Using Front Row on a second display

TVRow version 2 is now available:
http://sites.google.com/site/robijnx/products/tvrow201
This allows the user to select which display Front Row uses. It is useful for home entertainment (eg using a projector or plasma TV).
This topic is covered in an archived discussion:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1374039&tstart=0
and some more background at:
http://users.tpg.com.au/aoaug/mac_video.html#frontrow
(eg external displays on an iMac G5)
It would be useful if this option was available directly in Front Row settings.

Having used TV Roow 2 for a few weeks, I do find it as nuisance that I cannot swap displays with Front Row running. Sometimes I want to run Front Row on the iMac and other times on the projector. I need to select TV Row from the Dock and change the display option to achieve this. In some respects Version 1 was better because starting TV Row automatically sent Front Row to the projector, whereas starting Front Row with teh Apple Remote left it on the iMac.
Still waiting for Front Row to include a menu to select the display to use...

Similar Messages

  • Use Front Row on a second screen

    Hi,
    I've just bought a MacBook and connected it to an apple monitor which I'm about to use just for TV, music and movies. How can I play Front Row only on that screen and not on the MacBook?
    Thanks for any advice.

    The built-in display should be disabled if you keep the lid closed. Here are the detailed instructions:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86286
    You don't need to connect a keyboard and mouse if you only want to use the Apple Remote to control Front Row.

  • How can I move Front Row to a different display?

    I love using Front Row with my MacBook, but I'd love it even more if I could move Front Row from my main display on my laptop onto my second display--a TV screen. I own a Apple mini-DVI to RCA & S-video adapter, and I use this to connect to my TV screen. Obviously, I can get Front Row on my TV screen by turning on Mirror Displays or setting the TV screen as my main screen (dragging the menu bar icon to the second display in the Displays system preference), but both these methods require me to sacrifice use of my desktop on my laptop while I use Front Row.
    Simply put, can I possibly (even sneakily) move Front Row to my second display? Thanks for any help.

    Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
    Unfortunately, since Front Row has no preferences you can actually change, there's no way to change the screen now. (Besides the work arounds you've already discovered.) I would send Apple some Mac OS X feedback (since Front Row is considered part of OS X, not a stand-alone application) and let them know you'd like to be able specify the screen. You're not the first person here to ask for that option.
    http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/
    -Doug

  • Using Front Row On Duel Screen

    Hi guys,
    I've got a macbook at the moment and was wondering, if i were to hook it up to another screen and run it duel screen is it possible to use front row in the second screen as appose to just the main laptop screen? And then also use the remote and everything to control front row, but at the same time be using my macbook normally for other tasks? So basically....i use my macbook normally, but at the same time, someone else can be using the remote to control Front Row thats showing on a different screen. Thanks in advance,
    Luke

    I assume when you are not using FrontRow, you can see your Mac desktop on both your laptop and the TV, correct? (Just making sure the connection is working.)
    If so, in the Displays preference pane, there should be an Arrangement tab. This is where you tell your Mac how your have your displays arranged. There should be a check box that says Mirror Displays (or something like that). That tells the computer to show the same image on both displays.
    Front Row can only be on one display. I assume it will always be on whichever display the computer has designated as the "primary" display. And it will blank any other displays while Front Row is active. If that is what is happening in your case, mirroring the displays should put Front Row on both.
    BTW: The Mac's Help system can be, well, helpful here. From the Finder's Help Menu select Mac Help. Do a search for "mirror video" and you'll get instructions on how to do it.
    Message was edited by: Bean

  • Using Front Row w/ Macbook in closed lid position (w/ Cinema Display) ?

    Using Front Row w/ Macbook in closed lid position (w/ Cinema Display) -
    Is it possible if I buy a remote, to use Front Row on a Macbook that is in the closed position?
    I use a Macbook linked to an external cinema display (a brushed alum, slightly older 23" model - doesn't have built in iSight) - wondering if I can get some of the same functionality via remote and Front Row.
    Do Macbooks even support the remotes? I would assume since they have a built in webcam/iSight they can accept infrared, or no?
    Thanks!

