ANDROID TV · GOOGLE TV SCREENSAVER

Your NAS photos, on the TV, every time it goes idle.

Dreamr is an Android TV screensaver that plays your photos straight from an SMB share, an NFSv4 export or the TV's own storage. No cloud upload, no Plex or DLNA server, nothing to install on the NAS.

Get it on Google Play See the 5-minute setup
A living-room TV running Dreamr: a butterfly photo fills the screen, with the time in the bottom-right corner and a country flag in the bottom-left
The clock and the country flag from the photo's location are optional overlays.

THE SHORT ANSWER

To show photos from a NAS as your Android TV or Google TV screensaver, install Dreamr from Google Play, pick SMB or NFS as the photo source, enter the server and folder, then set Dreamr as the screensaver: in Settings on Android TV, or with one ADB command on Google TV. It works with Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Unraid, OpenMediaVault, Windows shared folders and any Linux NFSv4 server.

Reads the folders you already have

Dreamr connects to your file server directly. Your photos stay where they are, and new ones show up in the slideshow on their own.

NFS

NFSv4 exports

Built-in NFSv4 client, so there's no mount, root or Plex needed. For TrueNAS, Unraid, OpenMediaVault, Proxmox and plain Linux servers.

nas.local:/mnt/tank/photos

NFS setup guide

SMB

Windows-style shares

Synology, QNAP, Asustor, a Windows PC or a router's USB share. Guest access or a username and password, encrypted on the TV.

\\DS920\photo\Family

SMB setup guide

LOCAL

On the TV itself

A USB stick or the TV's internal storage. Good for a shop window or a holiday home with no network share.

/storage/USB/Pictures

Supported formats

Set up once, from the sofa

  1. 1

    Install on the TV

    Search “Dreamr” in the Google Play Store on your Android TV, Google TV or Chromecast with Google TV.

  2. 2

    Point it at a folder

    Choose SMB, NFS or Local, enter the server, then browse to the photo folder. Test Connection tells you how many photos it found.

  3. 3

    Make it the screensaver

    Android TV: Settings › Device Preferences › Screen saver. Google TV hides third-party screensavers, so there you run one ADB command from a computer. The guides show how.

  4. 4

    Walk away

    Whenever the TV goes idle, your photos play. If the NAS sleeps or reboots, Dreamr reconnects by itself.

A photo frame the size of your TV

Shuffle with no repeats

Every photo shows once before any repeats, even across days.

5 seconds to 30 minutes

Pick a pace, from a lively slideshow to an almost-still picture on the wall.

Clock and weather

Optional time and current-weather overlays in the corner of the screen.

Where was this?

Shows the country flag from the photo's GPS data, so the slideshow prompts a story.

Private by design

Photos stream over your home network only. The share password is encrypted in the TV's Android Keystore.

Big libraries welcome

Reads JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and BMP straight from the share, with nothing copied to the TV in advance.

Common questions

Can Android TV show photos from a NAS as the screensaver?

Not out of the box: the built-in Ambient mode shows Google Photos and curated art, not files on your network. Dreamr adds a screensaver that reads straight from SMB or NFS shares on your NAS.

Do I need Plex, Jellyfin or a DLNA server?

No. Dreamr talks to the file share directly, so there's no media server to install or keep running.

Does it work on Chromecast with Google TV, Nvidia Shield and Sony or TCL TVs?

Yes. On Android TV devices such as the Nvidia Shield, pick Dreamr under Settings › Device Preferences › Screen saver. Google TV devices, including Chromecast with Google TV, no longer list third-party screensavers in Settings, so you set Dreamr once with an ADB command from a computer.

Is there a phone app?

The phone listing only explains how to install on the TV. Dreamr runs on the TV.

All questions