# 4k High-End TV using Ext HDD and USB inputs



## mccauley (Dec 31, 2021)

I'm looking at some high-end 4K TVs with HDR and all the extras to get the best picture possible. This requires a high bitrate signal input or a $2,000 TV more or less displays the same picture quality as a $500 TV. The streaming options produce lower quality images due to additional compression and low bitrate signals and are unacceptable for most of my viewings. So what are the options to get the best possible 4k signal to the TV?

A UHD Blu-ray player plugged into the TV's HDMI input would provide the highest quality image, but would require the purchase of expensive disks of many movies that I already have...

My movie collection resides on multiple 3TB Ext HDDs which I'd like to plug directly into the TV's USB ports. Given the relative prices of USB 3.0 vs. 2.0, I don't understand why the majority of TVs use USB 2 ports, even if USB 2 will actually do the job...

My current UHD files are putting out typical bitrates of 70 Megabits/sec (or 8.75 Megabytes) and occasionally as high as 100 Megabits/s (or 12.5 Megabytes). Transfer speed with USB 2 is frequently stated as 480 Megabit/s (60 Megabytes), but this is measured at the controller, and is not the actual data transfer speed. The few posts I have found of actual test results indicate typical transfer speeds of 25 Megabytes, which is twice the required bitrate for the 4k movies. It appears that USB 2.0 is up to the task.

Can anyone currently using a USB 2.0 4K TV with an External USB 3.0 HDD (correctly formatted for the specific TV) as a source, let me know if they are satisfied, or if I should ONLY consider USB 3 equipped TVs?


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## moinakg (Jan 3, 2022)

I recently procured a Sony A80J which is in the price range you mention. There is also the more expensive A90J which is a step up in terms of panel brightness and picture pop. However, I found the A80J plenty bright even in my living room with one wall entirely of glass with bright diffuse sunlight.
Anyway, the TV has 2 USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 ports. To test, I have watched the 2160p Dolby samples (Dolby Trailers - The Digital Theater) containing uncompressed Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio streams on a USB 2.0 port from a thumb drive without problems. I used Kodi as the player.


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## mccauley (Dec 31, 2021)

moinakg said:


> I recently procured a Sony A80J which is in the price range you mention. There is also the more expensive A90J which is a step up in terms of panel brightness and picture pop. However, I found the A80J plenty bright even in my living room with one wall entirely of glass with bright diffuse sunlight.
> Anyway, the TV has 2 USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 ports. To test, I have watched the 2160p Dolby samples (Dolby Trailers - The Digital Theater) containing uncompressed Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio streams on a USB 2.0 port from a thumb drive without problems. I used Kodi as the player.


Thanks, Rob. This helps my decision process immensely.

Although 2.0 is adequate for this purpose, considering the cost difference - which I can't imagine is much - between USB 2 and 3 ports, I wonder why they didn't go with 3x3.0 ports? This has been the standard for quite a long time, hasn't it?


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