Ways to watch a downloaded movie on your TV

[hhfarang]

So would someone who uses all these downloaded movies and shows please explain to a technical dinosaur how you watch these things on your TV. Do you have the computer sitting next to the TV and connected to it or what? Surely you don't watch on your Computer monitor.

I have a nearly latest model of a Samsung lcd/led TV and it has a choice for computer along with the other input choices and it has more different kinds of connections on the back than I even knew existed. It does have USB (2 and 3) connections among the others but it is not the typical USB connector so must require a special cable.

So, what I'm wondering is: do devices exist that connect to the TV to play recorded media (specifically for that purpose) or do you have to have a co-located computer? My computer and internet connection is in a different part of the house from the TV.

I'm suspecting that I would need to download on say a laptop, then move it to the TV and connect it and play the recorded show on the laptop using the TV as an external monitor... is this how most do it? I also suspect my netbook (the only portable computer I have) would probably not be powerful enough to play movies smoothly.

[GLCQuantum]

Surely you don't watch on your Computer monitor.

I'm afraid I do.... most nights see me just kicking back on the bed with my laptop.

When I used to watch them on the TV I just put whatever movie I wanted to watch onto a USB drive then stick that in the dvd player's USB port and ... hey presto!

[pharvey]

So would someone who uses all these downloaded movies and shows please explain to a technical dinosaur how you watch these things on your TV. Do you have the computer sitting next to the TV and connected to it or what? Surely you don't watch on your Computer monitor.

I have a nearly latest model of a Samsung lcd/led TV and it has a choice for computer along with the other input choices and it has more different kinds of connections on the back than I even knew existed. It does have USB (2 and 3) connections among the others but it is not the typical USB connector so must require a special cable.

So, what I'm wondering is: do devices exist that connect to the TV to play recorded media (specifically for that purpose) or do you have to have a co-located computer? My computer and internet connection is in a different part of the house from the TV.

I'm suspecting that I would need to download on say a laptop, then move it to the TV and connect it and play the recorded show on the laptop using the TV as an external monitor... is this how most do it? I also suspect my netbook (the only portable computer I have) would probably not be powerful enough to play movies smoothly.

You can connect your laptop/PC to your television through various cables (S-Video, VGA) - or even Bluetooth on some models. Quality however is not to great IMHO especially on larger screens.

I have a Western Digital Media Player which up to now has been absolutely superb.

http://store.westerndigital.com/store/w ... D.13834700

[dtaai-maai]

One of the simplest ways to watch a downloaded movie on your TV is to download the movie from your PC to a memory stick and connect that to the USB port in your TV.

[poosmate]

I use a memory stick and plug in using the media player built into the tv ( most modern tvs have these) usb port. Beware though to use a format that can be read XVID/AVI is common. MP4 files or Mkv will not usually play until converted.
I also bought a hdmi media player ( ebay) for 17 pounds. This can play files from a hard drive or memory stick on tvs that do not have a media player and or USB and connect with HDMI socket. Using a DVD players USB input I found did not always play smoothly and caused the sound to go out of sync on some files.

[dtaai-maai]

I use a memory stick and plug in using the media player built into the tv

Which is of course exactly what I meant to say, but didn't...

[poosmate]

^Only reason I added it was that some older TV's have a USB socket but it is used for servicing and some had only a photo/mp3 function and not movies.

[hhfarang]

Ok, it works! I tried it tonight by downloading a one hour episode of a show I want to see onto my netbook, then loading it onto a memory stick, and low and behold the stick did fit the port that looked unusual to me and the show played.

Now, The show played with sound only through the TV speakers (using the TV's built in video player) and I had to turn it up to full volume (100!, never had it over 20 using cable before) to hear it and it still wasn't loud enough. I have a surround sound system but I couldn't figure out a way to use this memory stick play format with the external sound system. Is this usually the case?... and is the fact that I had to turn it up to max volume to barely hear it just because of the particular download and maybe others will be better (the video was fine, by the way)?

Also, downloading is fine for me but the missus, even though she speaks, reads, writes, and understands English enjoys a program much better if it has Thai subtitles to fill in the gaps when the conversation moves to fast for her. Do programs or movies like that exist from download sites?

Thanks for all the suggestions; at least I can now catch up on programs I missed in the past (like the last season of the Sopranos) that the missus wouldn't be interested in anyway.

[Nereus]

And now it`s past your bedtime, so off you go!

[BingoBango]

Easiest way is HDMI cable from laptop to tv as long as your equipment supports it, myn does but you only get 80% of the screen on your tv used.

[pharvey]

Easiest way is HDMI cable from laptop to tv as long as your equipment supports it, myn does but you only get 80% of the screen on your tv used.

The OP quotes he has a netbook, which will not be HD compatible & therefore an HDMI cable will not be of any use.

[fft100]

If your netbook has a C50 processor, as opposed to the usual atom N450 etc, then you can connect it straight to the TV and it will play HD quality. Netbooks with C50 processors are easy to spot (apart from the word C50 in the description) as they do have a HDMI output, which netbooks with a N450 (or N550 or similar) dont. ACER make a range. They have a seperate graphics chip which is why they can do HD. Batteryy life isnt affected - 6 hours or so.

[hhfarang]

Thanks for moving this mods!

Nereus, you were right. I just got excited about fooling around with this and it was past my bedtime.

My netbook has an N550 processor. It seems to work fine as DM (and others) suggested with the memory stick downloading XVID AVI files. Never mind the sound issue, that's a minor niggle.

Now, if I search diligently enough I can find free files that download and play just fine with good enough quality for me, but I'm not using torrents as I don't like putting a client on my machine (maybe I'll have to eventually) so I'm using sites that you can just get the file from directly. They are free for files under 400mb. The TV show (one hour episode) that I downloaded was 300+ so no problems but when I searched for the next episode I wanted I found it from file sizes of 1500mb to (only one) 350mb with most being between 600 and 700mb. So, without becoming a paying customer of these (2) download sites, I will probably never find a movie under 400mb to download. Do most of you pay the monthly or annual download fee to these sites or are there better free sites? I've only used "hotfile" and "filesonic" so far.

This is very interesting as I didn't even realize the TV had a built in player. I didn't buy it or do any research on this type of TV as it was given to me by Samsung and installed by Samsung techs and I just started watching without realizing its full capabilities. The built in media player doesn't even show up on the input selections until you plug a device into the USB port.

[dtaai-maai]

Do most of you pay the monthly or annual download fee to these sites or are there better free sites? I've only used "hotfile" and "filesonic" so far.

Good God, no!

You talk about not wanting clients on your PC - now, I have to confess I have no idea why you don't but that's only my ignorance rearing its ugly head. I suppose Vuze (Azureus) is a client.
I use Vuze occasionally, but only with TheBox these days (TheBox has a set-up that requires making downloads available for re-seeding - you have to keep a balance, which seems fair enough).

I use VeeHD a lot, which doesn't have the best search function in the world, but is otherwise pretty flawless. No signing up, reasonable download speeds, straightforward procedure. Well worth checking out.

OneClickMoviez is also pretty good, and uses hotfile, filesonic, megupload, etc. - is it a client? I dunno...

Good topic this, hhf - probably worth a separate thread.

[hhfarang]

The client is when you have to download a piece of software (like UTorrent) onto your machine to be able to download from what I believe is called a Torrent site.

As I said, I may have to eventually do that but both my machines have limited disk and processor capability so I try to keep them as clean as possible. With hotfile and filesonic you can download files directly without installing a client first. I think megaupload may be a torrent and require a client.