Photo slideshow

[SumpnFishy 1]

I've been using Emby with videos for about 6 months with few issues. Decided to setup a photo library so I could run slideshows on our Roku TVs. I tried to setup a playlist by adding the photos organized into folders. That was really wonky as there were a couple of videos (I didn't realize were in there). It played the videos, then showed a handful of photos and then just stopped. So I just focused on one folder in the playlist with no videos. All I get there is Playback Error when I try that. Then in the Roku client I went to folder and selected play. It started playing OK but then loops back after only about 20 minutes (there are almost 6k pics). Is there a preferred / designed method to using the photo feature? Or is this just something that Emby isn't designed for.

Thanks,

Dennis

[ebr 16168]

2 hours ago, SumpnFishy said:

Then in the Roku client I went to folder and selected play

Hi.  Exactly where did you do this?  Can you show screenshots?

[SumpnFishy 1]

I go into my Photos library and select folders. Select one folder and created playlist Family Slideshow. On the Roku app go to playlists and select the slideshow and hit the play button. The screenshot shows the result. Happens on every Roku I have tested it with. Checked the Emby Roku app and it says it's up to date.

[ebr 16168]

The Roku app doesn't understand playlists of photos at this point in time so I understand that.  I was asking about this:

18 hours ago, SumpnFishy said:

Then in the Roku client I went to folder and selected play.

You said went to the folder.  Did you actually mean playlist?  Have you tried playing from a folder of photos?

[SumpnFishy 1]

After the playlist, which sort of worked when mixed with videos and photos, then didn't when I tried without any videos, I tried just going into a folder in the Roku app and hitting the play button. That works for about 30 minutes. After looping the same handful of photos several times (out of almost 6K) it just drops out of the app with no message or warning. I've read that before some users found there was around a 150 photo limit but I understood based on those posts that was fixed. Again, if this is just the way it works, that's OK. Just was hoping there was a set process that I need to do to get this to work. I think there are ways to do this with other apps, was just hoping to take advantage of using Emby for this as it works great with my videos.

Thanks

[ebr 16168]

5 minutes ago, SumpnFishy said:

After looping the same handful of photos several times (out of almost 6K)

There are 6k photos directly in the folder you started to play from or are there sub-folders?

[SumpnFishy 1]

Correct. The slideshow, when it plays probably loops through a hundred or less before finally just dumping out of the Emby Roku app without any error message.

[ebr 16168]

3 hours ago, SumpnFishy said:

before finally just dumping out of the Emby Roku app

Do you ever interact with it at all during this time?  I'm thinking this may be the normal Roku logic that will shut down an app after a period of "inactivity".

As a test, try starting a long playlist of music first.  Then go start your slide show.  Does it still stop after a while?

[SumpnFishy 1]

That is a possibility, but that would defeat the purpose. I can play music and videos through the same client and it will play for hours (once you turn off the "are you still watching?" switch.

[ebr 16168]

2 hours ago, SumpnFishy said:

That is a possibility, but that would defeat the purpose

What would defeat the purpose?

[SumpnFishy 1]

Well if you want a slideshow of you photos, why would the app time out? And again does not happen with videos or music,

[ebr 16168]

1 hour ago, SumpnFishy said:

Well if you want a slideshow of you photos, why would the app time out?

Just because of how the Roku system works.  If I'm right, we might have to build something to "trick" it.

I was asking you to test playing music at the same time to confirm if I'm right.  You are the first person to report this so, either it is something else or not many people are trying to do this with the Roku.

[SumpnFishy 1]

I'm guessing not many people  use this. So you're thinking music / videos don't trigger the app to shut down but photos, because of the more static nature might. I can see that being a possibility. Now how do I play music in a slideshow?

[ebr 16168]

Just go to any music playlist or album or whatever and start playing it.  Then tell it to repeat the list so that it will keep playing indefinitely.  Now you can back out of the music player, go to your photos and start playing there.  The slideshow should start with the music still going.

Let us know how it goes. Thanks.

[SumpnFishy 1]

Yes, I did figure that out and yes, it works. Been running a slideshow for over 3 hours now and it keeps chugging along. I also ran the Windows client on my laptop for the same amount of time (didn't need the music to work). The random slideshow isn't very random but that's a whole different issue so for now we'll call this a win.

Thanks for your help!

Dennis

[ebr 16168]

Okay, so I guess we'll need to look into some way to trick the Roku into thinking something is going on during a photo slideshow.

Thanks.

[ebr 16168]

Unfortunately, the primary way Roku used to have to make us force it to know we are doing something has been removed.  I think we're left with nothing but playing a blank video in a loop in the background.

In the meantime, I believe you can adjust this behavior on your device with the advanced settings around screensavers and sleep time.