Question for users of Avtex TVs - hopefully!

[Neil]

Hi,

Still watching this groups after all these years, and hoping that
there is still a useful readership.

So, heres the thing! The old caravan TV screen gave up and I have
replaced it with an Avtex L236DRS - megabucks!

After teething troubles, most of which(not all) are sorted, I am
having a problem with the use of the USB to read pictures(.jpg files)
from my little Praktica 4Mp camera.

Basically the TV cannot reliably read the installed SD card as an
external storage device, which my other domestic TV will do without a
problem. It will show some of the files as thumbnails, and some it
won't - but it isn't always the same files that will and will not
display!

Also it will not display any of the files at full screen size. The
Avtex people cannot figure out the cause yet, because this model is
fairly new.

Bottom line is:-

Does anyone here have any problem looking at their digital pictures
directly from their camera's USB port?

All comments regarding Avtex compatability with cameras could be
useful.

Thanks in advance people!

Neil

(Reply via group please)

[bert]

In message <5deb399ke1ok5ncid...@4ax.com>, Neil
<dono...@thisaddy.com> writes

I have an Avtex but unfortunately can't help as I've never tried to use
the USB port. On mine the DVD player is very temperamental
--
bert

[Tim+]

What size memory cards are you using? Some devices won't read HC (over 2gb)
cards properly.

Tim

[Neil]

Hi Tim,

I have a 512MB SD card in the camera, and carry a spare in the camera
case. I've never filled the card anyway, so continue to us the same
one.

You are right about HC cards being a "problem" with some equipment,
but I think that newer equipment is less fussy.

Just a further bit of info though - in the same week as I bought the
Avtex, I also replaced the domestic TV with a Panasonic plasma set.
This also has the facility to read .jpg picture files from any USB
device, and will read from my camera perfectly! Go figure!

[bert]

In message <f0df395n218abe3sn...@4ax.com>, Neil
<dono...@thisaddy.com> writes

Maybe you need to get in touch with Avtex
--
bert

[David]

Put the question into NG

uk.tech.digital-tv

Regards
David

[Neil]

On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 23:17:00 +0100, bert <bert@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:

<snipped>>

>>Just a further bit of info though - in the same week as I bought the
>>Avtex, I also replaced the domestic TV with a Panasonic plasma set.
>>This also has the facility to read .jpg picture files from any USB
>>device, and will read from my camera perfectly! Go figure!
>>
>>Neil
>>
>>(Reply via group please)
>Maybe you need to get in touch with Avtex

I already have - several times! They are not very helpful e.g.

The first comment from the techie was that the TV doesn't have drivers
in it to allow it to read the camera because there are so many
different cameras, it would be almost impossible to cater for them
all.

I told him that my other new TV would do the job perfectly so how
come?

Then he said that if the picture files were transfered to a USB memory
stick it would read them because it(the TV) is designed to read USB 2
rather than the older USB 1 , and maybe that was the problem.

I answered that my "older" laptop had no difficulty reading the
camera(as a USB mass storage device) without any additional drivers,
and that was only capable of USB 1. And besides as far as I was
concerned, the purpose of having a USB picture reading facility built
in to a caravan TV, was to remove the need to take a computer away as
was previously the case. I then asked if anyone at Avtex had ever
tried to connect a camera to the new range of LxxxDRS models, to which
he replied "No, not that he was aware."

I then suggested that it might be a plan if someone there actually
tried it. His last comment was he would look into this further and
get back to me.

That was the last contact I had with them around a week ago or maybe
more, hence my asking here if anyone uses an Avtex TV and connects a
camera to it, because apparently no-one at Avtex has!

I infer from conversation, that the circuit board and chipset for the
new LxxxDRS range are in fact new, so there may be an undiscovered
issue with reading various camera, and camcorder USB connections. If
there is, it kind of removes a big selling point for a TV aimed at
caravanners and motor-caravanners!

[Neil]

Can't do any harm I suppose. Thanks.

[bert]

In message <8a0q39t43v1te4l89...@4ax.com>, Neil
<dono...@thisaddy.com> writes
>On Fri, 20 Sep 2013 09:00:39 +0000 (UTC), Tom <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>Neil <dono...@thisaddy.com> wrote in
>>news:p5vm39pvu7mf6q2p0...@4ax.com:

