Watching downloaded movies on a Chromebook

bittermelon · Post by **bittermelon** » Thu May 09, 2019 8:06 am

I find that more than half of the movies i have on my external harddrive are unwatchable on my Chromebook. Installed vlc for chromebook which let me watch a few more. have googled this problem but haven't found a solution. I guess this is just the tradeoff with buying a lowcost chromebook- its designed for use with the google "ecosystem" ?

timmydownawell · Post by **timmydownawell** » Thu May 09, 2019 9:00 am

Do they play ok if you transfer them from the hard drive to the Chromebook? It might be the external drive isn't getting sufficient power from the USB. Is the drive plugged into a blue (USB3) USB port?

chrispeddler · Post by **chrispeddler** » Mon May 20, 2019 12:17 pm

bittermelon wrote: ↑
Thu May 09, 2019 8:06 am
I find that more than half of the movies i have on my external harddrive are unwatchable on my Chromebook. Installed vlc for chromebook which let me watch a few more. have googled this problem but haven't found a solution. I guess this is just the tradeoff with buying a lowcost chromebook- its designed for use with the google "ecosystem" ?

I think you should also try changing the file name from .mkv to .mp4 if your movies are in .mkv format.

explorer · Post by **explorer** » Mon May 20, 2019 2:32 pm

chrispeddler wrote: ↑
Mon May 20, 2019 12:17 pm
I think you should also try changing the file name from .mkv to .mp4 if your movies are in .mkv format.

You cant just change the name (unless they are named incorrectly).

There are apps which will convert them. You can use one of these apps.

explorer · Post by **explorer** » Mon May 20, 2019 2:50 pm

bittermelon wrote: ↑
Thu May 09, 2019 8:06 am
I find that more than half of the movies i have on my external harddrive are unwatchable on my Chromebook. Installed vlc for chromebook which let me watch a few more. have googled this problem but haven't found a solution. I guess this is just the tradeoff with buying a lowcost chromebook- its designed for use with the google "ecosystem" ?

Are all of the movies the same format and the same resolution?