What Video Format Does TV Support

Our parents watched movies and familys from VCRs that recognized only one medium. tapes. Now, when the user has access to all kinds of drives, connectors and built-in players, the question of what kind of format the TV supports is relevant.

Modern TV manufacturers are constantly improving their products, release software updates, and include in the factory firmware all new players with many different codecs. A codec is a sequence of commands necessary for recognizing the information contained in a file and converting it into a image that is displayed on the screen. Since today their number is very impressive and periodically increasing, it is not surprising that TVs of famous brands support almost all existing formats.

The main formats used

Among the great variety of file extensions, most often you can see the following: mp4, avi, divx, vob, mkv, wmv and others. Almost all of them belong to one of the three most popular formats: MPEG, H-264 and XviD (DivX).

This format is perhaps the oldest and most traditional among all the others. Since its inception, it has been continuously developed and updated, so now there are several auxiliary standards:

  • MPEG-1. The original compression format, used only for CD;
  • MPEG-2. A format for digital television and DVDs;
  • MPEG-4 is the most active and audio compression standard today. Used in streaming, writing files to DVD-ROM and telephony (Skype, ICQ, Viber, etc.).

Better known as AVC (Advanced Coding), this standard compresses the stream as much as possible, but retains the best image quality. In fact, this format is a derivative of MPEG-4, or rather, its most highly efficient component MPEG-4 Part 10, which is used to record and plays from HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. It is not surprising that in comparison with other codecs it has a lot of advantages and advantages.

What Format Does TV Support

XviD and DivX

You were not mistaken if you thought that these names are a mirror image of each other. These codecs are constantly competing with each other, but with the same success can be played by most hardware players.

Modern TVs and supported formats

It’s worth mentioning right away that “modern” refers to televisions that were recently released and are still on sale. The fact is that even the same model of a later release year can read a format that was not yet available to it last year. Progress does not stand still, remember, the very first TVs equipped with USB-connectors could reproduce only a photo. Now you can connect the TV to the desired media device, not only with a cable, but also through your home network using DLNA standards. They allow connected devices to exchange information and play files in real time without significant loss of quality. Read also how to properly connect a flash card to the TV.

Almost all well-known formats read high-tech TVs of famous brands, since the most common and universal codecs are loaded into them. So, the latest Samsung models support the following standards:

  • MPEG 1/2/4 / SP / ASP;
  • Microsoft MPEG-4 v1, v2, v3;
  • DivX 3.11 / 4/5/6;
  • 264 BP / MP / HP;
  • HEVC;
  • Motion JPEG;
  • MVC
  • WMV 1 / WMV 2;
  • WebM VP 6/8/9.

Not far behind Samsung and their competitors, for example, Sony. Their Sony Bravia TV is successfully dealing with formats such as:

  • WMV (9 / VC1);
  • Asf;
  • MPEG-1;
  • MPEG-2 (PS / TS);
  • MPEG-4 Visual;
  • AVC;
  • MP

Over, through a USB connection it is compatible with the FAT 12, FAT 16, FAT 32, NTFS file systems.

However, if you want to know which formats your LG 22LH450V TV, for example, or SUPRA STV-LC19T660WL supports, you better open the user manual that comes with the device and carefully study the corresponding section. Only there you can find comprehensive information and a complete list of suitable formats.

Why the TV does not open the, although its format is present in the table?

There are several possible reasons for this. Sometimes files may have a non-standard resolution or frame settings. That is, in the TV software, the modes are 16: 9, 4: 3, Enlarged, to fit the screen, etc. With certain values ​​of the height and width of the image. If the parameters are different from them, the TV will not be able to process it.

If the data transfer rate is higher than normal, a failure will occur again, since the TV will not have time to receive them. But a computer with a powerful processor can easily cope with this task. If the bitrate is below the recommended value, there may be a lack of synchronization with sound and the may “freeze”.

If you are trying to turn on from a digital drive, check to see if you recorded it properly and if there were any errors during this process. In addition, check the file for integrity, since it also happens that the download does not finish properly, and there may be no fragments in the track without which playback will not start.

And finally, keep in mind that if you are trying to view the material you have just shot, also study the instruction manual for the digital camera, since they have their own special formats that do not always match the television. Read also about the main reasons why the TV does not read the flash drive.

Recently, there were no plasma TVs capable of reproducing a signal of any format, but there were television receivers based on a cathode ray tube that supported analog TV and the VHS format (signal from the “player”).

Now, when buying a modern TV, you don’t have to think about what formats the TV supports, since modern models are able to receive almost any information. By the way, the number of automatic signal converters in the desired format (codecs) every day only gets larger.

