External Hard drive question
January 25th, 2020
That would depend on whether your TV has a USB port and if it supports playing videos or not (and whether the file you wanna play uses a supported codec or not)
Can’t give you a definitive answer without knowing the exact model of your TV & Which file you wanna play.
It has a htmi slot
Does the USB port on your TV say HDD on it? I have a samsung 32 inch HDTV that has 2 USB ports. One USB port just says USB which I have a 4 port USB hub plugged into it. I use it for watching TV shows that I have stored on 4 separate flash drives. The 2nd USB port says HDD on it. I also have a 4 port USB hub plugged into it. I have 2 external hard drives plugged into it that I use for watching movies. One HDD is 1 TB and the other is a 500 GB HDD. Your TV should be able to support most video files such as, MPEG4, H.264, MKV (Matroska), WMV, AVI, etc. You can use your external HDD as a media player. That’s what I do.
Is a USB port and htmi the same or no? I have a Vizio Smart HD tv Model is E420i-A1
No a USB port and HDMI port are not the same. A USB port will be either used for a flash drive, external HDD, camera, etc. The HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) runs both the video and audio signal through a single cable which saves you the trouble of hooking up 3-5 cables for a single device such as a DVD player, Blu-ray player, game console, etc. An HDMI cable supports up to a 1080p resolution. Since I am on the topic of HDMI I will give you this advice. No matter what any sales person at Best Buy or Radioshack tells you you don’t need to spend $200 for a Monster brand HDMI Cable to get a better picture quality. You can do just as well if you buy an HDMI cable from Fry’s, Amazon or Monoprice for $15 or or $10. All HDMI cables carry a 1080p signal regardless of how much they cost.
What if I buy a western digital player can I hook it up to an htmi slot and then put a external hard drive to that or it won’t work that way?
If the media player has an HDMI port than yes you can plug it into an HDMI port on the TV. If it has a USB port you can plug into the TV’s USB port.
Ok thanks for the help I appreciate it. Oh what external hard drive should I buy? I dont want to spend more than 70 bucks
If the media player has an HDMI port than yes you can plug it into an HDMI port on the TV. If it has a USB port you can plug into the TV's USB port.
Actually you plug the HDMI from the player to the HDMI on the TV…This carries the picture and sound between the two…
You plug the HDD into the USB socket of the player..
If you go to Amazon you should be able to find external HDD’s for under $100. You can go to Fry’s and find a HDD for a decent price if there is one in your area. I have always had success with Hitachi external HDD’s but that’s just my opinion. Here are a few links to some external HDD’s that are available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-MiniStation-Stealth-Portable-Drive/dp/B00822GHEQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361887344&sr=8-2&keywords=external+hard+drive+usb+2.0
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN/dp/B002QEBMB4/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1361887438&sr=8-20&keywords=external+hard+drive+usb+2.0
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeAgent-GoFlex-External-STAC1000103/dp/B005IA8450/ref=sr_1_61?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361887854&sr=1-61&keywords=1tb+external+hard+drive+usb+2.0
I can post some more suggestions later.
So is there any external hard drives that won’t work with the western Ditgal player?
Any external HDD would work (Provided it’s a USB one) but you’d be best going with a 2.5″ one (Lighter, USB Powered, More portable)
Do note however that WD is not the only player in the HD Media Players market!
There are plenty of others to choose from (which are often cheaper too)
This ones pretty good:
http://dx.com/p/1080p-full-hd-media-player-with-av-hdmi-usb-sd-mmc-silver-48656
And it comes with everything you need (HDMI cable too!)
I need something that I can return to a store if it doesnt work instead of shipping it back.
You do realize that if you’ll buy it from a local store it’d likely cost you double, even triple, right?
That’s the whole point of buying these things online, Saving money!
Shipping it back in case of a problem is only a minor inconvenience (and probably won’t cost you much either) but there’s no reason for you to be so pessimistic, Why automatically assume the worst?
You just might get a fully functional product! Anyways, Here’s another good one:
http://www.amazon.com/Micca-Speck-Full-HD-Portable-Digital/dp/B008NO9RRM/ref=sr_1_1
Best Buy has a Western Ditgal Player for 99 bucks
Case and point^
$40 vs $100.
Actually I bought most of my external HDD’s from Fry’s and I got them for a reasonable price. I paid $100 for a Hitachi Touro 2 TB HDD when I got it from Microcenter last year. Amazon does tend to overcharge on certain items. However, you don’t necessarily pay double or triple the price when buying from a local store and I am saying that based on personal experience.
Will this work with the western Ditgal media player?
http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=4911987&pid=1218575758552