Front row on 'power pc'

ive seen people running front row on the powerbooks and iBooks which "shouldn't" be doing that
Is this possible to do and if so how...

It is possible, but not recommended neither supported by apple. It is a hack, so you should keep in mind that it can mean a risk to your computer. However, if you are sure you want to do it just google "front row enabler" and you will get your answer.
Luis

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Big Mini Trouble with DVD and Front Row

Set-Up
I am trying to use my mac mini as a media centre connected to a 42" sharp aquos 1080HD, for sound i use a 5.1 bose speaker set-up, which is irrelevant to my problem, but the mac interfaces with a yamaha rxv661B 7.1 channel digital home theatre receiver, via DVI to HDMI and sound through head phone to RCA set-up that will soon be upgraded to optical. All connected to the appropriate DVD channels on the recevier, video goes to the TV via HDMI. My set-up has no DVD player other than the super drive on the mac mini, the only other input is a Bell ExpressVu 9200 PVR.
My Problem
1. Playing DVDs the brightness on the picture fluctuates in a very regular wave like pulse. What am I doing wrong?
2. Front Row Crashes the computer whenever I try to access any of the movie files. The files play fine when accessed directly or through itunes but crash the system in front row. DVDs play, and the online movie clips play, and music and picture content are no problem.
Any help would be much appreciated
As an aside does anyone know if youtube will be available to non Apple-TV front row users, as well?
Mini 1.83 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 12" Powerbook G4

Everything is plugged into a three pronged plug using a relatively sophisticated surge protecting power bar, but you may be on to something, the power bar has a light to indicate if it is properly grounded and that has not lit up since its been in use, perhaps the outlet isn't properly grounded, I live in a recently renovated 100yr old home.
As for the files they are a mixture of mpg, mov and a number of m4v (that might be my postal not a file format) I mean the ipod format, a lot of the video files I produce I put directly into the ipod ready format.

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

Problems with new MacBook Pro when using Front Row

I posted this in the MacBook Pro forum, but someone suggested I post it here, so here goes...
I just picked up a new 15" MacBook Pro 2.4 last night. I was very excited, as I've wanted one for a while now, but when I tried to watch a dvd in Front Row a few strange things happened that I've never seen anyone post about on this board.
First, when I selected play from the DVD's menu, Front Row quit. I launched it again and everything seemed fine as the dvd was now playing, but then I noticed that the backlit keyboard would light up and turn off every minute or two. This went on for the whole time I was watching the disc... about a couple of hours... the keys would light up then they'd be unlit and then light up again.
Finally, while I was watching the dvd the screen went blank... there was still audio, but no picture to go along with it. After I touched the trackpad the video came back. This happened a couple of times.
I don't think it should matter, but I'll also mention that I was using the MacBook Pro on battery while all this happened.
So, has anyone else experienced these issues? I tried looking through all the posted topics, but couldn't find anything related to my experience with Front Row. I'm debating on whether I should exchange my MacBook Pro as I may just have a lemon.
If anyone has any advice/tips I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

I would be curious to know if the same kinds of things happen when you are using the AC power? It's possible that the ambient light was just at the point where the keyboard backlight would turn on and different parts of the movie would make it just light or just dark enough to turn the backlight on or off...
-Doug

Stuck with Front Row

My mother was trying to email two simple jpg files from "Documents" folder. I don't know what she clicked. She ended up with Front Row stuck on her screen. Could not exit. Mouse did not work, neither was the keyboard. She also remembered hearing excessive HDD scratching.
When she described the problem, I did not understand because I've never seen Front Row. I had to drive clear across the town to help her out.
I had to yank off the power in the back. Then boot. Everything is a o.k. now.
How could one end up with Front Row? Especially from an email environment?

Alex DeSlim wrote:
My mother...
How could one end up with Front Row? Especially from an email environment?
That is expected behavior from mothers
btw - instead of "yanking out" the main, you could just hold down the power button on the Mac until it shuts off.
-mj

Sony Bravia showing off Front Row is it real or rigged?

That's a Sony Bravia kdlv40a12u showing off Front Row on the new Mini's marketing pages (see link below). I know because I've got that model (there's a possibility it's the TV's smaller 32-inch sibling).
http://www.apple.com/macmini/frontrow.html
After my new Mini (duo) is done with its world courier tour I am hoping I'll just be able to plug it in (DVI to HDMI since there's no VGA socket on the TV anyway) and it'll work just as well the one on the Mini's marketing pages APPEARS to be working. BUT having read all of traffic about the difficulties people are having getting their HDTVs to plug and play nice out of the box, I am beginning to wonder. I read some of the press reports of the Intel Mini's launch and it was reported that Stevie's boys and girls were using the Bravia to show off the Mini in one or the "rooms". If anybody has successfully plugged and played with this combination, please post reassuance. If you've had to tweak with Displayconfigx or SwitchRes, please can you post your timings. If non of the above, I'll let you know how I get on. I have to admit to a sinking feeling since I did try with a PPC Mini and gave up after hours and hours of borrowing and guessing Displayconfigx settings.
Thanks
G5 and Power Book G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5) Lots of other bits