    I am using the IR remote with my MacBook Pro. That remote operates my LED Display when I do it thus:
    Shut down Mac, connect display, and restart.
    Close lid. Mac goes to sleep and display goes black.
    Point IR remote at Mac (not too far away or too oblique an angle - see instructions for Remote) and click "Menu" button.
    Mac wakes up, launches Front Row, and displays it on my 24 inch.
    EZ Jim
    Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/Mac OS X (10.6.2)  MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.2)
    LED Cinema Display  G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11)  iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9)  External iSight

  • Narcoleptic MPB when using Front Row

    I have this odd issue when view photos in Front row with a secondary display attached. If I simply view an album, after about 8 or so photos, my machine goes to sleep. Clicking the remote wakes it to resume from the same place and the next photo will play, for about 10 seconds, and then back to sleep.
    My computer is set to sleep only after 30 mins, not after a few mins.
    Super weird bug. Oh, this is running a 2.53 MBP attached to a 23 inch Apple Cinema Display, using the 9400m.
    Anyone else experiencing this?

    I had the same problem but it seemed to stop after I installed a program called Caffeine that prevents your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. I haven't had a freeze-up as long as I have it enabled.
    http://www.lightheadsw.com/caffeine/

  • Front Row on an External Display

    **Note that this is for Leopard's Front Row and only may not apply to Tiger's**
    Here's an explanation of the bugs/irksomes now facing Front Row
    1. The screensaver option can be buggy so go to preferences within Front Row to disable it.
    2. Whatever screen you use front row on, the other will be black.
    3. Front Row does not play video in mirroring mode, period.
    4. Front Row, when opened, will display on whatever monitor is set as your primary display at that time.
    5. Even after exiting it, if you check it the activity monitor it will still run in the background for 30 minutes (not sure on that time frame).
    6. If you open it up again before it is shutdown, it will try to display on whatever was set as the primary display when it was first launched.
    Okay, now that you understand that, here is somethings to keep in mind
    -When you initially open it, the settings get stuck, so if you opened it with the wrong display set as your primary monitor, just quit it in the activity monitor, switch the main monitor in your display system preferences, and then reopen it.
    -You can trick it to display on your secondary display by enabling mirror-mode, opening front row, exiting front row (not quiting), disabling mirror mode, and lastly reopening front row. Effectively, it gets stuck to display on the external display and does so once you turn mirroring off. This isn't even remotely elegant but is my preferred method.
    -If you have your external display connected while your computer is asleep, pressing a button on your remote will automatically wake it and use the external display as your primary/only monitor. This means that Front Row will display on your TV very easily if you put your computer to sleep then wake it with the remote BUT you must always be mindful that if you had opened it recently, you may have to quit it first.
    The only last suggestion I have is that if you want quick and easy access to quitting front row, you can create an applescript to quit it with this
    tell application "Front Row" to quit
    If anyone knows how to change primary displays using applescripts please post as ideally a script could be created that would just make sure Front Row was quit, switch displays, then would open it streamlining the entire process.
    Well really ideally apple would make Front Row a little more dynamic with the option to display on the external display and smart enough to know which one that is but this problem existed in the last version too and they never fixed it then so....

    Well,just putting the display in sleep mode won't work as, for some reason I don't understand, sleeping the display turns off the external monitor.
    Thinking a little more clearly now, the method of sleeping the computer only works for the portable Macs as the lid must be down while it wakes up for it to work.

  • Can I use Front Row with my Macbook closed?

    I just got a mini-dvi to video cable for my macbook. I love using front row with it but I was wondering if there was a way that you could use front row with the laptop closed. Oh and I'm using tiger, so its not the new version of front row.

    With your computer attached to a keyboard you should be able to wake it from sleep and run it properly with the lid closed.

  • Can I use Front Row with macMini (PowerPC)?

    Is Front Row compatible with macMini PowerPC version and Tiger? Or does it need Intel?