What are the main formats

The first TV receivers with a USB output were able to recognize and display only still images. Now TVs can play TV signals transmitted in any format both via wired (cable networks) and wireless technologies (Wi-Fi, satellite TV). And the most modern TVs are equipped with codecs that can display the image from almost any medium. So, in the latest receivers there are built-in TV tuners for receiving a signal in MPEG-1. MPEG-4 formats, codecs for working with DivX, AVC, MVC, JPEG, 264-BP, HP, MP formats are installed; programs for recognition of files from systems of external information carriers (FAT-32, NTFS).

What are the benefits of each option?

The peculiarity of this format lies in its ability to compress large files to small sizes with fairly acceptable image quality. By the way, about the quality. It will depend on:

  • From the source material. The higher its quality, the processed files will have better sound and image;
  • From image quality and bitrate. With an increase in the compression ratio of the source file, its image will be worse.

The advantages of the MPEG standard include:

  • A good degree of compression of the source;
  • Providing a variety of opportunities when working with content;
  • The constant updating of the coding model is fraught with the expansion of the capabilities of content processing.

After hacking by MPEG-4 standard hackers, a new content format appeared. DivX. Now the owners of cable networks and satellite TV channels have the opportunity to compress the sources using an even more complex algorithm with almost the same quality of content. Note that the appearance of this format made most users turn away from the XviD standard, which, despite all its advantages, could not be played on some of the modern devices (additional codecs had to be installed to work with it).

The most modern format for processing content is the 21st century standard N-264. With its appearance, users were able to view and process images with the highest quality when compressing the source to small sizes. Note that most of the recorded Blu-ray movies with excellent realistic picture quality uses the H-264 standard.

Why the TV does not play, although the format is suitable

Often on the screens of modern television sets when trying to watch a, errors occur. Why it happens? There are many reasons, and we will list them.

  1. So, a problem with the playback of content may occur due to non-standard resolution. For example, with the ability to reproduce the 4: 3 or 16: 9 aspect ratio common among modern TVs, the receiver will not be able to open files with a different image resolution.
  2. Also, a problem with the playback of content may occur when you try to open the source, which has a bitrate with transmission at a very high speed. In such a situation, there are still out of sync audio and tracks
  3. Another problem with the playback of content can occur when errors were made while recording content.

In order to avoid this kind of situation, when purchasing a TV, it is necessary to ask the seller in Russian for instructions from the seller and study it in the most thorough way (to find out what formats the TV supports). Also, when purchasing discs with content, you must ask to check its playback (in order to avoid detection of recording errors).

Many people, buying a TV with a USB output, hope that now they can drop all their favorite movies onto a USB flash drive and watch them on a big screen. But sometimes they will be disappointed. The TV refuses to play some files, and most often this happens with in AVI and MKV formats. Consider the main reasons why this is happening.

  • This TV model does not have the ability to watch movies via USB. This port is intended exclusively for updating the TV software complex. The situation is certainly not the most pleasant, but not at all hopeless. Most TV models can be reflashed so that they start playing files. Also, some models allow you to connect the function of viewing via USB through the engineering menu. To get there, you need a special service remote, but this is far from necessary. You can get into the engineering menu of some TV models using several infrared diodes. However, we do not recommend that you do it yourself if you are not an expert, because even if you manage to get into the engineering menu, you are unlikely to find the necessary parameter. And changing the wrong parameters, you risk breaking the TV, and you will inevitably have to contact a service center to repair it.
  • The TV does not claim support for this format (especially often this happens with the MKV format). In this case, you will not succeed in doing anything, so you need to convert this file to any of the formats supported by your TV. In addition, you can connect the TV to the computer via HDMI. In this case, the TV begins to play the role of a monitor, and can play all the files that your computer can play. To create such a connection, you need a special HDMI cable.
  • The TV is outdated firmware. In this case, you may also need to reflash your TV. You can do this yourself by downloading the official software for a specific TV model from the manufacturer’s website, or in the service center. We strongly recommend that you contact specialists, since only they can guarantee you that the software on your computer will work after the update.
  • Codecs installed on the TV do not support this format, or they are outdated. To solve this problem is quite simple. Just download the necessary codecs from the Internet and install them on your TV.
  • Manufacturer hardware restrictions. TV manufacturers sometimes set different restrictions for each format. For example, some PHILIPS models play AVI files only if their size does not exceed 1.5 GB in volume. In this situation, you are unlikely to be able to change anything, so the file will have to be converted to another format, or the TV should be connected to the computer via an HDMI cable.

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons why the TV may not read various file formats, and it’s not always possible for a person to independently determine what’s the matter. Therefore, if your TV does not want to read MKV, AVI and other formats, contact the TV Service Center. Our experienced wizards will help you determine the cause of the malfunction, diagnose and repair the TV directly in your home.