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

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I have installed Lion and the Front Row application desapered! How do I get it back

I have installed Lion and the Front Row application desapered! How do I get it back

denisefromgreen valley wrote:
I have installed Lion and the Front Row application desapered! How do I get it back
You don't. Apple no longer ships Front Row... it's part of the OS... so it goes away when you upgraded.

Odd symbol for "Hide and show Front Row" ⌘⎋

Was just browsing my keyboard shortcuts in System Prefs and came saw the shortcut for "Hide and show Front Row." it was the command symbol and then something that I at first through was the power symbol. When i looked closer, I realized it was a 3/4 circle with an arrow pointing NW. I've never seen this before (as far as I can remember) and I couldn't find the symbol represented in any of the key combinations displayed in Keyboard Viewer. I found it in Character Palette labeled "Broken Circle with Northwest Arrow." Unicode 238B, UTF8: E2 8E 8B. I am pasting the keyboard shortcut below, so it hopefully will show:
⌘⎋
Any thoughts?

Xian Rinpoche wrote:
Haha. I never knew it had a symbol
For the first few months I had a mac, me neither. Only when I started becoming a geek did I realize it.
Thanks for the !

Lion: Battery Lifetime ...and iSync, Front Row?

Hi,
i'm very bored about the Lion. I have a fresh new 2011 MBP 15" and updated to Lion yesterday. Since that Front Row and iSync are gone. I really need iSync!!! Last but not least, the battery lifetime is 50% lesser than with Leopard (from 6-8 hours down to max 3 hours). The performance is also bad and many Apps like Mail have connection Problems since the update or wifi is crashing his connection.
I really thinking about to get my money back and to downgrade to Leopard! I've expected more from Apple!
Does anyone has an idea how to get iSync and Front Row back?
Thanks!
Best regards from Germany!
Henny

i think i've got the solution for my problem with the mega high cpu usage on mail app...
Open the Disk-Management-Utility
Select your Mac OS Disk
Repair the access rights and wait.
After reopen the mail app (maybe you must restart too), the mail app works fine it seems for now and the cpu ussage is about 8% at the moment. i hope that was the solution.

My friend has a macbook and is having problems controlling he mouse/trackppad. The problem started with snow leopard and continues with Lion. The mouse moves at random across the screen and is difficult to control. Adding a separate mouse cures the proble

My friend has a Macbook running Lion. She uses the trackpad for her mouse. The mouse can't be controlled, except with great difficulty. It hops all around the screen at randon. The problem can be mitigated to some extent by using an external USB mouse; however, when this mouse is not is use, it keeps jumping at random around the screen.

My friend has a Macbook running Lion. She uses the trackpad for her mouse. The mouse can't be controlled, except with great difficulty. It hops all around the screen at randon. The problem can be mitigated to some extent by using an external USB mouse; however, when this mouse is not is use, it keeps jumping at random around the screen.

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.

What are the keyboard commands to control Front Row

I'm new to Front Row and running it on a 17" G4 PC. Since it isn't remote-control compatible how can I navigate and operate Front Row with just the keyboard. I need to know what key strokes to use to do stuff.

Command+esc key turns ON Front Row
The up and down arrow keys let you choose the selection
The Enter key allows you to enter that selection.
Volume when playing music is the up or down arrow keys.
Command+esc key will back you out of any window and all the way back to the computer if you keep hitting those keys.

Itunes / Front Row mp4 and avi and xvid

Hello.
I have started collecting and moving my videos to my macbook.
From my linux/windows days I have avi xvid/divx files.
I have divx player installed on my mac and those files play fine if I click on them.
They also will play if I put them in my movie folder and use front row.
If I try to move avi and xvid to itunes. They will not import.
I assume this is the case becuase itunes is only allowing files into itunes lib that will sync and play on a vid ipod?
However with the move to appleTV and such there are those that are going to want a HQ video that maynot sync on ipod.
Basicly, I just need to know what format I need to start experimenting as far as size/quality ratio so that I can move my vids to that format.
Thanks for your help.
T

If I try to move avi and xvid to itunes. They will not import.
I assume this is the case becuase itunes is only allowing files into itunes lib that will sync and play on a vid ipod?
Close... Quicktime has to be able to support the formats for them to be accepted into iTunes.

