Front Row sorting issues

Hello,
I know this issue has been posted several times and without any real solutions. But I'm going to ask again anyway in case the magical hacking gnomes have found a work-around.
I have many sorting issues. There seems to be a lot of kvetching on here already about how Front Row sorts TV shows. But not only do my shows come up backwards within seasons, in some cases seasons themselves are out of order. For example, I have all 3 seasons of 30 Rock (purchased through iTMS) and they go season 1, season 3, season 2. Several other shows with multiple seasons are the same.
But I also have a music sorting issue. The first part of this issue has to do with compilations. I've got several compilations in my library, and in iTunes I've sorted them by Various Artists rather than individual artists. In Front Row, if I scroll down to "V," there is no "Various Artists" like you might expect but instead a list of all the artists in all the compilations completely out of order. (Actually, they're ordered by their track number on the different albums. Yeah. That makes sense.) I could deal with these artists showing up in their normal places alphabetically, but not all lumped together under V.
The other issue has to do with albums with one artist who has some tracks that feature other artists. Kanye West's "Graduation" is a good example. About half the tracks on the album are him "featuring Jamie Foxx," for example. So I put "Kanye West" in the sort field of this album so it displays properly in iTunes. Not only does this seem to have no effect on how things are sorted in Front Row, but there's actually multiple "Kanye West"s now, each one identical, as well as multiple "Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx," lines and all the other multiple artist track. Uh...what?
So I know that Front Row for some ridiculous reason is (a) not customizable and (b) operates under completely different sorting rules than iTunes (which makes no sense), but if anyone has any advice or tips or comments or whatever, that would be greatly appreciated.
I've considered switching to a different media management program, but what I like about Front Row is its simplicity. I don't really feel like learning a whole new system (let alone getting my wife to buy into that idea). I've got better ways to spend my time. So, it's a trade off, I guess.
Anyway, Apple Gods? Are you out there? Are you listening?

I can't believe we're still banging on about the sorting problems. Apple have seen fit to provide a number of features to allow the user to get iTunes working the way they like, e.g. grouping compilation artists and the use of sort fields. I think you can now even keep compilation artists grouped on the iPod. But why oh why do they then totally ignore this for the AppleTV and Front Row (which look like the same codebase to me)?
I have hundreds of genuine Artists that I want to see listed in the Artists' list, but not the thousands of others that appear on compilations. They don't even sort the artists by the Artist Sort field that they themselves provide in iTunes. This makes a nonsense of trying to use either the ATV or Front Row.
Playlists are no help as they simply lump all contained tracks in one great list. Useless.
The annoying thing is, they can get it right. iTunes just gets better and better in this regard, each release sorting out more of the omissions of earlier versions. But ATV and Front Row - nope, nothing. Still just as stupid as always. Just what will it take to convince Apple to 'sort' (ha) this out? How can they justify such entirely different ways of working on their different products?

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Front Row Scrolling Issue

Hello. Just looked at the archives for this problem. Doesn't look like any posts on it since Nov. 2009 but it was never solved. So, I'm reopening it in hopes of finding an answer.
In Front Row while scrolling through my movies library the selection will jump back to the last played item unless I can quickly select a new item I'm stuck on the old one. Very odd. Pretty new problem as I've not been using Front Row much until lately. Of note is that it has a hard time figuring out what the preview should be for the selected item.
This is on my MBP with 2gb ram and 500gb hd.

Oops. Spoke too soon. I haven't solved the issue completely.
Ok, more info:
When I first start FR it works flawlessly. Then, after I select and play a movie and it plays completely (I chose a 5 minute Pixar short) then go back and try to scroll through to find another option, then I get preview errors and the selection jumps to the last played item. Repairing permissions only works if you quite FR and then restart. So I tried just quitting and restarting FR and it solved the problem for the first show then it came back after the video completed its run. So. The work around is to quit and restart FR after every video. That kinda *****.
I checked the console and got this:
2/14/10 10:22:13 AM com.apple.RemoteUI[1016] CoreAnimation: rendering error 501
Don't know what that means or how to fix it.
Any thoughts?

