Downgrade Front Row to 1.3 under Leopard...

If you guys like Leopard, but hate the new Front Row...then just downgrade Front Row.
Move 'front row.app' away from the /System/Library/CoreServices/ (to a safe folder if you want to go back)
Download:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/frontrow131.html
Mount image
Choose 'show package content'
Copy the Front Row.app file
Paste it in /System/Library/CoreServices/
Boom...front row 1.3 on Leopard. You don't even need to reboot.

That download does NOT contain any file named "Front Row.app".
Yes it does. It's inside Archive.pax.gz.
In addition, the entire download is 4.5MB and the Front Row.app is 7.6MB alone.
You have to unzip .dmg files to know how large the compressed package is. The .pkg file in the download is 5.5MB and Front Row.app inside Archive.pax.gz is 7.7MB.
EDIT:
Rune Staunskær: You are giving bad advice. Even if what you are suggesting works, it's more than likely that what will happen to people who downgrade in this manner will be exactly what happened to almost everyone who used the hack to install Front Row on unsupported machines last year when the OS was updated: Loss of functionality; loss of the use of other apps, and loss of menu bar items.
When you post hacks like this, you really should be prepared to inform people of the inherent risks (which you appear not to understand). The time it will take to recover from the problems this will likely cause later on makes your suggestion counterproductive, IMHO.
Message was edited by: Tuttle

Similar Messages

Front Row with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 after installing iTunes 10.4 ?

Is Front Row 100% compatible with that combo ?

Hi kguinn
If you are running iTunes 10.4 under Snow Leopard, it will be running as a 32-bit application. That is why you don't see any option to force it to run in 32-bit mode. iTunes can only run in 64-bit mode within Lion.
I'm using the latest iTunes on both a SL install and a Lion install. On SL, where it's running as a 32-bit application I can continue to use Front Row exactly as I have always done - browsing playlists and downloaded TV shows from my iTunes library. On Lion, with a reinstated Front Row, I cannot access anything from my iTunes library - even when forcing the application to run in 32-bit mode. This is because the underlying frameworks are all 64-bit and it is these that Front Row must access in order to draw down content from an iTunes library. And poor old Front Row, being a native Snow Leopard 32-bit only application, doesn't have the capacity to drive these 64-bit frameworks.
From your post it looks like you haven't yet updated to Lion. If you will be wanting to reinstate Front Row once you do make the move, then don't update iTunes. From the other posts on this site, it looks like those who've reinstated Front Row and haven't updated iTunes are enjoying all the features of Front Row that they had in Snow Leopard.
If you have no intention of upgrading to Lion, then you can upgrade iTunes and still enjoy Front Row in the way you currently do.

Front row doesn't see remote source movie folder

Hi,
I did a forum search and didn't see this addressed anywhere else.
When I open a remote source in Leopard Front Row, and navigate to the movie folder, it displays what is in the local movie folder rather than what is in the remote computer's movie folder. It will see movies in the remote iTunes library. All machines I have tested are at 10.5.1. I enabled iTunes sharing on each of the machines I used as a remote source.
Is there a setting I am missing somewhere or is this just the way Front Row works in Leopard?
Thanks!

Funny, I was just investigating this myself. This occurred in my setup as well, which includes:
- iMac running Leopard 10.5.1, iTunes 7.5 (19) with password-free sharing enabled, running as a media server, hosting these types of files (all legally purchased and owned, in case anyone from the MPAA is reading this):
- DVD movies ripped to VIDEO_TS folders using MacTheRipper
- MP4 movies ripped with Handbrake
- MPG and MOV format home movies
- Macbook Pro running Front Row 2.0 (229) on Leopard 10.5.1 as a client
- Local Wifi D-Link 624 (802.11g) network with external firewalls, but no restrictions on local traffic
- OS X firewalls disabled on both iMac and Macbook Pro
As a workaround, I did the following:
1. Using Finder on the Macbook Pro client, connected to the iMac Movies folder. This mounts the remote folder locally on the client.
2. Grabbed the iMac Movies icon and dragged it to the Macbook Pro client's Movies folder. This creates an alias to the remote folder. If you want, you can rename this alias to something like "Remote Movies".
3. Opened Front Row > Movies in the Macbook Pro. I now can see my locally stored movies as well as the remotely-stored movies under the newly-created folder alias. All my remote movies now play locally in Front Row.
Anyone else have a more-elegant solution?
Regards,
Steven

Front Row behaviour changed

Hi.
I am using my mac mini as a media station and to watch TV a lot. To bring Front Row and eyetv together, I used this tip of elgato: http://forums.elgato.com/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=1360
Despite the performance issues of Front Row (http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/01/front-row-performance-takes-a-dive-with-newest-ki tty/) the configuration of Front Row changed after the Snow Leopard Update.
It is not possible to access Front Row with a long press of the menu button from eyetv anymore. Does anybody know how to get back the default behaviour of the eyetv tip?

