DVD Assist - VIDEO_TS playback for Front Row [Text View] - Page 2

tmcquitty

12-24-06, 08:49 PM

Sorry, I haven't managed to read through 10 pages.

I love the idea of the program. However, going through the process of making links and copying the start movie file to every folder just seems like a bit of work. I would suggest a "pre" script that scans the hard drives for video_ts files, copies the file there then creates a link in Movies.

For me, I have been using Handbrake. I have about 900 movies. At 4-9GB, we are talking 3.6TB to 8.1 Terrabytes. Oops.

So, while I copy my movies for backup (small children), I also rip them to h.264. I then put those into a folder on my external drive(s) and create aliases to those folders into my Movies directory.

I have a compiled version of Handbrake that includes HBTest, which is the command line version. I then created a perl script that encodes the files (works for video_ts, iso and img files), moves the original to a "Done" folder (so I can verify the conversion went well).

This basically allows my EyeHome to use them and my Macs.

As I just got my projector and settled into the new house, my intel Mini is becoming the new media center system.

So, my thought above for having a script create the entries may help some out. I personally would love the full DVD (and the corresponding audio quality), but I don't want to spend the $$$ on so much space. Well that, and I would spend a month copying all the dvds again (even with 4 drives).

BTW, if anyone would like my script, I wrote it in perl. I am happy to share it.

macguyincali

12-24-06, 08:49 PM

Hey there... I'm a big fan of DVD assist. I seem to have it working great. Have all the aliases set up to the Movie files in the TS_VIDEO folders on a variety of external drives all being accessed through the Appletalk network.

Weird thing is, though, that the aliases to DVD's on my firewire drives (connected to another computer) are accessible via the Front Row on my HTMac (mac mini intel) but the aliases that link to DVD's on my NAS drive (ethernet network drive) are not. This is problematic because it is a 2 TB drive and I have many DVD's on it.

The set up is: Mac Mini Intel Core Duo 1.83, with Front Row, DVD Assist (aliases in the Movies folder linking to the placeholder files on several drives as follows: firewire drive connected to G5 Mac via Ethernet, internal drive on G5 via Ethernet and the Ethernet NAS drive 2TB).

To recap: the aliases link fine in the finder to all three drives. However, Front Row only sees the ones on the network that are connected to my G5. The movies on the network drive are invisible.

Any thoughts? Happy holidays to all.

-Mac Guy

billit

12-25-06, 02:08 AM

Thanks for the donation.

What type of file are you tryng to play? Is it a transport stream file (.ts?) If not, renaming it won't help.

Also, for transport stream files to play, you must also have a placeholder movie at the same level and with the same name (exept it ends with .mov instead of .ts) AND it must be inside of a folder called "Transport Streams"

Take another stroll through the docs and it should make sense...

Squirrel

Got it, Thanks.

yes, rtfm helps too :D

macguyincali

12-25-06, 11:49 AM

Ok... seems like the problem is fixed... I had to unmount the network drive and then remount it to make it work. Also, it seems that Front Row doesn't refresh its file list every time you reload it... so if I change an alias, it is not reflected.

pandutzu

12-26-06, 12:03 PM

SS,
I need to get to the DVD Player Menu (see Picture) and not to the movie menu. The subtitles are in the "dvd player menu" and not in the movie menu. I can access it with a keyboard (press esc when the movie plays and it is the top right button) but I am not sure if I can use the remote to get to the dvd player menu or if there is anyway to trick it.

Pandutzu

Vertigo

12-27-06, 08:35 PM

Squished Squirre,

I was trying to modify your script to use NicePlayer instead of DVD Player. I like NicePlayer because I can zoom in movies with shortcut key....What I did is modify your old VLC script and replace all VLC entries with NicePlayer. I can't seem to get it to work right. I am using:

to playVOB(thisFolder)
tell application "NicePlayer"
activate
try
open thisFolder as alias
fullscreen
end try
end tell

--If anything fails, skip the whole lot and stay in Front Row
try
tell application "NicePlayer"
activate
open POSIX file videots as alias
fullscreen
end tell

Any help you could provide I would really appreciate it. I am going to try to use figure it out myself and will let you know if I do so others can try it. NicePlayer uses DVD Player framework, which is great, but can also zoom in using shortcut keys or mouse scroll button. Very cool!

Thanks,

Vertigo

Vertigo

12-27-06, 09:52 PM

SS,

Never mind, I got it working replacing all DVD Player entries on your most recent script with NicePlayer instead...

Very cool!

Monica Litt

12-28-06, 06:30 AM

It sounds like he was trying to use your script to actually play a VIDEO_TS within the Front Row application. Here's a quote from the readme file that addresses that topic:

"...it instructs DVD player to open that VIDEO_TS folder in DVD Player, and shuts down Front Row."

Is there a way for Front Row to re-launch via the Assist App after watching a movie through DVD Player or VLC? That would seem to complete the integration with Front Row.
Sounds great! Should have a try!

Squished Squirre

01-01-07, 11:26 PM

Been away for a while... under the weather. Catch up soon.

Blue 911

01-10-07, 08:26 AM

SS,

From what little information we got yesterday about Apple TV, do you think DVD Assist will work with it? Here is an excerpt from this article (http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/1/9/6543):

Jacqui: What about DivX support?
Apple Employee: The AppleTV will play anything that the iPod plays. The iPod doesn't support DivX, so neither does the AppleTV.

Shocking.

Jacqui: Can it open VIDEO_TS files? Like from ripped DVDs?
Apple Employee: The AppleTV will play anything that the iPod plays.

Are we beginning to see a pattern here?

Jacqui: So, no VIDEO_TS then.
Apple Employee: No.

The Apple Employee probably doesn't know about DVD Assist. Apple TV ships with the Apple remote and Steve's demo looked like Front Row. Your thoughts?

Squished Squirre

01-10-07, 11:38 AM

I don't see any option to get the AppleTV to play ripped movies short of using something like handbrake and making mpeg4 or H.264 movies out of them. I saw this coming, so I picked a media player that did play VIDEO_TS (Mvix MX-760HD). It doesn't have the pretty interface of Front Row, but it can stream from a Mac. Kinda nice to have a library that is playable from either Front Row with DVD Assist, or with the Mvix over SMB.

Now what I wanna know... What types of files sharing does the new Apple N router do? It can share a USB disk, but does it only share via AFP, or does it do SMB too?

forcegoat

01-12-07, 09:57 AM

The Apple TV is tempting but it doesn't appear to work with DVD Assist at this point and here is why: it does not have an integrated DVD player and that is how DVD Assist plays your movies. At this point I'm really torn: should I buy this new handy gadget or should I spring for a Mac Mini once Leopard comes out and continue to use DVD Assist with Front Row? I really love using it and it is quite the "Killer Ap" for watching movies.

Also, from reports I have read (may have been in that same article: I didn't follow the link), the USB port on the Apple TV DOES NOT support external Hard Drives or anything else for that matter. Nice to see that feature added to the new Airport Extreme, though.

macguyincali

01-12-07, 11:02 AM

pandutzu

01-12-07, 05:48 PM

I was very interested in the ATV. It seemed a little bit strange the "if it's on iTunes is on your TV" statement. So I had a chat with an apple support person.

1. you can run stuff only from iTunes (buy the stuff from them, or spend hrs of Handbreake conversion)
2. no tuner capability for ATV
3. you can upload stuff on ATV from your computer/you can't download/record stuff from TV
4. the USB port is for check/diagnosis only, no external device attach capability
5. very vague response on wireless strength throough the walls and interference
6. it delivers "near" hd content (i guess that is 720p?)
7. no dvd player capabilities

At $300 is toooooooo much for limited router from iTunes. I'll pass on ATV. I stick with my Mini. The 3X the price is worth for a fully functional computer and 2Gb Ram.

