Is there an easy way to get Google Photos on the TV?

by mr_blanket

Good morning, all.

My wife and I are doing come “coffee-napkin math” on the feasibility on switching the entire house from Apple to Google. I’m talking everything....

iPhone to Pixel

Apple Watch to WearOS

Apple TV 4K to nVidia Shield

Logitech Circle/Ecobee to Nest

MacBook to Pixelbook

HomePod to Google “nest” home

As we go through this journey, we need to figure out how to get our family photos to the TV. On the Apple TV, we just open the photos app and there are all of our photos and videos. Does Android TV have a similar app?

Thanks!

SuneKuntz

If you use Google Photos app (which is the default on Pixel phones) you can cast the pictures to the Nvidia shield. To my knowledge there is no Google Photos app on Android TV, but casting is really simple. Furthermore you could just use the Google Home Speaker and tell it to "Show my pictures on the Nvidia shield" and it will cast your photos without the need for your phone

string69

Use app Photo Gallery and Screensaver . Works as a charm

j0s3rubio

Yes, I forget the name of the app I use, but it also has a screensaver that can play the photos on the TV while idle.

danrvm

I use the PhotoGuru which also has the ability to connect to DLNA servers. I couple this with JR MediaCenter and am able to make very specific slideshows quite quickly. Friends and family love it!

crazy_goat

I know this is only tangentially related to your post - but I just wanted you to know that WearOS is kind of a hot mess.

As someone who has owned multiple high end WearOS devices - it honestly doesn't hold a candle to the Apple Watch.

(My home and devices are exclusively Google - but this is arguably the weakest aspect of the entire ecosystem and you should be aware before you move it all over.)

Down_Rank

A $35 Chromecast does this natively as a screensaver. Just pick the albums in the Google Home app. Don't need Android TV.

fookineh

You can cast but the quality is far from original.

Also, casting 4k video (like short clips taken with a phone) is really painful.

clarkss12

If you have media that you wish to preserve for future generations, or merely a back up, you definitely should have some kind of NAS. I have 2 Synology and 1 WD NAS.

Point being, any media that comes into my my phone is AUTOMATICALLY uploaded to my Synology NAS. No intervention needed on my part. From there, all your media can be displayed on ANY kind of monitor you wish........... There are apps that run on Android that display your media in all of it's full glory.

phuey

My Android TV will display any album I choose and it will play I'm the background while the TV sits there.

The Android TV does not have an app itself but you can decide what to display via the home app on your phone. Has to be specified albums though.

manmad91

What exactly do you want? Do you want to show some pictures in the background when not watching tv or do you want to show specific images when you are back from holiday?

The first is a default setting of my chromecast, not sure if nvidia shield does this as well. But when i start my chromecast, google will automatically currate a nice slideshow of highlights of my most recent images (you can also choose to only show images from a specific album). I love this as it always shows new images and surprises me all the time. We use this feature when we are both reading a book or when we have family over.

If you want to show specific images, i simply share them from google photos or share my whole screen. Advantage of sharing whole screen is that you can easily zoom in and out. I dont have a nvidia shield, but from reading this topic i seems like you can simply install the google photo's app on the shield and view your photo's this way: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1048769/what-ever-happened-to-google-photos-on-the-shield-/

LeOmare

Just ask Google assistant for Android Tv to 'show' your photos, just use the mic button on the remote

atc_fox

A side topic, Logitech Circle supports Google Assistant.

JimboLodisC

Don't get a Pixelbook. Just buy a normal Windows laptop. Also maybe start with one category first. Maybe the phone and watch first since the Macbook and Apple TV will still function the same without them. Or just do the NVIDIA Shield first. Or just losing the Macbook. Then you've only got one thing to switch back in case you already come across a deal-breaker.