Front Row produces screen artefacts

When I search the Front Row discussion forum I find a lot of unhappy users. I for instance cannot understand why Airtunes support was abandoned. Someone in Cupertino must have though: "Hey guys: I have a great idea...".
Anyway: I found another weird bug. When playing music from Front Row, the screens turn black after about 10 minutes. Nothing strange so far. But when the screen is woken, it show block-like artefacts that disappear after about 20 seconds. The artefacts flash with about 1 Hz. What could be wrong?

Someone in Cupertino must have though: "Hey guys: I have a great idea...".
Since this is a user-to-user forum and none of us work for Apple, we can't really speculate about why this decisions was made, if there even was one. You can continue to use iTunes directly to play your music through AirTunes.
When playing music from Front Row, the screens turn black after about 10 minutes.
In the Front Row "Settings" menu, have you disabled Front Row's own screen saver?
-Doug

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Front Row black screen bug

I have a weird problem while running Front Row on my PowerBook 17''. Once I run Front Row, an intermittent black screen comes with it. If I don't move my mouse for a few seconds the screen goes out. Notice that I'm using the external DVI connection to an external monitor in Mirror Mode.
Best regards.

Is this what you are seeing...?
Front Row: Photos will not play if nested in another folder or album
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302567

Front row - black screen with audio

I recently installed Leopard on my old iBook.
When i start Front row, I can see the menus , trailer list, movie list etc., but when i play anything, the screen goes blank, i can see a progress bar moving(which auto-hides), and audio is also OK, but there is no video.the screen just goes blank and remains that way.
I have perian installed on my machine and all videos work OK in quicktime, VLC etc.
any possible solutions for this? has anyone else also faced this issue ?
thanks.

I can get a picture with Quicktime...but if I try to get enlarge the screen, the picture often becomes corrupted. I'm just rather annoyed that I spent $40 on this series and am having these issues. I only downloaded iTunes because there was no other option of getting this show. I've waited 24 years to see the entire "Liberty Stone" Mini-series (there was a problem with the tapes DIC released and they were missing eps)...so this just feels like a taunt.
I'm hoping this gets fixed quickly. It sounds like there is a lack of standardization with the DRM being used on these files.

Imac 27" when i try to watch a dvd on front row the screen goes black.

is this supposed to happen and it stays black and nothing pops up i waited for like a minute and nothing happened so i just quit out of front row.

No that shouldn't happen. Part of the problem may be that you are still running 10.6.2, you should run Software Update (is under the  in the upper left of your screen) and bring it up to 10.6.5. To update correctly do a backup first! I'm not kidding, backup first! To update quickly though use the Combo Updater located here. Also if you haven't you should run Repair Disk Permissions (Applications, Utilities, Disk Utility) and finally it probably would help you to do both a SMC and PRAM reset. Finally if you are in the habit of turning off the computer when you're done for the day you should leave it on 24/7 as Apple suggests in your owners manual, it only needs to sleep when inactive.
Directions for SMC & PRAM resets are:
_SMC RESET_
• Shut down the computer.
• Unplug the computer's power cord.
• Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
• Release the power button.
• Attach the computers power cable.
• Press the power button to turn on the computer.
_PRAM RESET_
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
• Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
• Release the keys.
Roger

Question about front row and screen saver

I just got my Imac 20 inch screen computer. I've done every thing the directions say about starting my screen saver but it just wont start. Also in my itunes music library, that little remote control that lets your music play automatically while showing the album covers for the songs that are playing. Thats called front row. I see in preferences in front row that it says my screen saver is on but still it wont show my screen saver of which I chose from the apple menu. And front row only plays a few of my songs from my itunes library. Most of the songs, when I am trying to let them play automatically from the remote, will not play. When I try to click on a song from the remote that is not playing I get this sighn that says "front row cannot play this song. Return to Menu". All the songs in my Itunes library play fine when playing them directly from the library. It just seems like this "front row" thing is not working properly. Any one got any suggestions?
Thanks

I think I can verify that the screensaver should NOT be activating during a (DVD at least) movie; I've watched several without any screensaver intervention. Apple's been smart enough to disable the screensaver during DVD playback for quite some time - my brother was surprised when his Windows box at work interrupted his DVD with the screensaver.
However, the screensaver (and password) did activate during FR iTunes play today. That was fine until I needed to pause playback and take a phone call. Can't pause without entering password, so I just closed the MBP's lid to put it to sleep. Annoying. Clearly, there are folks who'd prefer the screensaver never start when FR is active. Other security-minded folks might feel differently; fine, give us a preference pane.
As my brother likes to say, whenever faced with the rare Apple problem, "Fix it Steve!" (Neither of us bother with "Fix it Bill," we know that's futile.)
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.7)
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Macbook and TV - Front row controls.

I'm connecting my Macbook to TV through MiniDVI - S-video and i am working with front row with it and it works fine.
My question is... Is there a way that i can turn on Front Row on screen of my TV while having normal desktop screen on my MacBook? I thought i could turn this on by turning off "mirror screen" but it still shows Front Row on both screens?

No, Front Row takes over. One screen will be dark while Front Row is running in the other screen.
-Doug

Front Row Appears & Disappears...