Embraer

01-13-07, 09:38 PM

Hi - new to this thread (and macs) and seem to be missing something using DVDAssist. New MacbookPro with all the updates, have DVDAssist running no problem. Put a ripped dvd into the "Movies" directory, rename it and place a renamed copy of the "Start the Movie" .mov in with it. FrontRow shows the directory as being there, the .mov plays quite happily on the left put when I click to play it runs the .mov but then returns back to FrontRow, no DVDPlayer.

Have I missed something noobish here guys? The only thing that I brought from outside the Mac environment was the rip which I did on a PC using DVDDecrypt and it works fine running on PowerDVD and burnt to a disc.

I'm considering buying a Mini and ripping everything to a couple of LaCie drives. However a combination of this minor problem and the major one that my new HD TV and the Macbook (and I assume therefore the Mini) can't seem to resolve even attempting to remove any part of the black bars from the film, unlike a cheap HDMI DVD Player talking to the TV which seem to work together to auto fit the film, has made me put a brake on the investment for the time being. Mini's seem to be the best all round HTPC packages but the software doesn't quite yet seem up to the job, at least FrontRow. Would Media Central have the same "bars" problem

subbedout

01-14-07, 07:33 AM

So from the sounds of things in here, the AppleTV is a no-no for many of us. The lack of MPEG-2 playback (even if the DVD was in a remote computer!) is a big enough deal. They won't be getting my moola.

Blue 911

01-14-07, 09:19 AM

I agree. I'll probably get a Mac Mini to use as a DVD server. Maybe when the Core 2 version comes out, I can get the current version for a discounted price. The current processor should be fine for this purpose.

jwcrash

01-14-07, 12:40 PM

The lack of MPEG-2 playback (even if the DVD was in a remote computer!) is a big enough deal. They won't be getting my moola.

I'm a passenger in the same boat.

:(

kenliles

01-14-07, 08:58 PM

I don't think anyone here in the forums is a good candidate for Apple TV, unless you want to rip all your DVD's to MP4 losing video quality and the surround sound capability (not to mention the inordinate amount of time required to make a decent rip). MTR is so fast and preserves everything. I think I'll stick with my MacMini. ATV offers nothing that my MacMini can't handle and the MacMini is much more versatile.

Given the mini, this might be largley the case; I'm going to give one a try though bedroom TV use to watch iTunes movies easily there...
Otherwise, I think I'm in this same camp - getting the next mini upgrade and sticking with direct rips for the main family room setup..

ken

macminigeek

01-16-07, 10:09 PM

Vertigo

01-16-07, 11:29 PM

orbitalpunk

01-17-07, 10:32 AM

Hi there,

Could anyone explain, if its possible, how i could rip the dvd with mactheripper with a single video stream and single audio stream? I was using Title Only Extraction mode but it spits out a .m2v file and it seems dvdassist and front row wont work with .m2v files. is there a way around this? It would be a real space saver instead of ripping the entire disc.

another problem i run into when ripping the entire disc is i have to watch all the previews cause when i hit the menu button on the remote, its quits the dvd rather then going to the DVD Menu.

Thanks so much

macminigeek

01-17-07, 01:41 PM

macminigeek,

I had the same issue and ended up editing SS's script to quit DVD Assist right before DVD Player starts. That got rid of my stuttering issues. I then re-launch it after I quit DVD Player via iKey macro. Do you know Applescript? You should be able to edit the script with Applescript Editor. Open his program with Applescript Editor, and add the following right before every entry that references DVD Player launch:

tell application "DVD Assist Background Only" to quit

Good luck!

Vertigo, thanks a lot. I am not familiar with AppleScript, but have programmed in other languages.... will try this when I get home tonight. Could you elaborate on the iKey macro to re-launch DVD Assist when DVD Player quits? I hope that you are not referring to the iKey USB keyboard, since I really only want to use the (wife-friendly) Apple Remote in my HT setup.... ;)

macminigeek

01-17-07, 02:11 PM

Squished Squirre

01-17-07, 02:50 PM

Squished Squirre

01-17-07, 02:54 PM

Hi to all,

I have read the entire thread about stuttering issues with Apple's DVD Player and DVD Assist. While the latest version (1.4.7) seems to work for other users, I can still see stuttering while playing back a VIDEO_TS from an attached USB 2.0 hard drive. I have a modified Mac Mini that runs on a 2 GHz Core Duo and 1 Gig of RAM, a clean Mac OS X install (10.4.8) with all the latest updates. The only applications running are FrontRow and DVD Assist. It seems like the "background only" version of DVD Assist has less stuttering than the "regular" version.

I have verified that there is no issue when I do not run DVD Assist.
Any thoughts???

Squished Squirrel, great little program! Keep up the good work (and enjoy the donation I sent in today!!!)

Many thanks for the donation, although I feel guilty that you sent money when it isn't behaving well for you! The way this works is to use the Unix command LSOF to see what Front Row is doing. Unfortunately, LSOF is a CPU hog, and can tie up the computer long enough to cause playback pauses.

Does it make a difference if you are playing a movie that is stored on the internal hard drive instead of the USB drive?

Squished Squirre

01-17-07, 02:58 PM

Squished Squirre

01-17-07, 03:02 PM

macminigeek

01-17-07, 03:21 PM

Many thanks for the donation, although I feel guilty that you sent money when it isn't behaving well for you! The way this works is to use the Unix command LSOF to see what Front Row is doing. Unfortunately, LSOF is a CPU hog, and can tie up the computer long enough to cause playback pauses.

Does it make a difference if you are playing a movie that is stored on the internal hard drive instead of the USB drive?

Don't worry about the donation. Your program works very well for me, I just need to get rid of the stuttering (which just affects the video, not the audio, btw).

I will try playing a DVD from the internal hard drive tonight.

Is there a possiblity to run your program at a lower priority, since it only sits in background? Maybe this would give DVD Player the priority it needs to play without stuttering... just a thought...

macminigeek

01-17-07, 03:30 PM

You might speed it up some by creating sub folders in your movies directory with categories like:

DVD Movies
Action
Childrens
Sci-Fi
Etc...

Then put the movie aliases in the appropriate subfolders. I've also had my Mac slow to a crawl when I'm at the office and it wants to go out and connect to other Macs on the network to find out what TV shows and movies they have to play.

I actually have everything in different categories, like

All Movies By Title (this includes all the movie aliases in one directory)
Movies By Genre (with about 10 subfolders, this is what you laid out above)
Movies By Actor (many different subfolders)
Movies By Alphabet (which includes 26 subfolders A...Z)
etc.

For one movie, I might have 5+ aliases in different folders (I know this is not very elegant, but the only way to really organize the movies afaik).

What I find strange is the fact that the "top" "Movies" folder only contains other folders, but it still takes a long time for to get into it. Plus it takes a long time to get into the subfolders. :mad:

Maybe I need to turn off the option to go out and find other shared movies on the network. I guess this is done in iTunes. Maybe this will speed things up.

Squished Squirre

01-17-07, 05:44 PM

Don't worry about the donation. Your program works very well for me, I just need to get rid of the stuttering (which just affects the video, not the audio, btw).

I will try playing a DVD from the internal hard drive tonight.

Is there a possiblity to run your program at a lower priority, since it only sits in background? Maybe this would give DVD Player the priority it needs to play without stuttering... just a thought...

Ahhg... not to go back on what I said, but I realised that I don't even call LSOF unless Front Row is in front. So, it is just the process of checking what program is in front and the overhead of the Applescript causing the glitch. Getting around the last of these glitches is going to be annoying. (This and the sleep problem.)

Robert Holloway

01-17-07, 06:00 PM

Apologies if this question is stupid. I'm just in the process of switching from PC to Apple for an HTPC

I ripped my entire collection of 1000+ DVds to hard drives (15x500GB) and now want to play them through a Mac pro

a) Does the Mac pro not recognize ripped DVDs?
b) Does this fix solve the problem using the DVD player?

Again sorry for my clumsiness.

