Topic: Playing media files

Hi, I’ve just joined here hoping someone can help. I’ve recently switched back over to PS after a couple of years on Xbox. On there I used my console as a media centre with a Seagate 8TB External Drive attached. I switched it over to the PS4 Pro when I got it and downloaded the Media Player, but the only thing it would recognise was my music files, not video files.

I did some research and tried putting the media in a folder titled PS4 etc but nothing would work. I then tried putting a video on a 64gb USB Drive and it worked fine. Does anyone know what I have to do to get my Seagate drive to work? Thanks

@CometDan If your videos are of the illegal kind they probably won't work on the PS4, I know a friend of mine ran into that problem years ago when he got an original PS4. They worked fine on Xbox but the PS wouldn't recognize them.

If that is the case we can't really discuss a work around here as discussion of those methods are not allowed here I am afraid.

Hi, thanks for your reply, it’s just videos I’ve recorded from my phone, they are MP4’s. They work on the PS from a USB drive but not from the Seagate External Drive.

@CometDan It is USB 3.0? Also, how is the drive formatted? exFAT/NTFS? If not, then the PS4 probably won't recognise it.

Most files should work apart from proprietary codecs like divx etc.

I've found the media player pretty patchy to use. Video and music would just randomly stop. Personally I would use something like Plex.

@JohnnyShoulder it's a pretty basic application, relatively limited playblack, but I've had very few problems with various mp4 and mkv files.

Thanks for the replies guys, it’s formatted in Exfat as I transfer off a MacBook, ideally I’d use Plex but I don’t have a base PC or station to run my media from.

@CometDan Oh hang on - what's the file structure?

@ @KALofKRYPTON I’ve got them in a folder titled “PS4” then a sub folder titled “VIDEO” all capitalised as I read that was important!

@CometDan You didn't set it up as extended storage?

No, because I was just using it as a media centre rather than extended storage for games. It maybe gave me false hope when I plugged it in straight away and my music files played

@CometDan It seems then that it just isn't happy with the codecs. Do you have detailed information on one of the videos?

I’ll have a look when I get home, thanks for the help so far