Playing AVCHD directly from external harddrive to HD TV

[camhelp]

Can anyone provide advice on how I can play my AVCHD video stored on a external hardrive directly to a HD TV via bluray or ?. I've stored video footage on an external haddrive that I've recorded on my sony CX12 camcorder. I've been burning AVCHD dvd's from the AVCHD video footage stored on the external harddrive and playing them on my bluray(avchd compatible) players. The quality and playback is smooth and excellent. I want to connect the external harddrive up to the bluray player and not have to burn dvd's to put into the bluray player. I tried connecting the external harddrive to the bluray's usb port but it doesn't recognize the harddrive. Can anyone provides suggestion?