Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

LG TV won't play some music files on USB

Oct 16, 2018 9:08PM PDT

Summary: my LG OLED55C7T TV adds a prefix to some file names on my music USB, these files then won’t play.

I want to play my music via a USB on my LG TV. I have copied my iTunes library from my iMac onto a USB. The USB is MS-DOS FAT32 formatted. (I have around 7,000 tracks on the 64gb USB, however I understand that the Player can only handle around 5,000)

The TV recognised the USB, and around 40% of the tracks will play successfully through the Music Player. These files names appear to be the same as those on the USB. However, the Music Player has added a prefix of ._ (period, underscore) to all the other file names and these files cannot be played with an error message “unrecognised file format”.

I cannot for the life of me work out why this prefix has been added to some files and not others. I have established that the problem is not caused by Apple MPEG-4 files, nor by AIFF-C audio files. It does not seem to make a difference whether my original file name starts with a letter (either lowercase or capital) or with a numeral, the adding of the prefix appears random to me at this stage. Some files names include a hyphen and will play just fine.

With 5,000—7,000 tracks, manually changing the files names on the USB is not an option, particularly because I can’t determine what is causing the issue. (I did try a few options!)

I have contacted LG support, however at this stage, they have offered very little.

I’m not a tech nor audio head, and am only familiar with Apple products. So advice in really simple layman terms would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Orbit

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
…more info
Oct 16, 2018 9:34PM PDT

The prefix is added (randomly) to both long and short file names, so length of file name is not causing the issue. The original file name might have 4 characters, or 30, seems to make no difference.
Very few of the music file names on the USB contain a special character such as a (parenthesis), some have the prefix added and are unrecognised, some are fine.
Thnx
Orbit

- Collapse -
Not gonna work
Oct 17, 2018 8:39AM PDT

You need to convert the files in your iTunes library to a generic audio file type the hdtv can work with.

Use mp3 and it’s a done deal.

- Collapse -
Answer
Calling it what it is.
Oct 17, 2018 9:09AM PDT

These smart TVs have limited decoding capability so as Pepe7 noted, convert them all to plain MP3. Do not get fancy with CBR or rates. Go plain.

As to renaming there are batch renamer apps that make the job too easy. Only the new to this folk don't know this.

PS. The smart tv makers are not going to fix their product to work with all your files. Get used to fixing your files to work with these "smart TVs."

Post was last edited on October 17, 2018 9:12 AM PDT

- Collapse -
Update… still a mystery
Oct 20, 2018 11:15PM PDT

Thanks for the input. Based on such, I deleted all files on the USB, then via iTunes, copied and converted my entire music library into plain and straight mp3 files as suggested. I doubled checked on the file information that all these new files on the USB were not ACC mp3, but 'plain' mp3.

You'd think that would solve it, but no.

When I plug the USB into the TV, still about 40% of the track names now appear with the ._ or .__ prefix added and won't play as 'unrecognised' as previously. All the remainder that will play show the original track name, unaltered. So nothings changed or improved.

Any further ideas? LG troubleshooting team seem limited to 'google' and you guys have provided more insight than they seem able.

My work around is that all the won't play tracks are grouped at the start of the list, so provided I play my music by the track name order, not by the artist or album name, I can start halfway down the list and have access to around half my music.

Thnx in advance

- Collapse -
This will take work.
Oct 20, 2018 11:46PM PDT

As in sleuthing out what the problem is. I tend to use VLC Player to play the unplayable file and use it's Information screen then play a good file and compare the information there.

These "smart TV's" also have file name issues. There are so many "file renamer" apps that I do not consider file name issues to be a big issue.

Post was last edited on October 21, 2018 10:15 AM PDT

- Collapse -
Bottom line is...
Oct 21, 2018 8:52AM PDT

...we do not expect HDTVs to be able to perform even as well as ten year old backup PCs <dusting off my trusty HP sitting in the corner>.

That said, either use a much more compact music library, or migrate to a cheap $100 laptop that works flawlessly to playback anything you throw at it using VLC over an HDMI cable.

LG won’t be fixing this issue, btw.

- Collapse -
…you are both correct
Oct 21, 2018 7:10PM PDT

Thanks again for your help, it's much appreciated.

And you are both correct, a) much more 'sleuthing' would be required to find the cause of the issue and b) LG aren't interested in helping. (The trouble shooting team muppets just read lines to me from a manual on things that aren't related to the issues I'm experiencing. Happy )

Yes, I could hook up an old laptop or old iPhone to the TV to play music, but the USB appealed as no cords would be in view.

After more trial and error, I think I've found that the TV is creating its own duplicate 'unrecognised' file of each of my tracks, adding the ._ prefix to each file it creates. Sometimes it also seems to add numbers to the file name which relate to the original CD import and track order in iTunes which further cloud the listing.

Hmm, I think I've lost this battle and will have to settle for my work around.