# What's the cheapest way to watch downloaded hd-movies on my TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919 "2011-05-23T17:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/1 "2011-05-23T17:39:05Z")
Let’s say I have an USB-stick with a divx hd-movie that I want to watch on my tv? I just really need a device to that can decode the movie and send it through an hdmi-cable. What’s the cheapest solution I can get? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/2 "2011-05-23T17:43:11Z")
I assume, based on your question that, that none of the hardware attached to your TV (or the TV itself) has a USB slot? Maybe something along the lines of [this](http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/categoryID.33446100/parid.13092400/catid.13742300). Around $100 on amazon. I’m guessing, unless you find something that does _only_ what you’re looking for, most of them are going to be in the $100 range since what you’re going to end up with is an external hard drive that also happens to be able to stream a movie from a USB stick. Huh, just realized that one doesn’t have a hard drive. For that price, you might want to find one that has it’s own hard drive. ---
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/3 "2011-05-23T17:46:41Z")
Nope. Only my dvd-player. Although it is brand new, it doesn’t seem to be able to play hd-content. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/4 "2011-05-23T17:57:34Z")
> [@Danger\_Man](#): > > Nope. Only my dvd-player. Although it is brand new, it doesn’t seem to be able to play hd-content. The cheapest thing to do is hook your computer to the TV set if it has VGA or HDMI inputs. I actually use a 42 TV as my computer monitor on a VGA connection. I never would have spent that much money on a Television, but it seemed quite reasonable for a computer monitor. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/5 "2011-05-23T18:10:59Z")
You could get a blu-ray player with a usb input, fairly cheap way t go if you were going to get a blu-ray player anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/6 "2011-05-23T19:37:39Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > The cheapest thing to do is hook your computer to the TV set if it has VGA or HDMI inputs. Yeah, a direct cable connection would do ya. If your TV doesn’t have VGA or HDMI, you might get a media player. I have something like [this](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148499&cm_re=seagate_freeagent-_-22-148-499-_-Product) (note that it’s out of stock; I’m not sure they even make them anymore), which has [component video](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video) jacks. Generally, they have USB ports (for external hard disk hookup), network jacks (for Netflix and the like), and/or others (like HDMI connection). I think it cost about $50 about a year ago and has played what I’ve thrown at it (although I know it doesn’t do Matroska – i.e., .mkv – container files). ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/7 "2011-05-24T04:32:25Z")
A lot of people swear by the [Roku Player](http://www.roku.com/roku-products#2). $99 for the fully loaded one that includes USB input for video. It also streams Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Flickr, You name it. Built-in Wi-fi for connecting to your network if you want to do any of that. Very soon you’ll be able to get a complete PC in a USB-stick form factor for $25, running Ubuntu Linux. It’s got a USB port on one end, and HDMI on the other. But I don’t know if and when they’ll be available to the mass market. Until then, about $99 is probably the cheapest way in. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/9 "2011-06-16T19:11:23Z")
Reported. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/10 "2011-06-16T20:02:15Z")
Does this DVD player do it? It does allow HD cables to be plugged into it I think. [Very common Philips DVD player](http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP3560-F7-Upscaling-Multimedia/dp/B003LWXJ2A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308254476&sr=8-1) > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Reported. For what? Or has a post been deleted? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/11 "2011-06-16T20:06:12Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > A lot of people swear by the [Roku Player](http://www.roku.com/roku-products#2). $99 for the fully loaded one that includes USB input for video. It also streams Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Flickr, You name it. Built-in Wi-fi for connecting to your network if you want to do any of that. > > Very soon you’ll be able to get a complete PC in a USB-stick form factor for $25, running Ubuntu Linux. It’s got a USB port on one end, and HDMI on the other. But I don’t know if and when they’ll be available to the mass market. Until then, about $99 is probably the cheapest way in. Roku is awesome. It might not be the cheapest solution (I think directly connecting your TV to your computer is the cheapest solution) but it’s an awesome product and you get tons of bang for your buck. Apple TV will do this too if you have the movies loaded into iTunes. Also a good product. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/12 "2011-06-16T20:14:41Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > Reported. > > For what? Or has a post been deleted? The post right above mine, from a brand-new poster whose inaugural post is shilling for a website. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/13 "2011-06-16T20:15:04Z")
Something like this [Xenta](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xenta-Upscaling-Media-Player-Decoder/dp/B0043WBU9G) seems pretty cheap to me ~£22, but I have seen it cheaper. To my mind, though, your best purchase option is the Sony BDP-S370 - it is a cheap (£100 max) Blueray player with usb slot, DLNA (to play movies off your computer) and wired Internet (Youtube, BBC IPlayer, other on-demand services). It is a cracking good piece of kit. Si ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/14 "2011-06-16T20:16:53Z")
Reported?-Why? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/15 "2011-06-16T21:07:54Z")
[moderating] He reported a spam post, which I have removed. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/16 "2011-06-16T21:10:52Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Apple TV will do this too if you have the movies loaded into iTunes. Also a good product. +1 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-watch-downloaded-hd-movies-on-my-tv/582919/17 "2011-06-18T05:39:05Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > A lot of people swear by the [Roku Player](http://www.roku.com/roku-products#2). $99 for the fully loaded one that includes USB input for video. It also streams Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Flickr, You name it. Built-in Wi-fi for connecting to your network if you want to do any of that. > [@NAF1138](#): > > Apple TV will do this too if you have the movies loaded into iTunes. Also a good product. It’s worth noting, though, that the OP asked about viewing a DivX movie. While both the Roku box and Apple TV are great products, and both have no trouble with HD MP4/MKV files encoded with H.264, neither will do Xvid/DivX files, at least according to their official spec sheets.