Viewing photos in high resolution: Apple TV 4k?

[top10]

More and more people have a 4k/UHD screen in their living room or office space. This can be the ultimate solution for showing photographs to family, friends or clients in a casual setting. All is well if you can plug in a computer with 4k output (or even have a dedicated system such as a HTPC). This can however be cumbersome (or relatively costly). For infrequent use, removable USB media may also suffice, but it hardly allows for a great user experience and customization.

 

It seems a simple media device such as the (fairly new) Apple TV 4k could be a great choice to achieve something between the two easy solutions at a significantly lower cost than a dedicated HTPC. But does it really deliver? Can you use the Apple TV 4k to browse and view photos in full resolution (zoom in etc.) or downscaled to 4k resolution from a local network drive or from your office computer over WiFi? Apple’s documentation is lacking, and the numerous reviews talk about video streaming only.

 

What’s your solution to bring the high-resolution shots from your Sony camera to the 4k big screen in your living room or office?

 

I am looking to upgrade some of my computers, but will welcome a simpler media solution if one is available. A PC just to play videos and browse photos seems overkill. However, uncompromised image quality is key.

[Username]

Eazee peazie ... it's NOT overkill.

Just do the obvious, and enjoy !  

Thaz what a good PC good for :-) 

   

That old saw about the weakest 

link in a chain ? Every link counts. 

[LiveShots]

Turn on Home Sharing in iTunes (File > Home Sharing)

From iTunes select which folder to use for your pictures (File > Home Sharing > Choose Photos to Share with Apple TV)

 

On your Apple TV select Computers, then select the name on the right hand side of the screen.

Select Photos on the top line of the screen, then select the sub folder that you wish to view.

 

I could not find an option to zoom in from the remote.

[top10]

Yes, the PC is the obvious choice in a way. And it is still the leading contender for me. I am however also thinking about this problem for less computer-savvy people. The task is simple, but at least so far I have not seen a solution.

 

If I understood LiveShot's instructions correctly, it is at least possible to view the photos at 4k resolution on the Apple TV 4k by having iTunes running on a computer. That's already something. Is there some sensible support for panoramas and other images that are not close to the TV aspect ratio?

[LiveShots]

Not that I know of… Some 4K TV's have Android Operating systems so there may be Apps that can be accessed by your TV that allow for better viewing of images from a USB-drive.

[top10]

Ok, thanks. It looks like a new HTPC then.

 

I actually have a couple of Android UHD TVs, there are no apps that are good enough for any serious use.