Front Row screen shows up randomly

On a pretty regular basis, the Front Row menu takes over my screen. I'm not doing anything that seems to make this happen; the mouse isn't going to some corner and activating it and I'm not pressing some key combo.
It's really annoying. Anyone?

Command-Esc will activate it... there is slight delay, may be it's why you think you're not doing anything.... or could it be another user in the room with a remote that you're mac is picking up?

Similar Messages

How do I get music videos that I have to show up on the Front Row Screen

I have a bunch of music videos and tv show that I have obtianed that are .avi files that Itunes wont recognize. With out converting the formats in all of them, is there any way that I can get Itunes to recognize them or change the folder that "Music Videos" and "TV Shows" is linked to so that I can see these files from Front Row??

You might want to try installing 3ivx and Divx. They certainly seem to have sorted out my avi-related problems. VLC also plays back most video formats (why can't Apple make Quicktime as good?).
If you're still having difficulty, using a program such as iSquint to convert the files is always an option.
Once you have the right CODECs installed, if the files are in your iTunes library, you should be able to play them in Front Row. Although as I recall, only TV shows purchased through iTunes will show up in the "TV Shows" menu.

Ver. 9 slow messed up Front Row, TV Shows show up missing, display issues

Ever since I've upgraded to iTunes 9 on Snow Leopard, it's been a constant joke.
-Launching it randomly consumes 100% CPU and sometimes I end up having to force quit. This problem did not exist on older versions. I repaired permissions, repaired disk, built a new iTunes library but to no avail. Same beach ball of doom.
-TV Shows in my iTunes database are showing up as Movies in Front Row even though they're correctly categorized and labeled as TV Shows and not Movies.
-When I woke up this morning, TV Shows (I might add, TV Shows not purchased through iTunes Store) are showing up as missing. If I click the file, it plays but I have to go through all 2500+ episodes showing up this way to remove that annoying icon saying the file is missing.
-I have it setup where the TV Show always played on a separate monitor set to fit to screen. Previous versions of iTunes did this with no problem but nope version 9. Not only does each episode restart on the main monitor, it plays as "original size" meaning every time I try to watch a few episodes I have to get up and click the mouse a few times to get it working properly.
Snow Leopard has left a sour taste in my mouth but iTunes 9 is really making me begin to think Apple doesn't care about quality software anymore. They need to get over this NDA nonsense and have a real beta testing program to squash these bugs before they turn millions of users into their beta testers. When Microsoft puts out software that looks stable in comparison to Apple's software as of late, there's a problem going on. Case and point, Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard
Apple: The New Microsoft

So like I said before Apple hasn't made a fix for this but there is a work around...and yes I've tested it but only with one file. Go to http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10443786#10443786 it has a step by step and if you have lot it's going to be kind of time consuming.

Front Row & Screen Saver

I wish the screen saver would not come on until the slide show or music is finished. I hate set my aquarium for such a long time just so I can use Front Row without interruption.
David
P.S. I have Hot Corner at upper left set to dissable, but does not help.

You can make a hot corner start the screen saver. That way its really easy to shove your mouse over to the side when you leave your computer. You can also make a hot corner disable the screen saver for when you want to use front row.

Any way to get Front Row to show video playlists such as TV shows?

I can get AppleTV now to show the TV show playlists in iTunes as their own menu items. However, I can't seem to get Front Row in 10.6 to do the same thing.
I currently have iTunes 8.2.1 in 10.6.0. Is this something either upgrading to 10.6.1 or iTunes 9 will enable?

Front Row users have been waiting for this option since video playlists first appeared in iTunes quite some time ago. Unfortunately, I've never been able to make it work. Why Apple can't enable what seems like a simple options is beyond me. My iPod nano can do it but Front Row on my Mac can't. I'd advise you to send Apple some Mac OS X feedback since there's no specific form for Front Row itself:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
-Doug

FRONT ROW TV SHOWS HELP!

i currently record tv shows onto my mac. the problem is... when i covert the file to iTunes, i put the genre as TV SHOW and even the SETTINGS as TV SHOW. the file doesn't even show up on the TV show section of FRONT ROW. is there a way to put that video in the TV SHow section? it would really help me if you can answer this very frustrating issue with my few months old iMac.

