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How To: Converting and watching movies from USB

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41K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  jimbg  
J
#1 ·
For many of us, we have a collection of DVDs/BDs which we may want to use in our RRS. Unfortunately, traveling with a stack of these is not only a pain but also risks damaging the discs. A better option is to put copies of these DVDs/BDs on a USB stick (or drive) and have a portable library available for our travels.

Reading through the RRS manuals and other information online doesn’t really tell you much about supported formats, etc. In addition, there isn’t much information available on the web or “How To’s” either. From what I can figure out, only formats (codecs) that are supported are AVI/DivX and AVI/Xvid (Note: I had better luck with the AVI/Xvid). If you already have a library of DVDs/BDs on your NAS or Media Server that are not in the supported format you will need to convert these.

There are a variety of software tools available to convert DVDs/BDs. The software I used was:


Steps for Windows:

  1. Rip DVDs/BDs using MakeMKV. If you need to update any of the metadata tags I would suggest using MKVToolNix (https://mkvtoolnix.download/)
  2. Once your DVD/BD has been converted, run XviD4PSP
  3. Select File / Add…
  4. Select the MKV file you want to convert (you can select more than one MKV file)
  5. In the center part of the screen, Codecs should already be selected
  6. Set Format to AVI, then to the right of that select DVD Player 480p
  7. Set Save to: the Folder option and select the destination folder and name (extension should be .AVI)
  8. Set Video options – Codec: XVID and Preset: SHQ
  9. Set Audio options - check the audio stream to convert, and Codec: AC3 CBR 576 (I believe these are defaults)
    • XviD4PSP doesn't appear to a DTS encoder, so you would need to convert DTS to AC3
  10. If you have selected multiple MKVs to convert, the above settings can be set for each individual file
  11. Click Start to begin the conversion process
  12. Once conversion is complete, copy files to USB stick (FAT32) or similar device

Here’s an example of the above settings I used…

This process will also significantly reduce the file size. For the BD in the example above, the MKV file was 32GB and the final AVI/Xvid file was 1.6GB.

This should enable you to convert and play these movies using either the front USB or rear USB (if you have Rear Seat Entertainment). We have the 1700w Meridian system and Rear Seat Entertainment, and I have tested this with a few different movies using a Lexar 128GB USB stick formatted as FAT32. If the original audio is full surround, then you will also have full surround when played and it sounds great (ex: Eagles – Hell Freezes Over). Using the USB stick, you can browse and select from the list of movies on the USB stick.

The only downsides I have found so far…

  • You don’t have the ability to skip/search chapters like you would a DVD/BD, but you can fast-forward and rewind
  • If you are using the front USB/Video, the video portion will stop while driving but the audio will continue
  • Front USB only plays on the front video screen, Rear USB only plays on rear video screens
  • Rear screens cannot play different movies off same USB

Hope this helps
 
I
#3 ·
My solutions. Without re-encoding.

Use PlexMedia Server.
Launch Plex client from mobile devices (phone, tablet).
As long as there is cell connection, streaming works.

Watch movies while driving from SF to Tahoe, set caching to about 20 seconds and it works 90% for me. Of course, it's with unlimited data plan. :)

-ThinkMac-
 
U
#7 ·
Does anyone have any additional information here on more recent models of the Range Rover? I have a 2015.5 with rear entertainment and so far, have not found a USB Drive that can be read.

1. What is the Maximum size of the USB Drive that is supported? 64GB? 128GB? 256GB? I have tried a 256GB USB 3.0 drive, and it will not read the contents
2. What USB technology is supported? 1.0? 2.0? 3.0? 3.1?
3. Must all the files live in the root of the drive or can they be placed in folders?
4. Must the drive be in FAT32 format? I tried both exFAT and NTFS and neither work. I am now manually formatting the drive to FAT32 via commandline since Windows 10 no longer allows you to format USB through the GUI.
5. On the 2015.5 Infotainment system, their are 2 USB ports in the center console, one for the phone to be connected to the InAPPS. And the other for media..... it appears that from the media screen, you can select the source to play from, and choose to play that on the rear screens as well. Is the information posted above still accurate? I know I can pop in a dvd from the front, and play it on all screens without a problem. I would expect the same to work for USB.
 
U
#8 ·
Not sure what happened, but I saw someone earlier today post a reply to my above message which was actually useful information from the 2018 RRS, indicating that in the manual it mentioned drive sizes up to 32GB, FAT32 Format, and USB 3.0 confirmed.

But... that post has been either removed or put somewhere else.... weird.

In any case, upon further review today, I took a PNY 256GB USB Drive, and formatted it to FAT32 with a tool called "fat32format" because native Windows will only allow you to format USB Drives up to 32GB with FAT32. Larger drives they force you to format either exFAT, or NTFS which won't work. You can get fat32format here --> http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm.

That all being said.... even though I filled up the drive, and got it to work with all my video files....here in lies the rub. If you plug the USB in up front, then you can only watch the movies / hear the movies up front. The rear entertainment has it's own USB port, only allows you to select that port to read from, which also means that if you plug something into the rear USB port, although I think you can select what they are watching up front.... it will not play over the speakers.... they are forced to use headphones. Obviously this is rather annoying because the driver can not physically "see" what the occupants of the rear are watching, and therefore have no idea if the movie is actually playing or not or over.... and they also can't hear it. So for little guys in the back who can't change this stuff themselves.... this isn't such a convenient thing.

So.... that's rather disappointing, and kind of makes this whole effort useless in my opinion, since it appears the only thing you can sync up to all 3 screens, HAS to be on a physical DVD.
 
#9 ·
I have been using this software for years

https://www.aimersoft.com/video-converter-ultimate.html

I convert to 2 formats. iPad so that I have the movies that I already paid for ready to load onto my iPad for travel. Just wish there was an easier way to get them to my iPad. Like file manager click and drag.

The other format is just a higher resolution copy that I store on my Home Server and a portable hard driver or 2. Portable drive/USB stick for vacations and home server so that I can watch any movie on any TV at home without a DVD/Blu-ray player.

I haven't tried ripping from a Blu-ray disc as I do not think my PC's Blu-ray drive handles it.
 
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