Thx
Rob

Vertigo

01-17-07, 10:26 PM

Could you elaborate on the iKey macro to re-launch DVD Assist when DVD Player quits? I hope that you are not referring to the iKey USB keyboard, since I really only want to use the (wife-friendly) Apple Remote in my HT setup.... ;)

macminigeek,

I use the iKey application. iKey allows creation of shortcuts that perform an action or sequence of actions each of which can be launched by key combinations, menu, timer, event or USB devices (many button mice, keyboards, graphic pads and game controllers, etc.)

I have basically created a list of actions that are executed when I hit a keyboard combo. For example, I use Command, space bar, T to quit dvd player, re-launch DVD Assist, and relaunch Front Row. You can add anything you want and launch it via keyboard keys.

Another example, I use iKey to quit certain apps before going to sleep. Also, for waking up from sleep, I have set iKey to launch DVD Assist, iTunes (For faster Front Row access) and Front Row of course. It is a nice application.

What I also did, is that I programmed all of these keyboard commands with my airboard infrared keyboard and then had my remote control learn them. It's a really good solution for me.

I hope that helps.

Vertigo

01-17-07, 10:40 PM

One more question: I have around 400 ripped DVDs on several hard drives directly connected to the MacMini. When FrontRow starts up, it takes me about 20 seconds to get into the "Video" mode, and another 35 seconds to get to the "Movies" directory (which is loaded with little "start the movie" aliases in various subfolders). This is awfully slow. Is there any way to speed up FrontRow? Thanks!

Try launching iTunes first...that makes a big difference. Also, make sure you disable Check for updates automatically and look for remote speakers connected with airtunes in iTunes preferences.

Also, if you have external USB or firewire drives, they tend to spin down after about 5 minutes or so. This has an impact on that as well. I have written a cron script to basically refresh a file on my external firewire drive to keep it from spinning down. It runs every four minutes. If you need this, let me know and I can provide.

Another suggestion would be to remove all of your aliases from Movies folder and do it over again.

Best way to find them, is to use search on the finder window or spotlight and type .mov or whatever extension you are using for your movies. Once they show up, select them all. Start dragging them to your Movies folder, but do not release the mouse button (or it will copy them), instead, hold the apple command key and option key together. You can then release the mouse button. You will see that the mouse arrow becomes an alias arrow instead...this means it created aliases in your Movies folder.

Oh yeah, one more thing...maybe just do two aliases to begin with...see if Front Row is slow with just two...this may help you identify the problem as well...

Good luck!

I hope that works.

Squished Squirre

01-18-07, 09:16 AM

airdrummer

01-18-07, 08:04 PM

airdrummer

01-18-07, 08:45 PM

Squished Squirre

01-19-07, 12:04 AM

nice work but needs cleanup...i've put my changes @ http://wibles.webhop.net/toms/DVHS/scripts (along w/ my tvpi apps:-)

the reason vlc (& dvdplayer, probably) doesn't always enter fullscreen is that vlc's f-s cmd is a toggle: if the user leaves it in f-s, the next f-s cmd takes it out of f-s:-( so the only solution is the 1 u use:-{

The C portion of the code takes care to quit out of VLC every time Front Row is in front (if DVD Assist was responsible for launching it) so the fullscreen command should work every time, unless you already have VLC set to go to full screen, in which case it toggles it out of fullscreen.

DVD Player is another issue. It has a bug in its fullscreen command that causes it to ignore the fullscreen command in certain circumstances. Still, the same goes for it. The C code kills DVD Player, so on the next launch it honors the fullscreen command.

If you manually launch either program after DVD Assist is launched, then all bets are off, since it won't kill either program if it didn't launch them.

Squished Squirre

01-19-07, 12:25 AM

i had 2 comment out the eyetv code, since i don't have it...the only testing i've been able 2 do fails with bad files: dvd player rejects my video_ts due 2 'disc copy protection could not be verified' ;-( guess i'll just have 2 play dvds in vlc 2;-)

It sounds like your rips are still encrypted? That would explain why VLC can play them, but DVD Player can't.

dodren

01-19-07, 09:31 AM

Hello. I downloaded your DVD Assist program and tried it out. It seemed to work OK so long as there are no diacritics in any of the paths. Since I have quite a few Latin, Brazilian, Spanish and Italian DVDs of music, paths such as "Miguel Bosé - Velvetina" did not work without renaming (in this case changing the 'é' to 'e'). Since I have quite a few such paths, and prefer proper spelling of my artists and titles, I could not use your software. However, I would be happy to test out any future updates you might have that would address this issue (david underscore odren at yahoo), as this product looks very promising. Thank you for the opportunity to sample your work! (P.S. I hope this posts successfully. I'm a brand new member.)

Squished Squirre

01-19-07, 11:15 AM

Mex12

01-20-07, 02:41 AM

I spoke with a developer buddy, and he gave me some ideas on what might be tripping up auto sleep mode. I'll see if I can try his ideas... although it might not be until the Christmas to New years holiday when I have a lot of time to burn.

Hi, any news on this?

macminigeek

01-22-07, 02:05 PM

Try launching iTunes first...that makes a big difference. Also, make sure you disable Check for updates automatically and look for remote speakers connected with airtunes in iTunes preferences.

Also, if you have external USB or firewire drives, they tend to spin down after about 5 minutes or so. This has an impact on that as well. I have written a cron script to basically refresh a file on my external firewire drive to keep it from spinning down. It runs every four minutes. If you need this, let me know and I can provide.

Another suggestion would be to remove all of your aliases from Movies folder and do it over again.

Best way to find them, is to use search on the finder window or spotlight and type .mov or whatever extension you are using for your movies. Once they show up, select them all. Start dragging them to your Movies folder, but do not release the mouse button (or it will copy them), instead, hold the apple command key and option key together. You can then release the mouse button. You will see that the mouse arrow becomes an alias arrow instead...this means it created aliases in your Movies folder.

Oh yeah, one more thing...maybe just do two aliases to begin with...see if Front Row is slow with just two...this may help you identify the problem as well...

Good luck!

I hope that works.

Thanks for all the tips. I think that FrontRow is just slow because I have so many movies, although the "Movies" folder only contains folders that contain all the .mov-Aliases to my external hard drives. So I would expect to get into the "Movies" folder pretty quick. I will need to move my entire folder structure out of the "Movies" directory and test with just one or two aliases... maybe I have time to do that tonight.

BTW, I have played a test movie from my internal hard drive, but the stuttering remains the same. I have also set the priority of DVD Assist to "20" (lowest possible) with no change (still stuttering).

I guess that the only solution to this right now is to quit DVD Assist when launching DVD Player. I really hope that SquishedSquirrel comes up with a better solution. Or maybe there is a way to automatically relaunch DVD Assist when DVD Player quits.....

Squished Squirre

01-23-07, 12:05 PM

Hi, any news on this?

Yes... It's frustrating me ;-)

I found a way to look at the inactivity timer while the program runs, and the inactivity timer is counting up just as it should. As soon as I move the mouse, the inactivity timer resets. So, there is something else the operating system is looking at, and I'm not sure what it is.

macguyincali

01-23-07, 12:20 PM

Hey Squished... your program is fantastic and have been trying it out... it seems to work pretty well. Overall, FrontRow leaves much to be desired, but your program makes it more usable. Still, I have so many DVD's to add to my library and creating aliases and thumbnail videos is really time consuming. I finally sprung for MediaCentral as a stop-gap measure although I still alternate between the FR and MC. One thing that MC has which would be cool to implement in DVD Assist is the ability to show thumbnails of DVDs just by reading the image files in the actual DVD folder (not in the VIDEO_TS folder). I know your program works by using Quicktime files as a workaround, b/c FR apparently only recognizes QT files as thumbnails. To me thumbnails are an important part of the DVD library exerience, so I laboriously downloaded cover art, resized it (to avoid distortion in FR), added it to the sample QT supplied, dragged to VIDEO_TS folder, then created aliases in the proper places on the MacMini. I got through about half of my 550 or DVD's. If there is any way to simplify this process, it would remove MC's only advantage.

Maybe an AppleScript that you run on your DVD folders that automatically creates a thumbnail QT file out of the image in the DVD folder and places it, resized and all, into the VIDEO_TS folder. Anyone out there willing to create that? I'm all thumbs when it comes to any sort of coding.