You didn't say how you get your TV shows into your mac. I use EyeTV so decided to play around with this. I EXPORTED a recorded TV show from EyeTV and chose the "for iTunes" format. The resulting .m4a file, I dragged into my Music folder. From there Frontrow would display it but when I played it (using the Music selection in Frontrow and then looking under "Songs") I only got the sound, no video.
Next I re-EXPORTED from EyeTV, this time in "for iMovie" format and it produced a folder. Inside that folder was another folder labelled "Media" and within that was a file "Clip 01.dv". I dragged that to my Movies folder. From there Frontrow would play it (sound and video) using the Videos selection and then looking under "Movies". Quality wasn't as great as I hoped, but maybe when exporting, you could try one of the other formats in the pulldown. (I tried the Quicktime Movie choice with no obvious improvment but perhaps others would give different results.

Front Row TV Show menu gets confused and jumps back

I recently upgraded my Intel Mac mini to Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Leopard). Front row seems to get confused as I browse through my TV Shows menu. For instance, if I scroll down to "Heroes" (season 2) the select bar seems to jump to "Grey's Anatomy" on it's own. After it does this it also confuses the artwork for the shows.
I've only found one instance of this issue doing a Google search, but nothing here in Apple discussion forums. Has anyone dealt with this successfully.?

Still waiting

Front Row TV Shows in Movie folder!!??

Why are my TV shows showing up in my Movies folder when I use Front row, they are in the TV show Folder when i am in iTunes??
This started with the last itunes update, never had the problem before.
Thanks, Mark

*As fireflip suggested*,
+For 10.5.8 and iTunes 9 at least, select the show(s) and change the media kind to "Podcast" by getting info then going to "Options". Quit iTunes and restart then change media kind back to TV Show and restart again. They will now show up correctly in Front Row...+
joemaurice wrote:
I just did this and now i cannot change them back to TV shows, it will not process them. I can change them to Music and then back to Podcast but not back to TV shows or Movies.
Would approach this tip with caution
Everything fireflip suggested is correct Except that *+each file must be changed indivdually+*, no batch-editing here. I tried that and had to trash them all, then re-import them from my external HD. Also, I don't remember if I needed to close iTunes and reopen it before changing back to TV shows (I think all I had to do is close out the info dialog box, then reopen it to change back to TV). You may want to try it both ways.

Front Row not showing playlists

On my MacBook I have my playlists in iTunes in folders. In Front Row all the folders show up under playlists, and when selected they show the playlists in them, EXCEPT for the first folder of playlists - it lists all the songs in all the playlists within that folder instead.
Anyone else had this problem? Any solution?

I have this same problem. My guess is that everyone does, whether they know it or not.
My 'workaround' is to create a folder with a name that will make it always first, and put in some playlists that you don't care are not displayed in sub-playlists in Front Row.
I know, weak workaround, but at least the folders that do matter will show up properly.
Was hoping latest Front Row update (1.3) would fix this, but problem still there.

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

Showing photos with Front Row without iPhoto

I love Apple, but frankly I cannot stand iPhoto. With the 2011 release, I tried another time to use it but trashed it a couple hours after.
I have all my picture simply into the Finder, inside a Dropbox folder which keeps them in sync amongst several macs of mine.
So I would like to know whether there is a way to use Front Row to show pictures without using iPhoto.
The best way for me would be to access directly the Finder or the file system. But I could also evalueate using other software, as long as they automatically sync their library with the content of the file system.
Any hint / idea / help?
I had thought of making a movie with the pictures, but that would be too unconfortable...
Thank you.