Front Row playing shared TV video and using Fast-Forward question

I'm playing a shared TV video on my Black MacBook from my iTunes running on my PowerMac G5 across my home ethernet 10/100/1000 network. The TV video plays just fine and I can pause it using the Remote just fine. However, according to the documentation for the Remote while using Front Row in this manner, the Remote's Fast-forward is supposed to fast-forward the video if it's pressed and held down. It does not do this! It simply shows the progress bar for the video with played time on left and remaining time on right. I held the button down for at least 30 secs but to no avail. I let up on the button and press and held down for another 30 secs or so but it still would not fast-forward as the documention says it should.
My MacBook is updated with all the latest Apple software downloads for MacBook.
Have others experienced this problem, and if so is there a soln to this at this time or does one simply wait for Apple to fix it.
I will be sending feedback to Apple on this issue.
Thanks for any insights in advance.

Update...
I left Front Row paused on a shared TV Video all night. In morning time screen was black and I could not resume playback.
I backed out all the way to Desktop and restarted Front Row and selected same shared TV Video - and this time the fast-forward button worked as documented. Go figure this one
However, when I tried several Shared TV Videos I only got audio in some cases and when I did get a video feed it was not moving yet audio kept rolling along. I had to back off to the Desktop several times and restart Front Row to get things working correctly. If you enecounter this just do what I did here and you'll get things going - just don't give up on it, is my advice. :-))
This raised another issue - It appears that pause/play Remote button will not work (at least for me) after extended pause time (like for 8 hrs).
Apple has some fine tuning to do on this Front Row feature - although I will add they've done a pretty darn good job with its initial release IMO.

Mini, Front Row, and HDMI...

Picked up a new Mini to merge our server (iTunes, iPhoto, et al were being served off my laptop, which was fine only when I was at home) with our Apple TV. Mostly a positive thing... moving iTunes and iPhoto onto the Mini went smoothly, the Mini plugged right into the power cable and HDMI cable that were there for the Apple TV, so that went wonderfully. Outputting to a 42" Samsung LED-backlit LCD in our family room.
Our only big downside right now: if we leave Front Row running, and turn off the TV, when we turn it back on later we're greeted with a solid blue screen that doesn't respond to the remote, the keyboard or mouse... we've had to reboot twice in the two days we've been set up like this. For now, we just have to remember to turn off Front Row... if we're on the normal Finder, it doesn't seem to have this problem.
Is this a known HDMI/Mini/Front Row issue, where it gets into a bad state if the TV is turned off, or something particular to my set up? I was kinda hoping this would be our entertainment system moving forward, it's certainly happier in other ways (gives our family a nice central place to plug in iPods, iPhones, iPads, expands easily, etc, etc)...
Thanks in advance!!!
PS: Our other minor gripe, for those who care, is just Front Row feeling like a step back from the Apple TV interface (which used to look like Front Row when we first got it, but got better)... I'd switch us to Plex, but it doesn't play our TV shows and movies off iTunes, so I'm hoping Apple will update Front Row someday to be something happier.

So far so good on the Mini... the down side (other than the hanging blue evil screen) is just how clunky Front Row is. The Apple TV interface wasn't perfect, but it was much cleaner than the Front Row interface.
We were watching Netflix streaming through Plex last night... Plex is awesome, I'd absolutely use it full-time and forget Front Row except we own a lot of movies and TV shows we've purchased through iTunes, and Plex can't play DRM'ed video. Because of that, right now we're using Plex for things like Netflix, Daily Show, Hulu, etc, and Front Row for our purchased media.
We copied our libraries over onto the Mini, consolidating them along the way.
With our previous setup, we had movies and TV shows on an external drive that was connected to my laptop, streaming to the Apple TV... which worked fine except when I needed to take my laptop somewhere, then the family was stuck watching whatever was actually living on the Apple TV.
Music, a lot of it was on my iTunes, but my wife and daughters had stuff on their iTunes on their machines... and with a plethora of iPhones, iPods, and iPads in the house now, we found we weren't using our laptops as media devices as much.
We started talking about collecting all our material (music, TV, movies, photos, etc) and putting it all on one device... then the Mini came out, and it looked perfect to just replace the Apple TV and be our central hub for everything!
So far, it's great... full 1080p, fast little box, moving the material over was painless, everything's syncing there now... just want a Front Row replacement that'll play iTunes video, and want to be able to leave that thing up all the time and expect it to be there when I turn the TV on.

Mac mini and Front Row - entertainment center

I plan to use a mac mini as a replacement for my CD jukebox and DVD player in my entertainment center. I have everything, including the HD cable box through the Yamaha receiver - what am I going to need to make this work? Router, etc??? Does Front Row just play media or do I use it to rip CD's - or is that Itunes?
Thanks, Just getting in to the mac and really like the operating system much more than Windows DME.

