Playing PC video files on HDTV

If I copy TS, AVI, WMP, and DVD files to an external hard drive, what
do I need to play these on an HDTV.

The external drive would have USB, firewire, and E-SATA interfaces.

Some HDTVs have a USB port. Does this allow reading the files on the
drive to play directly?

Do I have to have a DVR with an E-SATA port?

thx

In article ,
wrote:

If I copy TS, AVI, WMP, and DVD files to an external hard drive, what
do I need to play these on an HDTV.

The external drive would have USB, firewire, and E-SATA interfaces.

You have just described a typical PC. All you need to do is put it in a
living-room class case (Antec makes some) with quieter fans and quiet
mounts for the hard drives. Be sure to get a TV with a 15-pin VGA input
and you're golden. Anything else (even DVI or HDMI) and you may have to
worry about overscan.

Some HDTVs have a USB port. Does this allow reading the files on the
drive to play directly?

I doubt that they do anything more than allow firmware upgrades via USB
key. They certainly won't have the codecs needed to play video files.

"Bruce Tomlin" wrote in message
...
In article ,
wrote:

If I copy TS, AVI, WMP, and DVD files to an external hard drive, what
do I need to play these on an HDTV.

The external drive would have USB, firewire, and E-SATA interfaces.

You have just described a typical PC. All you need to do is put it in a
living-room class case (Antec makes some) with quieter fans and quiet
mounts for the hard drives. Be sure to get a TV with a 15-pin VGA input
and you're golden. Anything else (even DVI or HDMI) and you may have to
worry about overscan.


I use a Mediagate 350HD network media player through component although
could also use DVI. Mine has an internal HDD. It also has USB ports to
attach other external devices(i.e. HDD,DVD & card readers). Can also play
files off my network and music from at least one Website. Wired or wireless.
Wireless isn't fast enough for HD though. The unit can be attached to a PC
as an external HDD, gives another possibility for moving files between.

Other better known companies make them. At the time I was looking the MG was
the only one that would accept the spare HDD I already had. The unit is
silent. The biggest down side to it is it's not fast enough to use as a PVR.
Have managed to get around that by making use of my wired network. Primarily
so I can watch NASCAR races almost live from an HDTV Wonder in another room.
The remote is in the same class as the one that came with the HDTV so a
better universal remote is in my future.

It's about 1/3 the size of a microATX case. No keyboard, mouse or O/S to
buy. For me this has worked out better than the PC was planning on building
for this purpose. Of course still need to build a new computer for other
uses. :0b

http://www.mediagateusa.com/

avsforum.com has a section for these type devices. Probably the best place
to start.

On Apr 23, 9:08 am, Bruce Tomlin wrote:
In article ,

wrote:
If I copy TS, AVI, WMP, and DVD files to an external hard drive,
what
do I need to play these on an HDTV.

The external drive would have USB, firewire, and E-SATA
interfaces.

You have just described a typical PC. All you need to do is put it
in a
living-room class case (Antec makes some) with quieter fans and
quiet
mounts for the hard drives. Be sure to get a TV with a 15-pin VGA
input
and you're golden. Anything else (even DVI or HDMI) and you may
have to
worry about overscan.

Some HDTVs have a USB port. Does this allow reading the files on
the
drive to play directly?

I doubt that they do anything more than allow firmware upgrades via
USB
key. They certainly won't have the codecs needed to play video
files.

With our Samsung DLP, there is no difference at all between the VGA
and DVI inputs as far as the image size is concerned. Picture
differences are extremely subtle to the point that most folks wouldn't
notice a difference.

PC works great as a recorder and file player. Lots of ways to go. Wes
Newell uses Linux and MythTV with Air2PC cards (very inexpensive). I
use ATI cards and Windows XP Pro on 3 PCs. All are 'masters' and all
can simultaneously record while playing out existing MPEG styrams to
the other 2. Any combination is fine.

Check out the 'near HD' demo on this site. ABC will be using this. On
my modest link (1.6 megabit) it looks pretty good - on the DLP

http://www.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0114/t.4446.html

GG

On Apr 23, 11:31 am, wrote:
If I copy TS, AVI, WMP, and DVD files to an external hard drive, what
do I need to play these on an HDTV.

The external drive would have USB, firewire, and E-SATA interfaces.

Some HDTVs have a USB port. Does this allow reading the files on the
drive to play directly?

Do I have to have a DVR with an E-SATA port?

thx

The d-link dsm-520 outputs HiDef and will (supposedly) read video from
a USB external HD.

In article .com,
G-squared wrote:

With our Samsung DLP, there is no difference at all between the VGA
and DVI inputs as far as the image size is concerned. Picture
differences are extremely subtle to the point that most folks wouldn't
notice a difference.

That's why I said you MAY have to worry about overscan on a non-VGA
input. My 32" 4:3 Sony CRT does overscan on its DVI input. I can't even
display the first 20 lines or so of 480p (even using service menu
adjustments) because it refuses on account of they might be VIR.