Squished Squirre

01-24-07, 01:27 PM

Maybe an AppleScript that you run on your DVD folders that automatically creates a thumbnail QT file out of the image in the DVD folder and places it, resized and all, into the VIDEO_TS folder. Anyone out there willing to create that? I'm all thumbs when it comes to any sort of coding.

Yeh, that would be cool. A little beyond the effort I planned to expend on the project, but doable. I'd probably just have it creat the thumbnail movie from the first couple minutes of the largest VOB set.

Thanks!
Squirrel

roostacat

01-27-07, 11:49 PM

Scuse me, forget my post... Its soooo stupid. All I have to do is to dim the screen with luminosity buttons on the Macbook keyboard...

Blue 911

01-28-07, 05:14 PM

Looprumors website posted this about Leopard and AppleTV:

"We have been digging to find out what these new features might be, and have discovered some interesting information. First, we were told that Leopard's 'Top Secret' features will wow the audiences. Integration with the new Apple TV is a certainty. New data suggests that Leopard will be able to use Apple TV to transmit the MacOS X desktop to high definition televisions. This means that instead of connecting computers to displays with cables, Leopard will wirelessly transmit the image via a Wi-Fi connection. This would aid in presentations as well. No more connecting computers to digital projectors. Now, the image is streamed wirelessly."

So if AppleTV can transmit the actual OS X desktop to your HDTV, then rather than having to buying a separate Mac Mini as a server you could just use your desktop computer. I would think then you could use Front Row/DVD Assist to play ripped DVD's. Your HDTV would simply be a remote monitor, but with the ability to control Front Row on your desktop with the IR remote.

Would this work?

Joseph S

01-28-07, 06:42 PM

Would this work?
I can play/edit HD via TimbuktuPro from 1000+ miles away, but...

You'll need a heck of a cache to do it well and at full res.

For simple stuff it would be fine.

Squished Squirre

01-28-07, 07:55 PM

If true, it is most likely a variation on Apple Remote Desktop. All they would have to do is put a view only client in the AppleTV and done. It is fine for browsing web pages, but is not a good solution for live video.

Blue 911

01-28-07, 09:24 PM

imlucid

01-28-07, 10:23 PM

Doesn't the AppleTV simply replace the DVI cable with a wirelesss means of connecting the HDTV to my Mac. So what ever plays on my desktop Mac monitor can be mirrored on my HDTV?
That's not how it works. Think of it more like a networked iPod that is connected to your TV. You can sync content to it like an iPod for local playback (i.e. set it up to sync unwatched shows, etc.). You can also have it point to your Mac or Windows machine and stream the music/videos from iTunes on that machine.

Finally the AppleTV would allow me to control Front Row/DVD Assist running on my desktop Mac using the infra-red remote. No?
No.

Squished Squirre

01-29-07, 01:29 AM

This is the way I look at it. Right now I can connect my old PowerBook to my 70" Sony HDTV via a DVI cable and play DVD's on the big screen. Doesn't the AppleTV simply replace the DVI cable with a wirelesss means of connecting the HDTV to my Mac. So what ever plays on my desktop Mac monitor can be mirrored on my HDTV?

I'm mainly interested in using my HDTV in the living room as a display for watching standard def DVD's stored on my desktop Mac that's in my office. Finally the AppleTV would allow me to control Front Row/DVD Assist running on my desktop Mac using the infra-red remote. No?

I think the easiest way to look at it is this: A Mac screen running at 1280*720 60hz is generating 1.3Gbits/sec uncompressed over DVI. (1280x720x60x24) That is wayyyy beyond the wireless connection speed. So, to mirror the desktop, there has to be a LOT of compression. That isn't a problem with primarily static stuff like web pages, and most applications where the vast majority of the screen isn't changing rapidly. However, for video, that just doesn't fly without dropping frames.

If you have the oportunity to try to watch a DVD remotely using Timbuktu, VNC or Apple Remote Desktop, you will immediately see the effect. It is like watching a slide-show of the DVD.

Squished Squirre

01-29-07, 01:36 AM

One possibility (and I'm going to kick myself later for suggesting this...)

IF the Apple TV can play live video streams from non-apple sources I can see ONE possibility for DVD library playback from a remote Mac...

VLC has the ability to do live reencoding from one format to another. It can convert an MPEG2 file to an MPEG4 stream on the fly, and send it over the wire to another Mac.

What I don't know is how it handles menus. If they did it right, it would theoretically be possible to play a DVD and keep menus intact, all the while streaming via MPEG4 to the Apple TV.

WAY too many ifs, but the only possibility I can see right now.

Blue 911

01-29-07, 08:16 AM

A Mac screen running at 1280*720 60hz is generating 1.3Gbits/sec uncompressed over DVI. (1280x720x60x24) That is wayyyy beyond the wireless connection speed.But Apple's website does say that the AppleTV supports 720p @ 24fps.

Does this mean it will support a 1280 x 720 size desktop with DVD Player playback set to Full Screen? That is, the entire desktop is refreshed every 1/24 second?

Squished Squirre

01-29-07, 12:25 PM

But Apple's website does say that the AppleTV supports 720p @ 24fps.

Does this mean it will support a 1280 x 720 size desktop with DVD Player playback set to Full Screen? That is, the entire desktop is refreshed every 1/24 second?

It doesn't matter if it was just 720 x 480 at 24fps... the point is that mirroring a rapidly changing desktop over a wireless connection is way beyond the maximum throughput of wireless (without a LOT of compression, which is what the VLC solution I mentioned would have to do.)

Even the absolute minimum of 720x480x24x24 is 200Mbit/sec, and that would push 801.11n to the wall (yeah, 540Mbit max, but 200Mbit is more typical.)

I don't see any chance that desktop mirroring will allow for DVD playback. It is going to have to be some sort of DVD->MPEG4 stream.

imlucid

01-29-07, 12:26 PM

Does this mean it will support a 1280 x 720 size desktop with DVD Player playback set to Full Screen? That is, the entire desktop is refreshed every 1/24 second?
What DVD Player? Apple TV will playback content supported in iTunes and listed on the website. This does not include MPEG2 and does not include DVDs...

Blue 911

01-29-07, 07:09 PM

I was referring to a rumor (post #345) that Leopard will be able to use Apple TV to transmit the MacOS X desktop to high definition televisions. So I figure if you're playing a DVD "full screen" on the desktop, that it would be transmitted to your TV, too. But I can see from Squished Squirrel's calculations it may not be possible--unless some sort of compression of each desktop image sent at 24fps is used. Again, just a rumor, but it would be cool!

imlucid

01-29-07, 07:13 PM

From all my experience using Apple Remote Desktop, I can't imagine this working over wireless, let alone a 100 Mb ethernet network. Having never heard of that rumor site before, I'd take this rumor with a grain of salt the size of the Rock of Gibraltar...

germo0

03-06-07, 12:12 AM

I have installed and successfully used DVD Assist. This is a great application and has saved my project to digitise all my DVD collection with 5.1 sound.

Whilst using DVD Assist, I notice some movies do not start whilst others do from Front Row. For the ones that don't start, the standard movie sequence with the countdown goes to the end and a blank screen appears with a white circle appearing briefly on the top right corner.

germo0

03-06-07, 01:52 AM

nightowl

03-06-07, 11:18 AM

grubavs

03-06-07, 12:35 PM

Hi Squish,

I have found the cause of the previous problem I posted. It appears if the container folder VIDEO_TS is in contains non-western characters (eg. Chinese) it does not play the VIDEO_TS. Does anyone else see the same error?

germo0

I haven't had that problem, but as I've been adding my DVDs to my mini, I've been noticing with some regularity that when I rip using "Main Feature Extraction", frequently DVD_Assist has a problem playing it, with the same result you mention. It eventually just goes back to FrontRow.