I did the same thing about a month ago, but we loved the Mac Mini so much more than our PC that I moved it to my desk and it's now my main PC. I plan on checking out the iTV like the previous post stated when it comes out too.
But, back to your question . . . Depending on what kind of TV you have, you may need an adaptor. For an HD widescreen TV, you can connect direct DVI if your TV has the connector, or you can get a DVI to HDMI cable (about $110) to go to an HDMI connection. I'm not aware that there are converters for composite video. For digital audio, you should get the mini to optical toslink converter. They sell it on the Apple store. I couldn't find one at Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA, or my local Apple store, but got one at a Re-Mac store. I recommend just buying it online. If you have music already imported to iTunes on a PC or another Mac, you can stream it to the Mac Mini on a wireless network. If you don't have one, you'll need a wireless router. Wireless G is the standard and works great. N is the new standard coming out, but unless you'll be streaming video over the network, it's overkill. The mini will easily hook right up to it once your network router is turned on and you've named your network. You can play iTunes songs and playlists from the other computer through Front Row as long as you have the music sharing option turned on in iTunes (PC or Mac) on the computer that holds the music. If you're just going to have the music on the Mac mini, none of the wireless shareing is necessary.
On your last question, Front Row doesn't rip CDs, but you just rip the CDs into iTunes and then Front Row will automatically see any music or playlists from iTunes. Front Row is basically just putting window dressing on iTunes for music. In fact, you can see after closing Front Row, that the little black arrow is under the iTunes icon on your dock meaning that it is open (even if you didn't open it before).
One last note, the mini won't work as a PVR unless you buy an external device to work as a TV tuner. You can search the discussions on Mac Mini to find a lot of posts for recommendations on how to do that.
I've been combing these discussion boards for the last month learning everything I need to know about the Mac. They're great for any other questions you have. Good luck!
Mac Mini 1.83 Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

NEW to Mac and front row

I have just got my first ever mac, and just having a look round and find front row.
When I go to the TV section I can view some shows like bones, do these cost me anything to watch.
Thanks Mark

Mark,
Front Row'sTV Shows section shows the contents of what TV shows you have in your iTunes library - so if you see 'Bones' you'v already downloaded it - so no need to pay. The 'TV SHows' section also shows an 'iTunes Tope TV Shows'... which lists the top 10 shows available from the iTunes store - these are only 30 second previews.
Des

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

Front Row turn the system unresponsive

Hi everyone, I'm new here!
Well, I was trying to give some direct feedback about a bug to the Support division, but I didn't found any link to do that, so i will post my bug here. Sorry about my english, it isn't quite perfect so forgive me if something doesn't make sense, hehe.
Ok, this is my problem. When my Macbook Pro (rev. C) running Leopard 10.5.2 (with all last updates) is connected via DVI to my LCD TV and running Front Row, and after a while when my computer apparently goes to sleep, the screen goes dark and I can't return from that sleep state. I will explain this: Front Row is running happy (music) and then, suddenly, the audio starts to skip and pause until the LCD screen on my TV and my laptop turns black, but the audio keeps playing (without skips).
Then, when you try to wake up the computer, nothing seems to work or respond. It only shows a blank screen, audio running (but it can't be paused) and, if you disconnect the external display, nothing happens in the primary one. The only solution seems to restart the whole system, as you can't really see what's happening on the OS as the screen shows nothing.
Does anyone has a similar problem? It's this specific to my laptop? I will be happy to hear (or read actually) some feedback about this one.
Cheers from Chile!

Hi
There doesn't seem to be a Front Row Feedback option so here's the Mac OS X one:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
Steve

Run Front Row With Lid Shut?

Hi,
Is it possible to run Front Row on a MacBook with the lid shut? I want to connect a MacBook to a 32" LCD TV and run Front Row on the TV screen. And ideally I'd like to be able to do that with the MacBook's lid closed.

merchamster wrote:
if you run the macbook in clamshell mode, then yes, you can. and by clamshell mode, i mean with the lid closed and an external monitor (tv in your case), mouse, and keyboard plugged in
You do not have to have a mouse or keyboard plugged in to use the MacBook in Clam Shell mode for Front Row. You can wake it just using the Remote as long as external monitor or TV is hooked up. This works under Tiger and Leopard.

Macbook and TV - Front row controls.

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