I was recently given a portable 500 GB USB drive that is fully loaded with full length movies which are in either MP3, MP4 or AVI format. I can watch the movied from the drive on my desktop, laptop, or when a desired movie is copied to a thumb drive I can watch it on my pad.. BUT I cannot figure out how to watch them on the Flat panel TV in the trailer. I tried the thumb drive in the USB input that is on the face my built in Concertone DVD/CD/Music system, but it will not read them.. Quesion?? Would buying a "Smart" DVD player that has a USB input and connected to the TV using an HDMI TV cable do the trick?? Looking for suggestions and/or ideas..

It is probable that your TV does not have a media player built into it. The USB port is more than likely there so you can show pictures or slideshows, but not movies. You’ll have to buy some other type of media player, I suggest a BluRay player, to play movies from an external drive.

Many BluRay players can play video directly from the USB port, but not all formats. Most will play MP4, less likely AVI or MOV.

As previous poster suggested, one way is HDMI from laptop to TV. The way I use is a Western Digital TV Live+ Media player. It has codecs for every conceivable video format. Additionally, it has codecs for audio and still pix. You can load your CDs on there, pictures from your digital camera, etc. And it is little, doesn't take much space or use much power. Additionally, it comes with cables to connect via HDMI, composite or component, should your TV be lacking HDMI inputs.

inflt48 wrote:As previous poster suggested, one way is HDMI from laptop to TV. The way I use is a Western Digital TV Live+ Media player. It has codecs for every conceivable video format. Additionally, it has codecs for audio and still pix. You can load your CDs on there, pictures from your digital camera, etc. And it is little, doesn't take much space or use much power. Additionally, it comes with cables to connect via HDMI, composite or component, should your TV be lacking HDMI inputs.I use the WD device as well. Works great.

Watching Movies from Portable HD in TT | Good Sam Community

Lantley
Nomad
Oct 22, 2013
MrWizard wrote:
we have a 'SONY' media player
HDMI and component video out puts
usb input for external HHD or flash drive sticks
even connects to internet via wifi and can play NetFlix , amazon, etc..

x2 I paid 39.99 for mine
bdosborn
Explorer
Oct 22, 2013
1775 wrote:
Get yourself a Roku 3 box.

The trouble with the Roku is that it doesn't support many video formats and the OP had a few different types on his HD:

Roku -
MKV (H.264), MP4 (H.264)

WD TV Live -
MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264), M2TS, TP, TRP, TS, MP4, ASF, VOB (unprotected or unencrypted)

IMHO - Roku is better at streaming, WD Live TV is better at playing video files and networks across Windows very well (DLNA Compliant).

Bruce
1775
Explorer
Oct 21, 2013
Get yourself a Roku 3 box. It has a USB port for your portable hard drive and an HDMI port (and also RCA video connections) to connect to any TV. You can then watch all of your movies, etc on your hard drive by just selecting the device as the input source on your TV. The Roku 3 is just under $100. and will also give you the ability to use wifi to see a variety of internet video channels.
MrWizard
Moderator
Oct 18, 2013
we have a 'SONY' media player
HDMI and component video out puts
usb input for external HHD or flash drive sticks
even connects to internet via wifi and can play NetFlix , amazon, etc..
bdosborn
Explorer
Oct 18, 2013
jmckelvy wrote:
I use the WD device as well. Works great.

x3!

Bruce
strollin
Explorer
Oct 18, 2013
K Charles wrote:
I do HDMI from laptop to TV

Yes, if your laptop has an HDMI out port, this is an excellent way to do it.

If your laptop doesn't have a built-in HDMI port you could use something like this: VGA to HDMI Converter although you also need to connect a cable for the audio.
jmckelvy
Explorer
Oct 18, 2013
inflt48 wrote:
As previous poster suggested, one way is HDMI from laptop to TV. The way I use is a Western Digital TV Live+ Media player. It has codecs for every conceivable video format. Additionally, it has codecs for audio and still pix. You can load your CDs on there, pictures from your digital camera, etc. And it is little, doesn't take much space or use much power. Additionally, it comes with cables to connect via HDMI, composite or component, should your TV be lacking HDMI inputs.

I use the WD device as well. Works great.
inflt48
Explorer
Oct 18, 2013
As previous poster suggested, one way is HDMI from laptop to TV. The way I use is a Western Digital TV Live+ Media player. It has codecs for every conceivable video format. Additionally, it has codecs for audio and still pix. You can load your CDs on there, pictures from your digital camera, etc. And it is little, doesn't take much space or use much power. Additionally, it comes with cables to connect via HDMI, composite or component, should your TV be lacking HDMI inputs.
1492
Moderator
Oct 18, 2013
Many BluRay players can play video directly from the USB port, but not all formats. Most will play MP4, less likely AVI or MOV.
Vapor_Trails
Explorer
Oct 18, 2013
It is probable that your TV does not have a media player built into it. The USB port is more than likely there so you can show pictures or slideshows, but not movies. You’ll have to buy some other type of media player, I suggest a BluRay player, to play movies from an external drive.