    Do you think that I can successfully emulate an Apple TV by setting up my MacMini (PowerPC) with a third party (someone suggested Keyspan) remote, Front Row application, and using Front Row to access iTunes music, TV shows, and videos (same as APple TV),and using Safari to access .mac web gallery (now available on Apple TV2)? The interface on the AppleTV is probably more elegant and seamless, but really, I could access the same content with the macMini, right? Also YouTube videos and Picasa photos can also be accessed via Safari. It will just look and feel more like a computer if I use Safari, vs a Media Centre! Do you think it's worth giving a try?

  • Shuffle music videos using front row

    Hello, I just can´t figure it out, can I shuffle music videos using front row?
    MAc mini   Mac OS X (10.4.10)  

    Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
    I don't think anyone's figured out how to do that. Music and music playlists from iTunes are played through iTunes. However, even if your video is inside iTunes the video is played through Front Row using the QuickTime Player application, not iTunes. Since the QuickTime Player application is not reading playlists from iTunes and has no "shuffle" option of its own, I don't think it can be done. If you do make a playlist in iTunes that has videos on it, all you get is the audio and a black screen when they're played with iTunes.
    I would suggest you send Apple some Mac OS X feedback and let them know you'd like to see an option like this.
    http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/
    -Doug

  • Using front row to play movies you ripped yourself??

    Hi,
    Is there a way to use Front row for movies you have ripped from your own collection? I read in "Macworld" December 2006 that you can use a program called Salling Clicker (www.macworld.com/1721) with a cell phone (well it has to be a certain type which I don't have). Is there another way to get Front Row to work in this capacity?
    Thanks,
    S.

    If you are referring to DVDs, there are a few different ways--some are free/shareware some cost. Mac The Ripper is pretty good although it has choked on a few of my DVDs. Another, and my preference, is Handbrake. The pay version is DVDxDV.
    Since Handbrake is my favorite, and has been able to rip every DVD I've used (except for badly scratched), the link is http://handbrake.m0k.org/.
    I also create home videos using my camcorder--use Final Cut Express HD to generate the final videos.
    If you want to add to the TV Shows or Music Videos, a program called Lostify can be used to set the attributes appropriately--this cannot be done in iTunes at this time. Lostify is free.
    HandBrake has a lot of different features and I've tried most. My typical settings are: H.264, constant quality 60%, 2 pass, de-interlace, framerate same as source, audio leave in default. Perhaps others will chime in here with what worked best for them.

  • Use front row to control airtunes volume

    is there any way to use front row (and remote) to control volume on external airtunes speakers instead of system volume? i understand how to select them, just want to know how to do volumes. thanks.

    You're talking about using the volume slider within iTunes? Or using the remote to actually control the speakers?
    If the former, than try the App called iRedLite. It lets you remap the remote's inputs to different functions.
    If you're familiar with AppleScript you can make the up and down buttons control the volume slider.
    Open Script Editor, then open the iTunes Dictionary. Find the "volume up" and "volume down" and use those in iRedLite.
    This should work, hope I helped.

  • Sharing iTunes and then using Front Row

    I have been downloading all the album artwork just like everyone else is, now that iTunes 7 is out.
    I have run across a small problem and a fix I would like to pass along for people having problems viewing the album artwork on a computer that is sharing the iTunes from another computer and then using Front Row.
    First off, the artwork for me seems to work fine on all individual computers that have the songs and the album artwork on it.
    When I shared my 'master or main' computer iTunes with my Mini Mac Intel, I then played the music using Front Row but the majority of the album covers would not show up.
    For some reason only a few of the album covers were showing up in Front Row on the shared computer. It took me quite awhile to figure out that the only album covers that were showing up were the album covers that I dragged and copied onto the main computers iTunes album window.
    I don't know if anyone has found anything easier to fix this problem but I went ahead a copied all of the album artwork, one by one, on the main computer into the iTunes artwork window. Now, all the computers that access the main computer via sharing, shows the album artwork when using Front Row.
    I hope I explained this clear enough.
    Here is a photo of my Mac Mini hooked up to my TV, playing Front Row and using the shared iTunes Library from my main computer which is an iMac G5.
    http://users.sisqtel.net/jkriz/MacMini/frontrow_albumcovers.jpg
    I needed to use the flash for this photo because it was getting dark but I think you get the idea.
    I know I could have put all my music on the Mini Mac or any of my other computers and I wouldn't have had to go through all of this... but then I would have trouble keeping all of my computers music up to date. This way, I only have to keep the main computer up to date with all of my music. Much easier.
    If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know.
    I hope the rest of you can benefit from this tip.
    iMac 17 (Intel), iMac G5 (Rev B), Mac Mini (Intel)   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  