Hey,
as someone earlier said it seems to be an issue with the screen saver.
However i didn´t have to turn mine off alltogether. If you go to the settings pane in Front Row and turn the screen saver off it is just inactive when Front Row is enabled. Why would you want a screen saver then anyways?
This fixed the problem for me.

Front Row showing inexistent movie files

I've had some movie file in the Movies folder that showed up in the Front Row list in Movies, under the line underneath Theatrical Trailers and Movies Folder.
I have deleted the files from the folder and secure emptied the trash but they're still on the list in Front Row.
How is that possible and how can I make them disappear from there ?

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
No, Front Row should search in both locations. Music videos, movies and TV shows that appear in those categories in iTunes and are saved in your iTunes library should appear in Front Row under the "Videos" option. Also, any individual movie files (that can be played with the QuickTime Player application) that live inside your <Macintosh HD>/Users/<your user name>/Movies/ should also appear in Front Row, but they won't be categorized as "TV shows" or "Music Videos" like they are in iTunes.
Can you play your videos in your "Movies" folder with the QuickTime Player application by double-clicking on them? If not, then they won't appear to Front Row.
-Doug

What has happened front row app on lion

what has happened to front row app on lion?

Front Row has been dropped from Lion. Other posters have reported success in copying the Front Row application from a Snow Leopard system and having it work, but there may be undiscovered issues.
Regards.

Front Row Incorrectly Reads iTunes Metadata under Snow Leopard?

There is a serious problem with Front Row under Snow Leopard. The program is unable to correctly read the TV metadata from iTunes and does not correctly filter/organize the data. TV episode/season/title data is not read resulting in a completely disorganized library. All files are viewd as "movies" whether they have been tagged as TV shows or not. I had a sizable libray of videos that was perfectly organized under Tiger. Under Snow Leopard my entire database has been blown up- most TV shows appear as "Untitled". I'm sure they are MacMini users who have integrated their computers into their media playback systema s I have and am hoping Apple will provide a fix for this issue which totally undercuts one of the main reasons for integrating the Mini into one's home theatre system. Does any have a fix or simple work around. Come on Apple-- don't turn into Microsoft on me!

I recently purchased a used iMac (from 2006), that the previous owner had upgraded to Snow Leopard. I already have a MacBook Pro. To explain, I purchased the iMac to set it up as a media center computer, connected to my external hard drive and synced with AppleTV. I used Migration Assistant to move my files onto the iMac, but Front Row is now showing all the errors you described.
1. It is VERY slow to open. Clicking Menu on the remote, and you wait 15 seconds or more for Front Row to open.
2. Even though iTunes is directed to my external hard drive, Front Row shows Source as my Macbook Pro.
3. TV shows are out of order. On my Macbook Pro (10.5.8) all shows are listed from first to last, from top to bottom. On the iMac (10.6.4) they are listed last to first, top to bottom.
4. Some TV shows that are clearly in iTunes (purchased from iTunes) do not appear in Front Row at all.
5. The unwatched content blue dot remains even after watching something all the way through to the end. After watching them in Front Row, iTunes does not show them as watched either, but instead has the half blue dot, as if they were unfinished.
6. iTunes is also badly affected: I now have a large number of TV shows in the Movies section, and attempts to reorganize them in the folders on the external where they are store fails. It's a complete mess, and it seems like its deliberate that we cannot reorganize it ourselves.
So what used to be a very lovely program has become a horribly messy, PC like, application. Which made the whole point of setting up a special computer just for media a total waste of time and money with Snow Leopard installed.
If a fix is not forthcoming, I'm probably going to uninstall Snow Leopard, and reinstall Leopard. Everything worked fine there for me.

Front Row does not support Airtunes in Leopard

Can anyone tell me if I am just doing something wrong or if Leopard does not support airtunes in the new and improved Front Row?

I'm having the same problem, and it's a big one as one of the main uses for my Mac Mini is as a media centre controlling iTunes via the remote!
I think the root of the problem is that previously (on 10.4) Front Row launched and used iTunes in the background and so it respected whatever setting was current in iTunes.
It seems to now be using something else (maybe QuickLook) to play it - at least I haven't noticed the same delay when using Front Row when iTunes isn't launched...
This is something that needs to be rectified soon because one of the driving reasons for my upgrade was the 'new' AppleTV-like Front Row.
This upgrade has made my Airport Express useless and is tempting me to downgrade and ask for a refund - removing functionality is not a way to get new customers!