I've had the same problem as germo0... but not due to non-western characters. Some of my movies work with DVD_Assist, some just go through the DVD_Assist countdown and repeat.

and I am not able to rip "Main Feature Attraction" at all. I usually get Mac-the-Ripper quits, a warning that the disc has bad faults (funny, not if I rip the entire disc), and/or the ripped "Main Feature Attraction" won't work at all. Too bad, cuz I'm not one for all the EXTRAS included with my DVDs.

benzizbit

03-07-07, 09:57 AM

quad9

03-07-07, 06:01 PM

Hi.
First, I must say that I think DVDAssist is a great and very useful piece of software. Thank you SS for your efforts and patience.
I am using FR on a G5 Quad via Front Row Runner. I am also using the Keyspan remote control that works quite well with FR.
The main drawback is that I have to launch FR from the dock because the remote does not seem to provide the launch option. I am having a problem that may not be solvable, but here it is anyway.
I can access my "DVD Movies" folder just fine in FR and as I scroll down thru my list of movies, cover art that I have installed as QT files shows up as it should, etc. Also, if I select a movie, the "DVD" launches just fine and I can select chapters, start the movie, watch the DVD’s Special Features, etc. from my remote position in the room.

However, if I decide while watching a film that I want to switch to a different movie, I cannot get back to my "DVD Movies" list with the remote, I have to exit everything, returning to the finder, and re-launching FR from the dock. (WhenI return to the finder, I note that FR is no longer running (which doesn't surprise me since I assume that DVD Player has taken over once I choose my
movie in the FR list).

Is there any way to return to the movie list displayed in front row when I decide to switch to a different film than the one that I have been watching? To do so would be so much nicer than getting up, returning to the computer, re-launching FR, etc. Thanks for any responses.

benzizbit

03-08-07, 03:12 AM

To do so would be so much nicer than getting up, returning to the computer, re-launching FR

Hi quad9

I realy hops SS will help you with your problem.
In any case you can go an get Remote buddy

http://www.iospirit.com/index.php?mode=view&obj_type=infogroup&obj_id=23&sid=3425558G35465f4feb7102f6&o_infogroup_objcode=html-106

It will solve you problem.
I use it ,works quite well.

Squished Squirre

03-08-07, 09:12 AM

Funny thing is, I actually have a Keyspan DMR.

First off, does your Front row trigger properly if you hit Command-Escape? If it does, then reprogramming, say, the "Cycle" button on the DMR might be the ticket. I haven't tried it since my DMR is on my server running panther (just happens to be convienient to the dinner table.)

Other bugs reported, and still unresolved:
Support for unicode filenames and paths. This one is ticking me off because I'm not understanding exactly how applescript handles unicode (and how LSOF mangles it.)

Some people have slight pauses while videos play. Still haven't found a good work-around for that.

quad9

03-08-07, 06:07 PM

As suggested I will look at Remote Buddy and see if there's any possibilities there.

In answer to the question ... if I launch Front Row (Front Row Runner) from the dock, I can use Command-Escape to return to the finder. However, I am not able to launch Front Row from the finder using Command-Escape, so programming my KeySpan remote to generate that ke combination will probably not help.
I'm not surprised because I am using workaround software just to be able to run FR on my G5 Quad. FR works well with the KeySpan Remote, but once I am into a movie via DVDAssist, I have to quit and reurn to the Finder before I can get back to FR again (by relaunching it from the dock) in order to play a different movie.

Squished Squirre

03-09-07, 12:50 AM

I understand that you have to use a work-around to get FR running, but if properly installed with the proper patch, it should always be at your beckon call. I've used nearly all versions of Front Row Enabler to allow non remote macs to use FR. It can do nasty things if you patch an already patched system. But nothing that isn't fixable.

Remote Buddy is cool, and may be your best bet, but I never liked the additional menu layer it added since I didn't need programs other than Front Row, DVD Player and VLC to be controlled.

benzizbit

03-09-07, 11:05 AM

Hi SS, Is there a way you can help me with
I like to use FR & DVD_Assist to launch a Dvix video file (avi ...) with VLC (so I can see the movie with subtitles), Let’s say I will add “Play_With_VLC” to the end of the files name. So DVD_Assist will see I like to play this movie and launch VLC.

BTW is there a newer version then 1.47? if yes where I can find it?

Thx for the help & patience

quad9

03-18-07, 03:43 PM

I posted earlier about not being able to return to FR after quitting a DVD running under DVDAssist without reurning to the keyboard and using the dock icon. (I am using a G5 Quad with KeySpan remote and in my case, none of the remote's burrons can re-launch FR). However, it turns out that after quitting a DVD, the arrow buttons on the KeySpan remote can be used to remotely navigate the screen cursor to the dock and launch FR again. Not the greatest solution but at least I don't have to leave the sofa.

rydot

03-19-07, 01:51 PM

Can anyone confirm whether anything in the 10.4.9 update breaks DVD Assist?

(I'm err'ing on the side of caution, since this utility has to run around Front Row, and who knows what Apple might accidentally break...)

nightowl

03-19-07, 06:39 PM

nw_mike

03-21-07, 04:57 PM

This looks to be an amazing hack, and I wish I could get it to work. This is how I have it setup maybe someomen can tell me where my issue lies.

Hardware Macmini CoreDuo (not C2D) running Mac OS X 10.4.9 1GB Ram.
External FW Newertech 500GB Drive

I have the DVD Assist App set to launch at login.
All of my movies (VIDEO_TS) files are on the external drive
I copied the Start the Movie.mov file to the VIDEO_TS folder of the movie I wanted to watch and renamed it to the movie's name, Madagascar.mov
I then made an alias to it in the 'Movies' folder under my account.

When I activate Front Row and navigate to the Movies section there is the alias. When I select it, it start the countdown movie, pauses, then goes back to the menu. If I quit Front Row and go to the Finder the DVD Assist is hung and needs to be Force Quit. I am stumped. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Squished Squirre

03-21-07, 11:04 PM

By chance did you put the alias directly into the Movies folder, or in a sub folder of the Movies folder? I've run into issues with putting the aliases directly into the movies folder... still, this doesn't sound like the same problem. (The problem I had was the wrong movie played.)

I can probably test a C2 mini with 10.4.9 since I have a ton of them at the office.

Any other software installed that you think might be involved?

You say DVD Assist is hung? Can you open Activity monitor and see if there is an application "frontmost" running at the time it is hung?

nw_mike

03-21-07, 11:44 PM

Well I can honestly say I am quite amazed with DVD Assist. I have enjoyed Front Row, as a TV interface, and gotten the wifes approval as easy to use, but I was always frustrated by not being able to play my DVD's burned to the Mac. This is a goldmine and I look forward to seeing all that I am able to do with it (like being able to go from viewing the DVD back to Front Row without using a keybaord).

Thanks to Squished Squirre for getting back to me so quickly. I will let you know the info you asked for if it happens again. If we decide to keep using it this weekend I will be donating some bucks via PayPal.

Thanks again!

Squished Squirre

03-22-07, 09:56 AM

Thanks for the donation offer, but make sure it works well for you before donating! There are a few bugs that happen to some people, and I may never be able to iron them out... so make sure it works well for you first.

Thanks!

psychotwo

03-28-07, 01:45 PM

Hey SS, Well I am now seeing the glitching on my DVD's. However I did notice it more once I served them up off a network volume. Didn't seem to have the problem serving them locally. My question is this. I am trying to come up with a work around as mentioned earlier in this thread by quitting DVD Assist once a dvd starts up and then starting DA after DVD player quits. I am thinking that there might be an easy way to trigger this by inserting the appropriate command in DA but am not sure where to put it. I would then use automator to restart DA. Could you tell me what command to insert and where in DA I should insert it for this to work? I am not that familiar with apple scripting...

gaba!

03-29-07, 05:29 PM

I have the same problem as nw_mike above:
When I activate Front Row and navigate to the Movies section there is the alias. When I select it, it start the countdown movie, pauses, then goes back to the menu.
I would say that nothing happens, but in fact, DVD Assist seems to have started iTunes in the background, instead of DVD Player! After I quit Front Row, iTunes is on the Dock, running.

