Playing rental movies with front row

Is there any way that they can upgrade front row so that i can watch rented movies through it? I'm a very lazy person and i want to watch my rented movies from my bed without moving. I can use the remote to watch most things but it won't let me play rented movies with it.

Unfortunately, rental movies do not appear in Front Row. I believe this is because of the inability of Front Row to alert you (and have you click "okay") to the rental agreement requirements. It may also be because Front Row does not give iTunes feedback about when you started playing the movie and/or when you're done. If you would like to see rental movies in iTunes, as do quite a few people who post in this forum, I would suggest you send Apple some Mac OS X feedback (since there's no form specifically for Front Row):
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
-Doug

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Having problems with front row (and the opticle drive)

I bought my macbook three days ago, and I'm already having problems. First off, I transfered music from my user profile on my old iMac G5 to the macbook via data DVD. My music collection had some purchaces from the itunes store, so I had to go through the authorization thing, and I can now play them just fine in the iTunes library, but the problem is, if I try to use the front row program to play my purchaced music, I get the message saying that I have to authorize it first. What the ****? Does anybody else have this problem? Also, like many other macbook users, I'm having problems with the opticle drive, such as getting cds to be recognized and other things of that nature.

I noticed that this problem started after I tried to use a software to unlock my drive's region...
I believe this is the problem. The VLC Media Player will usually play DVDs from other regions without changing the settings on your optical drive. You may need to reset your optical drive's firmware back to the original setting, make sure you have the region set for the one you'd prefer to use the most and then use VLC to play the other DVDs.
-Doug
P.S. After two years in the Front Row forum, I'm not sure I've ever heard of anyone playing HDDVD_TS folders with Front Row. I'm not saying it won't work, but I'm not sure it's really supported either. I do have DVD Studio Pro myself, but I'll have friends or family staying with me for nearly the next month, so my evenings and weekends will be a bit full to try making one up for testing...

Playing movies in Front Row one after another automatically?

I have a number of short video clips that I can watch with Front Row. However, every time a clip ends, I have to go and click “play” on the next clip and this is annoying. I am wondering if there is a way to make movies play one after another without stopping. Thanks for the help!

David,
Thanks for the help. I'm still thinking there must be SOME way to pull this off. It seems like Mac's can do just about anything if you take the time to figure it out. Why wouldn't the people who designed Front Row not add this feature? It doesn't make any sense. There has to be a way. Anybody else have any ideas?

Making play list of movies in front row

In iTunes I created playlists for music videos I downloaded from youtube. I can play them just fine on my iPod. How can I do that with Front Row? The videos show up in the "movies" section. The playlist I created in iTunes shows up, but there are no files showing in them. Can this be done or is this something an update needs to address. I hope this is an easy fix. Something tells me it may not be. Any help would be great.
Thank you.

Right now Front Row does not support video playlists. I think we can expect this in the future, as some of Apple's hardware (like the third generation iPod nano) support video playlists. I would suggest you send Apple some Mac OS X feedback and let them know this feature is important to you.
-Doug

Which movies will front row play.

My itunes library is on an external disc, however some large movies are put into my itunes libraries as QT reference files to movies held on another external HD. This all works very well in itunes, although sometimes there is a slight delay while itunes searches for the files or the other external HD wakes up.
Front row won't play these reference files, or it won't for me and seems to cause some issues when I try.
Is this something I should expect or can I fix it.
If this is to be expected, is it because the files are on another external HD (although all my itunes files are on an ext HD anyway) or is it because the files they are referenced to are not mp4's (think they are .dv or .mov)

They simply don't play and when I press menu or escape I get a message saying that itunes has quit or had problems. I rather suspect any problems I'm having are down to sharing with front row 1.2.2. it seems I get differing results every-time I try to share some video. Actually 1.2.2 seems very dodgy at sharing.
The .mov and .dv are on a desktop G5 (no front row) so I am unable to test them directly without sharing or copying to anther mac. But I have never had one play yet with sharing. I have had mp4's not play sometimes and then play the next time I try, so I'm tending to believe it's a sharing issue, especially when I play the mp4's from the same mac (no sharing) they work every-time.
I suppose the next thing to do is to copy one of the .mov's to a mac with front row, but they're all so big, anyhow I'll give it a go.

Rentals don't work with Front Row?

I've upgraded to iTunes 9, and I have Front Row 2.1.7, so how come I can't see iTunes rentals in Front Row? Does it just not work for rentals?

