Skip to main content

iHeartRadio turns your TV into a holiday-themed music photo frame

iHeartRadio has a suggestion for Vizio smart TV, Samsung smart TV, and Comcast X1 owners this holiday season. Instead of flipping your TV to the fireplace channel — which may not have a very inspiring music soundtrack — why not fire up the iHeartRadio app and tune in to one of the streaming music company’s “visual playlists“?

iHeartRadio Holiday Visual Playlists
iHeartRadio

The new feature combines curated music playlists with holiday photo imagery for a continuous festive slideshow set to music. Holiday compilations like iHeartChristmas and iHeartChristmas Classics are the most obvious choice for those looking to get in the holiday mood, but they’re not the only options. If you’d prefer to see visuals accompanied by fewer Burl Ives and Mariah Carey tunes, you can also choose from Top 40, Country, Kids & Family, 80s, Classic Rock, and other stations.

Recommended Videos

To find these experiences, open the iHeartRadio app on your Comcast X1, Vizio or Samsung smart TV and select the Visual Playlists category. If you find one you really like, you can save it to your library and watch/listen to it again any time.

The imagery in the Christmas playlists includes fairly typical scenes like roaring fireplaces with stockings hung on a mantel, but there are also fun variations on the idea, like a pickup truck with a freshly cut tree in the flatbed. Each image appears on-screen for about 12 seconds before fading into the next one, so even TVs that have a tendency toward image-retention should be fine.

Visual playlists feature is a clever way for iHeartRadio to fend off the big streaming giants like Apple Music and Spotify during the holiday season. These streaming services have smart TV apps too, but they (so far) don’t marry music and slideshow-like visuals in a single experience. An Apple TV 4K will default to the devices’ built-in aerial screensavers when no action has been taken inside of a music app for a while, but this isn’t quite the same thing.

Using a visual playlist on your TV may not be quite as warm and cozy as an actual roaring fire, but it’s way easier, and it’s a much cheaper way to give your holiday festivities a hi-tech vibe than splashing our for a smart Christmas tree.

Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen is a contributing editor to Digital Trends' Audio/Video section, where he obsesses over the latest wireless…
Hisense U6 4K TV on sale in early Prime Day deal — 85-inch model is 30% off
Hisense 2025 ULED TV U6 Series.

Prime Day 2025 won't officially start until next week, but Amazon already slashed the prices of some 4K TVs for those who can't wait to buy upgrades for their home theater setup. Here's an offer that you should consider -- the 85-inch Hisense U6 Series 4K TV for $1,398, following a 30% discount on its original price of $2,000 for savings of $602. If that screen's too large for you, you can also get the 65-inch model for $662 instead of $1,000 for a 34% discount, or savings of $338, and the 55-inch model for $480 instead of $800 for a 40% discount, or savings of $320. These TV deals will only be available for a limited time, so you better hurry as it doesn't look like they'll still be around when Prime Day launches.

Buy Now

Read more
48 Hours later, the Nothing Headphone 1 are better than I expected
The Nothing Headphone 1 in white

How do you try to stand out in a sea of headphones that are increasingly all looking the same? This was the challenge facing Nothing with its first over-ear headphones, the Headphone 1, which was just announced in London, alongside the new Nothing Phone 3.

Built in partnership with KEF, the company’s answer to this conundrum is to focus on design, usability, and customizability, and the Headphone 1 delivers on all three fronts. I’ve spent a couple of days with the Headphone 1, and while it’s too soon for a definitive verdict — stay tuned for our review later this week for that — one thing has become particularly clear: these are unique, stylish, and surprisingly good.

Read more
Early Prime Day deal: 75-inch Amazon Fire TV down to lowest-ever price
Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED Series.

We're still waiting for Prime Day 2025 to officially launch, but we've already found an amazing offer for those who have been waiting for the shopping holiday to take advantage of TV deals. The 75-inch Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series 4K TV, which is originally sold for $1,100, is down to its lowest-ever price of $570 following a 48% discount. This early Prime Day deal may not last much longer though, so if you want to pocket the $530 in savings, you're going to have to complete this purchase as soon as you can.

BUY NOW

Read more