Apple TV 4 photo issues

It's a streaming device and the screensaver is meant to cache/display a small subset of photos when the device is idle. The slideshow feature will display all photos in the shared album, when using iCloud, or via albums via homesharing. As your intention is to rant that would be the reason for the removal, as it is in violation of the terms agreed to upon sign up.

Not quite, it doesn't vary the number of photos it uses like you suggest, it may use different numbers based on image size but this won't swing from hundreds to 30.

Oh I didn't mean the number was different for each instantiation -- I was trying to capture the range expressed here on the forums, which I've seen stated as low as 30 and as high as "a few hundred".

However random doesn't mean each photo will play just one but in a mixed up order before repeating themselves, random means random and that includes one photo showing once whilst another perhaps shows seven times. Unfortunately, many people actually don't know what random means.

I don't think the issue is that people don't know what random means. I think the issue is that they want a random sequence, rather than a random photo, and that's just not how Apple implemented it.

Nilonym wrote:

I don't think the issue is that people don't know what random means. I think the issue is that they want a random sequence, rather than a random photo

Yep, obviously, people just don't understand what random means. You know the phrase, be careful what you ask for.

I"m having the same issue. I don't understand why they can't fix the software that's pulling/streaming photos from the computer, or better yet, allocate some of the hard drive space on the new devices to store photos. ****, you can store photos on your apple watch. it's one of the coolest features of the box as you get to see your photos on a large screen, instead of on phones like so many of us do now. but with the constant repeating of the photos, it's frustrating.

I Agree

I've had every version of Apple TV and this is by far the most disappointing. My main reason for upgrading was i thought id finally have full access to iCloud photo library, so i can view all my albums from the cloud. Unfortunately it appears to be the same as before, only my photo stream and shared albums can be displayed. I'm not even getting that at the moment, still won't sync any photos despite having my photo stream switched on across all devices. Really hoping tvOS gets a big upgrade soon!

I'm having the same problem: Slideshow is showing high pct of repeat photos.

I have 8,000 photos on a drive on my local network.

I'm using home sharing

I have two ATV 4s in my house, this happens on both of them.

The slideshow is unwatchable due to high pct of repeats. This is extremely disappointing - I assumed they would fix the app with ATV4 - previous version was deeply flawed as well, and there were countless online complaints in forums. Are they not capable of fixing it, or do they just not care?

In addition to repeats, I get LOTS of blank, black screens when there should be pics. After running overnight, it's about 90% blackscreen, 10% photos. These are all jpgs that view properly in any other app. (I can see the app is still running because I see the transition effects.)

Here's a bonus complaint:

When setting screensaver as slideshow, with slideshow set to shuffle, the screensaver uses the last shuffled slideshow sequence. It uses this same sequence every time the screensaver launches, until you manually go back to the slideshow and re-shuffle. So I don't even use screensaver, I manually launch slideshow as a screensaver, which of course defeats the purpose of a screensaver. I don't want to see the screensaver show the same sequence each time it relaunches, nor do I want to see it repeat photos within a very short timeframe.

recap:

Repeats

Blanks

screensaver runs in same sequence every time

yea your bonus complaint is mine too... *** is the point of having photos screensaver if you can't shuffle them.... i have it set to come on in 2 minutes and every time it comes back on its the exact same photos in same order...

LAME....

this can't be hard... come on apple... very week.

I agree as we do the same thing, music and slideshow, getting tired of seeing the same 30 pics in a 1000+ pic folder and as stated, everyone it starts the same!

I have noted the same problem with slide show, my ATV4 will only do 4 photos before stopping.

Additional info on the using photos as screensaver problems: https://discussions.apple.com/activity?streamSource=connections

Having exactly the same photo issues along with many many other issues!!!!

I re-connected my Apple TV 3 (including my optical connection!) and it's so much better than Apple TV 4.

As such my Apple TV 4 is to be returned, first Apple product i've ever rejected.

yea its really a poorly released OS... i'm having so many issues with so many apple products right now... uggg...

Yeah, really disappointing. I have all those same issues. It's so frustrating that I brought my old AT 2 back online just to view the pictures.

I posted my misadventures with ATV 4 here: Apple TV 4 - Home Sharing Slideshows - Scratching my head...

(Nothing to do with this topic, but I have to say it: who's the idiot that decided to set the clear background in the UI? - And don't get me started with the keyboard situation, and infinite number of bugs, apps freezing or crashing...)

Same issue here - Apple TV screensaver just repeats 40-50 photos, instead of using all 1,100 in my home share folder. Apple come on - please fix

I have a similar setup and have the same issue: Home Sharing photos set as my default slideshow, but only 5-30 photos will ever appear, and they appear in the same "random" order every time.

This is how I have mine set up:

Apple TV 4 tvOS 9.1

iTunes on a Mac mini running 10.11.2 + iTunes 12.3.2

Home Sharing on, sharing a FOLDER of photos (not from iPhoto or Photos)

Two sub-folders in the shared folder

Total of about 1100 photos

Apple TV connected to network via Ethernet Cable

Slideshow set on Random show/transition type

I have tried the following:

- Turned off/on Home Sharing

- Trashed the Apple TV Photo Cache folder (also nuked the old iPod Photo Cache folder)

- Changed the source for slideshows from Home Sharing to Apple Photos (also Aerial), used it, set it back to Home Sharing

- Restarting the Apple TV

- Unplugging & plugging back in the Apple TV

- Made sure I have browsed my entire Home Sharing Photos library (seeing all thumbs load).

I conclude that this is clearly a bug with the new Apple TV 4.

I'm glad I kept my Apple TV 3, and if this isn't fixed in the next month or two, I'll bring it down from the kids playroom and give them the Apple TV 4. The apps have been disappointing so far, and Siri won't let me access my own movies, so the value of this is very little to me at this point — certainly not worth the effort to explain to friends why there is now such a small number of photos in my slideshow. Being an amateur photographer, my Apple TV slideshow has always been a conversation starter. It is still a topic of conversation — but now it's about how bad the new slideshow is.

Just wanted to chime in that after getting the ATV4 for Christmas, I'm having the exact same issue with my screensaver. I have a Shared Album set up via the Photos app, and the Apple TV's screensaver is set to play that album using the Shifting Tiles layout. It repeats the same 40 or so photos when the shared album has 600+ photos in it.

Troubleshooting steps I tried:

Going to the album and letting every photo thumbnail/preview load and then initiating the screensaver. No luck.

Signed out and then into my iCloud account on the Apple TV. No luck.

My old ATV2 played the screensaver via the shared album perfectly, and it even updated on the fly if I added photos using my computer and the Photos app. It was great! I also have an ATV3 in my studio, and it cycles through all 600+ photos in my shared album, so this is obviously an issue with tvOS.

Please fix ASAP, Apple!