists loaded movies on the drive and plays them, just like the way it plays a 16 gig thumb drive...
Except for one wrinkle: A movie will play properly for an hour or so and then it freezes and efforts to get it to resume, result in the error message in a box:

'File Not Playable! '
*** file name***
'Network error'

Happened on two movies I tried last night.

[RokuDale]

How big are the files, and how big is the filesystem, all in terms of megabytes.
rokudale

[Chicken]

FWIW, I have successfully played 5GB MP4 files from FAT-32 formatted USB Flash devices attached to my WIFI Router.  This wasn't using a ROKU (I can't get that working, might not be possible) but it was over my WIFI network using an Android app as the player.  The reason I did this was b/c the factory flash NTFS format wasn't recognized by my Router.

My point is, FAT-32 format might work for you?  I can't speak for the Roku device capabilities specifically, FAT-32 might not be an option in this case.

I've been advised here time after time the ROKU was only designed for internet streaming.

[dgrace]

Is it "a movie" or all movies? On occasion I'll get that if there is an issue in the file.

[atc98092]

"Chicken" wrote:
FWIW, I have successfully played 5GB MP4 files from FAT-32 formatted USB Flash devices attached to my WIFI Router.  This wasn't using a ROKU (I can't get that working, might not be possible) but it was over my WIFI network using an Android app as the player.  The reason I did this was b/c the factory flash NTFS format wasn't recognized by my Router.

Remember that streaming from your router, or other external device on your network, is via DLNA, so file size is immaterial. I have UHD rips that are over 50 GB that play fine on my Roku 4K devices. I have issues with the bitrate exceeding the Ethernet capabilities of the Roku, but that's not related to file size. 

[RokuDale]

@OP are you still having problems with movie playback?
What is the version of the firmware on the TV? What are the type of movie file? mkv? mp4? And how big are these files?

[Chicken]

"atc98092" wrote:

"Chicken" wrote:
FWIW, I have successfully played 5GB MP4 files from FAT-32 formatted USB Flash devices attached to my WIFI Router.  This wasn't using a ROKU (I can't get that working, might not be possible) but it was over my WIFI network using an Android app as the player.  The reason I did this was b/c the factory flash NTFS format wasn't recognized by my Router.

Remember that streaming from your router, or other external device on your network, is via DLNA, so file size is immaterial. I have UHD rips that are over 50 GB that play fine on my Roku 4K devices. I have issues with the bitrate exceeding the Ethernet capabilities of the Roku, but that's not related to file size. 

I'm sure this wan't DLNA, otherwise the RMP should be able to index them?  It cannot, router storage isn't located by RMP.  I have to send the files to Roku via an android app.  This doesn't work in the case there's no ISP though, Roku seems to chimp out.  I have set up an android device as DLNA server, the RMP found it just fine and played the files without ISP, go figure?  Anyway, I'm still experimenting but get clobbered over the head when I interrupt the ISP.  Thus, I'm accustomed to being clobbered, lol.

[atc98092]

If your Roku is playing from a source on the network, it's either DLNA or a proprietary streaming method, i.e. Plex or Emby. If it's coming from an app on an Android device, my guess it's still DLNA. And no, I don't believe RMP can index DLNA sources. It takes whatever information the DLNA source provides, but maintains no local index or file list. The Roku just doesn't have the memory storage for something like that. Yes, it does now maintain an index for attached USB devices, but I would guess it's limited to just the titles and file structure of the USB device. There just isn't enough internal storage for anything more.