Airport Express, Front Row, and Leopard - any expected fix date?

I've found a bunch of articles that discuss the problem of Front Row under Leopard not working with remote speakers via Airport Express. This worked well for everyone under Tiger.
I haven't found any projected fix dates from Apple ... any insight into this? Or is it common for Apple to leave these types of feature drops out there with no fix dates or realistic workarounds? I will say I have had very few problems with Apple gear, and I am a fan, but this problem impacts the major reason I put this multi-airport setup in place ...

If you search in this area you will find many threads on that topic.

Many Front Row (Leopard edition) problems

Front Row Leopard problems:
Won't launch if screensaver is active.
Video won't display time-remaining, and many video types won't remember position and resume, Tiger's Front Row could remember position of any video type!
Doesn't play podcasts from playlists. This is ridiculous, I have many podcast only and audiobook only playlists both Smart and Regular playlists where I store things that I want to later refer back to, but FR just won't recognize them.
Playback stops when you leave a submenu. For example if you're listening to a podcast you can back out to the podcasts menus and look at other podcasts while listening, but if you go to the main menu playback stops. I like to look at other items while listening to decide what to play next, be it an audiobook, some music, or a video. In Front Row-Tiger you could easily do this, even watch video preview thumbnails, even my iPod Nano lets you hop around while still listening.
Playback stops when you leave Front Row. Under Tiger you could exit Front Row while still listening. Is quite handy if you remember you need to fire off an email you don't have to stop your media and even worse find it again when you want to continue.
And lastly, I don't like the new movie-trailer setup. I much prefer seeing thumbnails of movie posters. It's much easier and quicker to navigate that way, and prettier too, it's much more Mac like (in my opinion.)
These issues are so horrible that I tried to revert to the old Front Row, with no luck sigh.
Any chance future revisions will solve these issues or should I begin looking for a new media center app?
Mark

I don't haven't used Front Row to play movies or video - but the problem you are describing has been happening in both Quicktime and iTunes on my Mac, ever since I installed Leopard. There are a few things I've tried that work to get the video and audio back in sync - one is to pause the video, and to leave it paused for 5 or 10 minutes. When I come back and restart it, sometimes it will play normally. The other thing that I've tried is to actually shut down iTunes and restart it - for some reason that works a bit more consistently.
Another problem I have is less dire - and that is occasionally a video or movie will lose its audio altogether - when that happens the "fix" is to stop the video for a few seconds, then restart it. It usually works. Again, the operative word is usually. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to stop this from happening at all - which is what I'd prefer, but these fixes (and sometimes a combination of them) will get me through a movie. I'd love some guidance from the home office on this though! Anyone at Apple care to take a bite?

99% CPU on Front Row with Snow Leopard, possible workaround...

This might be helpful for some who have experienced this issue as well. It seems that Front Row will continue to work in the background when you exit from it using Apple - Q, but if you exit using the remote, holding down the Menu button for a couple of seconds it completely quits. You can check using Activity Monitor.

I have similar problems.
I have an AirPort Extreme with two USB hard drives connected to it. One drive is for media such as our iTunes library and some movies. The other drive is used as TimeMachine backup.
After upgrading to Snow Leopard we only have sporadic access to the media drive with our two laptops (MacBook Pro and MacBook) and the TimeMachine backups have stopped working completely because TM can not connect to drive. Sometimes Finder can se the drives, but most of the time it does not. When drives are visible in Finder, most of the time we can not browse the folders on the drives at all.
AirPort Utility can detect the AirPort Extreme but when I attempt to configure the unit manually the program can not read the AirPort Extreme's configuration.
The AirPort appears to work all right when it comes to accessing the internet.
Apple needs to fix this AirPort debacle ASAP!

Itunes won't start, iPhoto / Front Row Hang after Leopard install

I upgraded a Intel 2.0MHz 24" iMac this morning. I have never had any upgrade problems before. Last night the iLife 8.1.1 update was installed. Was using iTunes all morning. I got my Leopard CD via Fedex and popped it in. Install went smoothly with no issues. The only thing out of the ordinary during the installation was that I hit cancel when the Time Machine setup opened because I don't have a hard disc ready for it yet.
All seems to be OK except for iTunes, iPhoto, and Front Row.
1. iTunes hangs every time I try to start it and I have to Force Quit. Library is on an external drive that is available and working in Finder.
2. iPhoto will open and show my library, but hangs anytime I chose Edit. Library is on main drive, but I have preferences set not to have iPhoto copy items to the library. I tried rebuilding library but that hangs too.
3. Front Row hangs when I choose music or movies. I can't exit it and have to do a hard shutdown.
This is my first disappointment since switching about six months ago. Any insight on how to fix this would be appreciated. I am fully backed up prior to install, but it was not a bootable backup.

