With the advancement of Smart TVs these days, you would think that playing videos off of a USB drive is as easy as plug and go. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
Playing a USB on your TV can be a tricky process, and a lot of factors come into play. such as: make and model of the screen, and age. My LG flat screen from 2011 would play videos off of any USB drive I put into it without issue, but my 2021 model won't recognize anything! Let's look at a few solutions.
First, check to make sure your USB port on the back of the TV isn't damaged or dirty.
Depending on the make or model of your TV, it may only read USB drives of a certain format. Most models typically support NTFS, exFAT, and Fat32. At Studio 85, all USB drives given to customers are formatted as exFAT.
Try updating your firmware. To do this, look for the updated TV firmware from the manufacturer’s website.
Check to see if your DVD player (if you still have one) or Blu Ray player has a USB port in the front or back. Some models play videos just as a TV would.
If all else fails, simply plug your USB drive into a laptop and project it to your TV through an HDMI cable, cast, or airplay.
It may be a couple of years until an easier solution pops up, however, with the way things are going, USB drives may be obsolete which means everything will have to be saved on the cloud and streamed wirelessly.
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