Itunes/front row Authorization Issue

THis is the first time i al very upset with an apple software. One week into the use of my new Macbook I was extremely thrilled to see the Front Row app running with the remote. I decided to import the mostly used Audio CDs that I have (originals) and imported them in MP3.
I hook up my Macbook to my home theater, sit down, use the neat little remote, and my music won't play
"Computer not authorized to play this track".
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Paul

You are trying to a play a track that was purchased from the iTunes store. Just open iTunes and try to play the track again. It will prompt you for the user name and password that were used when the track was purchased. It will then authorize playback on that computer and then should play fine.
Any tracks you import yourself from CDs don't need authorization.

Front Row movies issue

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Found the answer - now on to figure out the artwork

Posted this two other places that I shouldn't have. Front Row Video Issues.

Alrighty, so QuickTime has been giving me some issues with playback with some videos and I've found a player that has fixed this, and can play QuickTime files as well. My question is this, can I change the default FrontRow player from QuickTime to VLC Player?
I'm running the 7.1.6 version of QuickTime and the latest (I hope) version of Tiger, 10.4.10.
Many thanks.

I'm trying to play .avi files, but with Xvid properties or whatever. I don't quite understand it. But I did try to add the recommended add-on from the QuickTime section of this site, and for whatever reason there is still no audio on these clips. I ended up messing everything up, moving folders and stuff that should not have been moves, a QuickTime folder did not exist in my library, and the folder that I thought held those add-ons I moves to the library to try to fix this problem. A wee bit frustrating, to say the least.

Front Row display issue

I used to be able to set up my display options to "Best for Video" and "NTSC", close the lid, plug in my tv and watch movies. Now when I close the lid it defaults back to "PAL" and the "Best for Video" box is deselected.
It ***** not being able to close the lid. It's distracting and I have to turn the "Brightness" all the way down.
I've tried other adapters and tv's but it's all the same.
Any ideas.
Oh, I ran into a guy in my building having the same problem.
Thanks.

OMG. they edited the word "s u c k s" out of my post and replaced it with "***"! Hypercensor much?
Bye Apple Discussions.
Message was edited by: krbusby
Message was edited by: krbusby

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?
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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.
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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.
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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

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I haven't tried this yet, but my local service center says that basically I can do one of two things:
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or..
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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.

Front Row Issue When iTunes is Running

On my Mac Mini (which is our media centre), I've noticed some strange behaviour. Namely, if I leave iTunes running and then start Front Row, after a while (up to 24 hours sometimes), Front Row can no longer see the iTunes library. With iTunes shutdown this doesn't happen.....

I have confirmed that this issue only exists with a library on a network share. Local libraries seem to work fine. I have submitted a bug report to Apple.
To anyone from Apple who may be reading: this is a huge degradation in capability for those of us who use our Macs as media servers and need the ability to simultaneously use front row locally and share the music library with other computers. I am looking forward to a fix.

Front Row issue

Hi all,
I currently have an issue with front row video playback.
When I am playing AVI movies only through frontrow on the left hand side of the screen is a large white flickering bar.
When I play these same files through VLC it doesn't happen but through Realplayer, QT and more annoyingly Frontrow it does.
Every other format is fine
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

thejman
Frontrow uses Quicktime, so if you sole the problem in QT you'll solve the problem.
avi is a hold all for a wide variety of codecs. What's likely going on here is that QT is having trouble with the particular codec. What might work is to install Perian, which adds a large range of codecs to QT and increases the chances that it will play properly.
Regards
TD

Front Row missing artwork issue

Hello everyone,
Here is what i've experienced with missing artwork in front row.
2 albums of my collection refused to display their artwork in front row (these artworks were displaying perfectly fine in itunes, coverflow, finder songs icons and ipods off course).
After trying different things like deleting & replacing artwork, changing size of picture, and so on, nothing changed so i felt really disappointed...
...until....I remembered that i have created an itunes music store "wishing list", with 2 songs of these 2 albums. After deleting these 2 songs from the "wishing list" playlist, everything is back to normal, and front row display correctly the artwork..
thank you for reading, and hope it will help some of you.

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Front Row sorting issues

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