How to connect a USB/External Hard disc to a LCD TV which doesn't have a USB

[Carrie2012]

I have connected a 2 tb western digital hard drive to a Samsung Blu ray play for my 83 year old Dad to watch his old Navy reunion videos. The issue is that he has now smoked two blu ray players in about 5 months time. I know that he uses it often so I can't fault the players. The question is, are we asking too much of the players to run this size of a drive? If so, are there other options? I know there's a western digital media player out there and a Roku. He doesn't have internet access, so I'm just looking for a more reliable device to support a hard drive. Any suggestions or help is appreciated. It would have to be easy for him to operate too.

 

[seeingeyegod]

Laptop + external hard drive enclosure and HDMI cable?

 

[Carrie2012]

Laptop + external hard drive enclosure and HDMI cable?

I know that's the easiest way around it but he's 83 years old and can barely operate the blu ray player. He doesn't have a laptop or tablet and would never be able to use one.

 

[seeingeyegod]

I would think a laptop with a couple of desktop icons would be easier to operate than a stupid bluray player and remote control. They usually have horrible, slow graphical interfaces.

 

[Alabalcho]

What about a multi-media player (Roku, WD etc)? They have nice 10ft user interfaces, and can provide other services as well.

Another question - how much space do these movies take? Can you copy them over to an USB drive / SD card?

 

[Carrie2012]

What about a multi-media player (Roku, WD etc)? They have nice 10ft user interfaces, and can provide other services as well.

Another question - how much space do these movies take? Can you copy them over to an USB drive / SD card?

Yes, I was thinking that as a workaround. I've never used one myself so wasn't sure which might be best? Input on either of those options (or others) is appreciated. As for the the movie files, they range between 600mb to about 2.5 gbs. Most are just from a video cam set up to run while they had gatherings. I offered to edit them down to important/relevant data, but he wants them as is. You know how older folks are.

 

[jsmithepa]

Buy a new BR player but this time make sure the HD is externally powered.

 

[Alabalcho]

The last one I've handled was this one. You can connect it also to the 'Net and let your dad watch YouTube, Netflix, listen to Pandora etc.

If you copy the files to a USB disk, you can keep it plugged it in, and update it over the network when new stuff is ready. Keeping it off the "master" HDD wil also provide a backup of the files on the HDD.