Front Row is unusable in Leopard

I knew I should've waited to upgrade until 10.5.2. I've been using OS X since 10.1 and every upgrade is loaded with problems. So, against my better judgement, I decided to upgrade right away again. After doing so, I find Front Row to be completely unusable. Here's the issues:
1.) On my iMac, when running Front Row the machine keeps going to sleep every 15 seconds or so. It sleeps for less than a second, but needless to say it makes watching video useless. When I say it goes to sleep, what I'm seeing is the screen go black and the light on the front pulsates.
2.) If I use my MacBook, also running Leopard, to connect to my iMac's library over Front Row, it'll be usable for a while and then it freezes. It takes several minutes for my MacBook to become usable and then I find that the internet connection on my iMac is gone. I only lose my internet connection when connecting from another machine through Front Row.
3.) I don't know who thought this was a good idea, and I was hoping they'd fix this on the Apple TV, but now my TV series have all their seasons lumped together into one big frickin' list!!! This is absolutely stupid. I know I can just change the series name to include the season number, but then the list of TV series gets huge. You'd think being 2 1/2 years in development they would've caught something dumb like this.
Anyone else experiencing the same issues?
Thanks

I have been having a different problem. When I watch a DVD in Front Row, the remote works fine on the initial DVD menu, but if I select the "bonus material", the remote won't work right on that menu. I can't move the cursor around. If I press up or down it reverts to controlling the volume, and left/right just bring up the progress bar. I have tried this with several different DVD's.

Similar Messages

  • Tiger's Front Row buggy in Snow Leopard

    I never liked Leopard/Snow Leopard's Front Row. It felt very disconnected from the rest of the OS, namely in how it didn't interface with iTunes at all. So I installed Tiger's Front Row (version 1.3.1) in it's place. It does work, but it's buggier than I remember. Often it'll lag for a bit before doing something I told it to (such as enter a menu item/related), and other times it just stops responding altogether. I really don't want to go back to the new Front Row, but at the same time, I don't want to put up with these bugs. I'm fairly certain it's compatibility issues since it hasn't been supported since Tiger, but regardless, I want to know if there's anything I can do. Thanks in advance!

    Have you tried Equinux's MediaCentral:
    http://www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral/index.html
    Message was edited by: a brody

  • 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

  • Playlists not showing up in folders in Front Row 1.2.1

    Just installed the Front Row update on my G5 iMac and I was psyched because I would now be able to see shared music in the Front Row interface. However, I was dismayed to find that no playlists showed up if those playlists were located in playlist folders in iTunes on the remote machine. If you navigate down to a folder that contains playlists and open it, all you see is the long list of files in every playlist that exists in that folder.
    This is crazy and makes Front Row basically unusable for anyone who has playlists located in folders. I make playlists and organize them because I don't want a huge long list of songs and playlists.
    Am I missing something obvious here or is this a bug?
    PowerMac G5 Dual 1.8ghz 2gb RAM Mac OS X (10.4.5) - iMac G5 - TiBook 550 - PowerCenter Pro - Mac SE 30

    Same here. Just unpacked my new iMac Core Duo and installed all of the updates. No music loaded on the iMac yet, but I'm sharing the library from my PowerBook and all of the playlist folders in that library are shown in the same fashion as described above.

  • Front Row & Grab for Tiger

    I am looking for Apple's Front Row application and also the Grab one for OS Tiger. Where can I download these programs? I'm having a hard time finding valid links online.

    HI,
    The only way to use Grab is to purchase the Mac OS X Tiger. These programs are not available for download. Front Row is available on Leopard.
    You might be able to get a Tiger DVD from Apple, *but no guarantees*.
    Tiger is no longer available at the Apple Store but is still available for $129 by calling Apple Phone Sales @ 1-800-MY-APPLE (1-800-692-7753).
    Check out Amazon.
    http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Mac-10-4-Tiger-VERSION/dp/B0002G71T0/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1251360983&sr=8-1
    Before purchasing Tiger make sure your Mac meets the minimum requirements.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514
    Carolyn

  • Aspect Ratio on DVDs through Front Row

    I've been quite encouraged by FR's new acceptance of DVDs as a source (place ripped DVD movie folders into your ~movies folder or aliases to DVD folder... they appear and play in FR). I have it set up so I can browse over 600 DVDs on various remote drives along with the preview picture (place DVD cover image named preview.jpg in the DVD folder, not the VIDEO_TS folder).
    It works great on my 50" Pioneer Elite hooked up to the networked MacMini, and I appear to get surround sound pass through as well.
    The problem is that some DVD's I have are encoded in full screen (but in wide mode) so that the video, while actually in the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, actually appears smaller than the screen so that there is a black border around the entire video. It plays fine, only smaller.
    In DVD player, you can do Video Zoom and fill the screen but FR doesn't seem to offer this functionality. I tried changing the defaults in DVD Player, but that doesn't seem to affect FR.
    Anyone know of a workaround for this? Any help would be much appreciated.

