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Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

malk100
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎21-12-2016

Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

HDD connected to Hub One USB.

I can copy files to it from my Windows PC - no problems.

My Samsung Smart TV cannot 'see' the USB drive. It can see PCs on the network.

PC -> Router = OK

TV -> PC = OK

I am trying to copy files to my router's HDD and then view o the TV without unplugging anything.

I can access the files on the PC but this means that the PC has to be switched on all the time.

The router is permanently on so the obvious solution is to attach HDD to that.

I have been through all the options I can find in the router and it is odd that a PC can see it but the Samsung TV cannot.

Any ideas ?

20 REPLIES 20
MrSilver
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

I suspect it does not work as most Smasung (and other) TVs are used to connecting to DLNA servers / streaming servers for their content rather than connecting to a remote hard drive.

What you probably need is a DLNA server in your house (come on most good NAS drives or can get PC ones free) as the samsung TV doesnt know how to stream from the remote share.

 

http://www.computing.net/answers/networking/use-tv-to-access-external-hard-drive-on-network/48651.ht... has a slightly better explanation!

malk100
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎21-12-2016

Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Thanks for the thoughts. I guess what I do not understand is why my PC can access the hard drive connected to the router with no difficulty. The PC can read write and access it as if it was locally connected, using 192.168.2.254\usb1 and then I can if required map it as a network drive. So there must be something in the router that can handle it.

I was hoping that there might be a way that the TV can access it in a similar way. I would like to avoid the SAMYGO sort f stuff if possible although I have installed EMBY on the TV. If EMBY had a cut down server for the router that would work but I have no way of knowing how to put any service on the router.

I would like to avoid using another piece of hardware because I want to avoid something being switched on all the time.

Oh.. and Plusnet who supplied the router had no idea what the router was capable of. I spent maybe 20 minutes online talking to their support person which was a waste of time. A response from Samsung said that any device needs to support DLNA but Plusnet (router people) were not sure !

Any further ideas would be helpful. I have seen that I am not the only one that want to make use of the router USB port.

Oh another thing... Plusnet said that I couldn't plud a HDD into the USB port. Obviously stupid as it works perfectly when accessed from my PC !!!

Browni
Aspiring Hero
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Does the TV have a USB connection you can plug the hard drive into?
MrSilver
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Your pc has drivers and the software to access a remote share, it has to be able to get file listings access files etc which it can do fine.

Your tv can't. It can only talk to dlna servers to get streams of data, so it's more a limit on what the tv can connect to over a network. Some can do files some can't.

The Samsung one can do just dlna.

The hub one can't do dlna just file sharing.

The USB port only supports some hdds as quite a few hdds need more power than the hub provides, whereas USB memory sticks are more reliable. If you Have a hdd that powers then great!
malk100
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎21-12-2016

Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Perhaps I am not being clear.

I do not want to plug the HDD into the USB port on the TV. It would mean unplugging, moving to PC, copying files and then moving and plugging into TV again.

The power of a USB port is irrelevant as my HDD is not USB powered. It works fine on everything I have that has a USB port, including TV, router, PC.

So does anyone know why I can use my HDD attached to the router easily from my PC (NO problems)

BUT

The TV cannot access the files on the disk attached to the router?

I think there may be an issue with this particular router ?

Browni
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

The TV isn't smart enough.
MrSilver
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Yes, as I said in my post.

Your tv does not know how to talk to a file system remotely. It only knows how to talk to a dlna server which you don't have.

Your pc has been coded to be able to talk to a remote filestore.

So nothing by wrong with the tv or router, they just talk completely different languages to each other.

You either need a tv that talks file server or a dlna server to talk to the to.
malk100
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎21-12-2016

Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

thanks MrSilver...

so the tv can see some files on a different router (talk talk).

or probably more technically it can see the tt router and dig down into its directory structure to see files etc.

when I  use the PlusNet router it cannot see it.

looks like the TT router has DLNA? would that be the answer? and that the Plusnet does not ?

I only thought of trying a different router this afternoon.

As for TV not being smart enough, I think it looks like a router with insufficient capabilities !

I would obviously prefer to use the Plusnet simply because if anything goes wrong their support team will expect me to use it !

 

Browni
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

If the TV had the networking capabilities of a PC it would be able to see the files on remotely attached USB drive hence my comment about the TV not being smart enough.

fwiw I have a hard drive plugged in to  my router and my TV has no problems accessing it. The big difference is it designed for that function by having an inbuilt DLNA server.

MrSilver
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

The talktalk hg533 has dlna features at least not sure which one you had.

I'm guessing it costs plusnet around £30-£40 to manufacture the router, which is designed as a adsl/vdsl router rather than a home entertainment system so not that surprising it doesn't offer dlna, if it didn't others would ask for airplay features and a speaker port (like the sky q boxes do) etc.

There are combined Vdsl routers with dlna features but that costs more than free though.

You could turn dhcp and wifi off your talktalk router, plug your USB drive into that and then plug the Ethernet port (not wan) into an Ethernet port on the plusnet hub. Make sure the talktalk router ip is not 192.168.1.254 (suggest using .253) and the tv will be able to see the talktalk box via your existing network, giving you full plusnet support if you get any broadband problems and doesn't cost you and more equipment.
malk100
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎21-12-2016

Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Were you looking over my shoulder !!!

Yes, I reset the HG533 to factory, logged on, disabled wireless and rest the IP address.

OOPS though, I had the Tv set to pick up the IP address and it used the HG533 and not my 'proper' one.

I think 'we' have it cracked and I just need to fiddle to get the DHCP off so it won't be picked up by other devices and fingers crossed I should be OK.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

I will initially try the 2 router option but one last hiccup seems to be permissions that I am working on now.

Shame that it was all down to the router. I may decide to change back to my HG533 as it seems to have better functionality and from what I remember is more configurable.

thanks again

 

MrSilver
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Some isps look the username only to their domain - i.e. Can't use a hub one with a talktalk username. Not sure if the hg533 is locked down or not, might b worth a quick test before unplugging everything else etc.

Hopefully though u can work the way you wanted!
malk100
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎21-12-2016

Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

Not sure about the lock down to TalkTalk but the router seems very configurable.

I can now see 'some' files OK.

For some reason it is set up like the Samsung Allshare though.

It picks up files as if they are in Windows libraries - Video, Pictures and Music.

I select Videos (example) and it will then give a select folder option, then videos(again) and then I can 'see' only one of my folders on the drive. I know videos formats are all over the place in different directories.

Tried setting permissions, checking permissions of the folder it can 'see' with other and can see no difference !

Probably something stupid. Checked the router and the USB seems to be set correctly as usb1_1 which is then displayed on the TV.

So near yet so far.

I had a similar issue with the PC and it was also restricted to Windows libraries. I overcame this by installing EMBY Server on PC and client on the TV and that is fine. I have no idea where to look on the router to find why it can't see all the directories !

MrSilver
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Re: Help - Accessing HDD on Hub One USB port from Samsung TV

The Videos, Picures and Music is part of the DLNA folder structure, not specific to windows.

When you go to videos on your TV it should be asking the DLNA servers for whats in /videos

If its missing some it sounds like it has not finished properly indexing whats on there, so might just be a time thing to generate them.

Alternatively to test point windows media player at the share to see if it can see all the files.

If that is also failing / wont generate the index try following this 

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/turn-windows-10-computer-dlna-streaming-server

Do it on your PC with the drive attached to the PC, and then when all the indexes are generated move the HDD back to the router to see if you can see them now.