Sorry if this doesn’t belong here, more than happy to be pointed in the right direction if it doesn’t.
I wanna do movie nights with friends where we watch movies together in the living room on my TV. I have a DVD player and VCR I got from the thrift shop as well as a few movies for both. However, I was thinking it would also be fun to expand the options available by downloading a bunch of public domain movies to play on the TV. Only issue is figuring how I’d work that all out.
The TV lacks any network connectivity features. While it has a USB slot, it can literally only detect pictures and set them up for slideshows. Even tried putting some video files on to test and it won’t detect at all. Also because my computer is a desktop, connecting it directly to the TV from the other room is a no-go.
Is there some sort of device that serves this kind of purpose? Like something I can download videos to, and then connect it to my TV in a similar sense you would a DVD or VCR and be able to choose the content on the device using a remote? I’d really appreciate the help and pointers if this is something that exists.
Onn tv puck from Walmart $19.99
Connect it to your TV, go to Play store, download Kodi.
Share folder of movies/tvshows on your pc
In Kodi, add smb source from your PC (guides online for this if you need it)
Done.
Edit: Block this thing from going online once you have installed kodi.
One question, do you know if the onn sends data back to Walmart? Not necessarily a deal breaker but important to know.
More than likely it does, but I download what I need (Kodi) and then block the mac addy on my firewall. Nothing leaves my network unless I say it can.
Unfortunately you should secure your home network with a managed firewall to be sure that any IOT devices don’t phone home. It sucks but that’s the only way I would recommend using a device you don’t fully trust.