Recommendations for A replacement TV

zomborg · Jul 10, 2019

Hey folks,

As My Dad gets older (He's 70 this year) he can't go places like he once could. Since he has to stay home most of the time, he watches a lot of TV. He does not have much money and he does have satellite programming but he wants to cancel it to save money. If he does that he will only have OTA channels and a few DVDs.

So I have an idea for his birthday next month. I want to get him a more modern TV. One that has a usb and or micro sd slot. Doesn't have to be new (within the last few years) and it doesn't have to be a huge display either.

You see, I have a huge collection of TV shows and movies that he can watch and I could place them on a USB drive or SD card and he would have a lot to watch for a long time.

So I need recommendations for a TV I can buy for dad that allows you to play videos from USB or SD.
Preferably also compatible with various video formats.

Thank you all

tech3475 · Jul 10, 2019

Is his current TV good enough? If so you could just buy something like an Android box.

Ones like the Shield TV also have native NTFS and exfat support.

Edit:

In general, I’d advise treating ‘smart’ functionality as a bonus as opposed to specifically aiming for one.

For example, you may decide to change to a codec which the TV doesn’t support but a separate device might or may be easily upgraded.

sharkie545 · Jul 10, 2019

Most Samsung tvs Ive found have good playback for usb with decent codecs. My 2012 model 42" I picked up for 40$ does it no problem and 1080p

Teletron1 · Jul 10, 2019

If the Tv has HDMI you can do a few different things cheap FireStick during Amazon prime sales $20 but anything that supports DNLA or has a built-in Media player will do the job (some nicer DNLA can be setup to look like Netflix where they show picture art)

I would say hook him up with Kodi but at 70 he would need to be computer savvy

if you have a dvd player see if it has a media player or supports DNLA (needs a network port)

If he has a smartphone he can use his phone and would just need a casting stick

zomborg · Jul 10, 2019

tech3475 said:
Is his current TV good enough? If so you could just buy something like an Android box.

Ones like the Shield TV also have native NTFS and exfat support.

Edit:

In general, I’d advise treating ‘smart’ functionality as a bonus as opposed to specifically aiming for one.

For example, you may decide to change to a codec which the TV doesn’t support but a separate device might or may be easily upgraded.

I'm liking your idea. I will look at his TV next time I am there to see what ports it has.

sharkie545 said:
Most Samsung tvs Ive found have good playback for usb with decent codecs. My 2012 model 42" I picked up for 40$ does it no problem and 1080p

Thank you for the Samsung tip. At least I have somewhere to start if I get a TV vs an android box.

Teletron1 said:
If the Tv has HDMI you can do a few different things cheap FireStick during Amazon prime sales $20 but anything that supports DNLA or has a built-in Media player will do the job (some nicer DNLA can be setup to look like Netflix where they show picture art)

I would say hook him up with Kodi but at 70 he would need to be computer savvy

if you have a dvd player see if it has a media player or supports DNLA (needs a network port)

If he has a smartphone he can use his phone and would just need a casting stick

I like that part about the ability to be set up to look like Netflix. I'm not sure if his TV has hdmi but I will find out.

Whatever route I go, I need to keep it as simple as possible for Dad because he's not tech savvy. I'm hoping for the simplicity of point and click. Even if there's a lot of technical set-up to do, I can do that, as long as the end result presents him with an easy menu to scroll through and click on a movie.

zomborg · Jul 11, 2019

Update : Thank you @tech3475, @Teletron1 and @sharkie545.

I decided to get a set top box vs a different TV or even an android box. I found this one. It doesn't possess streaming capabilities so no Netflix or YouTube but you can attach a USB HDD and it plays most media types. Plus it's only 40 usd. I think it should suit dad's needs.

capsulej · Jul 11, 2019

Anything TCL.

Recommendations for A replacement TV

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