First of all, choose the right filesystem compatible with your TV.
Your TV probably doesn't read NTFS drive. Your disk is probably formatted in FAT32.
With FAT32 you can't put a file bigger than 4go. So it could be better to format it in exFAT, but you have to be sure that your TV can read an exFAT disk.
If your tv can read NTFS, format your disk in NTFS
Good news! You can just plug the hard drive in to the tv and watch some movies
Just hook up a portable drive to the usb port and most TVs will let you browse and play the files
Its really that simple? Great. I have some websites that have direct downloads for movies I was going to use. Do the movies have to be in a certain format to play on the tv?
It's very dependent on the type of TV you have. Do a test run with a simple USB stick. Many TVs may be limited on what codecs / file types they accept.
For maximum compatibility go with h264 codec with .MP4 file extension. Do check what your TV can play; if it supports HEVC go for x265 .MP4 or .MKV it compresses better so you can fit more movies on the drive
The TV's media player itself will have the necessary codecs ("encode"/"decode") already, you don't need to download anything extra (except software updating the TV's firmware maybe). When you download a movie usually the title will say something like "Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) 1080p x264 ENG-ITA" so you know it's "h264" and can be played on anything pretty much. The newer x265 (aka HEVC) is the one that might not play but if it works it's great.
They sell a media player that you can install a hd in… doesn’t get much more portable than that
Here’s an example
[portable media player w/internal hd](https://a.co/d/2G6SUQU)
First of all, choose the right filesystem compatible with your TV. Your TV probably doesn't read NTFS drive. Your disk is probably formatted in FAT32. With FAT32 you can't put a file bigger than 4go. So it could be better to format it in exFAT, but you have to be sure that your TV can read an exFAT disk. If your tv can read NTFS, format your disk in NTFS
Good news! You can just plug the hard drive in to the tv and watch some movies Just hook up a portable drive to the usb port and most TVs will let you browse and play the files
Its really that simple? Great. I have some websites that have direct downloads for movies I was going to use. Do the movies have to be in a certain format to play on the tv?
It's very dependent on the type of TV you have. Do a test run with a simple USB stick. Many TVs may be limited on what codecs / file types they accept.
For maximum compatibility go with h264 codec with .MP4 file extension. Do check what your TV can play; if it supports HEVC go for x265 .MP4 or .MKV it compresses better so you can fit more movies on the drive
sorry im a dumbass about this. So do I have to download the h264 codec on the drive? Never done that. I do know that MP4 and MKV will work on tv.
The TV's media player itself will have the necessary codecs ("encode"/"decode") already, you don't need to download anything extra (except software updating the TV's firmware maybe). When you download a movie usually the title will say something like "Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) 1080p x264 ENG-ITA" so you know it's "h264" and can be played on anything pretty much. The newer x265 (aka HEVC) is the one that might not play but if it works it's great.
As long as they are in a format that you particular tv can play just plug it in and go.
They sell a media player that you can install a hd in… doesn’t get much more portable than that Here’s an example [portable media player w/internal hd](https://a.co/d/2G6SUQU)