Why couldn't it be the 26" model?
You should be fine - DVI to HDMI is simply a pin
format change - the signals are preserved so nothing
more expensive than some copper is needed for that
cable to work (That being said, some of the list
prices are staggering for DVI-HDMI cables)
Could be the 26". I was going by the size of the Mini next to it. Apparently SJ thinks they look "nice".
I've tested the 26" XBR model with a new intel mini -
works out of the box. (Other than turning off the
overscan which was enabled by default - I prefer to
see my dock and menu bar rather than have video fill
every pixel...)
Thanks for input (no pun intended given we are talking about DVI to HDMI!). The Mini is now in the Netherlands, so it's getting closer all the time. When it arrives I'll plug it in and let readers of this thread how it goes, looks etc. I too am not fanatical about filling every last pixel as long as those that are used are giving their all in terms of clarity.
Cheers

AppleTV or Mac Mini with Front Row?

I'm trying to decide whether to get an Apple TV, or a Mac Mini running Front Row. Cost is not the main issue. I live in The Netherlands where Apple has no movie rental service. I have a large DVD collection that I am slowly ripping to an external hard disk for use in iTunes. Any thoughts on which is the better approach?

Yes - I had actually stumbled across Plex since posting my original question and have been playing with it on my iMac. It is very nice indeed and a whole load more functional than Front Row yet with a very nice user interface. The information and graphics it automatically downloads on movies in your library is especially impressive. Apple would do well to consider taking over this project and incorporating it into the next release of Front Row and Apple TV! Incidentally, I see that it is a port of the popular XBMC application, that started life as the open source home theatre application for the X-Box, but has since gone on to be the main home theatre applications for Linux. Indeed, Plex has swung it for me - it is a class above what the Apple TV can provide and justifies the extra expense of the Mac Mini. In terms of user interface, it is no more difficult to use than Front Row, but because of the power of system it is more complex to set up (but not by any means impossible). Integration with the iLife apps is automatic.

Front Row versus iTunes

Upgraded my G5 dual 1.8 tower to Leopard. Couldn't wait to use Front Row on the 30" Apple Cinema Display.
Heart-broken to discover that all my movies and tv shows from my iTunes library are practically unwatchable when played through Front Row. The video barely holds itself together, looking as if it were streaming video playing through a slow internet connection, rather than from a file sitting in my internal hard drive's iTunes library.
So why do those same videos play flawlessly in full screen when I play them through iTunes?
It couldn't be the video card... It's an ATI x800, with 256MBs of VRAM.
Could Front Row be such a memory hog that it needs more than the 2.5GBs of RAM I already have just to play video files from my internal drive smoothly?
Could it be that Front Row requires so much processing power that the G5's dual 1.8 processors just aren't fast enough?
Obviously, If the solution is more RAM, my problem can be solved. If it's processing power, I'm screwed.
Does anyone know why Front Row can't play video on my system when iTunes plays it perfectly?
Thanks in advance!

Wow. Good question, Doug. Yes, playing the files through Quicktime full screen produces the same stutter effect. Not as bad as through Front Row, but bad enough to notice. What does that mean?
P.S. Yes, these are all movies & TV shows I bought from the iTunes store. (Lost, Rosemary's Baby, The Office, etc.)

Front Row video tearing problem - please post your config here

Reopening the thread because the previous one is locked!!!
IEnumVariant Mac OS X (10.4.4) IErrorInfo
Click here for the details http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=346352&tstart=15

I recieved my 20" iMac today and am having the same issue.
Specs:
As stock except with 256MB VRAM and 1GB RAM (factory installed).
Ordered 25th Jan.
Recieved 3rd Feb.
Problem appears with Front Row, Real Player, iCal and possibly others I haven't tried. I'm reluctant to install software and migrate data from my Mac mini because of this issue.
I've run the hardware test. Passed.
I've left the iMac unplugged for 30min.
I've reset the PRAM by unplugging the iMac, waiting 1min, then plugging it back in while holding the power button.
Nothing has worked. I haven't called Apple yet but I plan to.
iMac 20" Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Front row or vlc

Hi,
I am stil exploring my new MBP and i found out that to play avi files in front row i have to download perian, although i can still play .avi movies in vlc. zso i wanted to know if there is any difference in watching in front row and vlc in terms of video quality or anything else.
Regards

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
It might help to know in what way the 1.25 eMac suffers horribly in this situation, because in reality, the media centre functions of a system don't require particularly high performance or system specifications. For example, I have a 1.5 G4 mini hooked up to a TV, use Front Row to play mp4 movie files and either VLC or DVD player to play DVDs and it performs pretty well. The quality of image of the mp4 playback depends on settings when the files were ripped more than anything, and the overall quality of image depends a lot on the TV rather than the system.
It must be said that the almost any of the Intel minis is considerably more powerful than your eMac, but in itself, power isn't necessarily the answer!

