Device to play ISO files on TV without streaming?

[Herb]

Hello, hello, hello - is there anybody out there? Newbie here with same question as a thread I found ("Device to play ISO files on TV without streaming?" - by "tjny"). Have taken store bought DVD's and with DVD Shrink and IMG Burn created DVD copies - or downloaded movies from KeepStreams and use DVD Flick to create ISO file and again use IMG Burn to make DVD's. -- Like "tjny" (from original post) I'd like a piece of hardware that can input .iso movie files stored on an external hard drive (like "Seagate Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC") and play them on a TV via HDMI cable. I'm pretty ignorant but have looked at Zidoo (seems like an expensive solution) and other media players (it doesn't look like they play .iso files) -- I'd rather not go through a few hundred movies and shows and convert each one to mp4 or other suitable format. -- So: QUESTION is: is there such a device (physical hardware that I can plug in - or power from another source) that will play the .iso files I have stored on my external hard drives? Thanks to anybody out there in video land -- Herb

[Subtitles]

I think your cheapest option (costs nothing) is to use your PC with the external HDD attached, connect a long good quality and well shielded HDMI cable to your TV, if it is only few meters away, mount each ISO file and start playing using VLC player or your favorite video player.
Alternatively if you have a laptop then you can put it very near the TV, connect a short HDMI cable and play the movies.
The big disadvantage is you will not have a remote control to control the movie.

Many years ago, I had a set top box called KiSS (Model DP-1500s) that was able to play ISO files and had a remote (I still have it but haven't used at all because I preferred my movies to be be in standard format). I am sure that since then other gadgets were made to play ISO files.

Just out of curiosity, why you don't want to stream the movies over your home network?

[Subtitles]

Have you checked if your TV doesn't support playing ISO files from a USB external drive?

I also have WD TV Live Hub which I ordered from the US several years ago.
I checked the user manual and it can play ISO files. The user manual is too large to upload here, but here is the video formats that it can play.
I am not using it any more because all the streaming Apps have become inactive and I am willing to sell it if you are interested (PM me for discussion).
It is still in the original box.

Supported Video Formats
The following video file formats are supported.
􀂄 AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4)
􀂄 MPG/MPEG
􀂄 VOB/ISO
􀂄 MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4)
􀂄 TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1)
􀂄 MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264)
􀂄 M2TS
􀂄 WMV9 (VC-1)

[jagabo]

VLC and Kodi can play DVD ISO files. So any player that supports VLC or Kodi can play DVD ISO. For example, GoogleTV devices support both and can play DVD ISO files.

[Herb]

Thanks guys (or gals as the case may be): I ordered a NEUMI Atom 4K Ultra-HD Digital Media Player and will try that. To me the point of having a dedicated device is so I don't have to use my laptop to send the signal to the TV. It appears I will have to convert the .iso files to MP4 but C'est la vie. I do appreciate your advice and may check out the alternatives suggested. -- To "jagabo": From your reply I'm guessing you are not in the United States. I have noticed that Europe (at least the U.K.) have different options on TV and other stuff -- like it appears that the U.K. can buy a TV that records the TV signal, which is unavailable in the U.S. -- I'll have to do a little research into WD TV Live Hubs -- thanks for your advice. -- Herb Cronin

[netmask56]

If you are mainly interested in the main movie then converting the DVD to a MKV file (main movie only no menu's) then MakeMKV (free program) will do it.No change in quality or file size. It doesn't process the video or audio other than wrapping it in a MKV container.

[Herb]

Thanks netmask56: I'm mostly unfamiliar with all the various video formats. I've seen Wmv and MOV on home video from cameras or recorders and AVI on some older video I converted from my old Sony cassette tape video camera -- and MP4 which seems like a standard format for movie downloads -- But I haven't really thought too much about the various formats and which is more appropriate for specific applications. The Wmv and MOV formats seem more common with small videos on the internet while MP4 is better for larger screens (??). -- Any way; I'll look into MakeMKV. -- I've read that HandBrake is a good free program for file conversion. -- Thanks again; Herb Cronin

[jagabo]

To "jagabo": From your reply I'm guessing you are not in the United States.