>>All standard USB connections are backwardly compatible. If you plug
>>a USB2 stick into an older USB1 socket, the USB2 stick will drop down
>>to USB1 speed to enable the transfer to take place. However the issue
>>may be with the actual file type which does vary from camera to camera.
>>
>>There are a bewildering multitude of types from Apple's MOV through Mpeg
>>4 and AVI, DIVX, XVID, WMV etc etc and unless the TV is advertised as
>>being compatible with the file type your camera uses, it may not be
>>playable or even recognised at all and show up blank by the TV.
>>
>>Additionally, just because a piece of equipment has a USB socket does
>>not mean it will recognise the device connected to it as a storage unit.
>>That needs extra firmware installed on the equipment. USB is just a
>>communication standard allowing data to be transferred back and forward.
>>I have a number of programmable devices that have USB sockets. They do
>>not recognise storage devices if they are plugged in and, if plugged into
>>a laptop, appear as a communications device.
>>
>>I think you're assuming too much of a USB socket.
>>
>>I missed the first post on this, which seem to have gone, so
>>apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick.
>
>Tom,
>
>Here's the original post
>
>Quote

>So, heres the thing! The old caravan TV screen gave up and I have
>replaced it with an Avtex L236DRS - megabucks!
>
>After teething troubles, most of which(not all) are sorted, I am
>having a problem with the use of the USB to read pictures(.jpg files)
>from my little Praktica 4Mp camera.
>
>Basically the TV cannot reliably read the installed SD card as an
>external storage device, which my other domestic TV will do without a
>problem. It will show some of the files as thumbnails, and some it
>won't - but it isn't always the same files that will and will not
>display!
>
>Also it will not display any of the files at full screen size. The
>Avtex people cannot figure out the cause yet, because this model is
>fairly new.
>
>Bottom line is:-
>
>Does anyone here have any problem looking at their digital pictures
>directly from their camera's USB port?
>
>All comments regarding Avtex compatability with cameras could be
>useful.

>Unquote
>
>The L236DRS and the other size models in this new range are advertised
>as able to view media of various formats including .jpg, through the
>USB2 connection. No mention is made of any particular USB device
>being unsupported, hence the inferrence is that a device which appears
>a generic USB mass storage device on every other device I have
>including one old, and one very old laptop, should also function as in
>the product description.
>
>The files my camera creates are .jpg, so there should be no problem -
>but there is. If I take the SD card out of the camera and put it into
>a card reader and then plug this reader into my domestic Panasonic TV
>I can view the pictures on it without any problem just as if I had
>connected the camera. But doing the same and plugging into the Avtex,
>produces no results - the set does not even recognise the card reader
>as a USB device!
>
>I think there is something amiss with this new range of Avtex TVs,
>hence my trying to find others here who connect a camera to an Avtex
>TV.
>
>Sorry to be so long winded.

>
>Neil
>
>(Reply via group please)

I have an Avtex 15" I'll have to check if it has usb. If so I have a
Canon camera with usb. When I get a mo I will experiment.
--
bert

[Neil]

On Mon, 23 Sep 2013 15:27:38 +0100, bert <bert@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:

<snipped>>

>>The files my camera creates are .jpg, so there should be no problem -
>>but there is. If I take the SD card out of the camera and put it into
>>a card reader and then plug this reader into my domestic Panasonic TV
>>I can view the pictures on it without any problem just as if I had
>>connected the camera. But doing the same and plugging into the Avtex,
>>produces no results - the set does not even recognise the card reader
>>as a USB device!
>>
>>I think there is something amiss with this new range of Avtex TVs,
>>hence my trying to find others here who connect a camera to an Avtex
>>TV.
>>
>>Sorry to be so long winded.
>>
>>Neil
>>
>>(Reply via group please)
>I have an Avtex 15" I'll have to check if it has usb. If so I have a
>Canon camera with usb. When I get a mo I will experiment.

Bert, you are a gem!

I knew there would someone reading here who would have the ability to
try this out.

Thank you.

[bert]

In message <eil049dud4h145gcn...@4ax.com>, Neil
<dono...@thisaddy.com> writes

Avtex W153D
Just checking the manual
Quote
USB 2.0 includes 2 transport manners (sic)
1.USB Mass Storage class Bulk/Interrupt (CBI) transport
2.USB Mass Storage class Bulk-only transport

This unit supports USB 2.0 Mass Storage class Bulk-only transport
(Don't ask me what this means but obviously any connected device needs
to correspond and you need to check the detail in the user manual of
your (much newer) TV)

As previously mentioned on USB1.1 it only supports file format FAT not
FAT32 and not NTFS

Also emphasises that input on device must be set to DVD mode or press
DVD/USB/Card button.

Will come back as soon as I've tried the camera.
--
bert

[bert]

In message <XnsA244BD17A...@news.datemas.de>, Tom
<m...@privacy.net> writes
>bert <bert@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in news:iLdmcwGC...@nospam.co.uk:

>
>> Avtex W153D
>> Just checking the manual
>> Quote
>> USB 2.0 includes 2 transport manners (sic)
>> 1.USB Mass Storage class Bulk/Interrupt (CBI) transport
>> 2.USB Mass Storage class Bulk-only transport
>>
>> This unit supports USB 2.0 Mass Storage class Bulk-only transport
>> (Don't ask me what this means but obviously any connected device needs
>> to correspond and you need to check the detail in the user manual of
>> your (much newer) TV)
>

>MSC is the protocol the hardware/operating system uses to allow USB to
>be connected to external storage devices and mount them as if the
>were external drives. The two transport modes are sets of commands
>used to control the transfer of data and handles errors.

