How to? HD film to media link HD, useless with 2GB limit

[jcthorne#AC]

Guess I am missing something.

I bought the Media Link HD and am attempting to use it for its main feature, streaming video to a bigger screen. It connects fine. I have plenty of storage space on the EVO 4GLTE, 64GB.

I want to use it to stream a full lenght film to the screen but there is no way to get the film onto the EVO that I can find. I have the films ready in mp4 format containing h264 video and ac3 audio. Was easy as thats what my Tivo wants so I have many to choose from.

Problem is, a 90minute film is 6 to 10 GB in size in HD. EVO will not accept any files larger than 2GB so no way to ever store an HD feature length film on the EVO. I tried both via disk drive mode and via Media Sync. 2GB limit.

Its a non-starter if it can't perform is most basic design function.

Phil, did you guys get this to work?

I did verify it can stream smaller videos, a 30 minute tv show for instance works fine.

Did I spend $90 on a paper weight?

 

[Saneless]

Something's gotta be off there. I've watched a 2.6GB and 4GB movie on my EVO 3D before. I don't see why this would be different.

 

[jcthorne#AC]

To be honest, I gave up trying on the the 3D a long time ago so no idea if it finally got fixed.

On the 4G LTE in disk drive mode, it just reports the storage has insufficient space. In Media Sync mode it starts the transfer but fails at about the 2.x GP point and eventually times out.

Don't know how else to get large files on to the EVO.

 

[cloak.n.dagger]

It sounds like a formatting issue on the SD card. When you right click on the Drive (SD Card) and select properties, does it see all 64GB (minus some for formatting)?

 

[jcthorne#AC]

It sounds like a formatting issue on the SD card. When you right click on the Drive (SD Card) and select properties, does it see all 64GB (minus some for formatting)?

Yes, all 64GB are there. You did give me an idea though. I removed the card and inserted it via an adaptor in the SD card slot on my PC.

The limit is not 2GB, its 4 and the reason is the EVO formatted the card using FAT32. a long since obsolete file system. Well at least I know why.

Anyone have any ideas for a possible workaround? Pretty awful that they go to all the trouble handling full HD video on this device but not include a file system that can actually hold HD files.

 

[shadowhawk2020]

Yes, all 64GB are there. You did give me an idea though. I removed the card and inserted it via an adaptor in the SD card slot on my PC.

The limit is not 2GB, its 4 and the reason is the EVO formatted the card using FAT32. a long since obsolete file system. Well at least I know why.

Anyone have any ideas for a possible workaround? Pretty awful that they go to all the trouble handling full HD video on this device but not include a file system that can actually hold HD files.

Have you tried to format the card with the computer as ntfs and put it back into the phone? Edited to say I don't think it would cause problems with the phone recognizing all 64gb but I am not sure.

 

[jonyah]

Yes, the issue is fat32, which is limited to 4gb files. But, you're using a Micro SDHC card, which isn't officially supported by the LTE. Yes it works, and the phone can use it, but only with fat32.

If it was officially supported, HTC would have to pay licensing fees to Microsoft for the exFat filesystem that should be used, which doesn't have that limit. That's the default filesystem that was probably on the card when you got it. Unfortunately, SDHC cards won't work on the LTE formatted as exFAT.

The same argument works for ntfs. Even if the phone could read it, it can't write to ntfs. At the moment, there isn't a phone or tablet that will store >4gb files unfortunately.

 

[Urban Strata]

I mentioned this in the comments to the review, but in case others are wondering here in the forums: Media Link HD only supports 720p, not 1080p. Anything more than 720p is going to result in far too much buffering and a poor viewing experience. So encode your videos at 720p and you'll save a ton of memory space.

 

[jcthorne#AC]

So once again, HTC markets a product that advertises capability that does not work.

I still like the phone for many other reasons but had high hopes for its media integration with the media link HD. Cool toy but not ready for prime time. Maybe EVO 5......

 

[wormy987123]

Would it be possible to split the file in two pieces, sure you would have to start the second part but you would be able to get it on there

Sent from my LG-LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jcthorne#AC]

The plot thickens. The HD media link is hampered by the Sense Gallery app as well. While the Media link is advertised as supporting h.264 video up to 1080p and AC3 audio, the gallery app does not. Any video containing ac3 audio fails with the message that this video cannot be played. Only AAC stereo audio is allowed.

Trying the same video files in V-Player will attempt to play but since they are mirroring rather that streaming the compressed data, they skip on the big screen badly even though they play on the local screen. Worse, running VPlayer, the EVO LTE overheats after about 20 minutes of playing HD video and shuts down.

Full motion HD video only really works via streaming, not the mirror.

Just for grins, I did encode a feature film to 720p h.264 video and downmixed AAC stereo audio and played if via the gallery app fine. Its past the one hour point and the phone does not seem all that hot so looks like video specificly encoded for the gallery internal player CAN work but not the specs published for the Media Link HD until they update the gallery app or the link to do so.