You are correct, they don't work. Since Front Row has no dialog boxes or way to interact with the user (all of the controls must work with the Apple remote), I don't think there's any way for it to verify, the way iTunes does, if you want to initiate the rental movie. I would send Apple some Mac OS X feedback (since there's no feedback for Front Row specifically) if you'd like to have rentals added to Front Row:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
-Doug

Playing movies through front row from ext HD

I recently bought Lacie HD firewire 800 1 terabyte and was thinking of loading all my movie files into the new HD and run from it. I've tried aliasing in movies directory in my Imac main HD but it still taking up space in my main HD. Can anyone help ?

I use Front Row to play movies from a different hard drive. Put the movies (they can be organized in sub-folders) in a folder on the external drive and Command-Option-drag that folder to the Movies folder in your home folder. When you choose "Movies" in Front Row, select "Movies Folder", then the folder on the external drive.
If the movies are still using space on your boot drive, it means you didn't delete them from the boot drive (and empty the trash) after copying them to the external drive.

Remove certain movies from Front Row

Hi guys!
I appreciate any advice or guidance on the issue; thank you in advance.
I have my movies in iTunes; they play fine in FR. A good chunk of them have terrible resolution from being compressed over and over with bad setting choices, mainly digitized vhs footage from home movies. Anyways, these movies look pretty bad.
Luckily, I have the originals on a external hd. They are mostly .avi and are in a better quality. I've realized I can just bring these into my "movies" folder, and they work fine, thanks to Perian. I do not do this though because I don't want to occupy space on my main hd, so I just make aliases and bring them into the "movies" folder.
Now, this is okay with me, but I'm a picky guy, and I like my style...
I want to change the metadata so that I can show "artwork" rather that a frame from the movie, plus have a description etc. On a side note if anyone knows of a better way then I am doing it, I am all ears!
So, I open the movies in Quicktime, and save as a reference movie. I then bring the reference movie into MetaX (which lets me add artwork, etc...) Then I can just pop those into iTunes.
Now, this is where it gets tricky/weird. I realize that:
1. I can drop these files in Itunes.
2. This takes up space on my main hd (which I do not want if I do not have to)
3. I now have duplicates (a low rez and a good quality version)
4. Syncing my iPod will bring the reference moves along "for the ride"
ok, so I can just choose which movies to sync to my ipod by checking which movies I want in the setting menu, so no worry about the reference files coming with.
I was wondering is there a way to make an alias of the reference file so that it doesn't take up any space on my main hd?
Irregardless of that situation, I am still stuck with 2 versions of my movies in iTunes.
I want the poorer quality movies on my iPod and iTunes, but only my good quality movies in Front Row. Is there a way to remove the poor quality moves from Front Row while still keeping them in iTunes?
Okay, one last question, which probably should have been the first one. What is the difference between a reference movie and an alias, outside of being able to change meta data? Is a reference movie the equivalent to the "box" that a dvd comes in? You know, it has some pictures on it, cast, description etc...?
If I bring a reference file onto my iPod, will it bring the original (good quality) movie instead? Or have I now got some sort of super awesome compressed version of the movie without any quality loss (or is this some sort of fantastic dream)?
Thank you for any advice. I'm sorry that this is a little long-winded.
I expect someone to replay with "No." as the answer. LOL
Thanks everybody,
Ethan

You're kind of on your way with the solution.
I would like to have posters for my good quality film in itunes+FR, but not on my ipod.
I want the low quality ones on my ipod, but not in my front row.
I've come up with a semi-solution so far.
I've brought the good ones into itunes, with the "copy files to itunes music folder" unchecked. I changed all the info in itunes, and posters etc.... Then I marked all of my low rez movies as tv shows, in a show called "movies"
it is not an ideal solution, but what I am really after is having a "clean" look in itunes when you choose "movies". This might be as close as I can get.
I would prefer something better if at all possible. But I can live with this if I have to. My main concern is that my "tv shows" folder is overflowing with shows. Luckily, they are grouped together by show, and not just in random order.
One thing that would really help, I do not know if this is possible. This would be the ideal solution: if you could create a "show name" folder in the "movies"tab (in itunes/FR)(not to be confused w/ the "movies" in finder) as you can in the "tv shows" tab in itunes.
I've found that because front row has a lack of preferences, and itunes's preferences do not give you enough control; this just turns into a mess.
iLife should be simple, hence the "i" in iLife. LOL
Ethan

Interrupting Keynote 3 with Front Row

When I interrupt a slide with Front Row to play a song, I get the desktop back afterwards rather than the slide I interrupted. I have to manually click on the Keynote icon to get back to my slide. Is this the intended behavior? It would be really nice if the interrupted slide would come back up.