    Bizmarck,
    Well, this is interesting.
    When I first read your question I said to myself, of course I can play the shared slideshow along with the selected shared music.....
    Well, I'm glad I tried it out first before I posted this as I cannot play the selected songs on the shared slideshow. All I could play was the Minuet in "G"....
    I could have sworn I used to be able to do this with 10.4.7 and Front Row 1.2
    However, I could be wrong.
    I have tried everything.
    I have the Serving computers iTunes and iPhoto open and to allow sharing of both.
    On the Mac Mini which is playing the shared items from the serving computer, I can turn off the music but I cannot select a song from the shared library in iPhoto. All the library shows for music selection on the Mac Mini is the music that is on the Mac Mini.
    Apparently Apple has more work to do if this is going to work.
    It is interesting to me that we cannot play a shared slideshow along with the shared music that was selected with that slideshow.
    If the selected song from the shared slideshow is already on the Mac Mini, then I can choose it, but I cannot choose any other songs unless they are on the Mac Mini.....
    It seems that Front Row will not play the selected shared song from the shared slideshow. Front Row only wants to play the songs that are on the Mac Mini for any of the shared slideshows... BUMMER.......
    If you open iPhoto (not Front Row) on the Mac Mini, then select a shared slideshow, then click on the 'Play' button. You will see that Minuet in "G" is selected to play on that shared slideshow. I turned all of mine OFF for the time being as I am tired of the sample music also.
    If I come up with anything new I will post it here.
    Thanks for sharing this information.

  • Can I use Front Row on external monitor with MacBook Pro's cover closed?

    I've seen that you can use the remote to control Front Row even when the lapatop's cover is closed (on a MacBook Air). Is it possible with a first generation MB Pro? Are there special settings?
    Thx

    You can use a MacBook Pro in "clamshell" mode if you have the AC adapter plugged in for power, an external display attached and an external keyboard and mouse (USB or Bluetooth) to wake the computer after it's been closed. This is the official word from Apple:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131
    However, even if you don't have a keyboard and mouse, you should still be able to wake the MacBook Pro using the Apple remote by pressing the "menu" button. (You do still need to have the power plugged in and the display plugged in.)
    -Doug

  • Using front row, in reality

    I have finally got front row to appear on my TV screen in the sitting room, this has involved quite a bit of faffing around having to mirror the display etc etc. It is primarily to play music from the iMac to my hifi which is also connected into the sitting room.
    Never the less I am there but now I find that actually using the application is a real pain.
    I have a reasonably sized library with around 9000 tunes. This leads to lots of artists and lots of albums, even at full scroll getting to the later parts of the alphabet takes ages, also you can't start from the other way, you always have to go A>Z, so if you want something at Y or what ever then you have a lot of scrolling to do.
    If you accidentally page back then you are right back to the beginning.
    I just think of front row is to be even slightly serious they need to enable it properly on a separate screen and they need to sort out these quite serious speed selection issues, way before worrying about Bonjour compatibility.
    Does anyone have work arounds for my difficulties?

    Any play lists will only show songs straight away.
    This is a severe limitation so if I were to set a playlist by Genre>Electronica of which I have around 4000 tunes all you get is Genre>Songs
    No hint of artists or albums.
    I would have expected genre>artists>albums>songs I just can't guess what album one of 4000 tracks comes from!
    One good bit of news is the latest update has significantly increased the speed of scrolling.
    No proper external monitor support though

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