I also tried the older MHL adaptor and VPlayer will play fine without skipping but again, shuts down after a few minutes due to overheating.

Oh, almost forgot. The sound via each of the mirror outputs (media link or MHL) is horrid with lots of clicks, garbeled audio etc. Playing music from the internal Music app seems to work ok but you do get a notice that Beats audio enhanceent is turned off for HDMI.

Just trying to post what I find. Perahps things will get updated so some of this works in the future but for now, don't bother with the Media Link HD for movies. Its still cannot do video that a WDTV did 3 years ago.

 

[Urban Strata]

So once again, HTC markets a product that advertises capability that does not work.

I still like the phone for many other reasons but had high hopes for its media integration with the media link HD. Cool toy but not ready for prime time. Maybe EVO 5......

Just curious, besides 1080p streaming--which HTC doesn't market for the Media Link HD, as far as I'm aware--what doesn't work for you?

 

[jcthorne#AC]

Would it be possible to split the file in two pieces, sure you would have to start the second part but you would be able to get it on there

Sent from my LG-LS670 using Tapatalk 2

Yes, that would be an option if the file size were the only problem. Things got worse the more types of video and playback methods I tried. See my post above.

 

[Urban Strata]

While the Media link is advertised as supporting h.264 video up to 1080p and AC3 audio, the gallery app does not. Any video containing ac3 audio fails with the message that this video cannot be played. Only AAC stereo audio is allowed.

Where do you see from HTC that Media Link HD is "advertised as supporting h.264 video up to 1080p and AC3 audio?"

It's not on the specs here: HTC Media Link HD - HTC Accessories

I see Expansys showing 1080p in their spec list, but that's erroneous info not from HTC.

 

[jcthorne#AC]

Here are the video specs:

File extension Video decoder Max resolution Frames per second Max bitrate
AVI XviD
1920 x 1080 30 40 Mbps
H.264 BP LV 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 50 Mbps
H.264 MP LV 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 50 Mbps
H.264 HP LV 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 50 Mbps
MPEG-4 SP@L 3.0 1920 x 1080 30 40 Mbps
MPEG-4 ASP@HL 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 40 Mbps

MP4
MOV
3GP H.264 BP LV 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 50 Mbps
H.264 MP LV 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 50 Mbps
H.264 HP LV 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 50 Mbps
MPEG-4 SP@L 3.0 1920 x 1080 30 40 Mbps
MPEG-4 ASP@HL 4.0 1920 x 1080 30 40Mbps


1080p24 is within those limits. I do not see the spec for AC3 audio. I swore it was there before I bought the Media Link HD. Without AC3 audio, its next to worthless for HD video as the rest of the world does not use AAC other than Apple. No recievers and no TVs support AAC5.1 audio, nor do most DLNA devices. Its AC3 and then DTS, both of which I swore were supported when I bought it.

Anyone want an HD media link for cheap? at this point its pretty useless to me as it will never support full HD films and I don't game nor have any use for my android email app on the big screen. It was supposed to be for HD Media. Its not.

As it only works from inside the native gallery player app, not 3rd party players it is severely limited.

 

[Urban Strata]

Here are the video specs... <snip>

Thanks for sharing that. Is that info copied from the user manual, or where did you get it from?

EDIT: Scratch that, I found it. I stand corrected! That needs to be changed.

 

[jcthorne#AC]

I knew I had read it somewhere. Found it. Back of the box. 1080p video, AC3 audio and DLNA compatibility. All of which are not true. Along with a bunch of other specs that look fine but I am not going to test.

The reveiw of the Media Link HD over at Engadget reports the same on the AC3 and DTS, so I am not the only one that read this.

I think HTC had plans, which they found out don't work and sold the device anyway. Half baked as I was saying.

Just checked with the Digital Living Network Alliance, the original HTC Media Linc was DLNA certified as was the EVO 3D. The EVO 4G LTE and the Media Link HD are NOT DLNA certified. I informed them that HTC was advertising otherwise.

At this point, perhaps I should contact HTC directly for them to buy back the device since it does not meet the specifications printed on the package. Its pretty blatent at this point.

 

[geauxlsutigers]

I knew I had read it somewhere. Found it. Back of the box. 1080p video, AC3 audio and DLNA compatibility. All of which are not true. Along with a bunch of other specs that look fine but I am not going to test.

The reveiw of the Media Link HD over at Engadget reports the same on the AC3 and DTS, so I am not the only one that read this.

I think HTC had plans, which they found out don't work and sold the device anyway. Half baked as I was saying.

Just checked with the Digital Living Network Alliance, the original HTC Media Linc was DLNA certified as was the EVO 3D. The EVO 4G LTE and the Media Link HD are NOT DLNA certified. I informed them that HTC was advertising otherwise.

At this point, perhaps I should contact HTC directly for them to buy back the device since it does not meet the specifications printed on the package. Its pretty blatent at this point.

Good call, I would definitely contact HTC and tell them you figured out their little secret faster that they could sell the first batch of these.