When I press cmd+esc or use the apple remote to start front row, the screen briefly fades into the black screen that normally happens when front row begins but it then that instantly fades back onto my normal screen, it seems that front row begins but then aborts.
Has anyone had this problem or know how to solve it?
Im using latest version of leopard and have reinstalled front row latest software update to no effect.
Cheers,
Steve

my apologies, found out the answer, read an answer to a previous discussion and found out that i was running a custom screen saver that front row didnt like so had to take it off. hope that sorted it out if anyone else had a similar problem

Front Row Scrolling Error

When scrolling the Front Row menu screens with my Apple Remote, the
every other line is skipped. I've had this problem for several years
with my iMac (iSight) 20 " and have been unable to get any leads
regarding the solution of the problem.
Any insights greatly appreciated,

It went down or up two at a time with no pause while it behaved normally when using the keyboard. After pruning my hard drive of little used applications and files prior to migrating to my new iMac 27" i7, this aberrant behavior stopped and the problem on the iMac G5 is now resolved. Unfortunately, I don't know what the conflicting app was. Thanks for your response Watanabe-san.

Why do I get a black screen in front row when watching some iTunes store purchases? esp Cars 2

We bought Cars 2 a few months ago from the iTunes store. The movie won't work in Front Row, we only get a black screen (except for the blue Front Row controls at the bottom) although the audio comes through just fine. The annoying part is all of our other iTunes store movies work fine in Front Row. Just Cars 2 is broken. I don't think that it is an authorisation problem because it plays okay in iTunes, Quicktime, even via airplay to an appleTV or via Home Sharing to our iPad.
The movie is only standard definition so I am guessing that it is not an HDCP issue; I understand that there is only HDCP on HD movies. We are playing it on a Mac Mini (core 2 duo) on a Sony Bravia via a VGA connector.
After a little bit of complaining, apple let us download the movie again in case the file was corrupted, but unfortunately the same problem with the new version.
The computer did have Perian installed at one point, but uninstalling and restarting made no difference.
I have found lots of reports of movies with missing picture in Front Row but these are all ripped videos, never with an iTunes Store purchase.
Apple won't refund our money as the purchase was more than 60 days ago by the time I gave up troubleshooting and reported the problem.

Yeah! Problem solved: It's a QT issue.
Cause: Mac Update Software downloaded a faulty QT.
Solution: Download QT from Apple's QT site.
Great to have the Video back

Is there any way to change the screen resolution in Front Row?

Hi all,
I've got a Mac Mini plugged in to my TV, and I want to be able to change the screen resolution depending on the content I'm watching (as some content is in 4:3 aspect ratio, some is in 16:9, and I'd prefer to have the picture filling the screen completely). Unfortunately, the TV doesn't have a "stretch" mode for making an 4:3 picture fit a 16:9 aspect ratio. If I know what I want to watch in advance, I can set the resolution accordingly using system prefs on the mac, but if I'm just sitting back choosing what to watch with the Apple Remote, it's annoying to have to leave front row, walk over to the computer and change resolution once I've decided what to watch, open system prefs, change resolution, re-launch Front Row and find what I wanted to watch again.
So I was wondering if anyone had figured a way to allow the screen resolution to be switched from within the FrontRow UI. I've seen that people have written python based plug-ins such as PyeTV and Understudy that allow different types of content to be added to FrontRow, but I've not found any utility plug-ins such as what I'm looking for on the net (nor could I find SDK documentation on this API in the stuff that comes with XCode).
I guess the other approach might be quick keys: has anyone had any success hooking up quick keys macros alongside front row in response to apple remote events? (seems too few events to be able to choose from, but I've never tried it, so I won't assume!) Or how about is there a way to trigger an AppleScript from within Front Row? And, of course, I'm very open to any other ideas you might have!
Thanks very much in advance for any ideas on this.
Andy
Message was edited by: Andy__D

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), set a good rez there.

White screen when activating front row?

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this problem. I have my mac mini going dvi/hdmi into my receiver(onkyo 605) then HDMI into my tv (LG 720P). Front row works fine when I first start up, but if the computer goes to sleep, after I wake it front row goes to a white screen if I call it up.
Has anyone seen this? I think it has something to do with my receiver. It has an upscaling feature, but I'm not sure if that's the problem, or if it's the fact that the EDID gets lost when it sleeps. The screen loses the signal if the mac mini goes to sleep, but I can get it back on by switching some things on and off with out restarting the computer. I've tried taking the mini straight into the tv, bypassing the receiver, and it doesn't have the same problem, as far as I could tell in my brief test.
Any insight would be really appreciated
thanks
Ted

i have had the same issue once in a long while. dont know the cause though. i just restart when it happens.

Front Row gives me a white screen when activated

Hello
When I activate Front Row with my remote, the whole screen turns white. I can hear the sounds, and I can hear the interface working, but the screen is blank white.
How can I fix this?
---------------------S

i have had the same issue once in a long while. dont know the cause though. i just restart when it happens.

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.

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

Can't use my screen saver while using front row for music?

When I work I have my computer on the desk next to me, usually I have music playing and my very large image library running through my screen saver. I used to be able to start up my music using the remote, going through front row. I'd start up the music and back out. It would just return to my screen saver at that point.
Now when I try to do that, I can't back out of front row without also backing out of my music. It's kind of annoying... I mean, I can just start up itunes and go from there, but it was a nice function that I really got used to.
Does anyone know of a setting that I can adjust that would allow me to do this again?
Thanks

The way it used to work, I'd already have my screen saver running, I'd open front row from my remote, and just start up itunes through that. I'd never actually see the itunes app because it would just open on the toolbar. As soon as I backed out of front row it would automatically go right back to the screen saver while still playing my music. All from across the room.
Now I have to go over to my computer, open up itunes, start that up, windowshade it to the dock, then hot corner my screen saver again. All sitting right at the desk.
It was a nice convenience. I don't understand the loss. At least give us the option to open it in the background in preferences. I've always appreciated the fact that Apple let us use our computers the way we like. This just seems counterintuitive.

Front Row produces screen artefacts

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