Cheapest way to hook up my HDD to TV?

[videohalp]

I am too lazy to swap disks.

What is the cheapest way to hook up a HDD to a TV without involving a computer?

Can some DVD players do this: Plug an external HDD via USB to it and play?

[akrako1]

Can some DVD players do this: Plug an external HDD via USB to it and play?

Yup. In the 'DVD Players' section of this site, checkmark 'USB' under "More Features" and do a search for players. You might want to verify from the manufacturer's website that the machine can play video from the USB (some seem to only mention that they can play images or audio thru the USB, so make sure it says it can play video thru it as well).

[videohalp]

Okay, thanks.

Anyone tried this before? If so, how is the quality, the same? Any lags?

Also, what about the file system on the HDD? Which is best for it?

[ropdoh]

Some external hard disk enclosures are able to output video to TV as well.

[the4starish]

I have the Philips DVP5960 and if your HDD is formated in Fat32 then it will read it. Its really easy to do. It plays all my Divx and Xvid files. The only drawback is that is only displays like 7 characters of the file or folder. I think there are Samsung players that show more characters. Or like ropdoh said, you can buy an enclosure that has RCA or S-Video outputs and it usually comes with a remote. Check eBay for those.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Here are a few DVD players with a USB port that support HDD:
OPPO 980
OPPO 983
Philips 5960
Philips 5982
Philips 5990
All of these players support DivX and can be made region-free.

Some HDTV's(Philips,Vizio,etc) have a USB port but I'm not sure if they can play from a HDD.

[SingSing]

$50.

See : http://cgi.ebay.com/RM-RMVB-Hdd-player-MP5-Multimedia-SD-MS-XD-HOST-DVD-AVI_W0QQitemZ3...742.m153.l1262

[RabidDog]

The proviso with all players moviegeek mentions is that the drive should be externally powered NOT (usb)bus-powered. The usb port on these players does not give out enough juice to run most disk drives, however its sufficient to run a flash USb stick and possibly some laptop drives. Also they are advertised as being USb2.0 compatible but only transfer data at usb1.1 speeds, typically resulting in snowy, river or fast action movie scenes juddering or causing sound spikes. Look for popcorn hour mediatank.

[jagabo]

The Philips 5990 and 5992 are really USB2. Even straight DVD rips (VIDEO_TS folders) will play. They can handle high bitrates (unlike the 5982 and 5960). They even supply more power to the USB port so more drives without external power supplies work.

See this thread: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic351069-30.html