Can I watch movies via an external drive?

[joshuatree]

If I store movies on an external hard drive which connects to the computer via USB 2.0 cable, will I be able to watch the movies on my computer, or will the USB connection be too slow (or maybe it doesn't matter, b/c the movie loads to RAM first)?

What about to a TV?

Is there a better setup you recommend, such as buying a network drive?

Thanks

 

[sminlal]

The data rate to watch movies is actually very low, no more than about 5 to 6MByte/sec even for HD movies. USB 2.0 is plenty fast enough for that as long as the disk isn't busy doing something else at the same time.

 

[dark_lord69]

Yes, you can play movies from an external drive without issues.

If you would like to connect your computer to a TV, this can be done easily but depends on your setup (type of TV, connections and whether you have a desktop, laptop and what type of video card you have). Typically you can simply buy a cable that goes from your computers DVI connection to you TV's HDMI connection. Some computers even have video cards with HDMI out which means you would just need a typical HDMI cable.

 

[samchn07]

yes you can watch movies via hard-drive. It's a great option I guess.

 

[joshuatree]

Best answer selected by joshuatree.