Any reason why new USB pen drives won't work properly on TV equipment?

[Jumpstart]

I bought two USB Bytestor 16GB pen drives two years ago, and they still work fantastic.

I use them to copy downloaded avi movies onto and then watch on my DVD player which also has a USB drive. Anyway, I thought I'd buy two more, the same make, and I did last week.

However, there must have been a fault as the moving picture was working but the sound was going off and on. So I sent them back for a replacement. This time two 16GB Transcend pen drives. However, same thing again. They work okay on my computer but not in my DVD/USB player. Same fault, the sound keeps going off.'O'-red

Anyway, a friend let me borrow two of his DVD/USB players, and the pens don't work properly on those either.

Yet the two I bought two years ago, are still working, both on the pc and the DVD/USB player. So it's not the equipment. Any ideas?

 

[Chris_Lucid]

different drivers perhaps. The dvd player has drivers for the older stuff but hasn't got drivers for newer gear because its firmware hasn't changed to keep pace.

That, or the pen drives are formatted in NTFS rather than FAT32

 

[hexah]

To repeat an answer I gave elsewhere:

It is also possible that there is some interference from mains power leads.

It is good practice to keep the LNB cable and all the connections on the back of the box well away from any power cable including the one going into the box. Using something like foam pipe insulation or a kitchen roll tube will keep the cables apart if they have to cross each other. Cross at right angles when possible. Always remove the plug from the mains for a minute or so when this has been sorted, to properly restart the operating system in the box.

Typical symptoms of this kind of spurious noise (interference) includes failing to blind scan some or all low symbol rate channels, usb pvr not recording properly, usb dropping out on playback, slow channel changes, odd jumping when moving around menus, slow blind scans due to being misled by spurious noise, pixelating especially when menus come up or when changing channel parameters, random dropping out of encrypted channels, slow to lock up and start decoding encrypted channels and the operating system freezing requiring unplugging to reset.

In your case a power cable may be touching a SCART lead or the aerial cable or both, or anything else entering the box.

 

[PaulR]

I think you've replied to the wrong thread there Hexah! !!!

 

[hexah]

No, it comes under:

. . . usb dropping out on playback. . .

as one of the many bad effects of spurious noise.

One of my generic HD boxes went out of sync on playback, among other symptoms, and I had to carefully arrange the cables. I even have two RFI reducing plugs in series on the mains. So it is clearly very sensitive. I can't see anything wrong with the internal shielding though.

DVD and multi-media boxes can have the same problems, a friends DVD with Divx via USB used to stop usb playback randomly and jump menus until I moved the mains lead well away from the aerial cable, curing the problem.

Ferrite cores that clip on can help in some cases, clipped on to the mains lead where it enters the box, or on the aerial or LNB cable where it enters the box.

USB hard drives tend to be less sensitive to spurious interference than USB sticks, but not always.

 

[Jumpstart]

Thank you for all your replies. I sent it back and got my money refunded. Best solution.

Thanks again.