When I interrupt a slide with Front Row to play a
song, I get the desktop back afterwards rather than
the slide I interrupted. I have to manually click on
the Keynote icon to get back to my slide. Is this the
intended behavior? It would be really nice if the
interrupted slide would come back up.
This drove me mad until I discovered the trick. This assumes you're using the Apple Remote.
1) click through KN until the point you want to switch out to Front Row. (This can be any point, say build 27 on a slide with 43 builds. It can even be in the middle of an embedded QT movie - yes, even a 1920x1080 HDV assuming you've got the codec from FCP or QMaster).
2) this is the important bit. Click the ENTER button on the remote - in the centre of the click wheel - BEFORE you click the MENU button to call up Front Row. The freezes KN at exactly the moment you click.
3) Do whatever you want in Front Row
4) Return to KN using the MENU Button to get back up the Front Row hierarchy
5) Then click the ENTER button again to restart KN at exactly the point you left it. You do not get the Desktop back and you do not need to manually click the present slides button in KN.
This really blew 'em away at one of my recent gigs.
MacBookPro 17. G5 Dual 2Ghz. iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

AirTunes compatibility with Front Row

In the AirPort Express FAQ, it says:
Question: Can I use other applications, like QuickTime or Windows Media Player, to send sound to AirPort Express via AirTunes?
Answer: At this time Apple only supports sending one AirTunes stream to AirPort Express via iTunes 4.6 or later.
What does this mean for Front Row? Is Front Row just a interface for iTunes and hence works with AirTunes, or not. I see in the Front Row forum people asking many questions about getting volume control with Front Row and AirTunes, so it seems like the FAQ description sounds more limited that the reality.
I am particularly interested the ability to watch a movie (that has been loaded into iTunes) using the Front Row interface and piping the sound out to AirTunes. In this case, would Front Row be using iTunes (and work with AirTunes) or would Front Row be using QuickTime (and not work with AirTunes)?
If movies in Front Row will work, will it work for all movies loaded into iTunes -- e.g. not just mov files, but also avi files supported with QuickTime plug-in to make them work in iTunes? And, if avi files loaded into iTunes would work, would it work for both movies physically stored in /iTunes/movie folder, as well as 'reference movies' stored in that folder pointing to files stored elsewhere?

Per the Wikipedia AirPort article, no video in iTunes. Apparently, there are 3rd party utilities that can pump any program sound output (Mac and Windows) to the AX, not just iTunes -- which is handy, say, if you want to play Pandora in Safari. However, even these programs say they are useless for video. Apparently, the AirTunes protocol delays playback 2 to 10 seconds for buffering. Delay in audio playback aren't a problem, but with video, the sound and picture would be out of synch.

I am not understanding this Bonjour photo sharing thing with front row.

I just finished seting up my media center with a 37 inch Olevia. WOW
Anyways, what I am not understanding is I have iphoto set up on the other two compuers as sharing photos and the MINI is set to see them. Do I have to have iPhoto RUNNING on the other two computers so that I can RETRIEVE the photos on the mini? That seems so wrong. Can I just access the other computers photos and view them on my wireless network to the mini? I thought this is what this bonjour is all about...or do I have to copy the photos to the mini for viewing?
Thanks

You are most welcome.
I understand the frustration - but when you step back and think about reliability, it makes sense to have one application to do one thing. If front row had to handle the slide show - it would be bulky and whenever a new feature was developed (or bug fixed) - the code would have to be added and tested in both iPhoto and Front Row. By keeping front row thin, simple and intuitive - it gets to market cheaper and more reliably. Isn't that really why we use Mac?
iPhoto's job is to organize pictures. A lot of sophisticated things happen to add value when you take those "pictures in a flat folder" and import them - color correction, cropping, rotation, grouping into an album, ordering of the photos, settings for the slide show - music, fade effect, ken burns/zoom, etc...
I have those applications set to launch automagically when I log in and hide themselves so I never see them until needed. They sit there idle once they load until front row tickles them in the correct manner to feed data over the network to front row...
If you really need some photos to stand alone, you can always export a slide show as a quick time movie. Front Row will play movies remotely with no application running on the other end.

