Using the TV as a digital photo frame - automatic slideshow...

bl0at3r

bl0at3r

Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,883
Name
Alan
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi there,

I want something as simple, or simpler, as the digital photo frame... that can display my photos automatically on the TV without a load of button presses.

Turn on and the slideshow is running. So with the TV it would just be a case of selecting the av input and the slideshow is there.

Something like the Raspberry Pi that can be set to look in a folder for photos and display a nice slideshow automatically - with transitions and full screen. The Pi could be set to boot up and launch the slideshow automatically and could be powered on when I turn on the extension lead that the TV is connected to.

Is there a little device that already exists that does this?

The ps3 is ok, but you have to turn it on, select photos, launch the slideshow etc

The Apple TV Flickr feature from memory came up as a screensaver so this is a possible but may still be of many button presses.
 
Thanks Tim - that looks exactly what I was thinking of but would need to be able to launch the slideshow automatically when turning it on ....

Any idea if this is possible? Also what are the slideshow transitions like?
 
How about looking for a player which can be launched from a command line with switches to tell it which files / directory to play?

You could then set the PC to auto login and run the command via a batch file.

I can't tell you of any application that supports this, but that's the direction I would be looking at.

===EDIT===

Try substituting the image filename with *.* to play all files in the directory.

Can't say it will work, but it's worth a try.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/desktop/dd562624(v=vs.85).aspx

This utility looks to do what you want:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-useful-commandline-irfanview-tools-working-images/
 
Last edited:
I should think the power requirements are so minimal that you could just leave it powered and running 24x7 so it would always be running. In fact, whatever solution you choose, if you want the slideshow to just be there already as soon as you switch to the AV input it's going to need to be powered permanently. So set your slideshow running and just leave it to carry on.

Oh, and I don't have one of these - I'm simply pointing out that such things exist. Maybe YouTube will have some demonstrations.
 
Last edited:
bl0at3r said:
Thanks Tim - that looks exactly what I was thinking of but would need to be able to launch the slideshow automatically when turning it on ....

Any idea if this is possible? Also what are the slideshow transitions like?
Click to expand...

Does your TV have a USB port?
The device can be powered from a USB port, not sure whether you could set it to run the slideshow as soon as it gets power?
 
Not quite sufficient to demo the performance, but a place to start....

[YOUTUBE]BE5JL57O0TM[/YOUTUBE]
 
If the TV does have a USB port, then a flash memory stick full of images should be all you need.

On my TV I just plug the memory stick in and away it goes, I guess if I leave the stick in all the time it will just be a matter of selecting the USB input and it will still be running.
 
acetone said:
If the TV does have a USB port, then a flash memory stick full of images should be all you need.

On my TV I just plug the memory stick in and away it goes, I guess if I leave the stick in all the time it will just be a matter of selecting the USB input and it will still be running.
Click to expand...

On my TV there are too many buttons presses...
 
Looks like I will be buying a Raspberry Pi, installing XBMC and setting the screensaver to come on after 1 minute and for the screensaver to be configured to do a slideshow of my photos that I will upload to it - either a separate partition on the sd card or on a USB stick plugged into the Pi.

As I turn on the 13a socket that powers the extension lead into which is the TV, ps3 etc and the Pi, it will boot up and sit there running so I simply have to press the source button on the TV to display the slideshow.

What is likely to happen if I keep turning off the power to the Pi each evening without shutting it down - is it going to get all grumbly like windows and try and run in safe mode or corrupt? Will it boot cleanly into XBMC from being switched off rather than shutdown?

Any better solutions?
 
Your TV isn't going to have anywhere near high enough resolution to do your images justice.
 
bl0at3r said:
What is likely to happen if I keep turning off the power to the Pi each evening without shutting it down - is it going to get all grumbly like windows and try and run in safe mode or corrupt? Will it boot cleanly into XBMC from being switched off rather than shutdown?
Click to expand...

It'll be fine. Just have a back up of the installation, so if it corrupts you can just take a minute to copy the backup to it and all should be fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top