topic What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives? in Other TVs

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

dvdsmpsn — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:19:38 GMT

After using my USB drive to record programmes from my TV, it's no longer readable on my Mac

In fact 5 "Linux" partitions were created on my 120GB Toshiba USB drive:

The Mac seems to think that the filesystem is Linux based. Is this true?
What format are the video files?
Is it some Sony-only file format based on vendor lock-in? Or are Sony more open these days?

Message was edited by: dvdsmpsn

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

pusaqall — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:30:54 GMT

Most HD TV uses .mkv for HD movie files.

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

dvdsmpsn — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:53:57 GMT

Thank you for your answer.

OK, to follow up:

What filesystem does Sony use?
How do I read the USB hard drive from my Mac (with Snow Leopard installed)?

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

Bravia55HX — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:47:31 GMT

Hi,

you cant, this is to prevent copyright infringement and whatever you have recorded onto it can only be viewed by your tv.

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

dvdsmpsn — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:58:59 GMT

OK, thanks for the answer.

I don't mind not being able to access the recording. I guess the copyright owner of the TV show has rights there.

I do mind not being able to access my USB hardware using a computing device of my choosing -- It's my USB drive, so why keep the filesystem format a secret? Would it perhaps be readable on a Sony Vaio computer? What's the reason for vendor lock-in here?

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

Bravia55HX — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:08:00 GMT

Hi,

we have asked Sony on many occasions to provide detailed information with regards to the use of USB flash drives or powered HDD's and their use on Sony tv's to no avail, many of us on here have found out the hard way that once the tv has "formatted" the drives for use it renders them useless on any other device!, naturally this is unacceptable as some of these drives are very expensive, there is a way to re format the drive once the offending partition has been removed for use on pc's again, one or two of us have succeeded but many have not!, i personally would not bother with this (the TiVo box does what i need!), so to summarise, if you must have a hard drive to record from the tv then get one just for that.

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

65hx923_cust11 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:53:19 GMT

I cannot claim that it is correct. I think that Sony uses some sqlite database structure with some sort of encryption. I think that you can only see the recording with the TV that you made them. In other words indistinctively of the file system they use, which maybe any of the file system used by Linux you may not be able to access the recording directly. You may be able to access the disk and data in it but still you will need to unencrypt the recording to make it playable by any other media player. mkv is only a container holding some mp4, h264 or similar high definition capable format. A good guess would be mp4 because these TV’s can handle mp4 very well but cannot tell which format it is. I would NOT expect Sony to reveal this sort of technical information. They never have been very open nor they will be.

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

65hx923_cust11 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:21:18 GMT

I do not think that the file system format is secret. The problem is that that particular file system is not understood by Windows or Mac machines. However if you use any Operating System that understand the file system you should have access to the device. So it is irrelevant whether you use a Sony Vaio computer. The operating system is the key to be able to access you hard disk. If your Mac tells you that it is a Linux partition the you should use a computer running Linux and then you should be able to read and write to it.

The most common file system readable by almost all system is FAT. However this one cannot store files larger than 2 GB, NOT Sony’s fault, which is a problem when you are recording high definition where an hour can take around 4 GB. MAC and NTFS are able to overcome this problem but they are proprietary solutions. In other words Sony might need to pay to patents rights to use them. In the other hand Linux is free for everyone to use whether for profit or not. It can also be installed in Sony Vaio’s and MAC’s and a great number of computers. Please note that I am NOT recommending installing Linux in your MAC or Vaio. If you try to install it you may lose all the information in your computer. The best solution is to have a disk exclusively for the TV recording, preferably one with external power supply so that you do not feel tempted to share with other devices.

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

65hx923_cust11 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:27:38 GMT

Just to add I AM NOT a Sony Representative, sony_cust11 stands for sony customer

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

Bravia55HX — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:32:44 GMT

i knew that!, and so will everyone else now!:smileywink:

What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

deebeeargh — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:41:14 GMT

I have been able to read my HDD by booting into Parted Magic OS (Linux)

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

You boot from CD so you should be able to fire this up on your Mac with no OS change.