Aliases of movie files in ~Movies/ for Front Row usage

Hi everyone.
In the first place I apologise for my bad English.
I want one applescript for folder action wich will make an aliases of all movie files (.mov, .avi, .mpeg, .mpeg, .divx ,etc.) in freshly mounted CD/DVD/HD in ~Movies/ folder because I want to play those files in Front Row.
Another Script is needed for deleting unwanted aliases upon unmounting that CD/DVD/HD.
I figured out that all CD/DVD/HD are mounted in /Volumes folder, and I created such two scripts:
On mounting drive:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
try
tell application "Finder"
make new alias file to these_items at "Macintosh HD:Users:USERNAME:Movies:" with properties {name:"Movie"}
end tell
end try
end adding folder items to
On unmounting drive:
on removing folder items from this_folder after losing these_items
try
tell application "Finder"
delete alias file "Macintosh HD:Users:USERNAME:Movies:Movie"
end tell
end try
end removing folder items from
I attached those two scripts as /Volumes folder action and they are working good, but there is a problem.
When I mount CD, and then when I connect my iPod, alias of CD is moving to trash and new alias to iPod is created with same name. Also, when I connect iPod, and then CD and then I disconnect iPod alias to CD is moving to trash. ****, that's not quite what I am looking for.
Apparently I have and idea, but I lack experience with applescript.
Creating alias script should work like that:
on mounting drive in filesystem
1) Scanning about 2 levels for QT supported files
2) Making alias to each movie file in those 2 levels in ~Movies/
3) Adding constant Spotlight comment (for alias removing purposes in other script) to those alias files in ~Movies/
Removing unwanted Aliases:
on unmounting drive from filesystem
1) Scanning ~Movies/ For alias files with constant spotlight comment
2) removing those alias files (moving to trash preferably, for security purposes)
This way script would make only good aliases, and there could be multiple drives mounting into system. Apparently, after unmounting any drive aliases with constant spotlight comment will be moved to trash, but I don't have any idea for that.
Can someone help me?

Hello imrik,
Firstly, I don't use OSX myself, so the rest of this post is based upon my experience under OS9 and some knowledge from OSX documentations, etc.
Folder Actions suite (terms for Folder Action's handler) is defined in StandardAdditions.osax, that is located at (probably):
/Library/ScriptingAdditions/StandardAdditions.osax
In brief, the dictionary states (under OS9):
on adding folder items to fda after receiving aa
-- fda is alias of the folder that receives new item(s)
-- aa is list of aliase(s) the folder fda received
end adding folder items to
on removing folder items from fda after losing nn
-- fda is alias of the folder that loses item(s)
-- nn is list of aliase(s) or list of item name(s) the folder fda loses.
end removing folder items from
* Open the dictionary of the OSAX in Script Editor for more details.
As far as I can tell (under OS9.1, AS1.8.3), 'removing folder items' handler always provides list of names that the folder loses, in spite of the description in OSAX dicitonary.
I don't know the reason why 'removing folder items' handler provides {} in 'after losing' argument in your environment. It should provide list of names of unmounted volumes (unless '/Volumes/' directory is something so special as to deceive Folder Action Server in some way.)
(Possibly your method to check the handler's arguments is not appropriate.)
If you want to check the class of value/object in AppleScript, the proper way is to use a code such as SCRIPT1:
-- SCRIPT1
set x to (path to desktop) -- alias
--set x to {1,2,3} -- list
set c to class of x
display dialog ("" & c) -- this will show class name string of x.
return c -- this will return class of x in result window (when run in Script Editor).
-- END OF SCRIPT1
And to check the contents of value/object, you may try SCRIPT2 (for AppleScript's native value/object):
-- SCRIPT2
-- in target script (run in e.g. Applet or Folder Actions)
set x to {1, 2, 3}
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
activate
set the clipboard to x
end tell
-- in checker script (run in Script Editor)
set y to the clipboard
return y -- y is given in result window of Script Editor.
-- END OF SCRIPT2
So as a whole, you may try something like SCRIPT3 as your test Folder Action and SCRIPT3A as its corresponding checker:
-- SCRIPT3
on adding folder items to fda after receiving aa
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
activate
set the clipboard to {fda, aa}
display dialog ("" & (class of aa) & return & (class of (aa's item 1)))
end tell
end adding folder items to
on removing folder items from fda after losing nn
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
activate
set the clipboard to {fda, nn}
display dialog ("" & (class of nn) & return & (class of (nn's item 1)))
end tell
end removing folder items from
-- END OF SCRIPT3
-- SCRIPT3A (to be run in Script Editor)
set y to the clipboard
return y -- clipboard contents is displayed in result window of Script Editor.
-- END OF SCRIPT3A
That's all for now.
Good luck,
H
Mac OS 9.1.x

