Digital Picture viewing on HDTV instead of PC

mvmerk11 · Jan 28, 2017

My parents have a huge collection of digital pictures. Currently they love watching the random slide show of these pictures when they display on the screen saver of their PC. What they really want though is the ability to watch them on their 60 inch HD TV. Can I please ask for your recommendations for the best way to view these pictures on an HD TV?

I don’t know enough about media players to know if that is the right thing for them. I sometimes think just a 2TB hard drive somehow connected to the HDMI input on the HD TV is what they need – however, the ability to have a random slide-show with a remote control function is critical for them.

They have WIFI in the house, so either that method (streaming from the PC) or files saved to an external hard drive and then connected to the HD TV seem to be viable options. The less complicated though the better. Price range is probably fine within $300 as long as it meets the requirements of HDMI input, ability to cycle through pictures with a remote control and ability to display via a random slide show. We’ve connected a lap top into the HDMI input on the TV and that works, but no ability to connect a remote control limits the functionality.

Thanks for any suggestions!

bratkinson · Jan 28, 2017

I'm not 'up to snuff' on videos and slide show productions, but I have created a couple using software available online. While some are free, most are under $50. Simply Google slide presentation software and choose what's best for you. Most will offer a free trial version, usually with a limit of 20 slides or so, so there's room to test a few before you spend any cash.

In my situation, I create presentations of about 150 slides and used Powerpoint in the past. The problem there is synchronizing music with the slides as differences of computer processing speeds has caused me some surprises. I've now 'graduated' to using a program that will produce a video of any number of slides, timing can be adjusted in bulk or individually, and sound can be optionally added. I've set my own 'standard' of making all videos in .mp4 format, more for consistency than highest quality, etc.

Once I am happy with the results, I then use a DVD-maker software program (also available online or with some computer DVD burners) and produce a standard DVD that can be played on any DVD player. Alternatively, I'll make a data-format DVD disk (they are different than CDs!) and simply copy the .mp4 format file to that for playing in a computer only. I create a .mov version as well, just in case I run into a computer surprise on the other end.

So, for your parents, making DVDs of randomly chosen (at presentation creation time) would seem to be the easiest solution. That way, any DVD player will work (I recently replaced my dead player with a cheapie from Walmart) and they have the ability to change 'shows' or fast forward/backward as desired.

Orrin · Jan 28, 2017

Some TV's have the ability to show jpg images from a USB. My Vizio does a nice
job of presenting using the built in slide-show feature. Check the manual for your
parent's TV.

jake337 · Jan 28, 2017

Do they have a smart TV? Just upload them as private to a free hosting page like Flickr and mirror their phones to the TV. If their phones have expandable storage you can load a micro SD with the images and then mirror your phone to the computer.

There are many options to do this if they have a smart tv.

cherylynne1 · Jan 28, 2017

I've tried a few different methods to do this, but the easiest and cheapest ended up being to put the images on a flash drive and plug it into the USB port on the TV. My TV lets me either set it to slideshow or to manually click through the images with a remote. It all depends on what options the TV has.