Media Player hardware

[Charles_cat]

This might be a stupid question but I dont know how this works,

What will a media player actually be used for?
Why can one not just play movies, check photos etc from an external HDD or use a flashdrive connected to your tv?

or is it a case of you need it to connect your surround sound to?

 

[AstroTurf]

This might be a stupid question but I dont know how this works,

What will a media player actually be used for?
Why can one not just play movies, check photos etc from an external HDD or use a flashdrive connected to your tv?

or is it a case of you need it to connect your surround sound to?

A media player has tons of benefits.

Personally I like having everything I have watched either hidden or ticked, having metadata, covers etc to make it look pretty, the ability to watch any codec format, download subs if needed and all the rest.
Obviously streaming to other devices on my network is also handy and then yes, upgradeability and all and all.