Sorry if this doesn’t belong here, more than happy to be pointed in the right direction if it doesn’t.
I wanna do movie nights with friends where we watch movies together in the living room on my TV. I have a DVD player and VCR I got from the thrift shop as well as a few movies for both. However, I was thinking it would also be fun to expand the options available by downloading a bunch of public domain movies to play on the TV. Only issue is figuring how I’d work that all out.
The TV lacks any network connectivity features. While it has a USB slot, it can literally only detect pictures and set them up for slideshows. Even tried putting some video files on to test and it won’t detect at all. Also because my computer is a desktop, connecting it directly to the TV from the other room is a no-go.
Is there some sort of device that serves this kind of purpose? Like something I can download videos to, and then connect it to my TV in a similar sense you would a DVD or VCR and be able to choose the content on the device using a remote? I’d really appreciate the help and pointers if this is something that exists.
Any computer with HDMI output?
Get something like a Roku, to give it network connectivity.
Or you run a very long cable to connect the PC’s output to the TV’s input.
Oh! Is Roku something you can get separately? I always thought it was just a built-in OS on newer TVs.
You can get any Android streaming box.
Nvidia Shield is fine
They’re like $40 or something last I looked. Just plug it in the HDMI slot.
You could burn a DVD?
If something like USB doesn’t show your video, it may be too new of a codec (it may want mp4 or mpg or avi or wmv (mov or m4v?), not webm or mkv etc).
One thing to consider may be media-capable consoles (PS3/Xbox 360? and newer). Or an older computer, or maybe someone will be fine running it off of their laptop (or phone if you have a cord/casting).
You may want to use some sort of server (simple HTTP, perhaps even a media server) if you have a video-capable (+network-capable) device that does not have enough storage. You may need to do firewall/port stuff for that (fixed local address), though it might be more convenient in some cases.
I think you’re misunderstanding, the TV’s firmware literally states that it can only be used for photos. I tried accessing both webm and mp4 to try my luck, but nothing.
There are tons of options. Chromecasts, Apple TVs, Amazon Fire TV, Nvidia Shield are all commercial options and I recommend none of them.
The traditional broke student choice for this is to just get a laptop that has a HDMI out or the ability to spit out HDMI over USB C and plug that straight to the TV. That I can recommend. Especially if your goal is not to stream the media but to instead play a bunch of locally downloaded files.
Beyond that you’re going out of your way to set up bigger self-hosting stuff and if we’re talking “upgrading from a VCR to playing offline videos on my TV” it sure sounds like we aren’t there yet.
Stream it with something like a Steam Link maybe?
Onn tv puck from Walmart $19.99
Connect it to your TV, go to Play store, download Kodi.
Share folder of movies/tvshows on your pc
In Kodi, add smb source from your PC (guides online for this if you need it)
Done.
One question, do you know if the onn sends data back to Walmart? Not necessarily a deal breaker but important to know.
Unfortunately you should secure your home network with a managed firewall to be sure that any IOT devices don’t phone home. It sucks but that’s the only way I would recommend using a device you don’t fully trust.
I have a few devices that serve this purpose. The one I’d recommend is Kodi. This is a non-commercial media center program that has one purpose in life: play media files on the TV.
IIRC you can buy some commercial devices that come with Kodi pre-installed, with a USB port. You could also set up a shared network folder. I haven’t researched any of these.
What worked best for me was a raspberry pi with libreelec installed – an operating system that makes it easy to run Kodi. You can even control it by default with the TV’s remote control, just through the HDMI connection. Make sure you have a good quality power supply.
The other thing I’ve used is a steam link, but it is a little clunky to get it to play smoothly over the network.
I use an old core 2 duo that I paid 40€ for it 10 years ago.
I’m sure that now there are better and cheaper options in the second hand market, or in dumpsters.