Hi,
I have got the same problem, i used to see the my pictures from all the events in the iphoto, but i think after some SL update i can only hear the slideshow music but no pictures.
I don't exactly remember when front row broke down because i do not use it regularly to watch pictures, i only use it to watch movie trailers, which still works fine.
Hope someone can help.
Cheers

Setting slide show music in iPhoto doesn't change slide music in Front Row

When I try and view slide shows in Front Row, I always get the same classical music.
I have searched the internet and most suggestions tell you to change the settings in iPhoto and this will be mirrored in Front Row - but this isnt working?
Does anyone have a simple way of changing the Front Row slide show settings?
Thanks

MidwestPaul :
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. You might try exporting to Quicktime and then add the resulting QT movie to iDVD and see if the timing remains intact.
Are you using the KB effect or multiple transitions in the slideshow? If not I find that I get better quality slideshows by building them in iDVD from the stills. That way I can add titles and/or comments to each slide if so desired, get the music to sync as it should (I like to add a blank, black slide a the end so the music ends in that slide). Downside: no KB effect and only one transition. Upside, better forward and backward control of the slideshow, better quality of the slides and all slides can be scaled to the TV Safe area so none of the image is lost to the TV Over-scan.

Randomly opens front row

I'll be doing things like typing in adium of surfing around online when all of a sudden (on my no apple remote g5) front row will kill what ever music is playing in itunes and the front row screen will come on. i can't figure out what is causing front row to open unexpectedly.
any ideas?

No ATI Remote thingy. I am using SizzlingKeys which remaps some of the function keys so I can control iTunes... but this shouldn't be a problem.
I have deactivated the default shortcut for FrontRow (Cmd-ESC) of course.

Front row in Lion 10.7 issue (-70012) and video_ts not playing issue -solved

Hi all,
thought I just post my solution to the front row issues in 10.7. I looked for a solution for days, and when I found it, I thought it would make other peoples live easier if I combine everything in one post.
I actually had a couple of issues:
PROBLEM:
first front row stopped playing VIDEO_TS files in 10.6.
the second issue occurred when I thought upgrading to 10.7 would solve the issue; Front row still couldn't play the VIDEO_TS, because FRONT ROW was gone...
SYMPTOMS:
both issues always showed the same symptoms:
when a dvd-back folder was selected, front row would show a black screen, and then, caused by my frantic pushing the ESC button, front row would give me the dvd player not valid -70012 error.
CAUSE:
so what happened? I chose to buy my MBP 17" with the smallest HDD (yep sorry, was cheap-s-ing). Then later that year, I decided to buy the HDD caddy and switch my internal superdrive for a SSD. I ended up placing the original HDD in the hdd caddy, which I then put in the Superdrive's slot, and I placed the SSD in the slot where the original HDD was residing first. I now had a MBP 17" late 2011, with vertex3 SSD. I forgot, I also put in 16 GB, replacing the 8 GB.
So, when I back-upped all my favorite DVDs as VIDEO_TS files, (no I did not download dvds through usenet), grabbed the popcorn, and started Front Row, the disappointment began. No VIDEO_TS file would play, always the same -70012 error message. So after a lot of internet research I stumbled upon a guy who said: yeah, you have to upgrade to 10.7. After the upgrade my FRONT ROW was gone.
SOLUTIONS:
In 10.6:
As Apple's DVD player is always looking for the internal dvd player as a prerequisite to start, Front Row, which uses Apple's DVD player as video player, will throw up the -70012 error. 'Cause it finds the HDD in the HDD Caddy instead of the SuperDrive. So in 10.6 (and in 10.7 also) you can use the following solution:
(I got this solution partial from http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20070591-263.html)
1: modify the DVDPlayback framework that the DVD Player uses so that it will recognize external drive as a valid DVD playback device. (The HDD Caddy came with an external casing for the SuperDrive)
2: download a hex editor (I used Hexedit 220 from http://hexedit.sourceforge.net/ )
3: Go to the folder /System/Library/Frameworks/ and back up the file "DVDPlayback.framework."
4: Open Hexedit_220 and use it to open the following file:/System/Library/Frameworks/DVDPlayback.framework/Versions/A/DVDPlayback.
5: Using the editor's find&replace through COMMAND-F, replace "Internal" with the text "External" and save the file. Note that Hexedit also saves a backup automatically.
6: Close the file once saved, and then run a permissions fix on the boot drive using Disk Utility. Then restart the system and you should now be able to play DVDs off the external drive using DVD Player. That is, If you use an external dvd player (which I don't use).
7: I inserted a very small USB stick in the MBP with no data on it, and Front Row and Apple DVD Player accepted this. I could now play my backupped DVDs.
ofcourse, I still wanted to upgrade to 10.7, so here's the solution to 10.7
10.7:
upgrading was a simple click with the mouse, worked like a charm, Office still worked, and some minor updates installed through software.
Front Row however, gone...
I used the steps outlined in http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/21/front-row-for-mac-os-x-lion/ to get Front Row back:
- first get the package from Madhatter: Download the free package installer by MacHatter
- install, or customize the install
- all done.
Then I used the steps from step 3 through 7 outlined above in solution 10.6.
Catch:
So I did not find a solution to fooling the DVD Player / Front Row with the USB stick. So everytime I watch VIDEO_TS in Front Row the USB stick must be inserted. But, the good news, I can still use my remote control for something.
Hope I helped some guys out there with this solution.
Regards,
Johnno

