ashwinmj Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Is there a way display a slideshow of pictures on a TV, and initiate the slideshow via programming? Ideally to pick up pictures for the slideshow from a specific folder in the iPhone Photos app, but if not from any place to which pictures can be uploaded. I saw a couple of posts related to this, but they’re quite old and am hoping there’s a good solution now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 1 hour ago, ashwinmj said: Is there a way display a slideshow of pictures on a TV, and initiate the slideshow via programming? Ideally to pick up pictures for the slideshow from a specific folder in the iPhone Photos app, but if not from any place to which pictures can be uploaded. I saw a couple of posts related to this, but they’re quite old and am hoping there’s a good solution now. Yes, if you have a controller which gives an OSD to relative TV then you. An do a screensaver which accesses photos. The photos have to be in the Control4 screensaver location (and sadly there is only one… so same photos for all TVs and Touchscreen screensavers. Yes, you can program this to start / stop, change to a blank screen, media playing or a clock etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 19, 2021 Author Share Posted October 19, 2021 @South Africa C4 user awesome! That works. I have a controller with OSD for each of the three TVs that I want to do this, so I guess that part is covered. Is it still the same set of photos for all locations in a project, despite having dedicated controllers? Where do the photos for the screensaver get saved? Can it be on a NAS? How do I set up the screensaver (under agents?) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 7 hours ago, ashwinmj said: @South Africa C4 user awesome! That works. I have a controller with OSD for each of the three TVs that I want to do this, so I guess that part is covered. Is it still the same set of photos for all locations in a project, despite having dedicated controllers? Where do the photos for the screensaver get saved? Can it be on a NAS? How do I set up the screensaver (under agents?) Thanks! Yes, the same set of photos is used everywhere in the project (this needs an upgrade). Yes you add the screensaver under agents (it is a separate agent). Further setup can be done under the UI Agent and programming against each controller / Touchscreen. Photos can be saved on a NAS or USB (members of this forum used to recommend against doing this on the NAS - due, I think, to the frequency of reads). I saved my photos on a NAS for a few years and moved them to a USB due to this recommendation. Photos can be added via the Media tab (or, I think, via direct copying to the relevant location - its years since I changed anything so I am typing from memory here!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 Thanks @South Africa C4 user. I think this should be good enough for what I need. I’ll try it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Just remember when using a NAS, that it will constantly keep the drives spinning. I always recommend a small usb NAS or drive just for pictures. But to each their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAV Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Other means: AppleTV will link to iPhoto well, put you have to navigate the interface to select and play Cheap flash media player plugged into an HDMI on the TV, with preloaded photos. Roku and a channel app, https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/photo_apps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 4 hours ago, lippavisual said: Just remember when using a NAS, that it will constantly keep the drives spinning. I always recommend a small usb NAS or drive just for pictures. But to each their own. I have empty slots on my NAS - would it be a good option to add a small SSD to it just for the photos, or would you still recommend a separate drive for pictures? I’m fine using a separate device if that’s what’s recommended. 1 hour ago, RAV said: Other means: AppleTV will link to iPhoto well, put you have to navigate the interface to select and play Cheap flash media player plugged into an HDMI on the TV, with preloaded photos. Roku and a channel app, https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/photo_apps Apple TV would’ve been perfect. All the pictures are on our iPhones right now. Making a shared album and making that a slideshow would be awesome! But navigating manually to the photos app means it’s something that’ll never be done. If there were a way to automate it, that would’ve been perfect! I do have a roku I can use for this. I’m not sure if I’m missing something, but which app does the link recommend to use for this? Another option would be to use Amazon Photos on my Fire TV (which I have at each TV), but it’s unfortunately not available in my region yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 16 minutes ago, ashwinmj said: I have empty slots on my NAS - would it be a good option to add a small SSD to it just for the photos, or would you still recommend a separate drive for pictures? I’m fine using a separate device if that’s what’s recommended. BEST option is a stick or (ssd) external drive (with it's own power!!) directly to a controller. If you have a small dedicated NAS just for the pictures, then fine. But no an extra slot/share on the same NAS not so much (apart from spinning drives, the system will constantly be accessing the NAS on the network, just no good reason to eat up bandwidth on a server that could be used for better purposes) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 @Cyknightthanks! I’ll just get a separate drive for the photos. Sounds like the best solution. I had set up the Synology NAS to be the NVR as well, using the Synology Surveillance Station. Would you recommend against that? Even if I get a separate surveillance hard drive in the NAS only for this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Google Photos and Chromecast ambient mode Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 8 minutes ago, msgreenf said: Google Photos and Chromecast ambient mode Thanks! Do I need a dedicated chromecast device to trigger this, or is there a way in programming to trigger it via the TVs built in chromecast capability (I have a 2019 86” LG, 2017 65” Sony, and a 2021 43” Samsung). