[Edgar_in_Indy]

I looked through the full list of forums twice, and didn't find one that seemed an obvious place for this question, so I'm putting it here.

I have a nice Samsung 52" LCD TV in my living room that we use to view family photos from time-to-time, but it's several years old and therefore has no "smart" functions. So to view photos from my computer, I use my Panasonic Blu-ray player. It kinds of works, but it's a bit sluggish, and it inexplicably will not display certain images. It also does not give an option to play any music during slideshows, which could be nice.

So I'm looking at the different inexpensive media streaming devices, such as the Roku's, Amazon Fire, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, etc, and wonder if anybody has any experience using them to stream pictures from a home network. Most of the reviews I find pretty much ignore this aspect, focusing instead on apps, channels, games, etc.

My main priority will be using it to stream pictures, so that's really the only feature I need feedback on. I expect I would mostly be streaming them from my PC, but being able to plug in a thumb drive or memory card could also be useful (but I'm not sure if any of them do that).

Thanks!

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Last edited by Edgar_in_Indy; 10-18-2014 at 08:39 PM.

[pinholecam]

I have been using my LCD TV as the monitor for at least 7yrs, so viewing has been via PC>LCD TV.
Connection is via HDMI.
So if you got a laptop or your PC is nearby, you might connect it up this way.

Otherwise, a cheap android device that supports HDMI o/p may be a good bet (I got a Motorola Zoom that can do it)

There should be other more tech savy method like wireless dongles, but I leave it to those who know more to reply on that.

[i_trax]

the best value for money HDMI wireless extender on the market is :
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/gtv-whd-1080p-lr-blk.jsp?prod_id=10922
it will transmit audio as well, 30M range, we use few of them on my University campuses, they work very well.
kind regards
jack

[Rudy]

or you could upload to your Flickr account the photos you want to stream and use an Apple TV connected to your TV, which supports Flickr now.

[lithedreamer]

Apple is selling a refurbished Apple TV for $75. That seems like a good bet:
Refurbished Apple TV - Apple Store (U.S.)

For school this year I picked up a refurb rMBP and Time Capsule and spent the saved money on AppleCare, it's worked out alright so far.

[thechumpen]

Here's what I do.

I have a computer that is always on and runs iTunes.
I have an Apple TV connected to my TV.

You put your photos on the computer then you can configure in iTunes to share the folder. Then on your Apple TV you can browse all your photos, use them as screen savers or have it cycle through them. Nice thing about this is if you have iPhone etc you can also stream to the Apple TV.

There are other similar options though but I'm down the apple route for now.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Here's what I do.

I have a computer that is always on and runs iTunes.
I have an Apple TV connected to my TV.

You put your photos on the computer then you can configure in iTunes to share the folder. Then on your Apple TV you can browse all your photos, use them as screen savers or have it cycle through them. Nice thing about this is if you have iPhone etc you can also stream to the Apple TV.

There are other similar options though but I'm down the apple route for now.

I don't have anything Apple and I've always avoided iTunes, but it sounds like a great solution for somebody who's already in the Apple universe.

[Mistlefoot]

Always think about what you have as well. My wife enjoys viewing pictures through our Wii the most. If you have one, or a friend has one, I'd recommend trying it. They are very economical used.....

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Always think about what you have as well. My wife enjoys viewing pictures through our Wii the most. If you have one, or a friend has one, I'd recommend trying it. They are very economical used.....

I though the Wii didn't do hi-def?

[Mistlefoot]

I though the Wii didn't do hi-def?

You are correct.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Anything that's not at least 1080 HD would be out. I used to down-rez a lot of my pictures to 1200x1800 since that seemed to be plenty large enough, but I've already started getting ready for 4K by not down-sizing my pictures past 2160 vertical pixels. So that 1200x1800 picture is now 2160x3240.

I expect I'll have a 70-75" 4K TV within the next two years, so I'm trying to future-proof my pictures. I've checked out the 4K TV's at Best Buy a few times, and I love the amount of detail they provide for photography.

[EarlVonTapia]

Here's a pretty recent blog post I came across that talks about Chromecast for streaming photos.

The Chromecast continues to be perhaps the best value in tech | writing about tech

Perhaps you can find some new info there?

[bdery]

Chromecast is probably the simplest and cheapest.

[normhead]

I have a 10 year old iBook I use for that. Totally configurable, a monstrous 10 gg hard drive..., I can add and change the sound track on the fly... and use it at Christmas some years so everyone can see where I went during the year. It will convert any kind of video file to play as a movie. But you can't buy them anymore.

[Schick]

I use a Roku 2XS on my prehistoric EDTV (yup before HDTV) and feed it via a Plex server (free) on my windoze PC downstairs. I use the Plex app on my Roku to easily view my images. The perk is I can also serve up family videos, etc.