Setting Up a Slideshow Display in Your Design Center

Setting Up a Slideshow Display in Your Design Center

If you have a smart TV in your design center and want an easy way to display a slideshow of your work to customers, this guide walks through your options. Most franchise locations will find the Fire TV approach below covers everything they need at no extra cost.

Option 1 — Fire TV (Recommended)

Use your TV’s built-in Fire TV platform

Many popular smart TVs — including Insignia, Toshiba, and Amazon-branded models — run Fire TV as their built-in platform. If your TV remote has an Alexa button or a Fire TV logo, you’re already set. No extra hardware required.

What you’ll need: An Amazon account (free). Prime members get unlimited photo storage; non-Prime accounts get 5 GB free, which is plenty for a showroom slideshow. If you don’t have an Amazon account, create one at amazon.com.

Setup steps:

  1. On your computer or phone, go to photos.amazon.com and sign in with your Amazon account.
  2. Upload the photos you want in your slideshow.
  3. On the TV, press the Home button and open the Appstore. Search for Amazon Photos and install it.
  4. Sign in with the same Amazon account and your photos will appear.
  5. Start the slideshow from within the app.
Tip — Auto-start on power-on: You can set Amazon Photos as your Fire TV screensaver so the slideshow starts automatically when the TV is idle. Go to Settings → Display & Sounds → Screensaver and select Amazon Photos. Any new photos you upload to your Amazon account will appear on the TV automatically — no need to touch the TV again.

Don’t have a Fire TV? If your TV is not a smart TV or runs a different platform, a Fire TV Stick ($30–$50) plugs into any HDMI port and gives you the same experience above.

Option 2 — USB Thumb Drive (Simple, Not Preferred)

Plug in a flash drive and play

Most TVs can display photos directly from a USB flash drive. This works without any accounts or internet, but has real limitations for a showroom environment.

  • Copy photos (JPG format) to a USB drive formatted as FAT32 or exFAT
  • Plug into a USB port on the TV and open the TV’s built-in media/photo app
  • Start the slideshow manually

Why this isn’t preferred: Transition and timing controls are minimal, the TV often won’t resume the slideshow after a power cycle, and updating photos means physically swapping the drive. It works in a pinch, but the Fire TV option above is more reliable and easier to maintain.

Option 3 — Digital Signage Platform (Advanced)

Browser-managed content and scheduling

Digital signage platforms like OptiSigns, Yodeck, or ScreenCloud let you manage exactly what appears on screen from a web browser — useful if you want to rotate promotions, add text overlays, or schedule content. Most have free tiers and a Fire TV app, so no additional hardware is needed if you already have Option 1 working.

Heads up: This option requires setup and ongoing administration on your end. Corporate support is not available for digital signage platforms — you’ll be working directly with the platform’s own documentation and support resources. If your team has limited bandwidth for tech administration, the Fire TV + Amazon Photos approach in Option 1 will serve most design centers just as well.