How to use the USB ports for a connected Computer?

by theWgame

Hey I hope there is a solution to this. I'm using a new 4k 43in Sony tv as my all in one media center. It has both my gaming rig and work Surface pro attached to it via HDMI ports. It works flawlessly as a monitor in my opinion. However I was hoping to figure out how to attach a few USB hubs to it and really expand my shared storage.

The problem is that the TV acting like the computer it is uses the USBs for itself, the other computers cannot detect the connected USB. I can't seem to find a solution. The TV wants to use it to import media content and I want to use it to store working files from my Surface because its space is limited even with an micro sd. Anyone have an idea of what to do here? I don't believe I'm seeing any settings that would allow for this mode of use.

JimboLodisC

Have you looked into using a media center like Plex or Kodi? Android TV has apps for those services to access content stored on your network.

You don't want to turn your TV into a NAS. Do all file storage separate and away from your TV. The TV should act as a client, not a server.

Dain42

What it sounds like you're trying to do just isn't possible. The TV is not going to be able to share USB-attached storage to other devices that are hooked up to it over HDMI cables. HDMI cables and hardware are not designed to transmit a USB signal. It's a bit like expecting a laptop to be able to read a USB drive plugged into a desktop computer just because they happen to be attached to different inputs on the same monitor.

Now, there may be a way to kind of do what you want by turning the "smart" part of the TV into a media/file server. There are even apps out there that will turn Android devices into little file servers, and you might even be able get some standard stuff like Apache, Samba, or NFS working with a little jiggery-pokery — if the Android version Sony shipped weren't locked down.

But none of those is really a good solution. You don't want your entertainment center doing double-duty like that. You'd be much better off getting a NAS of some kind and setting up your shares on that.

Actually, if you don't want to spend the money to buy a networked hard drive and your router has a USB port, it might already support creating network shares. I have my Asus RT-N66U running DD-WRT with a drive plugged into each of the USB ports on it , and it works great for this purpose.

Alternately, if you have an old laptop or desktop that you don't really use any more, you could easily tuck that away somewhere and have it act as file server for you, too. Even a fairly old one will do the job.

If you don't have any of those things, but you do have the USB hub and spare USB drive(s), you could always consider getting a Raspberry Pi , instead. Those make a more than passable file server for light to moderate use, and they're only $35 apiece.

Actually, in that image I linked in my router comment, you can see examples of each of my latter three suggestions within about a foot of each other in my house. They're all feasible and within the technical reach of even a novice at this sort of thing, particularly the latter two. I threw together a quick and ugly graphic pointing each of them them out.