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 You would need dedicated Chromecasts but ambient mode photos is a built in capability. You can install Google photos on your iphone and have everything auto sync and update Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 @msgreenf Thanks! This sounds like a great option. It's inexpensive hardware, and sounds like everything would work great from there! I'll try this out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 5 hours ago, msgreenf said: You would need dedicated Chromecasts but ambient mode photos is a built in capability. You can install Google photos on your iphone and have everything auto sync and update @msgreenf Do you know if I can use the newer Chromecast with Google TV for this as well, or does it need to be the simple Chromecast without Google TV? I saw that the Chromecast that’s sold now isn’t 4k, but the Chromecast with Google TV is. And with either of these, can I initiate the ambient mode for the slideshow via programming? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 6 hours ago, ashwinmj said: @msgreenf Do you know if I can use the newer Chromecast with Google TV for this as well, or does it need to be the simple Chromecast without Google TV? I saw that the Chromecast that’s sold now isn’t 4k, but the Chromecast with Google TV is. it can be any chromecast. So yes, the Chromecast with GoogleTV. I don't know anyway to do this programatically. ashwinmj 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 14 hours ago, ashwinmj said: @Cyknightthanks! I’ll just get a separate drive for the photos. Sounds like the best solution. I had set up the Synology NAS to be the NVR as well, using the Synology Surveillance Station. Would you recommend against that? Even if I get a separate surveillance hard drive in the NAS only for this? I always setup a separate volume on the NAS specifically for surveillance. Much easier to overwrite the video files within its own volume. Otherwise, if it’s on the main volume, performance can take a hit a bit. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 2 hours ago, lippavisual said: I always setup a separate volume on the NAS specifically for surveillance. Much easier to overwrite the video files within its own volume. Otherwise, if it’s on the main volume, performance can take a hit a bit. By separate volume, could it be on the main drives, or a completely separate drive? I can easily add a separate drive meant only for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Yes, add a new drives/s and go into storage manager. Create new volume and select the drive/s. Then in surveillance station settings make sure you change recording settings to use the new volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 We're able to get the TV to display a photo sideshow, after the timeout of the Control4 on screen interface. Is there a way to enable/disable the screen saver through programming? What I want to do is - depending on certain conditions (like time of day, status of lights in the room) room off takes the TV to the screensaver. At other times, room off turns off the TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 19 hours ago, ashwinmj said: We're able to get the TV to display a photo sideshow, after the timeout of the Control4 on screen interface. Is there a way to enable/disable the screen saver through programming? What I want to do is - depending on certain conditions (like time of day, status of lights in the room) room off takes the TV to the screensaver. At other times, room off turns off the TV. Yes, you can do a fair bit. This is done agains the T3/T4 driver for touchscreens and against the EA1/3/5 etc. driver for TVs with an OSD. I have only really done this on Touchscreens where I have a macro for each of my Touchscreens which runs when certain times of day happen, or when shades open / close, certain lighting scenes activate / deactivate, music starts playing etc. The macro then looks at the condition of these various things and sets the screensaver delay and the screensaver mode (not sure if that is the correct term) to photos, clock, blank or custom depending on the relevant conditions. You set the custom screensaver setting separately in agents. I have my custom setting to display album artwork, time, date and temperature and I only use this if music is playing near the Touchscreen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 Thanks @South Africa C4 user. We’ll try playing around with it based on the info you’ve given. Is there a way to directly enable the photo slideshow via programming? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 9 hours ago, ashwinmj said: Thanks @South Africa C4 user. We’ll try playing around with it based on the info you’ve given. Is there a way to directly enable the photo slideshow via programming? Yes… something like “Screensaver = photos” on the controller driver and I tend to the set the delay as low as possible (may be 15 seconds, can’t remember) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinmj Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 15 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said: Yes… something like “Screensaver = photos” on the controller driver and I tend to the set the delay as low as possible (may be 15 seconds, can’t remember) That worked perfect! Thanks! There was an option to directly activate the screensaver as well. That let me keep the delay untouched and start the slide show without any delay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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