Problems Copying MP4 videos onto USB sticks

[MikeSerria]

Hi,
First post.
Used Linux for a few years, I'm a GUI person, have not learned the command line stuff.
Normally try and solves issues myself but this one has me stumped.

I am copying several MP4 videos onto USB sticks.
Mostly it works fine and I can watch the copied video from the USB stick plugged into another device.
Occasionally some files will not play on others devices but will play on my Linux OS computer.
I noticed the files that do not play on other devices show up on my computer file ICON view as a dark icon with and little icon of what looks like two frames of an 35mm negative or movie film , compared to all the other MP4 file icons showing an image from the video. It's almost like the MP4 file never fully gets copied onto the USB stick.

I have tried several differed USB sticks and different file system types.

Has anyone experienced anything like this and can provide any advice?

Thanks,

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Hi, and welcome to the forums!

When you copy to USB do you "safe remove" USB via GUI or do you just unplug it?
To be sure files are copied in full you must "safe remove" USB or alternatively run sync command in terminal prior unplugging USB out.

 

[MikeSerria]

I usually use "Unmount" from the Devices

 

[CaffeineAddict]

I usually use "Unmount" from the Devices

Which DE is that? can you show screenshot of this "unmount" function?

 

[MikeSerria]

Clicking on the little pointing up arrow shows and selects "Unmount"

 

[theLegionWithin]

hmm... for me, all video files that I have use that same "film strip" icon - mp4 files have a light blue icon, mkv files are dark blue, and avi's are grey.

you could go into the terminal & use the file command to see the details of one of the "different" video files, then compare it against one that works fine to see if there's any differences.

file /path/to/the/file/filename.extension

I'm thinking it might be a codec issue

 

[MikeWalsh]

@MikeSerria :-

Welcome to Linux.org.

It would help us to have a rough idea of what Linux distro you're running?

I can't speak from direct experience with the specific icon you're talking about; icons vary from one theme-set to another in any case. However, I know from experience on my own "daily-driver" - 'Puppy' Linux - that, yes; the problem does exist, and no; you won't be the first to have come across it.

Not all MP4 videos will play here, either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

MP4 is the name given to the 'container' that 'holds' your movie data.....but much depends on how exactly the thing was encoded when it was put together. Not all codecs are recognised by all OSs OR specific media players.

The media player many Linux users swear by is VLC. This comes with its own internal codecs, and there is precious little it won't (or can't) play.

I'm pretty certain codec compatibility will be at the root of the problem. However, I'm going to let others guide you here, since Puppy is rather different from every other distro out there. I can guarantee that the way we would fix it won't correspond to however your distro would perform the same thing.

No sense in misleading you.


Mike.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Clicking on the little pointing up arrow shows and selects "Unmount"

I'm not 100% sure but I believe this is not proper way to remove USB.

On your taskbar (usually bottom right) there should be "safe remove" somewhere or similar term to safe remove USB prior unplugging it.

 

[Brickwizard]

Are they all MP4 or are some Flv, Linux will play almost anything, but if you have a flv ten windows will need a flash player
addendum
if recorded on an I phone or iPad camera they will most likely be in mov format, if so you will need a quick time player

 

[Mike-BTU]

Hi,
First post.
Used Linux for a few years, I'm a GUI person, have not learned the command line stuff.
Normally try and solves issues myself but this one has me stumped.

I am copying several MP4 videos onto USB sticks.
Mostly it works fine and I can watch the copied video from the USB stick plugged into another device.
Occasionally some files will not play on others devices but will play on my Linux OS computer.
I noticed the files that do not play on other devices show up on my computer file ICON view as a dark icon with and little icon of what looks like two frames of an 35mm negative or movie filmView attachment 25219, compared to all the other MP4 file icons showing an image from the video. It's almost like the MP4 file never fully gets copied onto the USB stick.

I have tried several differed USB sticks and different file system types.

Has anyone experienced anything like this and can provide any advice?

Thanks,

Is one of the videos that won't play very high resolution?

 

[CaffeineAddict]

I'm not 100% sure but I believe this is not proper way to remove USB.

@MikeSerria
And here is confirmation that unmount USB is not proper way to do it:

What is the difference between "Unmount", "Eject", "Safely Remove Drive" and the eject icon?

When I right-click the desktop icon for my USB drive or SD card I have the choice to "Eject" or "Safely Remove Drive": In the Tree side pane in Nautilus, I can either "Unmount" or "Eject": The Places

askubuntu.com

Here is alternative method for CLI:

Eject / safely remove vs umount

I'm using Ubuntu 12.04, and when I rigth click on a my flash drive icon (in the Unity left bar) I get two options that have me confused: eject and safely remove. The closer I came to an answer was...

unix.stackexchange.com

Although the correct procedure for CLI would be:

sync
udisksctl unmount -b /dev/sda1
udisksctl power-off -b /dev/sda

See also man udisksctl for details.

 

[Condobloke]

It would help us to have a rough idea of what Linux distro you're running?

Linux Mint ?

 

[Condobloke]

I would take a guess and say that the icon represents .mkv format

Are you downloading via showrss and then torrent?......If so, then it is almost definitely .mkv format

It is possible it has not completed properly....you may be taking the stick out before it has actually finished....being incomplete will cause it to not play. It is also possible that whatever you are transferring to is incapable of playing that format.
Your Linux will play it....it likely uses vlc as default or mpv or celluloid....and they will play pretty much anything.
More information please.

We really cannot work in the dark

 

[Deleted member 204243]

How big are the mp4 files and what filesystem do you have on your USB sticks? FAT32 will not save correctly files bigger than 4GB. Did you see any error messages while copying the files?

 

[bob466]

Sometimes when I download a video from youtube and copy it to a Flash Drive or External Portable SSD and try to watch on my TV it won't play.

Simple solution...run it through Handbrake which is set to MPEG-4.