Displaying Front Row on TV Instead of Computer

I've connected my computer to my HD TV using a DVI-to-HDMI cable, however, even when I set the TV to be the main monitor, when I launch Front Row, it comes up on my laptops screen. How do I make it come up on my TCV screen?

You must have a third party hack like "Insomnia" installed. According to Apple, when you close the lid of a portable Apple computer, it should go to sleep. However, if you have an external keyboard (USB or Bluetooth) attached/paired, AC power plugged in and an external monitor connected then you can wake the computer.
If you have AC power and an external monitor plugged in, you should be able to wake the computer with the Apple remote. This is not documented by Apple, but people here in this forum have had it work.
In addition, people here have reported that they must restart after moving the menubar to the TV to make it the "main" screen before Front Row in Mac OS X 10.5 will recognize this configuration.
-Doug

Recommend a device to make Front Row work on a non intel- G-5?

Can anyone recommend a device to make Front Row work on a non intel- G-5?
I want to hook up my old power pc (non-intel) G-5 to my new Sony with an HDMI cable and use
front row to access home movies stored on the computer.
thanks

Front Row is included with Mac OS X 10.5.x (Leopard) for all Macs.
-Doug

Front Row - distorted audio

Since installing Leopard, the new Front Row plays audio in a distorted manor. The track timing is fine just the sound is hideous. I fear it has insulted my Bowers and Wilkins somewhat I noticed iTunes had an enhanced audio mode, not sure how long that one has been there, but have turned it off. Although now Front Row seems independent of iTunes, unlike before where you could switch between a iTunes and Front Row and the track would remain playing. So this suggests there must be some audio settings for Front Row? But where are they?
I hope someone would be as kind to have a look into this for me.
Something not strictly unrelated...I have noticed when plugging a USB device or my MBP into TV, I get really bad interference on the audio. It's not like any of the cables are touching. I have tried with the power cable unplugged too but it's still there.

Thanks for your diligence. I'm going to go ahead and mark this resolved because I think the answer was pretty much obvious from the beginning, viz., that Front Row is lost to us now. I was hoping there would be some kind of fix, but that was just wishful thinking.
Maybe if I had taken precautions the same way you did, maybe then I would be able to restore iTunes 10 and would be able to use Front Row a little while longer. But in over 20 years of being a Mac user, I've never felt it necessary to take such precautions before an update/upgrade of Apple software in the event I would be truly dissatisfied with the new version or would actually lose functionality. So even if I had backups, I've never downgraded software before and don't even know how.
The truth is, if it hadn't been iTunes 11 that broke Front Row for me, it would have been something else eventually. And since Snow Leopard is now 2 generations behind and I'm going to have to trade up at some point, I might as well admit defeat and forget about Front Row.
Apple wins this round, but I'll be more prepared next time so I don't get screwed out of a perfectly good application.

Front Row Gone?

i've never used it but today i finally busted out my remote and hit menu and front row did now work. hmm. could it just not be installed. where would i find this and can i just install it by itself?

First, try pressing Apple-esc on the keyboard to activate Front Row without the remote.
Does that work? If so, then the issue is either with your remote or the IR receiver. Does the IR receiver appear as an item listed in the USB section of the System Profiler? (You can find the System Profiler in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder.) Have you replaced the remote's battery to make sure there's power?
If the keyboard command doesn't work, there are still a couple of things to try. You might create a new user with the Accounts System Preferences. Log out and log in as the new user. Does the keyboard command work? Does the remote work?
-Doug

How do I uninstall Front Row Enabler (Andrew Escobar) ??

hey everybody
im on a powerbook g4 (power pc) and on 10.4.7
i did that stupid andrew escobar - Front Row Enabler so I could have Front Row on my non-infared powerbook.
it seemed like a cool idea for awhile, now i am in desperate need to update to 10.4.11.
it says in many forums that if you install any 10.4.8 - 10.4.11, front row's bezel patches will crash your computer into a blue screen and you will not be able to login.
i am nervous to update, but i am in desperate need to. does anyone here know how to uninstall this Front Row Enabler? if you would be so kind, that would be great.
thanks,
smitt

actually i answered my own question
i located the front row app, deleted it
then i redownloaded my 10.4.7 PPC pkg from Apple
then using pacifist (free DL at versiontracker) i extracted the 2 bezel files (that front row enabler patched to get Front Row to work on a non-Front Row working machine)
i then replaced the corrupted 2 bezel files with the original 10.4.7 bezel files (non-patched) and simply restarted and now it allowed me to update to 10.4.11
here's the specific instructions, smittay
Manually Uninstalling Front Row:
1. Delete Front Row (/System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app).
2. Download Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Combo PPC from Apple.
3. Open the disk image
4. Download Pacifist and copy application to the Application folder.
5. Use Pacifist to open the Mac OS X Update Installer package file (which ends in .pkg)
6. Search for “bezel” and install only these two specific files folders:
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BezelServices.framework/
/System/Library/LoginPlugins/BezelServices.loginPlugin/
7.Restart.

Front row on 'power pc'

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