The issue has previously hit Apple TV owners. I think people came to the conclusion that it was a HDMI handshake problem. Basically the process where the device and TV greet each other, make up some rules about communicationg and what their secret key is and so on.
I haven't tried this yet, but my local service center says that basically I can do one of two things:
- Downgrade to 10.7 and then download the 10.7.1 update from Apples website. To do this without having a Mac OS X Lion disc, you can hold down CMD + R when the computer boots to be able to access the recovery partition on newer Macs that come without the OS disc.
or..
- Put something in between the computer and TV. For example, if you're using an amplifier as a part of your home theather set up, this will probably work. The service guy said he has his Mini connected to the amplifier, which in turn is connected to speakers and a projector. The inverted colors still appear, but only once per night (i.e. after the first problem is reset by resetting the link then it's fine).
For now, I'll do my little dance of changing the source on the TV from HDMI 1 to HDMI 2 and then back again to reset the link... But, I'll probably try downgrading in a few days.

2 iMacs + Front Row

Hi,
I have recently bought 2 iMacs both running Leopard. I have video files in my Movies folder on Mac1 which show and play correctly on that Mac via Front Row.
I cannot see those files in Front Row on the second Mac.
If I go to Sources on either Mac they both show only themselves.
How do I get each Mac to play video from the other, ie, use each other as a source?
I have an Airport Extreme running the network if that's important.

Just import the movies into your itunes library and turn on sharing in iTunes prefs -then use front row on another mac to view those movies. It works great. You don't need any aliases in the finder.
Import your movie files into the itunes library but the physical files do not have to be copied into your music folder. You can set that in the itunes prefs > advanced > general > "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" checkbox
When you want to view remote media in front row, select "Sources", the last menu item in the main front row screen. Use this to select a remote source, then select what you want to watch on that remote source. Way cool!
Under 10.4 it worked better mounting the remote volume in the finder and just opening the movies with QT. Front row and iTunes used to choke trying to watch movies shared through itunes -even though I could mount the remote HD in the finder and play the movies just fine with QT.
Front row under 10.5 will now play stuff shared by another source on your network, even a mac running 10.4. There is a bit of a pause as it starts to buffer the movie but you can start watching the movie right away. It starts playing as it is buffering with good visual feedback about what is going on. No spinning beach ball.
Front row takes advantage of chapter markers in my remote movie files too. There is much more control over pausing and playing and skipping around while watching a movie through the 10.5 interface.
All my important media is on one mac and I can play back that media from any mac in the house with a few clicks of a remote control. Thank you Apple!

Front Row screen shows up randomly

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