I seem to have located the problem. I disabled my Perian install and iTunes, iPhoto, and Front Row started working. I also reinstalled the MPEG2 support for Quicktime, but I believe Perian is what fixed the issue.

Upgrade to Snow Leopard from Tiger - Front Row wont respond to remote?

Hi,
I have recently upgraded to Snow Leopard from Tiger. I thought I'd better get with it!.
I use front row a fair amount as the iMac is used for multimedia mostly.
However, the computer doesn't respond when I press the menu button on the remote, even when I get really close.
I have check the security settings but they are almost all shaded out. The remote is not paired and the setting state that any remote can be used. However, when the security pane is open the menu button works and opens front row?
It might be irrelevant but I use eye diversity with a remote. I also have B&W speakers with a remote. However, it all worked fine on Tiger.
Having to go onto the iMac to open Front Row sort of spoils the point of having a remote.
Has anyone got any ideas on how to fix this issue?
Many thanks.
Andy

Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for your input. It seems obvious. Obviously one of those Mac things I hadn't picked up on yet.
Unfortunately the remote still wouldn't pair. I pressed next and menu for ages as instructed but nothing?
I have messed around a bit more and it appears that Front Row works when I quit Eye Diversity TV. The iMac appears slow to open applications with Snow Leopard compared to Tiger, especially after waking. Do you know whether this is normal?
I'll try and raise the issue with EyeTV but clearly something odd is going on. I read a comment that it was best to format the iMac before installing Snow Leopard. I'm just a bit worried about losing the data and programmes I already have on the iMac.
Many thanks.
Andy

Front Row on Snow Leopard has audio out of sync on movies and TV shows and some movies wont show images.

I have an iMac Core Duo 2GHz (yes, first Intel iMac). I have Snow Leopard v10.6.8 (latest/last MacOS version I could load) with the most recent Security Update (2013-003).
I have two issues with Front Row:
• Some of the movie files will not show the images, but I can hear the audio.
• On other movies and TV shows they start fine, but within a few minutes the audio is out of sync with the images, running about 3-5 seconds ahead... Looks like a bad dub of a Japanese movie from the 60s.
Now, I know it's related to Front Row, because when I jump over to iTunes and start the same movie or TV show it begins where I left off in Front Row, but images are fine and audio is suddenly in-sync.
However, with Snow Leopard being 2 major upgrades back - 3 if you count the upcoming Mavericks release - I doubt this registers as a "brouhaha" on Apple's radar screens. Then, again, maybe the spirit of Steve won't tolerate this Microsoft-like quirk, even if my iMac is still chugging along after 7 years and multiple MacOS X upgrades & updates...

I think I found my answer... or culprit. It has to do with Snow Leopard, and my iMac Core Duo, being the last of the dying breed of 32-bit systems, and that iTunes v11.x is 64-bit (heavily, at least)...
Guess I need to break down and replace my 7 year old iMac, even though it still works beautifully (otherwise).

Detect if Leopard's Front Row is running?

Is there some way to detect if Leopard's Front Row is active/running? I know in Tiger I could do a
tell application "Front Row"
if frontmost then
do something
end if
end tell
But that seems to not work properly now.

But Front Row runs even if it isn't displayed. Sorta like QuickSilver. It runs in the background, even though it isn't being used.
AND Front Row doesn't report if it is visible or front most. Therefor, trying to see if it is "visible" or "frontmost" does not do anything.
Trying this code
delay 10
set TheName to "Front Row" -- whatever the application name is
tell application "System Events"
set TheAppList to (name of application processes)
if TheName is in TheAppList then -- it is running
if visible of application process TheName then
beep
end if
if frontmost of application process TheName then
beep
delay 0.4
beep
end if
end if
end tell
delay 3
beep
delay 0.4
beep
delay 0.4
beep
When you run this, and activate Front Row, and wait, it only beeps 3 times at the end. There are no beeps before that. And I know it isn't both visible and frontmost (which could cause 3 beeps there).

Downgrade Front Row to 1.3 under Leopard...

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