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Fact: Your TV is off more than on.
Even if you’re a streaming fanatic or can’t live without college or pro football all weekend, the flat screen taking up space in your room isn’t on 24/7. But that boring black box can be functional even when not in use.
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Take advantage of its large size and high-definition or 4K display by transforming it into a work of art. Use your screen to showcase a slideshow of precious family photos, display artwork from the masters or show off impressive landscapes you’ve captured on smartphone or film during years of vacations.
Many newer TVs come with a built-in gallery mode. But you can turn virtually any television into a large, high-resolution digital frame.
1. Load up a USB drive
Almost every television manufactured in the past decade has a USB port on its side or back. All you need is a USB-A drive, available at your local dollar store, loaded with images from a laptop or desktop computer.
1. Insert the thumb drive, also called a flash drive, into the USB port. Depending on your TV, you may see images on the screen.
2. Press Enter/Select on the remote control and look for playing options, typically Repeat or Play All. If the slideshow doesn’t begin, you might find a button on your remote for media or controls in the Settings area of your smart TV.
2. Find an app for your smart TV
Your smart TV likely has an app store to download a photo gallery, such as Amazon Photos, Flickr or Google Photos. Sign in to the same account as the app on your smartphone or computer to synchronize your images between devices and display them on your screen when you launch the app.
The photo gallery apps available depend on your smart TV platform, such as Google, Roku or webOS. It’s the operating system that your smart TV uses, just like a computer.
The range of apps includes Amazon Fire, Photo Gallery, Roku Photo Streams and TV Photo. Some may be loaded on your smart TV already.
With a Fire-enabled TV:
1. Go to Settings.
2. Click Display & Sounds | Screensaver | Current Screensaver.
3. Select your photo collection.
3. Connect a streaming stick
If you don’t own a smart TV, you can make your older flat-screen television a little smarter.
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