I was just wondering. Most if not all 4K TVs these days come built-in with media player, meaning if you stick your 1TB or 2TB portable Hard Disk Drive (HDD) into the USB input of your 4K TV, the built-in media player will be able to play the 1080p movie content through the 4K TV.

Is there any advantage of using a standalone media player with the 4K TV? What are the main advantages of a standalone media player from China such as Himedia when compared to the built-in media player of the TV? Is it the capability of outputting HDMI from the standalone media player to the TV? Or are there other reasons such as better picture quality etc.?

I still have an old Himedia player bought 7 or 8 years ago but haven't used it for several years already. Maybe I should connect it to the 4K TV and compare with the built-in media player of the TV. By connecting the HDD to the 4K TV, the disadvantage, I think, is that only USB connection can be used. I understand HDMI gives superior video quality so connecting the HDD straight to the TV does not give full video quality. By connecting the HDD to a standalone media player via USB, then connecting the media player to the TV via HDMI will supposedly give superior video quality right?

Any thoughts?

The video quality depends on the source quality. If you have media player with HDMI output, you get the picture quality of the media player. If you use the build-in player (or decoder) inside the TV, you get the quality of the video processor inside the TV. It is not about the USB or HDMI in this case. The 4K video streaming need 25Mbps for Netflix. Some would require slightly less or slightly more depending on the color depth of the source data. They probably reduce to depth to to be able to stream more channels simultaneously at standard defined by them. So, even USB2 can transfer fast enough. In theory, it is 480Mbps.

I have smart TV that can play direct with external USB HDD. Thumb drives are not the same among them. The read/write speed can be slow and can be sluggish to stream video. Your old media player can support 4K video? If you ask my opinion, I'd prefer to buy mini PC like NUC because it is more flexible. The processor in TV is slow normally and once in a while the firmware is upgraded to add more feature and this will have more toll on processing power. You normally do not want to upgrade TV every 2~3 years

Cheap media player also tend to be sluggish and like I mentioned before the quality of picture depends on the media player hardware. That is why I would go straight to good mini PC. It can serve you for many years.

Thanks for the response. That explains it. Sometimes when I watch some videos, when the video camera used to shoot the video is moving slowly from left to right or vice versa, the video quality seems to be a little choppy and not smooth. Also, sometimes in a movie, the video lags a bit, pausing for a very short while say 0.1 seconds to 0.5 seconds before the video starts running again. As you have mentioned above, it might be caused by the video processor (or built-in media player) of the TV which caused the slight choppy video. It's not exactly serious and very subtle as you will only be able to pick it up if you are someone who pays attention to detail. If one doesn't observe attentively he/she will not be able to spot the "deficiencies".

My old Himedia player is already 7 or 8 years old and I don't think it can support 4K so I guess it's obsolete. At that time there isn't any need for the media player as my plasma TV can still be used to play movies from the HDD. I only bought the media player to test the HDMI connection since theoretically HDMI is supposed to give superior video and sound quality when compared to USB.

So this mini computer, can you please provide some explanation or better still some links on the brand or model of mini computer you are using with your 4K or Oled TV to play movies? If the movies are stored on the portable HDD, do you connect the HDD to the mini computer via USB, and the mini computer is then connected to the 4K TV via HDMI or other connection?

1. garbage in, garbage out.
i.e. if u play small low grade files, it does not matter - u get same crappy video and audio.

2. tv makers do not make/oem the best players, not their core biz.
still, rm20k 4khdrtv probably give better results than rm2k 4ktv.
cheap tv players will give issues like format type, subtitles, fast fw/rwd, aspect ratio, frame rate...

3. old boxes like yours can't do many things... 4k, hdr, 10bit, h265, ddtatmos, dtsx, etc.
but again, if u play simple files, not an issue, can use.

4. it's always about budget vs purpose.
u can spend rm2k for some player or rm600 or rm200 for another.
decide what u want to play, how good is yr display or audio system, then buy box player accordingly.
just dun spend rm30k for tv and home theater only to play low grade files with the lousy player in the tv or in an old box.

Say a RM3k to 4k "4K HDR TV" and only 1080p file whereby the size of one movie ranges from 7GB to 15GB or more. Is the built-in media player of the TV good enough? If it isnt' how much you need to spend for an external device to surpass the quality of the built-in media player or processor of the 4K TV?

in this scenario, the diff may be small, but still noticeable to discerning eyes.

there are box players rm500-600 that will do a better job - video, audio and other features.

of course, u can spend rm1k, 2k, 3k too.

Okay thanks. That's what I would want to hear. The RM500-600 box players, I presume are standalone media players from China such as Himedia etc. though if the difference is small and not too big, I'll likely skip.

Not too sure about the mini computer option that Zot has mentioned earlier though.

By the way, I happen to have one movie in 4K resolution (2160P). The size of the movie is 28GB. I have to say, even when playing from the HDD connected straight to the 4K TV, the video quality is outstanding, much better than all my 1080p files. The colours, detail, clarity and sharpness. It's just quite stellar.

Only disadvantage is it takes up too much space of the HDD.

your old himedia is likely q5 or q5ii, can still play your 1080p files... use it, compare.

but having 3 models myself, i can tell new models do much better - more vibrant colors due to better engine, smoother due to autoframe switching.

if himedia, go for q10pro.

Okay thanks for the information. Will keep the Himedia Q10 Pro in mind if I happen to have the itch. I have forgotten the model of my Himedia as it was long time ago since I bought it. I stopped using it 4 or 5 years ago as I lost interest in home theater and movies for a certain period. I used to connect the subwoofer to the Himedia which is another plus point since the subwoofer cannot be connected to the TV since there are no analog outputs for a sub with the TV.

This post has been edited by ryder_78: Oct 5 2018, 04:18 PM

u will be awed if u play those 70-90gb ones.

yes, HDD cost money... so... keep only the best ones, the ones u will play again in the future.

I wonder why the size of the movie is so big even though it is 4K. At 90GB for one movie, perhaps we can even spot the nostril hair inside the nose without looking hard??! I was thinking that the size of the movie is usually correlated to the resolution ie. 720p,1080p or 2160p. Perhaps the 90GB ones have extra information such as high fidelity surround sound or other short movie clips inside?

These biggies are full ones... check the bit rates when u play them... they are anything... 50, 70, 90mbps... u can calc the toal GB!

And yes, they incl multi audio tracks, all the subs, extras, the making, etc.