Also, it works perfectly with my wife account on the same machine (intel iMac 20" 2GHz) or with a newly created account. Only my account has this issue.

psychotwo

03-29-07, 07:10 PM

I would say that nothing happens, but in fact, DVD Assist seems to have started iTunes in the background, instead of DVD Player! After I quit Front Row, iTunes is on the Dock, running.

Also, it works perfectly with my wife account on the same machine (intel iMac 20" 2GHz) or with a newly created account. Only my account has this issue.

Front row is set to automatically start itunes when launched. This has nothing to do with DVD Assist.

Did you set up the aliases in your movie folder for your account? You have to do it for every account because the movie folders are account specific. If you did, I would check the configuration because there is something amiss in your setup. Also is DVD Assist running on your account?

gaba!

03-30-07, 10:26 AM

Thanks, psychotwo. I didn't know about that relationship between Front Row and iTunes, thanks for the clarification.

It must have been something with my setup indeed (after all, other accounts worked just fine), so yesterday I finally got fed up with it, and reinstalled my iMac completely (finished it 4:20 am this morning). I didn't try DVD Assist since then, but it definitely should work by now. I'll give it a shot tonight. :cool:

Chimpware

03-30-07, 11:47 AM

gaba!

03-30-07, 04:52 PM

No, DVD Assist was not the only reason to re-install my oldest Mac, it was just the last straw, and I wanted to do it for a long time now (it was a total mess), and I am very happy that I did it finally.

But the re-install didn't do the trick either. :D

Fortunately, however, I found the cause of the problem and the workaround as well. If I set "Magyar" (Hungarian) as the topmost language in System Preferences / International then DVD Assist does not work. If I move English or Deutsch to the top, DVD Assist works fine. Maybe because the Hungarian localization isn't installed on my system while English and German localizations are. It seems that DVD Assist will only work if the locale of the system is set to a localized language.

Why do I want to select Hungarian as the topmost language? Well, because I happen to be Hungarian, of course, and Microsoft Office 2004 does really weird things if I want to use a Hungarian keyboard layout and don't select at the same time Hungarian as the first language in the list. But since I don't need Office on this machine any more (I only use it on my laptop nowadays), I don't mind switching to English, in order to have a working DVD Assist, so I'm cool now. I am going to donate some money to the author of DVD Assist.

(If only Apple DVD Player would support resuming movies in VIDEO_TS folders...)

sbelyo

04-05-07, 04:48 PM

Thanks to Squished Squirre for the app... I love it

I got a minimac back in Feb. to start using/learning mac after a 20 year hiatus. I'm using front row and dvd assist to stream my 700 dvd's to my plasma in the family room.

I can get the movies to play without issues, I just have 2 things I need help on:

1. How does the file folder structure need to be so that I can go to movies in front row, then have 2 folders DVD's and TV Shows. Then from DVD's have just the names of all my movies come up in ABC order without having to navigate further into the VIDEO_TS folder on screen

2. How do I make the alias work for Start the Movie.mov when it's renamed to something else? Also, will I need QT pro to edit the Start the Movie.mov so that the cover art will show instead or shorten the trailer?

nightowl

04-05-07, 08:36 PM

1. How does the file folder structure need to be so that I can go to movies in front row, then have 2 folders DVD's and TV Shows. Then from DVD's have just the names of all my movies come up in ABC order without having to navigate further into the VIDEO_TS folder on screen.

In the "Movies" folder in your account, create a new folder for each category you want shown, ie "DVDs" and "TV Shows".

2. How do I make the alias work for Start the Movie.mov when it's renamed to something else? Also, will I need QT pro to edit the Start the Movie.mov so that the cover art will show instead or shorten the trailer?

Name the "Start the Movie" file whatever name you'd like, and even remove the .mov extension if you want to. Create an alias of the "Start the Movie.mov" file from each of the Video_TS folders, and drag it to the folders you created in #1.

I have my movies broken down by genre using this method. Works out great, keeps the groups small-ish, and the kids know right where to look for their movies.
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/6739/movies2al3.th.jpg (http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=movies2al3.jpg)

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6807/movies1cj7.th.jpg (http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=movies1cj7.jpg)

sbelyo

04-05-07, 09:10 PM

Thanks
Name the "Start the Movie" file whatever name you'd like, and even remove the .mov extension if you want to.
So place the "Start the Movie.mov" file in the VIDEO_TS folder you just ripped and rename it to whatever you want. Then do this:

Create an alias of the "Start the Movie.mov" file from each of the Video_TS folders, and drag it to the folders you created.

Got it

nightowl

04-06-07, 06:57 PM

Thanks

So place the "Start the Movie.mov" file in the VIDEO_TS folder you just ripped and rename it to whatever you want. Then do this:

Create an alias of the "Start the Movie.mov" file from each of the Video_TS folders, and drag it to the folders you created.

Got it

That should do it. How did it work out for you?

oconnellc

04-14-07, 12:33 AM

My experience is that if I create a sub-folder of the 'Movies' folder and put the trigger file in there, my movie does not get played. Instead, it plays the movie that has the last trigger file in the list in the actual 'Movies' folder. Anyone else see this? I would love to break them out, because I am sick of having to scroll through the long list...

Thanks in advance!

jwcrash

04-14-07, 02:01 PM

My experience is that if I create a sub-folder of the 'Movies' folder and put the trigger file in there, my movie does not get played. Instead, it plays the movie that has the last trigger file in the list in the actual 'Movies' folder.

I had this same problem and was able to remedy it by making sure there weren't any trigger movies above the aliases in the folder hierarchy. That is, I leave the Movies folder empty, save for my subfolders (All, Drama, Action, Comedy, etc.) that contain the actual aliases. As long as the aliases are all on the "same level" with no competing aliases in the folders "above them", you should be fine launching the correct files.

By the by, this problem is mentioned previously in the thread by SS and a couple of other folks, so don't think I'm breaking new ground here.

:D

jwcrash

04-14-07, 02:15 PM

Hi All

Is there a way to add to DVD_Assist the following option?
(If its there can someone tell me how to use it)

I like to use FR & DVD_Assist to launch a Dvix video file (avi ...) with VLC (so I can see the movie with subtitles), Let’s say I will add “Play_With_VLC” to the end of the files name. So DVD_Assist will see I like to play this movie and launch VLC.

I have a hacky way to achieve this (minus subtitle support, which I don't know about). I use it to launch individual VOB files (trailers), but am pretty sure it will work with any type of video file that VLC can play.

I simply rename the video files with a ".TS" extension instead of the actual file type and treat them like Transport Stream files when setting up my file structure (see Read Me for details). Since DVD Assist looks for TS files and plays them via VLC, it works beautifully. VLC doesn't even send an error message the file type being off - it just plays them.

Ugly process? Yes. Effective? For me! FYI: It won't work with VLC Playlist files...I reached too far with that experiment!

Good luck.

pandutzu

04-15-07, 01:13 AM

SS,
I got a similar issue. I put the alias in the designated folder (i.e., Movies/Kids). It counts down the .mov file and then it returns to the menu. It worked fine before in this set up, so I pretty sure the files are OK. What is new now, is that I put all my files on a FW (that is partitioned in 3) vs a USB HDD, and I got a new mini C2 to be used for the HTPC system. I stripped down some of the useless software (I.e. Garage Band and such). I also recreated the alias, so the aliases are not copies of the old ones.

Any idea what might be wrong?

Thanks

Adrian

pandutzu

04-15-07, 09:44 PM

Well,
I was stupid enough and not paying attention. I figured out what was going on. My DVD Assist was not starting up at login. It works like a charm as it should.

Adrian :rolleyes:

sinthetic

04-17-07, 09:33 PM

I'm very happy to come across this great little app! Great work Squirre! I just submitted a donation to you as a token of appreciation for all your work and effort.

