Samsung Gallery Cloud/Gallery Discontinued - No Alternative for TV Ambient Mode Slide Show

[zorvek]

I purchase one of the best TVs. An 82 inch Q90. One of the main reasons I chose this make and model is the ambient mode and the ability to do a slide show of all my favorite photos. All I must do is upload them to Samsung Gallery in Samsung Cloud and use the SmartThings app on my phone to point the TV at the gallery. Awesome.

I open the Windows Samsung Gallery app today and I see this:

Moving to OneDrive. I have a OneDrive account. OK, no problem. Move my photos to OneDrive. Now the nightmare begins.

Neither the SmartThings app nor the Samsung Gallery app see or let me connect to OneDrive. Of course, the TV itself has no idea about OneDrive. After many calls to the various Samsung “experts” who really don’t know anything about anything, I find out the following:

1. Sure enough, Samsung Gallery on the Samsung Cloud is going away.
2. The only other option in the SmartThings app is to select photos stored on my phone but, even though the app’s instructions state “Select photos and edit the layout” (note the plural form of the word photos) I can only select one photo at a time. Hence only one photo is displayed on the TV in ambient mode.
3. I am told that OneDrive must be linked via the Samsung Gallery app on my phone for SmartThings to see it. Easy enough but it’s a Verizon phone and those money grabbing suits have locked Samsung Gallery to Verizon Cloud. No option to switch to Microsoft OneDrive. A few calls to Verizon with no results there. Dead end.
4. I’m told by numerous people to put the photos on a USB memory stick and jam that little guy in one of the three USB ports on the control box. Sure, I can “play” the images on the TV when it is on (and not in ambient mode) but they look bad (no formatting) and there is no nice frame that ambient mode so nicely provides. And, of course, ambient mode has no idea about USB drives. Another dead end.

And so now one of the main reasons I paid $6,000 for one of the best TVs on the market is going to break in six months and there is no alternative and no workaround. And no one at Samsung seems to know anything about this impending problem.

I sure hope one or more of the following happens:

1. Change the TV software so that Ambient mode can read images on USB drives.
2. Change the TV software so that it can use a OneDrive storage location to source photos.
3. Change the SmartThings app so that it can see a OneDrive storage location and send multiple images to the TV (or tell the TV to do same) and not rely on Samsung Gallery for this connection.

Help!

[userraJ8vWgbiE]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed and thorough review! I hope everyone using Samsung will appreciate the effort you put in to helping all of us before we have to face the same issue. I myself would be lost and frustrated when I couldn't get anything to work, not understand why and assume it was my own lack of tech knowledge not the systems and then not know where to turn for help. Hence a waste of another, what could be, beneficial feature. Anyway, it sounds like you know your stuff and I sincerely hope Samsung acknowledges the issue and gets it resolved before gallery is discontinued and we all lose it! Thanks again!

[userzDYnJBEIte]

Same here. I am so disappointed and I feel robbed. I spent so much money on my Samsung TV and itbhas never received an Update in over 14 months owning it. Every now and then I check for updates and nothing.

There are so many issues with the TV software. But the whole sync and cloud feature is just super frustrating. 

Without all the features that we Can't use, this is nothing but a regular TV. I could have saved thousands of dollars with a cheaper TV 

[zorvek]

Do I smell a class action lawsuit? At $7,000 for a dead picture frame that, as you say, is the same as any other not-so-smart TV, we were ripped off. I purchased this primarily for the ability to display photographs and art.