Best way to watch mp4 movies on Smart TV

[Digmen1]

Hello
I have a LG smart tv (two years old)
I like to watch movies on using mp4 files from a hard drive that I plug into one of the usb ports.

But it is often quite hard using the hand held remote control, as the control are not laid out very well, and often moves will not fast forward very well. (I should add that I like to watch them in bed with my wife so it is a bit dark)

What I would really like to be to do is use a small notepad device to control my tv and plug my hard drive in to that. That way I could use a touch screen to select the movies.

I have a long HDMI cable but it is very bulky and stiff.
I have heard t hat wireless is not very good for this purpose.

How do you play your mp4 movies on your smart tv ?

[theewizard]

Unless something I'm unaware of, has happened to the hdmi protocols
That won't work,
Do you mean USB port
A smart tv should be able to accessed compatible files via USB port using a thumb drive stick or hard drive
Yes you could get a media player or PVR, plug the hard drive into the device via USB
Use the HDMI output of the device to the TV, get a new HDMI cable if you need one more flexible
I bought one today at a discount store for $1.99
Just to have a spare

[Krispy Kritter]

I don't use the Smart TV player. They are typically very limited in the file types that they support anyway.

There are numerous standalone devices for TV playback. Players such as the WD TV, streaming players such as Roku or Chromecast or Firestick, game consoles (ie: xBox, PS3, etc.) can all play files across the network, or media PC.

Biggest factors are cost and the type/amount of file support that you want/need.

[theewizard]

yes you could 'cast' aka send to the TV using a tablet ,
using either something like a firestick or similar device plugged into the TV

My Lenovo android tablet has that 'Miracast' feature, but i have not used it
my laptop PC sets on the desk near the TV, along with my external HDs and media player etc.

[SameSelf]

I have a Sony smart TV and the Miracast functionality is not that good, to wit, it lags quite a bit. Admittedly I have only tried it from my Sony Xperia smartphone, but it didn't impress me enough to try to troubleshoot.

With that said, I understand the desire to get the smart TV to play the mp4s versus having to have a bunch of wires plugged into the TV. My TV is mounted on the wall, and with the exception of the HDMI cable to the BD player, there are no other wires.

Now have you tried DLNA WiFi streaming from the PC to the TV? There are a couple of things to be aware of. One, do you have an 802.11n WiFi router? 802.11g will not likely be fast enough for the two way streaming (PC to router then router to PC) unless your MP4s are a super low bitrate. I can attest that DLNA works great on my PC and TV.