External HDD for TV

[aerozol]

I want to buy an external for my gf's parents, so they can watch movies and listen to music etc on their TV.

Only thing is, I've had issues in the past with some HDD's not booting up properly when plugged into a TV (because the power source is too weak or because they don't recognize it? no idea).
Any of the Punkas nerds have any advice on what to maybe look for?

I'd hate to get it sent to me, fill it up with stuff, send it to them, only to find out it doesn't work.
I don't know the make and model of their TV sorry, just that they do watch movies and play music of a USB stick sometimes

[Lummoxgrinder]

It may be that the TV needs FAT32 not NTFS. I know this was the case with PS3s.

[buckton]

Some USB ports don't supply power or enough power! Best to get a external hard drive with its own power supply. Fat32 should be good for any device as it's not a properitary file system but has a 4gb file size limit.

[akaxo]

i'm pretty sure our TV only recognises external drives up to a certain size, maybe that's been an issue? I have the 1TB one plugged in directly and the 2TB one into the bluray player for that reason if i remember right.