Would a thingy like this exist at all?

[flobadob]

I've just bought an external hard drive to hold my music and films to free up the PC. I was wondering is there any sort of a device that you could plug the hard drive into that would then go into a tv so that you could watch the movies on the tv?

[lajohn]

What a good question.

I've recently done the same as you. Hope there is a suitable cable or something that will serve this purpose. Thanks for asking this question. Anxiously waiting too. :-)

[harryshaw]

hi la john

have i upset you mate xxxxx

[Gromit]

not an answer to your question, but Apple make a devise (works with a PC, called AppleTV.
Http://www.apple.com/appletv
It is an external hardrive with wi-fi. It syncs with iTunes and plugs into your TV. You can play your music, watch dowloaded films and TV programmes, look at your photographs, and even rent films.

[lajohn]

thanks Gromit!

[Ethel]

Think about it. Without the software on your pc the music and films simply wouldn't play.

It would have to be a very clever television indeed to decode all the different formats and display the media correctly. In fact it would be a pc.

You can connect your laptop to the tv and play the media through the laptop with the picture and sound coming through the tv.

Alternatively you could have a media pc with a tv card and a huge flatscreen and use that as your tv as well.

[Oneeyedvic]

Yes they do exist:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Multimedia-Player-ICY- BOX-IB-MP302S-B/dp/B000XZ67X6/ref=pd_sbs_ce_3

Except, they are external hard drives as well.

This is still an emerging technology, so look for ones that have good reviews.

[Ethel]

How big is the hard drive on that?

I've read the spec but can't see it:

http://www.tweak.dk/tests2.php?id=1936

I have a 160gb creative zen media player where I store music and videos. I can use it as a portable player and watch movies on the move (it is quite tiny) and I also hook it to my tv and play it through that.

[ChuckFickens]

sort of!

you could buy an external media enclosure with no hard drive in it and swap the hard drive from you current external drive ionto it and it would still work as an external hard drive but would also play back directly to your tv.

you'd have to make sure that the drive in your current external hard drive is the correct sort to go into whatever new enclosure you got, but as long as it was it would work.

here is an example

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte m&item=140247743721&ih=004&category=86758&ssPa geName=WDVW&rd=1

[flobadob]

Thanks guys, some of them look to be the exact thingy.