No, I live in the USA. I have a Chromecast with Google TV. VLC is installed on it and it plays DVD ISO files -- with menu navigation. Kodi too.

[Herb]

To jagabo: Sorry about that (a la Maxwell Smart) - I confused your reply with that of "Subtitles" who stated "I also have WD TV Live Hub which I ordered from the US several years ago." where I concluded ....not in the U.S. --- Thanks for the correction. -- Herb

[noemi7]

Changing DVD to ISO (container) doesn't make sense imo as the file is usually bigger than the DVD itself, and not widely supported by standalone devices nor TVs. If menu is not needed then much better to use MKV which is handled by most new TV sets.

NEUMI Atom 4K has no internal HD hence video files need to be stored on USB or external HD.

[Herb]

noemi7: I'm sure you're right -- I often have to stumble around a bit before I find my way. Thanks for the advice - I'll check it out. -- I've only had a couple hours to test this NEUMI Atom 4K thing -- It's ok -- but when I converted iso files to mp4 with HandBreak the video quality was somewhat degraded (I haven't quite figured out how to get the best quality from the conversion yet) -- I never minded striking out now and then -- I keep trying and sooner or later hit the ball. -- Thanks for your time and advice. -- Herb

[Santiago]

Shutter Encoder is a free file converter.

[usually_quiet]

I am unsure if something about VLC for Android could have changed recently, but I have had no luck playing a DVD ISO on my latest Google TV device.

I recently bought an "onn. Google TV 4K Pro Streaming Device (2024)", which are sold at Walmart for about $50. Unlike the Chromecast for Google TV and previous onn models, this is a small set-top box with a Type A USB 3 port for attaching an external storage device. (The storage device should be formatted to use exFAT as the file system because Android doesn't understand NTFS.) I installed VLC for Android on it to use as the playback app.

I can play most of the video files I've tried from a USB stick using the onn Google TV 4K Pro but I can't play a DVD ISO. (The same ISO file plays on my PC using VLC for Windows.) On the plus side, UHD HDR video files play well using VLC for Android.

[Herb]

To Santiago: Thanks for the Shutter Encoder tip. It looks like a great program (notwithstanding the Microsoft warning of insecure program - I read the Reddit thread that says Microsoft charges $500 to get a license so that warning won't show -- what a scam). I watched a couple Youtube "tutorials" but didn't learn too much. Stumbling around mostly blind due to my unfamiliarity with codecs and "containers" -- I'm a few rungs down from novice (despite being a computer programmer - retired dinosaur; mainframe COBOL and assembler language). -- I'm having trouble getting audio on the end result .mp4 video file after processing with Shutter Encoder. There are so many settings I don't know where to start. -- I chose: in "Output codecs" --> H264 -- and tried a few different options in "Audio settings" but when I play the resultant .mp4 video there's no sound. -- Not sure if this thread is an appropriate place to ask but if you can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it a lot. -- The source .iso video files were mostly created by taking an original DVD (from Netflix... back in the days they rented DVD's) and using DVD Shrink to compress the file and IMG Burn to create the .iso file and burn to DVD. -- I'm usually only interested in learning enough to accomplish a specific task (I'm not that curious to fill my brain with stuff I might use - at my age (74) if I want to learn something new I have to delete something else from my brain's database. And lately my brain seems to be deleting files all by themselves -- Thanks again for the advice; Herb

[jagabo]

Converting to another codec is usually going to give sub-optimal results. You're likely to get jerky video and/or aliasing artifacts. I recommend you just use MakeMKV to remux from DVD VOB to MKV, leaving the MPEG 2 video as it is. Unless you want to spend a lot of time learning all the details of video filtering and encoding.

[videoisfun]

You can just purchase a cheap micro PC from Amazon or other site. There are a lot of them. That PC can be connected to your TV via HDMI. Use a wireless keyboard and mouse to control. You can play ISOs. A lot of the micro PCs come with Windows 11 installed.
There is software called PowerDVD that you can install on the PC to make work like a DVD/Blu-ray player, so you get a simple onscreen interface and see all the DVD and Blu-ray menus.