need better photo browsing

[NotAFanBoy]

I have the last gen apple TV (720p) and I've got to say that photo viewing is terrible.

On my home network, I have a windows PC that is used to import all photos from the digital camera onto our NAS device. Photos are added to folders on the NAS. The folders are named with the date the pictures are taken.

I have a second windows PC that has itunes on constantly that shares the folders on the NAS. Now, I can view my 300 something folders on the Apple TV but I can't make heads or tails of how it orders them. Plus, I cant arrange by date or name or anything. Lastely, some folders take forever to load and makes photo viewing unpleasant.

Maybe iPhoto has some feature to complement Apple TV's photo capabilities, but there is no iphoto for windows. Until I get a mac that functions as my "server", iphoto is not an option. Does iPhoto even monitor network folders for new pictures/ folders? I suppose if I get a mac I could use iphoto to do the imports, but then the other PCs on my network are screwed...

I've resorted to using the FileBrowser app for ipad and airplay mirroring, but even that has its limitations as FileBrowser has to load the pictures over wifi and the airplay it. This can be sluggish.

I want a better way to view pictures on my AppleTV! Any suggestions? I am not apposed to jailbreaking if there is a good solution.

[Sparkee]

I can't really help you on the Windows side, but maybe someone can chime in on it. All I could suggest is try something like Picasa to organize the photos then point iTunes to it.

On a Mac you can pretty much just organize your photos into Albums, Events, and People (a cool people recognition album) with iPhoto. iPhoto does all the organizing of your photo library and it will be mirrored on the ATV with all the same categories.