This allows you to mount the HDD and see the contents - you can also drag things from your HDD to your Mac/Windows hard disk and vice-versa. The actual files that constitute the recordings are useless if you do so (I was keen to have a small USB stick for recording on to and then archiving to standard HDD to use for playback on my media player - no good)

Would be nice if it warned you your HDD would be pretty much bricked for other use once formatted with the Sony TV - I suspect this can also be undone with Parted Magic by reformatting to FAT or NTFS once the USB HDD is mounted.

Rif.: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

faseeffe — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 08:45:09 GMT

Hello, just to add my experience using a Bravia W6 series and a 1 TBytes HDD from Western Digital connected via USB port and NTFS preformatted.

I was able to access all files on filesystem via my iMac, but I unsuccessfully tried to view .m2ts files with VLC and all video viewers available for OSX.

VLC responded that "undf" codec is not supported.

I'm fully aware of copyright rules (justifiable for commercial reasons, not for family usage) and I consciously selected Sony for its quality and performance, but I'd say that, together with the absence of Flash player on Opera embedded browser on this TV set, it becomes a great disadvantage for family entertainment.

Hope Sony may soon change this approach.

Regards

Rif.: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

ArferDaley — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 16:43:51 GMT

thanks to you guys for the info here in a way i am glad i have failed to get my drive to be reconized by my tv its a

sony bravia KDL43W809CBU all the advice i have been given to get this thing sorted has failed and now glad it has failed as if it renders the drive useless for anything else bonus too me but its very disapointing as sony used too be one of the great products now it seems not

Re: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

Mick_J — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 16:17:05 GMT

As others have mentioned the files themselves are encrypted by Sony, there is something about it in the FAQs that Quinnicus linked to recently. Ignoring that, getting the files to another device to mess with can be done using a filemanager app available from google play called X-Plore, this can copy between USB devices on the TV and to devices on the network. Also has a WiFi-Direct option.

Obviously this does not help with the viewing of the recorded files 😞 but could be useful in other regards. I use it to to copy video and music files from windows shares to the TV for playing later.

Re: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

Garymjh — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 00:29:57 GMT

So just to check before I buy a usb stick or drive. Whatever format Sony uses, there's none of the idiotic 4gb restrictions you get with fat 32 on a pc etc when recording from the tv? Ie there's no limit on the recorded file size? Thanks very much.

Re: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

rooobb — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 07:45:36 GMT

If there was such 4GB limit you could record only 1 hour in HD... The only limit you have is the size of the partition to 2TB.

Re: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

oodles2do — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 09:57:02 GMT

I'm currently attempting to get the video files off my Sony registered HDD as I've got another TV that's LG and it lets you record TV shows onto any storage device and it doesn't need to register it and format it.

I'm running Linux on my laptop and I plugged the hard drive in, I can see all the files on there and there's a folder called stream where all the recordings are kept. The recording seem to be stored as binary files, obviously these will be HUGE text files of 1's and 0's.

Re: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

ArferDaley — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:09:34 GMT

sony is about one of the last companys left to do this and encrypt there stuff i think its a feel good factor for them gives them a little street cred shame really which is why i am selling my new sony bravio and moving to a tv that allows you to move your recordings to a pc harddrive i men its not too hard these days to expect too beable too do this keep it up sony your diggin a nice hole in sales for yourselves

Re: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:48:30 GMT

@ArferDaley wrote:

sony is about one of the last companys left to do this and encrypt there stuff i think its a feel good factor for them gives them a little street cred shame really which is why i am selling my new sony bravio and moving to a tv that allows you to move your recordings to a pc harddrive i men its not too hard these days to expect too beable too do this keep it up sony your diggin a nice hole in sales for yourselves

Encryption for recording HD channels is part of the Dbook standard and is mandatory. SD channels doesnt need to be encrypted, but many do however.

See:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeview_(UK)#Copy_protection

http://dtg.org.uk/dtg/press_releases/dtg_whatsat_20091200.pdf

Re: What's the file format Sony uses for recording from Bravia onto USB drives?

oodles2do — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 16:00:55 GMT

@Anonymous

I was about to reply and say my new LG TV doesn't encryt, but looking at the files on my laptop, it does. What it doesn't do though, is require you to register a device to it, effectively comondeering the entire device and meaning you can't use it for anything else. It simply creates a new folder on the drive and records to the available space.