    macguyincali wrote:
    I've been quite encouraged by FR's new acceptance of DVDs as a source (place ripped DVD movie folders into your ~movies folder or aliases to DVD folder... they appear and play in FR). I have it set up so I can browse over 600 DVDs on various remote drives along with the preview picture (place DVD cover image named preview.jpg in the DVD folder, not the VIDEO_TS folder).
    It works great on my 50" Pioneer Elite hooked up to the networked MacMini, and I appear to get surround sound pass through as well.
    The problem is that some DVD's I have are encoded in full screen (but in wide mode) so that the video, while actually in the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, actually appears smaller than the screen so that there is a black border around the entire video. It plays fine, only smaller.
    What you are describing here is 'letterboxed' widescreen. Personally I loath such DVDs and regard them as a stupid mistake by the movie studio. The correct sort of widescreen DVD is known as 'anamorphic'.
    As mentioned, the Leopard DVD player now has the ability to 'zoom' the display to best fit your widescreen TV/Monitor. Unfortunately from what you say Front Row 2.0 (in Leopard) does not remember this or offer the ability to do this. In this case your only current realistic option is to see if your TV has an equivalent mode, my Sony Bravia has a button on the remote that cycles through several zoom options. If your TV has a similar option then it may be the easiest solution.
    Otherwise, a less realistic option is to make your own custom DVD. I have in the past taken a letterboxed recording, cropped the image, and converted it to a proper anamorphic widescreen DVD. I used ffmpegX to do this on a Mac. In theory with a huge amount of work, one could also do this and keep the subtitles, multiple audio tracks and DVD extras but it is a huge amount of work and not all of it can be done using Mac tools, it can be done with the assistance of some free Windows tools, e.g. IfoEdit, and PGCEdit.
    Note: to convert a letterboxed NTSC recording to an anamorphic NTSC DVD, one crops 60 pixels from the top, and 60 pixels from the bottom. You then re-encode it as a standard NSTC DVD resolution of 720x480 but must also tick the option that sets the anamorphic flag. I have not done this with a PAL recording, it is probable that the number of pixels needing to be cropped is different.

  • Front Row unusable on external Displays

    Hello,
    I decided to install Leopard this morning but I have finally decided to go back to my Tiger disk clone and wait for 10.5.1. Leopard is full of problems.. but this message is regarding Front Row.
    Basically!! It's totally unusable with external displays!!
    - No matter which display you set up as primary (by dragging the menu bar in Display Prefs), Front Row will always show up in the laptop LCD.
    - If you decide to mirror de display, instead of extending your desktop, then there's another problem: the video will disappear! Yes, that's right, there's no video output when mirroring the displays, just a black screen with the movie's audio.

    Interestingly enough, I made an "Archive and Install" and FrontRow opened up on my external display. It's quite strange.

  • 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).

  • 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!

  • 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).

  • Front Row Shared Photos unusably slow!

    I have about 36,000 photos in iPhoto. When I share the library, and open it under Front Row, Shared Photos, it is just unusably slow! I have to wait about 5 minutes for the list to come up, even if I opened Front Row on the same machine as the iPhoto library. While this is happening, iPhoto is beach balled, and never becomes usable again, so I have to Force Quit it every time.
    Any suggestions? I've already tried trashing the preferences file.

    Follow iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library and use the bottom 3 repair options.
    It might also be helpful to remove Home > Library > Caches to the trash and restarting the computer.
    ~ Mr. Madison
    Do you have a backup?
    Mac OS X v10.5, v10.6: How to back up and restore your files

  • Front Row in Leopard 'sees' DVD Video TS but wont play t ;-/

    Ok this was a surprise but Front Row now sees Video TS folders, correctly then says opening DVD player then after a minute or so says there is an error press play/pause to exit Front Row...
    So nearly there... anyoone else getting it to play Video_TS ?
    or is this a not there yet feature...

    This is great! I have an external hard drive with all my ripped VIDEO_TS folders on it. It is connected to my Airport Extreme and on the network via Airdisk for sharing. The disk is called "DVDz". I made an alias of the disk and placed it in my Movies folder. For each movie on your disk, first create a folder with the name of the movie, e.g. "Gladiator". In the "Gladiator" movie folder, place a jpeg of the movie cover named "Cover" and a folder called "DVD". In that that "DVD" folder, place the VIDEO_TS folder. If you nest the folders in this fashion, the new Front Row in Leopard will browse your movies and show the cover. Hook up to a projector and 5.1 sound system and you have your Apple HTPC solution. I am loving this! Thanks for listening, Apple!

Maybe you are looking for