There are a few ways to enjoy our videos on your big screen TV, but unfortunately, it’s not as simple as it should be in these modern times!
Internet-connected TV’s are becoming more common, but they almost all require “apps” from stores the manufacturer administers, and none will allow adult content (yet!). So, we need to do some workarounds.
The good news us, it’s not that hard!
HD or 4k videos are best for this
First, our HD or 4k videos are always preferred for viewing on a big screen – they are available at a high pixel count (4k is 3840×2160, HD is 1920×1080, both of which are optimal for modern TVs), and encoded at a high bitrate (which means all the details will be clear).
Option 1: Put files on a USB stick or drive (recommended)
Most modern TV’s have a USB port on the back, where a USB stick (or portable USB drive) can be plugged in. The TV has a simple “file browser” for exploring the folder structure on the USB device.
Our videos work fine with TV’s that have a USB port, and will simply play when selected. You can use your TV’s remote control to play / pause / ffwd / rwd / stop, and select another video. This also works for viewing images.
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- ABOVE: Selecting the “Source”. When a USB drive is inserted, “Storage Media” is an option here.
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- ABOVE: The video file on the USB drive appears – just one in this example.
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- ABOVE: Playing back the video – plenty of options to navigate around it.
To do this;
- Get a USB stick
- Sometimes called a USB Drive, flash drive, pen drive, thumb drive or similar
- These cost under US$10 each, and often come in packs of five
- These are available from office supply stores, supermarket chains, and similar. We recommend buying a brand-name USB drive – SanDisk, Verbatim, WD, Samsung.
- We recommend at least a 16Gb one (4k videos are around 3Gb each), 32Gb or 64Gb will hold more videos
- Download the videos you want to view on the big TV, onto your computer
- Copy the files over to the USB drive
- More info for Windows 10 and MacOS
- Video files are large and USB is slow, so a copy could take between 15 minutes and an hour per video
- We recommend “dismounting” the USB drive before removing it from your computer, more info
- Plug the USB drive into your TV
- Select the Source
- Navigate to the file
- Using the Up / Down / Left / Right buttons on the TV remote control
- Click the “OK” button to start playback
- The Up / Down / Left / Right buttons will probably ffwd / rew the video (each TV remote is different – have a play, you won’t break anything)
- Enjoy!
Remember to remove the USB drive when you’re done, if your TV is in a shared space! 😅
Option 2: Use a Chromecast
Google developed a widget called a Chromecast that you plug into a HDMI port of your TV, and use it to watch TV from a variety of sources (Netflix, Youtube, etc), wirelessly. Chromecasts are available from most places that sell TV’s, but also online or direct from Google. They cost about $50, and are pretty cool!
Once set up, from a computer (laptop, desktop) you just go to the “hamburger” menu and select “Cast”, you select which device you want it to appear on, and it plays. More info on how to do it from Google. Casting can also happen from smart phones and tablets, though it’s a little more complex – more info.
Option 3: Connect a computer
Perhaps you have a spare laptop that can be connected? Most modern laptops have HDMI ports, and when connected and AV1 / AV2 / AV3 is selected on the TV, the picture is nice and clear. We always recommend playing back videos in the excellent and free VLC Media Player (an application you install on your computer). Make the video full-screen by double clicking anywhere on the playing video.
At HQ, some staff have bought a small solid-state (no fans, no noise, low power consumption) PC’s for this (Intel’s NUC line is ideal for this). Connected by wifi, they are great for 4k Netflix, Youtube… and HD or 4k abbywinters.com! You can stream media files from another computer on your home network, or start a web browser, log in, and play streaming media files directly on abbywinters.com (maximised to full-screen).
Option 4: Burn to DVD
A Dual-layer DVD holds 9.6Gb, that’s three or four GG or GB scenes (or about ten Solo scenes). Basic DVD authoring software may be required to make it work, but most DVD players these days can play video files directly from a DVD.
Worth checking if the options above are not good for you before trying this.