There are many options for watching TV. These include old-fashioned antennas, modern fiber-optic connections, and hooking up your computer to stream the content. You can even connect your external hard drive directly to your TV with many modern TVs. It’s a good choice, especially for situations like “unsupervised kids” cough.
First things first
Before you plug your hard drive into the TV and before you spend hours loading content onto it, check that it is compatible with the television. To determine the minimum specs required for your hard drive, consult the manual or the manufacturer’s site. For example, many TVs won’t support hard drives larger than 2 TB. To make sure your TV can handle 4 TB drives, you will need to partition them into 2 TB areas. There are many ways that TV hard drives can organize their data. You’ll need information about which file systems your TV can handle. Most TVs support NTFS. This is how Windows 10 formates a disk by default. If you are using a Mac, Linux or other operating system, you will need to format the drive in NTFS. This is different from Ext4 or APFS on Linux. How to do this is dependent on your operating system.
Connect Your Hard Disk To the TV
Look at the USB connectors that are attached to your TV. You might have multiple USB connectors on your TV. In that case, the one you choose may be labeled USB/HDD. The one you choose to use for the hard drive is that one. Don’t be concerned if you only have one or none are designated for your hard disk. You can use what you have. The USB port should vibrate when the hard drive is plugged in. Depending on which case the hard drive is in, you might also see a flickering light. You can use your remote to select the USB drive to be your input device. The TV’s built-in file browser should allow you to access your content. Simply select the file you want, then choose it with your remote. It should now start playing.
Selecting compatible files
Remember that your TV won’t recognize the same types of media files as your computer. You can find the file types that your TV can recognize in your user manual. If that fails, you can always use a clip to test it. If it doesn’t, you will need to convert the file to something your TV can recognise. The free VLC Media Player can be used to convert between audio and video file types. Keep in mind that DRM is a form of digital rights management and it is illegal to make copies of files.
A couple of Cautions
While an external hard drive can typically draw power from the USB port by itself, most manufacturers recommend using a drive that has its own power source. It’s important to remember that if you accidentally turn off your TV, the USB port can shut down the drive. Also, if a file is being used at that point it may become corrupted. It can’t happen because the drive is powered by its own power. It’s also a smart idea to make a backup of any file stored on your drive. You’ll regret it if you lose it.
Limitations of older TVs
New HDTVs, and so-called “smart”, TVs, are very good at using external devices. However older TVs might have limitations. You might need to format your drive in FAT32 format. It may not recognize drives up to 32 GB. You might consider using a USB thumbdrive instead. Some older TVs might not recognize the USB device. One of the first TVs to include a USB port was intended for diagnostic purposes only. If your TV is older or has an HDMI input but no USB port, it will require you to be more creative in connecting your hard drive to the TV.
Connecting to a Different Device
A hard drive-to-TV adapter might be necessary if your TV does not have a USB connection. You can use a separate device like a Roku, PVR or other similar devices. These devices usually come with an HDMI output and a USB connector to attach to your TV. They also have a file browser that is usually quite good. These are your best options if taking your computer to your living room is not an option when you want to watch a movie, or video clip.