Playing DVD's in Front Row

Was trying to get DVD movies to play in Front Row using a external firewire superdrive. They will play using the internal superdrive in my MacBook but, not the external one. It won't give me the option with the external drive. Does anyone know if this can be done or if I just have to use DVD player?
Thanks,
Barry

There is no way to do this with Front Row. However, this can be done with the regular DVD Player application. The on screen "controller" for the DVD Player can give you direct access to different audio channels or video angles.
-Doug

Anybody using M-Audio Transit USB with Front Row?

If any of you are using Front Row with the external Transit USB D/A Coverter, and are experiencing freezing issues, you may want to read below what I have been able to figure out as to why this is happening.
After MANY hours of frustration, I have been able to confirm that the Transit USB is causing the following problem:
I have a Mac Mini with a clean install of Leopard 10.5.2 and all Apple updates. Nothing else is installed. With the Transit NOT connected to the Mini, I installed the latest 1.7-3 drivers from your site and restarted computer. I then connected the Transit and selected AC-3 as the Audio Output. In order to make Front Row see AC-3, you must open "DVD Player" and select its output to "Digital Out - M-Audio Transit USB" instead of "System Sound Output". You then need to restart Mini. With that done, playing movies thru "DVD Player" works fine. However, when you go to watch a movie thru "Front Row", the Transit (for some reason) causes "Front Row" to freeze. It doesn't freeze during movie playback, it freezes when hitting "Menu" and you are sitting at the Menu Screen that asks for the following 3 options: "Resume Playing", "Start from Beginning", or "DVD Menu". There is no way to get out of this frozen state. You MUST restart computer. When computer restarts, if you go into "DVD Player" Preferences and change the audio output selection back to "System Sound Output" and restart computer, this issue disappears and Front Row works fine again (however, without AC-3).
To reiterate my point: Transit USB works fine with DVD Player but NOT with Front Row. I have confirmed this on 2 Mac Mini's.

This is indeed an M-Audio issue. I have the same setup you do, except my mini is a 1.25GHz G4 with no on-board Digital audio output.
To make it work with front row, you have to go to (Settings) and turn off the background music, it will stop freezing and let you select your media.
My AC3 output from my Transit USB has never worked in this configuration. My receiver just doesn't see AC3 coming out of it.....soooo no sound at all. However I set it to (Outputs 1&2), (24bit) and boom...my receiver plays back in its Pro Logic setting via an optical connection from the Transit. All my movies and music playback just lovely. BUT. If I go on the net and try to play a flash video, like a YouTube, etc... Safari will freeze. I verified it is the Transit and not Safari because the moment I unplug the Transit, Safari wakes up, the video resumes and sound plays through the internal speaker just fine.
Something's goofy with the M-Audio Driver for Leopard.

Problems playing certain videos in Front Row

I just got my new iMac G5 the other day, so this has been my first week experimenting with Front Row, which I ADORE by the way. On to my issue, though...
I have many tv shows in iTunes -- Law & Order, King of Queens, South Park, and Family Guy, mostly. Whenever I open up Front Row to play a video, the only selections I can choose from are Law & Order and Comedy Central Standup (the Comedy Central one is the only one I've purchased through iTunes -- all of the other ones have been ripped from my personal collection). Anyway, all of them are set as "tv shows" in iTunes... and yet only those two show up. Any idea what's going on? I'd like to be able to access ALL of my videos.
Thank you!

Are they showing up under Movies or just not at all?
If they are in the Movies (or any other FR Menu) it could be due to how the person who posted them for download compressed / handled them - you can try this on one to see if it makes it show up in TV
http://members.verizon.net/pucklock/vIDInfiltr8/vIDI.html
If they are not there at all, it could be that although they play in Quicktime or iTunes that there is something in the original conversion causing a problem. I ran into that with a couple that I didn't do the actual compression on, and running them through iSquint using optimize for iPod and h.264 settings they then showed up under my movies menu in Front Row
http://www.isquint.org/
Dual G5, Intel Mini, TiBook, iMac FP800 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Playing rental movies with front row

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