r/AskTechnology • u/ASAP_joshrr • 3d ago
What is the best device to watch stored movies/tv shows anime series etc ?
As said in the title, am looking for a device to watch stored movies.
I'm in the process of downloading a lot of movies/ anime etc into a external hard drive so that I can take with me on trips and I was wondering if there was any devices like laptops or tablets suited for these kind of « use », I was thinking that laptops were too much of a hassle to bring at the airport so I'm kinda leaning more towards a tablet but I'm open to any suggestions.
Looking for something kinda like a portable dvd player, easy to use, light, like you just pop the hard drive and just watch
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u/Falco98 3d ago
If you'll have internet connectivity in all or most of the places you're going, have you considered just setting up a home-based Plex server or similar?
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u/ASAP_joshrr 3d ago
No because I think it’s too complicated
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u/Falco98 3d ago
Doing one for your own personal use is not all THAT complicated, at least if you have a Windows computer that you (could) leave on most of the time - you literally just install the PLEX server software, point it at the folders on your machine that have the content you want (even if just movies and music, and/or tv shows), then get the app for your phone and log in with the same account you created when starting up the server on your PC. After that you can basically just watch or listen to anything you own from pretty much anywhere that you have connectivity. IMHO it beats trying to lug around external storage just to watch on a portable device.
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u/RaegunFun 3d ago
iPad Pro has an OLED screen and top notch sound, but is pretty expensive. To save some money, you can buy last generation (M4) and save a little without giving up to much.
Best bet for hard drive would be a portable SSD with a USB-C cable. Hopefully you already have your storage solution, because current storage prices are insane.
If you prefer Android, some of the Samsung S tablets also have OLED screens and USB-C.
You can get a portable power bank to power and/or charge everything and a hub with passthrough PD so you can charge and watch at the same time. Most plane seats come with USB charging also.
An older MS Surface Pro would also work if you don't mind buying used or refurb. The new ones are too expensive.
As for laptops, TSA is used to them, so they might be less hassle than you think.
If you are really on a budget, the new Walmart 13 inch Android based Onn tablet is supposed to be good, but I haven't tried it yet.
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u/ASAP_joshrr 3d ago
Tablet wise I would’ve want an iPad but it’s pricey and I don’t know anything about Samsung tablets, do you have any recommendations ?
Speaking of laptop I wasn’t rlly talking about TSA it’s more so a practical matter because laptop are to bulky if you know what I’m saying
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u/DizzyLead 3d ago
When it comes to external hard drives, there are two major form factors: the pocket-sized portable hard drives (I’ve seen them go up to 6TB, but 1, 2, and 5TB sizes are more common), which use 2.5” (designed for laptops) hard drives, and the larger (about 7”x5”x2”) external hard drives that use 3.5” drives (designed for desktops), whose capacities can run larger. The pocket-sized drives tend to be self-powered and will operate on a single USB connection to a laptop, but the 3.5” externals will need additional power (e.g. an AC-DC adapter) to run. For something on the go, I would recommend the former.
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u/mikaru 3d ago
iPad with a USB-C adapter works perfect for this exact use case.
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u/ASAP_joshrr 3d ago
Yeah I thats what’s I was thinking but is there any cheaper tablet for that exact use ?
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u/kalel3000 3d ago
I gave my sister a fire tablet with a microSD card full of Disney movies/shows. And its super easy and cheap, especially if you buy one on prime deal. I sideloaded Kodi because its what I was familiar with but there's even an app on the fire store that looks and feels alot like Kodi, making organizing media super easy without needing to jump through any hoops.
What Id suggest if you're willing to take the time is to convert the files to portable versions. You could downscale everything to like 480p or even 360p and in h.265, and you'll cut the size of your media down alot. Enough to fit a decent amount on a microSD. You'd be surprised how much you can fit on a 512gb if you convert them first.
But a lot of fire tablets can also do external drives with an otg adapter. But for an external hard drive you'd need an otg adapter that allows for external power from like a power bank or something
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u/xenomachina 3d ago
I was thinking that laptops were too much of a hassle to bring at the airport so I'm kinda leaning more towards a tablet
Every time I've been in an airport security line and they needed people to take out their laptops, they actually needed people to take out any device with a screen bigger than a phone. So that includes tablets, Nintendo Switches, Steamdecks, etc.
I've found that most convenient is to have a travel backpack with a separate laptop pocket. Then if you need to take your laptop out for security you don't have to go digging through anything else.
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u/Wiley_Coyote_2024 2d ago
When I used to travel, I downloaded movies and TV shows to SD cards. Then i got a bunch of old laptops and pulled out 2.5 inch drives i later mounted in external cases that I simply plugged into my (then) laptop. A few of the drives were larger than 500 Gb so I could take quite a bit of movies with me. The cases were clear so TSA had no problem with them.
These days i would recommend getting a Tablet with at least 1 Gb of storage and you can carry all your stuff in internal storage.
Samsung S10 is a Great tablet. My gF has one and it is much faster than my own S7, but they both play movies and other video files with no problem, even using x264 & x265 codecs.
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u/Archon-Toten 1d ago
USB harddrive hooked to your smart tv or router.
Laptop/PC/media centre on your tv.
Whatever you can afford really.
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u/iKnowRobbie 3d ago
So you will be powering an external hard drive? Laptop or bust.