Watch Movies from external HDD on a TV

BazMcG

Hi all,

I have bought my da a new external hdd and plan on ramming it full of old movies, tv shows etc for christmas. Now I bought a WD elements 1TB and basically was wondering how I could connect it to his TV for him to watch the stuff.

I was thinking of connecting it to his laptop and using a VGA cable or something but it seems annoying having to go through that process everytime. Is there an easier way to do this? He has sky plus, can you hook it up to that box or anything?

I've been having a read about this and there seems to be a few ways, but I want to know what would be best for a guy who isn't great with technology and doesnt involve me having to purchase much more if possible!

Thanks,
Baz

almighty1

You'll need a decent TV that will natively support playing of movie files
Generally the built in player will only support basic video and audio codecs.

OR (and I would defo recommend)


A media player. There is an excellent product in Aldi tomorrow which will do exactly what you want - it will play all common video/audio codecs from external HDD or network share. I have one of these already and will be buying another.

http://aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/special_buys3_15337.htm

branners69

I have a few media players and I cant recommend Western Digital Media Players. They are around €100 and would sit in between your dads tv and the external harddrive. It would connect to the tv with a HDMI cable.

Make sure whatever media player you pick can play mkv files with dts sound, otherwise you will have a crystal clear video with no sound!

PeterHughes

I have a 1TB WD external hard drive and have connected to a WD TV live player. This allows me to plug the hard drive into the WD TV live play them via a HD cable on my TV.

Works quite well, interface is easy enought to use, once your files are named and sorted fairly well.

Good review here -->
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/review-wd-tv-live-plus-media-player-20100615/

almighty1

I have both the Medion and the WDTV Live media players.

I find that WDTV interface very slow and clunky. It also doesnt play files from my network drive without lag.

Im gonna end up giving hte WDTV to my Dad and buying another Medion in Aldi tomorrow. I cant recommend them highly enough. It supports DTS audio also.

BazMcG

hi guys thanks for responses! would this play mkv's with good sound etc?

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Sound+and+Vision/Media+Players/Sumvision+Cyclone+Fusion+Media+player+SATA+HDD+docking+station+?productId=38514