Blackmagic Forum

A friend is producing a powerpoint slide show with the aim of having the finished presentation play on a TV from a usb stick. Powerpoint is producing the mp4s but some of them don't play on the TV, whilst they all play on computers without issue. The files that fail to play on the TV can be re-rendered in resolve and those work fine on the TV. Any ideas what might be wrong?

Thanks

Geoff

Simply, not all TV, in fact most older TV, will not play audio MP4 from its usb. It doesn’t have the decoder for it. What you can do is run the PowerPoint from a laptop and output it to the TV via an HDMI cable. That should work for both video and audio.

Thanks for your reply, the problem is that the TV can play mp4 videos but some produced in exactly the same way don't work but they do work on a computer.

Geoff Treseder wrote:Thanks for your reply, the problem is that the TV can play mp4 videos but some produced in exactly the same way don't work but they do work on a computer.

MP4 is a container for multiple video and audio codecs - just because they have the same file extension does not mean the file contains data in the same format. Furthermore, modern TV's will have the most common ones built in, but only computers will reliably play the entire range that exists.

If you want something that reliably plays across TV's, you need to provide a computer to do that playback. If you want something that works on a specific TV, you need to find a file that works on there and find the exact codecs being used (MP4 is not a codec) and their settings, and then ensure you use those exact combinations for future exports.

Also note that consumer software (like Powerpoint) may not offer you the full range of configuration to do this, in an attempt to be user friendly - you may need to convert all your videos through a common tool, like Resolve or FFMPEG to gain the control you need.

codedeltajames wrote:
Also note that consumer software (like Powerpoint) may not offer you the full range of configuration to do this, in an attempt to be user friendly - you may need to convert all your videos through a common tool, like Resolve or FFMPEG to gain the control you need.

OK thanks, powerpoint is clearly the problem but very strange that some work without issue and others don't although produced in the same way.

Geoff Treseder wrote:

codedeltajames wrote:
Also note that consumer software (like Powerpoint) may not offer you the full range of configuration to do this, in an attempt to be user friendly - you may need to convert all your videos through a common tool, like Resolve or FFMPEG to gain the control you need.

OK thanks, powerpoint is clearly the problem but very strange that some work without issue and others don't although produced in the same way.

As James said, MP4 is not a codec but a container. The codec in the MP4 is not supported by the TV you have but almost all codecs will be supported by computers. This has nothing to do with MP4 or PowerPoint. This is an old age issue with TVs.

Geoff Treseder wrote:A friend is producing a powerpoint slide show with the aim of having the finished presentation play on a TV from a usb stick. Powerpoint is producing the mp4s but some of them don't play on the TV, whilst they all play on computers without issue. The files that fail to play on the TV can be re-rendered in resolve and those work fine on the TV. Any ideas what might be wrong?

Thanks

Geoff

It's possible that the issue lies in the specific settings or codecs used when exporting the PowerPoint slides as MP4s. Different devices and TVs have varying capabilities when it comes to playing video files, and some may not support certain codecs or settings that PowerPoint uses by default.

You should check the videos by playing them first with a USB drive on your TV. If all of them are playing correctly then there is something wrong with playing them with PowerPoint.
Here is a complete guide on playing MP4 videos on your Smart TV https://www.thestreambible.com/blog/watch-mp4-on-tv/