The USB Port On Your Router Can Be A Home Entertainment Game Changer

We just recently saw the price of an Apple TV+ subscription increase, and there's always the potential for other streaming giants to raise their prices. Additionally, each platform has its own lineup of exclusive movies and TV shows, making a subscription to more than one streaming service a near-necessity. The option to watch great content without these services is out there, however, and you can do so by utilizing your router's USB port.

The USB port on the back of your network's router can be used to make devices such as a printer available to any phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer that's connected to the network. This is true whether you rent the router from your internet service provider or have purchased one of your own. But one other device you can make accessible across the network is any kind of USB storage device, and this will allow you, in effect, to create your own home streaming service.

Utilizing a USB hard drive as a shared storage device is surprisingly simple. Network-attached storage has been around since the 1980s, and to create a home media server, all that's required is connecting a storage device to your router's USB port. You can choose between a traditional spinning hard drive or a speedy SSD. The device and all of its contents will become accessible anywhere your home network can reach, which is why it will also be handy to ensure you set up your Wi-Fi network to cover your entire house.

The storage device acts as your home's centralized digital media hub, effectively setting your media up in the same way a streaming service is set up. The storage device will need to be loaded up with media, of course, which you can do from your computer or mobile device. Just about any kind of media is in play here, from a library of movies in digital form to all of the photos from your latest vacation. Everything you put on the drive will become part of your personalized home streaming service once you connect it to your router, allowing you to watch movies on a smart TV, listen to music on a phone, or share photos on a tablet.

To pull off this setup, you'll need to ensure you have a router with a USB port, and you'll need to ensure its USB sharing is turned on. This process is as simple as clicking a button within the router's settings, and the router's setup guide or user's manual can help you make light work of finding it. If you plan to stream large files such as 4K movies or high-res music files, a router made for blazing-fast internet speeds is preferred.

Additionally, the files you want to stream are going to have to be copyright-free, as files that are linked to specific streaming services or music stores require those platforms for access. Any media file that fully belongs to you is in play, however, and you'll need a proper storage device to house all of them. External hard drives offer large amounts of storage at affordable prices, though a solid state drive is likely to prove faster and more dependable over time.

Accessing the files is pretty straightforward once you're ready to watch. On desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices, you'll be able to access the network-connected storage device and play the files with built-in media players. Watching on a smart TV like a Roku TV is similar, as the TV should detect the storage device and allow you to open the files in its built-in media player. Creating your own home streaming service isn't going to come with the polished interface you'll find with Netflix or Hulu, but it's an effective way to expand your content library or to keep yourself entertained while saving some money each month.