Solved! media player or network hard drive

[whitty500]

Hey all, so my WD live TV box failed, while I'm looking at getting another one I just using a portable hard drive and plug into my TV and play movies, pics etc this way.

pros and cons of this?

so do I get a network Hard drive or a media player?

thoughts and your recommendations?
current TV is a Samsung series 8 smart TV.

cheers

Whitty

 

[americanaudiophile]

So long as the TV supports the video file types you have there are no cons to using the TV as your player. May produce a better picture than a cheap media player. I also avoids any wifi issues you may have with a network drive.

 

[hang-the-9]

If you connect a portable drive to a TV, you may need to get one with a power brick or go through a powered USB hub. I have run into quite a few TVs that can't power an external hard drive (even an SSD) on the TV USB power. Flash drives usually work though if you want to use one of those.