Have a great TV and a computer hard drive loaded up with movies and you want to know how to watch movies from your hard drive on your TV? There are a number of easy ways to do it, so you're in luck! You can go down a few different roads, depending on the equipment you have available. For example, if you have a PlayStation 3 or and Apple TV box (among a few other options), you can wirelessly send your movies from your hard drive to your TV. Some TVs have the ability to play movies and music from external media (such as a hard or flash drive). If these don't do it for you, there's always a few more direct options!

To watch movies from your hard drive on your TV, you will need:

Computer hard drive with at least one movie
TV

You will also need (in order of most to least reliable and compatible):

Method 1:

A computer with audio/visual outputs that match your television. Preferably HDMI, though DVI or VGA outputs will do as well if your television allows separate computer sound input.
A cable of appropriate length for your setup. One HDMI cable will do, though if using DVI or VGA, an 1/8" audio cable is required in the same length.

Method 2:

Playstation 3, Apple TV, Slingbox, or other device capable of streaming movies from a separate source
Internet connection for each of your devices

Method 3:

Flash drive
TV that supports external media through USB

Picked your method and ready to start watching movies from your hard drive on your TV?

Method 1:

With your computer and television off, connect the computer and television using the appropriate cable(s). If you have an HDMI connection, use only the HDMI cable. If you have VGA or DVI, run the cable to the TV, then run an 1/8" audio cable from the headphone port on your computer to the Computer Audio Input port on your television.
Power on your television and switch the input to the port you just connected.
Power on your computer. The computer will treat the television as a computer monitor, so in the display settings on the computer, configure the system to duplicate your display or to display only on the television. Consult your owner's manual for specifics related to your operating system.
Play the movie as you normally would. Play in fullscreen mode and it will be just like watching a DVD!

Method 2:

Because of the huge variety of equipment and setups available, consult your user's manual for your streaming device.
If you use Windows 7, you already have most of the system pre-configured. Other operating systems may require more software, depending on the device you use.
Note that you may encounter strange compatibility problems. Apple especially is notorious for what it will and will not play.

Method 3:

Copy your hard drive movies to your flash drive.
Insert the flash drive into your television's media USB port.
The television should auto-display a menu. Select your movie and enjoy!
Again, consulting the television owner's manual will help smooth any problems, though you can expect to run in to an incredible amount of compatibility issues.

Hey man, nice post!!!

Method 3:

Flash drive
TV that supports external media through USB

Side note regarding Method 3:

Most flash thumb drives are formatted in the FAT32 format (most, not all!). This format has a maximum file size of 4GB per file. Meaning, those who enjoy HD movies know that this is barely half the size of a good quality release. Keep that in mind when choosing this method.

Additional note: XBOX360 & PS3 will play media off of a FAT32 formatted drive.

However, as TV's are advancing in technology many can now read various codec files in the NTFS format. This format has no cap to the size of each individual file.

NOTE: Most 2.5" external HDD's come formatted in NTFS

METHOD Dojavenger:

I have 2 separate 2TB external hard drives that I keep plugged into my Samsung TV and it reads almost every codec that i've ever thrown at it. Samsung handles NTFS & FAT32 formatting as well as both AC3 and DTS audio. This is the best method for viewing & listening, in my opinion.

Other people I know have purchased stand-alone "smart" blu-ray players that have a USB input. Many of those even can read NTFS formatted drives. Meaning you don't need to buy a brand new tv to play off your external drive.

Like-Reppppppped

personally i use a hp proliant microserver N40L that i have turned into a MediaCenter PC. I use OPENELEC as the OS. It runs XBMC like a champ!

Beware of Cineva protection when using some devices like playstations

Originally Posted by AxelDg

Beware of Cineva protection when using some devices like playstations

Yeah Cineva protection sucks!

My Samsung tv/surround-sound system unfortunatly can read the cineva watermarking and disables my audio during the playback as a result.

I've only come across it on 2 or 3 movies in my history of torrenting. One of which being recently with "Captain Phillips" Every single different file I downloaded got audio-disabled after 20 mins into the movie. So the industry hasnt really latched on to Cineva's watermarking technology in masses yet. Hopefully they don't. It seems to be a pretty good anti piracy deterrant, assuming that more hardware could read the cineva watermark.

Originally Posted by dojavenger

Yeah Cineva protection sucks!

My Samsung tv/surround-sound system unfortunatly can read the cineva watermarking and disables my audio during the playback as a result.

I've only come across it on 2 or 3 movies in my history of torrenting. One of which being recently with "Captain Phillips" Every single different file I downloaded got audio-disabled after 20 mins into the movie. So the industry hasnt really latched on to Cineva's watermarking technology in masses yet. Hopefully they don't. It seems to be a pretty good anti piracy deterrant, assuming that more hardware could read the cineva watermark.

best thing is to avoid using playstations/xbox's or anything else that uses cineva. The best way to watch your media is to make a mediacenter pc. You can use an old computer or buy one for under 100 bucks. http://mymediaexperience.com/ is a great place to start.

Nah @AxelDg,

Like I said, Its only rarely ever been a problem for me. Unless things begin to change with more companies taking on the cineva watermark reading technologies on their components, the best way to go for me is buy a 4TB hard drive, load it up with my media collection and plug that bad boy right into my tv/surround-sound system.

Just bought a WD livetv hub media box for my dad. Plays any video codec, video/audio is as good as the format you download in. Paid 65 shipped!

For me, i'll stick with the method that makes the most sense for my set-up.

We'll see about this Cineva situation - Seems like a Samsung & Sony venture. Cheers to it falling apart!

I also have got 4 x WD TvLive's around my house and i use my main computer to share to the media players

It's really easy all you need to do is right click on the drive's that you want to share and share the drive.

Then download PS3 Media Server and it's free to download

Open up PS3 Media Server and then add the drive that you just shared

Originally Posted by insideman

I also have got 4 x WD TvLive's around my house and i use my main computer to share to the media players

It's really easy all you need to do is right click on the drive's that you want to share and share the drive.

Then download PS3 Media Server and it's free to download

Open up PS3 Media Server and then add the drive that you just shared

Well if it works then great. Im a huge fan of XBMC tho i love it. Just hook the thing up to your network and its all there. I have an HP Proliant Microserver N40l that i converted to a media center. I followed this guide step by step Milkmans Guide

Its a beast. Its kind of an old guide. I built mine a couple years back. I wish this Milkman guide would make a new one. Things have changed a lil bit. Nowadays you can stream alot so its not really needed to have all that space. So its not for everyone. But i love it. I have four 3TB internal hard drives and 4 externals of varying size hooked up loaded with media.

@AxelDg are you able to stream content at 1080p with your setup?

Also, does it support 5.1 surround audio?

That would be a must for me.

I have a Windows 8 machine with Windows Media Center on it that I share all my content from. So I have the same content available on all 4 TVs in my house.

I have 2 Samsung Smart TVs which support DLNA, so I can connect to the media center using that. I have a Vizio Smart TV that connects to that through DLNA as well. The Samsungs are better though because they support more audio/video codecs than the Vizio. The fourth TV is an old POS with a Sony media streaming box connected that lets me access everything on the Media Center PC as well.