One question I have is if anyone knows how to make all your pointer alias files (with originals on a network volume) appear in Front Row without having to open them in the finder first. Maybe add a script that opes all the pointer alias files and then quits them when you launch DVD Assist? (Not that I would now how to do this) Another question is if there is any way to wake the other Mac from sleep over the network? Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Vertigo

04-26-07, 04:37 PM

SS,

I am happy to report that DVD Assist partially works with AppleTV OS. Well, at least a hacked version of it on my MBP. I bought an AppleTV the day it came out, and I love it. The problem is that I have spent countless hours transcoding all of my DVD's with Handbrake. Now there is a new version of Handbrake and I started to redo all of my DVD's. Today, I gave up since I own so many DVD's. and this is time consuming.

Instead I loaded OS X on my MBP and installed AppleTV OS as per appletvhacks.net. All my DVD's play great with the ATVFiles AppleTV plugin. I have all of my ripped DVD's on an external USB drive and I created symbolic links to all the .mov files in each VIDEO_TS folder. The plugin also reads cover art files in that same directory and displays them in AppleTV. This is great. I do however have one small problem. All my .ts files that I have do not play. It appears VLC does not work with AppleTV OS. I am looking at the script again to see what I can change to get it working.

Also, I had to move the kill Front Row section of the script to before the launch of DVD Player. I encountered a problem before where AppleTV OS would exit fine, but DVD Player would start with Finder in the background and not in full screen. This modification fixed that.

This is great. I can use all of the features of AppleTV OS with new version of Front Row, play a DVD, and play VIDEO_TS folders.

I wonder if I can return my AppleTV? :) Probably not, since I bought it almost a month ago. With the updates coming out soon, I am sure it will have major changes done, including the possibility of DVD Player addon. In order for me to use a regular DVD, I added the Quit plugin, which takes me back to Finder. From there, when a DVD is inserted, it auto launches DVD Player.

chipnuts

05-01-07, 11:31 AM

Hi Vertigo

Did I understand you correct: You've got Dvdassist working with the User Interface of AppleTV (Backrow)?

If so, I would really appreciate it if you could post a brief description of what you did to make it work.

I myself have a hacked version of the AppleTV UI running on my mini, but wasn't able to use DvDAssist in combination with it (Works fine with FrontRow).

Chipnuts

Vertigo

05-01-07, 11:54 PM

Did I understand you correct: You've got Dvdassist working with the User Interface of AppleTV (Backrow)?

s

Chipnuts,

That is correct. I have it working 100% now. My AppleTV is unplugged and collecting dust for now. I have the full AppleTV OS working on my 2.0Ghz MBP with an external 500GB USB drive. Here is what I did to get it working. I kind of did these instructions in a hurry so if you need further clarification on something, please let me know.

1. I got a fresh install of OS X with the bare minimum installed. No fonts, extra languages, printer drivers, etc. and AppleTV interface. I actually found a dmg image floating around the web and just restored it to my MBP. This image was done by someone who followed the instructions on appletvhacks.net. The instructions are for running AppleTV on an Intel Mac. In addition, it already had the ATVFiles plugin installed, which enables other file types to be played back.

2. Once I restored the image via Disk Utility, the MBP booted up into OS X. To my amazement, I hit the menu button on my Apple Remote and AppleTV interface came up. I exited out of AppleTV interface and enabled Apple Remote Desktop for future administrative purposes and adding new rips (File Sharing and SSH were already turned on).

3. I connected to iTunes by entering a new code. My Mac recognized it as an AppleTV. I started to sync only my photo library.

4. This created all of the photos under /Volumes/AppleTV/Media folder. Please note that I gave my partition the AppleTV name.

5. I downloaded an application called Symbolic Linker. This application creates symbolic links for you, basically it does an ln -s UNIX command for you, but in a GUI fashion. The install instructions for this app indicate to copy the plugin to /System/Library/Contextual Menu Items/. To finish installation you have to restart Finder or reboot your computer. You can restart Finder doing a Command, Option, Escape and doing a Force Quit on Finder.

6. I then moved over the Media folder from /Volumes/AppleTV to my 500GB USB Drive. Make sure when you move it and not copy it.

7. Navigate to your external device and right-click on the newly moved Media folder. when you right-click, you will notice a new Contextual Menu Item called Make Symbolic Link. Click on it. This will create the Media symlink file. The name created is Media symlink.

8. Move this file to /Volumes/AppleTV. Rename the file name to remove symlink portion of the name so it just reads Media. I hope you are seeing what we have done here. We are basically telling the OS that Media folder is a link to USB drive.

9. I launched AppleTV interface and walked over to my Mac. To my amazement, iTunes displayed the AppleTV with a 500GB drive......How cool is that? I started to sync my Podcasts and 40GB Music collection. HD podcast looked amazing. I have iTunes to check for new Podcasts hourly. I subscribe to GeekBrief.TV (Cali Lewis is so hot) , MacBreak in HD, Mallorca HD Video, and Cocktails On The Fly.

10. Once synchronization completed, I did a few things to customize my AppleTV interface. I followed the instructions for ATVfiles plugin by modifying the name from Files to Movies. I then removed the Movies plugin that came with FrontRow. This file is under System/Library/CoreServices/Front\ Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/. I figured I did not need the Movies plugin since ATVFiles was now managing my movies.

11. I customized my ATVFiles plugin to remove the following display settings from menu, file size, extension, etc. I only wanted the file name to show up. For example Happy Feet and not Happy Feet.ts 7.9GB.

12. I exited out of AppleTV and modified SS's DVD Assit Background Only script a little. I did this because for some reason, when DVD Player or VLC launched, I would see the movie playing back in Full Screen, but the Menu Bar would show up as well. If you would like a copy of it, let me know and I will PM it to you.

13. Now I was ready to start testing HD transport stream files and DVD rips. I copied all of them to the external USB drive. I then copied over cover art jpg files that ATVFiles supports and put them under each folder. For example /Volumes/USB Drive/Happy Feet/VIDEO_TS/Happy Feet.jpg. I also used blank movie.mov file SS provides with his app and renamed it Happy Feet.mov under the same folder. I did this for all of my movies. Once I completed, I went back and created symbolic links from all of those .mov files exactly the same way as Media folder above. This time, I moved to symbolic link files to /Volumes/AppleTV/Users/frontrow/Movies folder. ATVFiles defaults to this folder. So once all the .mov symbolic link files from VIDEO_TS and Transport Streams folders were copied over to Movies folder. I renamed them to remove the symlink portion of the name at the end. Now they appeared just with .mov extension. For example Happy Feet.mov. Oh yeah, under /Movies directory, I created new directories to keep my movies organized. For example, Action, Drama, Documentaries, Kids and Family and Science Fiction. I moved all those symbolic link files into each corresponding folder so they are displayed in an organized fashion on AppleTV interface.

14. I started DVD Assist Background Only app and hit started AppleTV interface. I navigated over to Movies folder (remember I renamed it from Files to Movies). It brought up Action, Drama, etc. DVD rips with DVD Player and mkv files (renamed to ts extension for compatability purposes with DVD Assist) worked flawlessly. This is the moment where I almost started to cry! Cover art showing for movies and movies, I was in heaven. LOL! I now had my Music collection, photos, and Podcasts synchronizing perfectly and my DVD rips and HD 720p and 1080p mkv files playing.

15. After doing all of this, I had to figure out a way to quit out of DVD Player and VLC when I wanted to get back into AppleTV interface. If I did not do this, the movie would still play in the background after launching AppleTV interface, even playing Music would not make it stop. I then remember my old days of using iKey application with older Front Row and airboard keyboard combination on my mini. I installed iKey and created a new macro to do the following, Quit Front Row (background process for AppleTV inteface still uses that name) just to make sure, Do a command . in order to stop playback for both VLC and DVD Player (I did this to make sure it stopped playback cleanly), quit DVD Player, quit DVD Player, and finally launch Front Row again by simulating a Command, Escape command. I then told iKey to execute this macro whenever Command, Arrow Down is pressed on the keyboard. My airboard keyboard is plugged into my MBP via a PS/2 to USB adapter. I then had my Harmony Remote control learn that key. I programmed it to my Exit button on my remote. What this means is that when I am done watching a movie, I can just press Exit and get back to AppleTV interface.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. I hope this helps you get this working. If you cannot find that dmg file, you will have to follow the detailed instructions on how to
install AppleTV on an Intel Mac. They are actually not that difficult to follow. Before finding the dmg file, I actually had it working myself, but accidentaly deleted the partition when I added a new drive. Good luck!

