Sony TV hard wired to ROG Rapture GT-BE98 how would I access the USB hard drive?

[Sturmrider]

Hi all,

This may be a question I will also have to ask in a TV forum, but I am hardwiring our TV connection the the router. I have a hard drive connected to the router on which I have a number of family music videos I have made. My question is there a way to access those videos on the TV?

I obviously am able to access them through my computer and could cast them, but it would be much easier to just be able to access the hard drive direct.  Any suggestions will be appreciated. It may not be possible, but I figure I will try.

[jzchen]

Usually TVs have USB ports to connect external media to.  The TV would have to be able to access media over Ethernet.  This I'm not confident that it may have.  Do you mind sharing the make and model then I could look it up?

[Saltgrass]

Juste in case you are still interested in this thread, can we assume you set the USB up as a Media Server?  If so, what App on your TV do you think you could use to see the router and play those videos.

I have a 6-month-old Sony TV, the Google version.  I have never set up the Google part because I have an AppleTV 4K.  I might be willing to check my system, but I need specifics regarding your configuration.

[Sturmrider]

I have set the USB as a Media Server. I am discovering a lot about setting this up. The first thing was I could not configure the whole hard drive as a letter it had to be a folder in there. No big deal I set up a multimedia folder as the letter drive.

I learned to access files on Google TV you must use an app such as Kodi or Plex. I already have a Plex account will use it to access the hard drive. Another issue, is you have to have a computer as a server running 24/7 I will use my PC for now. I am watching a video now on how to set up the computer and router to be able stream or view files from an external hard drive. 

When I am done I will be able to view everything, either on my TV, tablet or phone. Thank you for the reply I will let you know if I bump into issues when I get to the other router settings because there is more involved there.

Wish me luck and thank you for the offer. If I bump into problems I will be back. Take care.

[Sturmrider]

Oh boy have I got in a little over my head. I have come to port forwarding. The first thing they ask is to select a famous server list. I have no idea what server I should use for Plex. Next they want you to select a famous game not for a game so I am assuming I can skip that one.

Now we come to the fun parts. The External and Internal ports I am going to use 32400 for both, but are both the internal and source IP address the same. I have gotten the IP address for my network, but which one do I put it in. If anyone has any experience with Plex on this router any help would be appreciated.

Thank you all once again. I have to say of all the forums I have been on this one has been the most helpful so I have hope.

Take care.

[Saltgrass]

I set up my Router and went to the TV and searched through All Apps.  There was a Media Player type App.  

I installed it and was able to see the folders on the Router USB drive, which were Browse Folders, Music, Pictures and Video.

I don't have any media content loaded on the server, so I can't check if it would play.  I may try later.

[Sturmrider]

I got the Plex media player and server which is free. It both catalogs and organizes your media in the folders you assign. The setup was the difficult part, but now I can access them anywhere.

[jzchen]

Seems like lots of ports:

 Can't say I've done as much with my router to be honest...

[Sturmrider]

Yes I only had to set up one with the 32400 setting. It is confusing, but I am getting there.