Can’t get my LG TV to play HEVC MKV files, how to fix?

“I’ve been using Plex for a while now, but now I want to direct Play HEVC MKV files on my LG TV because the Plex Media Server is too slow to transcode them to H.264. My TV includes HEVC x265 support, so I try to play the HEVC MKV video from USB drive, but it seems that my LG TV doesn’t recognize them at all. Why won’t it play a file that it should play? Anyone else having issues with HEVC files on your LG TV? I can’t figure this out by myself, can anyone help please? I would really appreciate any help.”

Having troubles playing HEVC H.265 video files on your LG Smart TV through USB drive? You are absolutely not the only one. Those issues may happen due to various kinds of reasons. Searching online, you will find there are numerous problems regarding to playing x265 (HEVC/H.265) content with LG TVs. If you are in the same boat, just keep reading to learn how to get your LG TV playing HEVC videos smoothly.

To be able to directly play HEVC (H.265/x265) video files on a LG TV through USB drive, you need to match two things:

1) Firstly, your LG TV must have native support for HEVC H.265 codec, if not, you have to use a third party media player app like Plex;

2) Secondly, even if your LG TV has native support for x265, it must have limits on video specifications. For example, if your TV only supports HEVC video in MP4 container, then you shouldn’t play a HEVC file in an MKV wrapper; if it doesn’t support high bitrate HEVC video, but you try to play such a file, of course, it will fail to play. All the similar things will make your TV watching very painful.

If your LG TV doesn’t meet the requirements to directly play your HEVC media, at the moment, the only workaround for using these files is to use an HEVC Converter for LG TV and export the files as the widely supported H.264 MP4 format, to play them later on your LG TV through USB drive. We explain how:

Part 1: How to encode HEVC x265 video for direct playing on LG TVs on Windows?

To transcode HEVC/H.265 video files to H.264 MP4 for playing on a LG TV on a Windows PC, follow these steps:

Step 1: Import HEVC video files

Launch U2USoft Total Video Converter for Windows and click “Add File” to load HEVC H.265 files that you want to convert into this program.

Download HEVC/H.265 Video Converter for Windows:

Step 2: Click “Profile” to select H.264 MP4 as output format

To convert HEVC media to 1080p H.264 MP4 for playing on your LG TV via USB drive, simply select “HD Video” > “HD H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format.

If your source HEVC files come with 4K quality and your LG TV supports 4K video in H.264 encoded MP4 format, then you can choose “4K Video” > “4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format. To choose 4K H.264 MP4 as output format, please make sure your LG TV supports 4K H.264 MP4 first. If not, 1080p H.264 MP4 would be a recommended option.

Tips:
If necessary, you can click “Settings” button to modify video and audio parameters like encoder, resolution, frame rate, bitrate, aspect ratio, sample rate, and audio channels. You can also “Enable 3D Settings” to add 3D effect to your source media.

Step 3: Click “Convert” to start HEVC to LG TV conversion on Windows.

As soon as the conversion is complete, click “Open Folder” to get the generated H.264 MP4 files for viewing on your LG TV fluently.

Part 2: How to convert HEVC H.265 video for direct playing on LG TVs on Mac?

To re-encode HEVC/H.265 to H.264 MP4 for playing on LG TV on macOS, follow these steps:

Download HEVC/H.265 Converter for Mac:

Step 1: Import HEVC video files

Start up U2USoft Video Converter for Mac and click “Add File” to load HEVC H.265 files that you want to convert into this program.

Step 2: Click “Profile” to select H.264 MP4 as output format

To convert HEVC H.265 files to 1080p H.264 MP4 for playing on your LG TV through USB drive, simply choose “HD Video” > “HD H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format.

If you want to convert 4K H.265 to 4K H.264 .mp4 for your LG TV, you can choose “4K Video” > “4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format. To select 4K H.264 MP4 as output format, first of all, please make sure your LG TV supports 4K H.264 MP4 playback. If not, we would recommend choosing 1080p H.264 MP4 as target format.

Tips:
If necessary, you can click “Settings” button to modify video and audio parameters like encoder, resolution, frame rate, bitrate, aspect ratio, sample rate, and audio channels. You can also “Enable 3D Settings” to add 3D effect to your source media.

Step 3: Click “Convert” to start HEVC to LG TV conversion on macOS.

As soon as the conversion is complete, click “Open Folder” to get the exported H.264 MP4 files and add them to your LG TV for playback through your USB drive with very good performance.

Quite a simple workflow. No extra transcoding is required while playing them on your LG TV. Hope this will shed you some lights on your incompatibility issues while playing HEVC movies on your LG TV.