USB Stick for playing 4k Drone footage on any 4K TV without stuttering?

[Point Zero]

Hi all,

Can anyone please recommend a good USB stick that will play large 30 gigabyte 4K files directly from the USB stick to any 4K TV's?

The files will be .mkv or I can convert to another type if someone recommends this also. I have a few large files taken with my old and trusty Mavic 2 Pro and would very much like to take them with me when i go abroad for friends and family to see.

Thank you in advance for any help with this!

 

[Kilrah]

Anything USB3 is going to be enough, what's going to be your main difficulty is whatever file format/specifics each specific TV supports.

 

[Point Zero]

Anything USB3 is going to be enough, what's going to be your main difficulty is whatever file format/specifics each specific TV supports.

Thank you kindly for your input, I will be playing the files on a Samsung tv so I am assuming that mkv files will be the way to go?

 

[Filmarik]

Thank you kindly for your input, I will be playing the files on a Samsung tv so I am assuming that mkv files will be the way to go?

Why not just use the common MP4? Any modern flat TV will play that from any USB flash drive without any problem.

 

[Point Zero]

Why not just use the common MP4? Any modern flat TV will play that from any USB flash drive without any problem.

Thanks for this suggestion, I always rendered out my files as mkv's but I will convert them all to MP4's. Sorted!

 

[SmilingOgre]

The other consideration is bitrate. My Samsung TV struggled with files rendered as "Master" files with large bitrates. I apologize, I don't remember the final bitrate that worked but I had to reduce it quite a bit. Youboob uses around 40mbps so that might be a good place to start.

 

[Point Zero]

The other consideration is bitrate. My Samsung TV struggled with files rendered as "Master" files with large bitrates. I apologize, I don't remember the final bitrate that worked but I had to reduce it quite a bit. Youboob uses around 40mbps so that might be a good place to start.

Good shout, I think the best thing now is to try a few different settings out and stick the usb in my Samsung tv and see what gives.

Thanks again for all the great comments guys, its very much appreciated.

 

[Filmarik]

Good shout, I think the best thing now is to try a few different settings out and stick the usb in my Samsung tv and see what gives.

Thanks again for all the great comments guys, its very much appreciated.

This is a very good point to bring up. It will probably open up a whole new conversation about the rendering bit rate set up and all the other options up there in the Export Tab in various editing programs.
It comes down to what quality you want to see on your TV when watching the videos from USB drive. I personally like viewing my videos on 65" TV in very good 4K quality, without posterisation in the blue skies or distracting artefacts in moving ocean waves etc. I have experimented with various export settings in DaVinci Resolve and arrived to a simple rule. The file size of my MP4 landscape cinematic video needs to be around 100MB for every 10 sec. So if I end up with a MP4 video 2min and 30 sec long (150sec) the file size needs to be around 1.5 to 1.6GB. I am sure other people will have different opinion and I look forward to hearing from those.

 

[ZmoothOperator]

This is a very good point to bring up. It will probably open up a whole new conversation about the rendering bit rate set up and all the other options up there in the Export Tab in various editing programs.
It comes down to what quality you want to see on your TV when watching the videos from USB drive. I personally like viewing my videos on 65" TV in very good 4K quality, without posterisation in the blue skies or distracting artefacts in moving ocean waves etc. I have experimented with various export settings in DaVinci Resolve and arrived to a simple rule. The file size of my MP4 landscape cinematic video needs to be around 100MB for every 10 sec. So if I end up with a MP4 video 2min and 30 sec long (150sec) the file size needs to be around 1.5 to 1.6GB. I am sure other people will have different opinion and I look forward to hearing from those.

I also experimented with files/bitrates...especially concerning that dreadful posterisation. I've found that with 10-bit HEVC I can get away with a bitrate much lower than that. 30-40Mbps has been perfectly fine, at least on the material I tested

 

[Filmarik]

I also experimented with files/bitrates...especially concerning that dreadful posterisation. I've found that with 10-bit HEVC I can get away with a bitrate much lower than that. 30-40Mbps has been perfectly fine, at least on the material I tested

With HEVC you apparently get get away with lower bitrate but unlike MP4 not "every" TV can play it, especially some older ones, AFAIK

 

[ZmoothOperator]

With HEVC you apparently get get away with lower bitrate but unlike MP4 not "every" TV can play it, especially some older ones, AFAIK

Yes, likely has to be a somewhat recent thingy

Big difference between 10 and 8-bit HEVC though. 10-bit would be so much smoother at the same bitrate.

 

[Robert Prior]

With HEVC you apparently get get away with lower bitrate but unlike MP4 not "every" TV can play it, especially some older ones, AFAIK

The solution might be to have several versions of the files. A low-bitrate MP4 as a backup, with other formats and bitrates for better quality that will hopefully play on the TV…

 

[Point Zero]

The solution might be to have several versions of the files. A low-bitrate MP4 as a backup, with other formats and bitrates for better quality that will hopefully play on the TV…

Thats a great suggestion and with the size of these USB sticks now its completly doable.

Thanks again all, this forum is just amazing for getting right to the heart of all things!

 

[BobLWH]

Anything USB3 is going to be enough, what's going to be your main difficulty is whatever file format/specifics each specific TV supports.

Also if a cable is used it should be USB 3 also or USB C

 

[Point Zero]

Also if a cable is used it should be USB 3 also or USB C

What a great point, I hadn't even considered this as I was just expecting to plug it straight into a USB port, but you never know if access could be an issue.

Thank you sir

 

[anotherlab]

Also if a cable is used it should be USB 3 also or USB C

Definitely USB 3. USB C is only the spec for the connector, it's not tied to the speed of the connection.