Video File media players

[yugoman1]

Any advice please ? Still using X8 regularly to create video files. For many years I have used a WD Media Streamer to play these files on my tv. It is now old and not working properly and I do not know what to buy to replace it, it is a minefield to try and understand. I keep all of my files on a hard drive and just want to play them through my Non Smart TV. Any help would be appreciated !

[Ken Berry]

Though you say your TV is not a Smart one, does it have USB input ports on it, and are they rated to play video? Many TVs which are around 6 or 7 years old will play certain kinds of video, including mpeg-2 and mp4, directly from a USB drive plugged into the TV... Have you tried that?

Personally, my main TV is a 12 year old 46" Samsung, which is not Smart nor rated to play video directly. But my own WD Media Streamer still works well, and I use that. Have you looked at whether WD have brought out a more recent version of the one you already have?

[yugoman1]

Hello Ken, You are quite right, my Sony tv doesn`t like playing video files through the usb, hence the reason for using this old device. I can`t see what has superceded this one, most streamers nowadays seem to be sticks which is not really what I want. There are lots out there, but just wondered if anyone on here has used anything or have any more information ?

[tletter]

Hello Ken, You are quite right, my Sony tv doesn`t like playing video files through the usb, hence the reason for using this old device. I can`t see what has superceded this one, most streamers nowadays seem to be sticks which is not really what I want. There are lots out there, but just wondered if anyone on here has used anything or have any more information ?

You don't mention if you have a CRT or digital TV nor what input ports your TV. Assuming that you have a digital TV with a HDMI port then check out a modern streaming appliance like a Roku. For example, a Roku Premiere allows one to screen mirror their computer screens to a digital TV as well as to watch streaming services like YouTube directly on their TV.

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[yugoman1]

Thanks for your reply, yes my tv is digital and I connected my old WD device via HDMI. I have looked at this Roku and wondered if this would do the trick.......as long as it has a usb input, so that I can plug my hard drive into it ? I also wondered if there was anything that would do the job of both the hard drive and a streamer (in other words, a box with at least a TB of storage that will also stream these files to my tv ) ?

[alanball]

Hi yugoman1
like you I have an older tv. I use the Apple TV connected with HDMI and hard wired back to my router. The Apple TV is only 32GB so not too much storage. But there is an Apple VLC app which I downloaded for the Apple TV that gives you the options of Local Network connection, Remote Playback (which is what I use and download MP4 videos to the Apple Hard drive), but there is also an option for Network Streaming.

I have looked at the Network streaming, but found I was not technical up to sorting it out Im afraid. Usually anything by VLC is pretty good so I would think it would work.
By the way I am on Windows not Mac. I did find my TV has a usb connection and after searching the operation instructions found that you could play MP4 videos, but the disc had to be formatted Fat32 and have the correct dir structure.
There was no instructions in the TV manual and I first thought it was just a power usb.

[yugoman1]

Thank you Alan (not the England football player ? ) this is very interesting, and gives me another angle of approach, there is always more than 1 way of skinning a rabbit !

[alanball]

Hi yugoman-1
Not not that Alan about the same age but he died a few years ago.
Good luck with your search, do put your findings on the web board if successful.

[pepegota]

FYI:

If you have an old TV that has an HDMI port and want to play mp4 files with it you need a media player:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008N ... UTF8&psc=1
You place your files on a thumb drive. Then insert it into the media player and it works well on my old TV.
On one thumb drive I have 535 mp4 full lenght movies with space for another 500.

[alanball]

Hi pepegota

Thanks for that information, the Micca media player look as though it is with a closer inspection particularly as it will play both Fat32 and NTFS formats and a wide range of file types, and not a bad price.

Do you have one yourself?

[pepegota]

Yes, that is why I mentioned it-works just fine for me and the price is right. I use it, with my thumb drive, to store mp4 movies.

[yugoman1]

Thanks for your replies, I will try to source one of these micca players, unfortunately they are out of stock at amazon ? and ebay.......only delivered from the US ? Will keep trying !

[pepegota]

I just checked and they are in stock.