SYNOLOGY DSM 7 · SMB OR NFS · ABOUT 5 MINUTES

How to show your Synology photos as the Android TV screensaver

Any DS or RS model on DSM 7, from a DS220j to a DS1522+. The Synology Photos app isn't needed on the TV.

THE SHORT ANSWER

Synology doesn't make an Android TV screensaver, but Dreamr reads the NAS directly. Create a read-only DSM user, then in Dreamr on the TV choose SMB, enter the NAS's IP and the share photo (or homes for Synology Photos' personal space), and set Dreamr as the screensaver.

1. Find where your photos live

Shared Space

Family photos in Synology Photos' Shared Space are in the photo shared folder, which is created when Shared Space is turned on.

Personal Space

Your own uploads, including phone backups, are in homes › <your user> › Photos.

2. Make a read-only user for the TV

Control Panel › User & Group › User › Create. Name it tv.
On the Assign shared folders permissions page, tick Read only for photo (and homes if needed). Leave everything else as No access.
Control Panel › File Services › SMB: make sure Enable SMB service is ticked.

3. Enter it in Dreamr

Dreamr field	SMB (recommended)	NFS
Server	`192.168.1.10`	`192.168.1.10`
Share / Path	`photo`	`/volume1/photo`
Login	`tv` + password	None. Access is by IP rule.

For NFS: Control Panel › File Services › NFS: tick Enable NFS service and set Maximum NFS protocol to NFSv4 (or NFSv4.1 where your model offers it). Then Control Panel › Shared Folder › photo › Edit › NFS Permissions › Create: Hostname or IP 192.168.1.0/24, Privilege Read only, Squash “Map all users to admin”.

4. Set it as the screensaver

Android TV (Nvidia Shield and TVs with the classic Android TV home screen): Settings › Device Preferences › Screen saver › Screen saver › Dreamr.

Android TV Screen saver settings with Dreamr selected as the screen saver — Android TV: Device Preferences › Screen saver, with Dreamr selected.

Google TV (Chromecast with Google TV, Google TV Streamer and Google TV televisions): Google removed third-party screensavers from the Settings menu. Set Dreamr once from a computer with adb:

adb shell settings put secure screensaver_components uk.co.shogunsoftware.dreamr/.PhotoDreamService

Synology-specific gotchas

iPhone photos don't appear: iPhones save HEIC by default, and Synology Photos backs up the originals. Dreamr shows HEIC on Android 9 or later. On older TVs, set the iPhone to Settings › Camera › Formats › Most Compatible, or convert the album to JPEG.
“Connected, but no photos found”: Dreamr looks up to two sub-folders below the folder you pick, and skips DSM's @eaDir and #recycle folders. Phone backups are filed by month under Photos/PhotoLibrary/<year>/<month>, so pick PhotoLibrary or a year folder rather than the share root.
It stops after the NAS sleeps: Dreamr retries by itself. If the IP changes, reserve it in your router or under Control Panel › Network.