>
>>
>> As previously mentioned on USB1.1 it only supports file format FAT not
>> FAT32 and not NTFS
>

>USB1 can handle all 3 (and MacOS and Linux MKFS.) Formatting is generally
>independant of USB port type. It's the Operating System that determines
>whether of not it can read the drive and, in the case of the TV, that'll
>be tucked inside a micro-controller in the telly.
Which is basically what I said, quoting from my own Avtex handbook
>My reading of the
>instruction of the smaller version of Neil's TV was that it would only
>read reliably FAT formatted disks and FAT32 may not work.
>
>>
.

[bert]

In message <hVnG7SPr...@nospam.co.uk>, bert <bert@[127.0.0.1]>
writes

OK Connected up the Canon EOS-400D camera and zilch - nothing No
recognition between the two at all.
Connected the camera to my Samsung domestic TV and hey presto it worked
as expected. Thumbnails displayed and then clicked on them to give full
screen.

Put a few pictures onto a memory stick and tried that in the Avtex.
After much faffing about and RTFM several times eventually got it to
work as expected.

At one point it says "press the button of the remote control...." Yes
that's right a blank space.

Eventually sorted it and it worked OK full screen playing the playlist
I'd set up.

So I've no idea why it wouldn't work with the camera but it would seem
to be a problem with the Avtex. The cameras is USB 2 but I don't know
which class.
--
bert

[bert]

In message <5deb399ke1ok5ncid...@4ax.com>, Neil
<dono...@thisaddy.com> writes

>Basically the TV cannot reliably read the installed SD card as an
>external storage device, which my other domestic TV will do without a
>problem. It will show some of the files as thumbnails, and some it
>won't - but it isn't always the same files that will and will not
>display!

Regarding the intermittent nature of the problem I wonder if this is
down to problems understanding the operating procedures. My user guide
is not very clear.

The files which are displayed are determined by the options selected in
the right hand panel. If you select playlist and the files are not in
the playlist they will not appear.

If you are in the left hand pane pressing OK toggles between add and
delete from playlist.

If you select single file then only the file highlighted in the left
hand panel will be displayed.
To get from thumbnail to full screen switch to left hand pane then press
>ll (Play/pause) in DVD controls

HTH
--
bert

[Neil]

On Tue, 24 Sep 2013 20:42:20 +0100, bert <bert@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:

<snipped>

>>>> Will come back as soon as I've tried the camera.
>>>
>>
>OK Connected up the Canon EOS-400D camera and zilch - nothing No
>recognition between the two at all.
>Connected the camera to my Samsung domestic TV and hey presto it worked
>as expected. Thumbnails displayed and then clicked on them to give full
>screen.
>
>Put a few pictures onto a memory stick and tried that in the Avtex.
>After much faffing about and RTFM several times eventually got it to
>work as expected.
>
>At one point it says "press the button of the remote control...." Yes
>that's right a blank space.
>
>Eventually sorted it and it worked OK full screen playing the playlist
>I'd set up.
>
>So I've no idea why it wouldn't work with the camera but it would seem
>to be a problem with the Avtex. The cameras is USB 2 but I don't know
>which class.

Thank you very much Bert.

At last I can be sure it's not my camera in particular that's at
fault.

Avtex called me back today! The engineer said that their sets were
never intended to allow the reading of picture files from a camera
directly, as they believed there were too many different protocols or
software drivers involved to cater for the very large number of
cameras in use. Further testing on his behalf showed that when he put
an SD card into a card reader, the Avtex would read the picture files
OK, so I must have a suspect card reader!

In conclusion, he said that Avtex are not planning to update the
sofware in the latest range of TVs, so there will be no "fix" for a
"problem" they don't see as of being of any significance.

Personally, to me this smells of BS!

If two different brands of domestic TV sets can read a camera, it
seems a pretty lame exscuse that has been given for Avtex's sets not
to do likewise.
And if my card reader is suspect, how come it works perfectly with the
domestic set and all my computers?

I'm off to find a Cello 22inch Traveller to see how that performs -
this looks to do everything the Avtex does, but for half the price.
If it does the camera and card reader thing without problems, the
Avtex is going back!

A BIG thank you again to everyone who has responded to my post, your
input has been much appreciated and my faith in the usefulness of
usenet, restored.