I gave my folks an Asus O!Play Mini V2 a few years ago and they still use it with ease to this day. Prior to this, I always had to format videos to a supported format that their BluRay player recognized which required a few more steps. A digital media player gives you that plug n play feeling without doing anything more complicated.
Don’t bother getting the same Asus player or shooting for the same brand because since then it seems Asus stopped making them which might explain the price hike. There are other players in the market now that pretty much do the same thing and are just as good for a fraction of the price. The top digital media player that is hot right now is the Micca Speck G2. This little guy plays 1080p videos and supports MKV, AVI, TS/TP, MP4/M4V (up to 4GB in size), MOV, VOB, RM, M2TS, WMV video files and supports drives up to 2TB. It hooks up to your TV via HDMI interface which most modern TVs have (HDMI cable is not included) or using the provided AV jack for older TVs or in case you run out of HDMI slots to use.
I recommend watching the video review below to get a better idea of what you’re getting.
https://youtu.be/_EaVb616BVs