Apple TV vs WD live media

[kingPT]

Hey there,

I want to watch downloaded blu ray movies on my samsung smart tv (E7000), unfortunately as you may know the tv is not able to read a usb pen formatted on mac OS extended journaled nor ExFAT, so I am not able to play blu ray movies because they are simple too large to copy to a MS-DOS formatted usb pen.

(To download the movies I use a late 2013 iMAC.)

I read that apple TV doesn't read MacOSExtended/ExFAT formatted devices, however, WD live media will be able to read MacOSExtended.
Do you recommend me to buy WD live media instead of Apple TV, or is there other device, which you suggest me to buy?

 

[Muttznuttz]

Hey there,

I want to watch downloaded blu ray movies on my samsung smart tv (E7000), unfortunately as you may know the tv is not able to read a usb pen formatted on mac OS extended journaled nor ExFAT, so I am not able to play blu ray movies because they are simple too large to copy to a MS-DOS formatted usb pen.

(To download the movies I use a late 2013 iMAC.)

I read that apple TV doesn't read MacOSExtended/ExFAT formatted devices, however, WD live media will be able to read MacOSExtended.
Do you recommend me to buy WD live media instead of Apple TV, or is there other device, which you suggest me to buy?

Hi.
I have both of these devices and they both serve quite different purposes. I also have a late 2013 MBPr.
The WDTV Live is great for playback of any media you want to throw at it. If you don't want the fuss of ripping all your movies into iTunes compatible formats then this will be for you. It works flawlessly as a NAS device, where I have a 1TB drive attached to it and anything I have downloaded can just be copied over the network and played instantly. It will do streaming too. The App for the remote also is brilliant.
The Apple TV is also an excellent device that I only just recently acquired (so I'm still getting used to it), This is great for anything iTunes related and for consuming rented / bought media. I also really value the Airplay / mirroring features.
If you just want to consume downloaded media, go for the WDTV. If you like to purchase media from Apple and don't fancy converting / ripping for compatibility, then go for the ATV.

 

[waw74]

I'm assuming your TV has DLNA, if so...

download Plex and add your media.
make sure the DLNA server is enabled
watch movies directly from your TV over the network.

or if you don't want to try plex, look at Serviio, I haven't used it but it's free to try. just found it with a quick google

you'll probably want to be wired ethernet for this, both computer and TV, or at least one of them.
although with plex it can convert, and require less network bandwidth.

with either of these, your computer will have to be on.

Plex is specific about how your files are arranged, although it's pretty easy to get a hold of.