Ed

Vertigo

05-02-07, 12:05 AM

I forgot to mention that I have DVD Player also working whenever I want to watch new DVD's I bought that I have not ripped yet.

I installed the Quit plugin for AppleTV. I just exit out with that plugin and insert the DVD. I have my System Preferences setup to launch DVD Player whenever a DVD is insterted. This is very cool!

I am testing to see if I can write a quick Applescript to launch whenever a DVD is inserted. I am basically looking to see if the script can kill -9 Front Row and launch DVD Player. That way I don't have to quit out of Front Row. Not sure if it will work because AppleTV interface takes over everything when it's running. The best thing of course would be for someone to create a plugin to Play DVD. I am looking into this now as well. I have to freshen up my old UNIX pearl scripting skills to do this.
My guess is that Leopard will not have the same version of FrontRow running that AppleTV does. My belief is that Apple would kill their sales of AppleTV by doing this. We may see a stripped down version of it that will most likely not be able to sync, but then again who knows. In the meantime, I could not be any happier. My only complaint now is that mkv 1080p files do not play smooth even on my MBP. VLC developers are working hard to improve playback of that container now. I only have two that I ripped from Blue Ray anyways so I am OK. All the others I have are 720p, which look amazing with dolby digital and all it's glory!

Jordy15675

05-02-07, 07:03 AM

Hi all

I was wondering if anyone might be able to help. I have Front Row running on a iMac 1.8 G5 with the use of the Front Row Enabler provided by Andrew Escobar. I have DVD Assist installed and working fine.

My problem is using the "DVD Assist Background Only" App, I have set it to be a launch item on startup in my account, but if I go into Front Row and select any Video_TS file, they will not play back. They only play back if I launch the DVD Assist main app.

Any ideas why this is and what I can do to fix it?

Oh and someone needs to get Video_TS working on the AppleTV, if they do, I'll buy one
;)

Vertigo

05-02-07, 06:35 PM

Chipnuts,

Big breakthru today for me. I installed the Perl Script plugin for AppleTV interface. Basically after you install the plugin, you have to create a perlbin folder under /Users/frontrow.

Now I can insert a DVD while in AppleTV interface and navigate to DVD menu item and it will start playing the DVD. It is listed as the first menu item. I also copied the DVD icon from older version of Front Row and it looks great.

Here is the perl script I wrote to launch DVD Player from AppleTV interface. Try it out.

#! /usr/bin/perl

system ("'/Applications/DVD\ Player.app/Contents/MacOS/DVD\ Player' -f dvdnav:///dev/rdisk3 | kill `ps uxc | grep -i 'Front Row' | awk '{print $2}'`")

I named my script Play DVD.perl.

Sorry if I am giving you a lot of info, but I am just thrilled I got this thing working so perfectly now.

Fallegur

06-11-07, 09:28 PM

This is a little Applescript applet I put together to integrate VIDEO_TS folder playback into Front Row.

The current version is 1.4.7. Please read the docs with each new revision. Additional help and clarifications are made to the docs with each revision of the program.

Let me know what you think of this, and what improvements could be made.

I have heard great things about DVD assist but some how I can't get it to work in front row. I have followed the user manual (description.rtfd). I copy the start the movie.mov into the Video_ts folder and renamed it. Than I maked an alais of that file and placed in Movies under a subfolder called DVD. When I enter front row and selled the .mov file, It counts down the .mov file and then it returns to the menu. I have DVD assist background only in my login items (I have also tried to have DVD assist running when I enter Front Row. If I take the VIDEO_TS folder and drag it over the DVD assist Icon it works perfectly. DVD player opens and start playing the moive.

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? - I have a new mac mini (mac os 10.4.9) 1.83 Ghz

Hope someone has an answer for me.

jwcrash

06-11-07, 10:29 PM

Anyone tried DVD Assist with the new version of Front Row (http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/features/frontrow.html) coming down the line with Leopard in October?

jcar901

06-16-07, 11:47 PM

Thanks for a great program! I have searched this thread and have not found anything on whether somone has created an Applesript to automatically create the "coverart movies" in QT Pro. Can this be done?... I am not skilled enough with Applescripts. If any one has any info it would be very helpful to all of us.
Thanks!

typecase

06-23-07, 06:04 PM

Anyone tried DVD Assist with the new version of Front Row (http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/features/frontrow.html) coming down the line with Leopard in October?

I have a developer friend that tried it. DVDAssist works with Leopard. It crashed a couple of times, stalling with a target cursor, but when it works, it works well. From what I can tell on Apple's website, the new frontrow looks like the AppleTV.

Update: I've asked about it again and was informed that it doesn't quit cleanly at shutdown on the latest latest leopard build. It works as promised with two caveats: when it starts the target cursor lingers (as mentioned earlier) and it fails to quit at shutdown and needs to be forced to quit before shutdown will proceed.

jelockwood

07-04-07, 11:08 AM

The existence of DVD Assist to allow playing full VIDEO_TS folders in Front Row is great, many thanks to the author. I hope any niggles with using it in Front Row 2 (Leopard) and Apple TV get polished out.

However I have a suggestion for a more significant change.

Some of you may be already aware of distantDVD this provides a very nice way to browse a collection of VIDEO_TS folders complete with artwork and it then plays them via DVD Player.

Unfortunately it is not integrated with Front Row and has not been updated for a year.

Would it be possible for DVD Assist to evolve in to something similar but running within Front Row?

The hacks already done for the Apple TV suggest it would be possible to evolve DVD Assist in to having its own menu entry in Front Row from which it could then switch to such a hypothetical VIDEO_TS browser/launcher.

cavalierlwt

07-04-07, 07:57 PM

Some of the other members are saying that Front Row under Leopard works with Video_TS folders now, yet I see you guys are still working on DVD_Assist. What's the scoop?

Jordy15675

07-06-07, 10:28 AM

Some of the other members are saying that Front Row under Leopard works with Video_TS folders now, yet I see you guys are still working on DVD_Assist. What's the scoop?

Hi all

I currently testing a copy of Leopard 9a466 (the most recent release with the new finder and dock) and I can say for sure that Video_TS is not supported in the new version of Front Row - and actually I doubt it ever will be due to it being against copyright to copy the contents of a purchased DVD to another storage device doing away with the security features.

I am unable to get DVDAssist to work either. I have tried with both the hidden and normal version and all it does is return to the Front Row interface after the few seconds of cover art display.

This could be down to Apple DVD player not being completely finished, or it could be down to the fact the DVDAssist will need some work to make it Leopard compatible. I do hope it is made compatible as the new Front Row works and looks just like AppleTV.

If I can help with testing DVDAssist in Leopard, please do let me know I am more than happy to help out.

If it helps I am running Leopard off an external Firewire drive, that may be of some importance but I doubt it.

ftaok

07-06-07, 11:05 AM

and actually I doubt it ever will be due to it being against copyright to copy the contents of a purchased DVD to another storage device doing away with the security features.
While it may be true that Front Row may never support Video_TS, I wanted to point out that not all DVDs are copy protected.

There are some legitimate uses for VIDEO_TS support on Front Row.

1. You want your wedding DVD backed up on your Mac and viewable on Front Row.

2. Your company has training DVDs that would be easier to work with on a computer, rather than dozens of DVDs.

and so on.

ft

jwcrash

07-06-07, 11:49 AM

Video_TS is not supported in the new version of Front Row - and actually I doubt it ever will be due to it being against copyright to copy the contents of a purchased DVD to another storage device doing away with the security features.

I have no illusions about Apple EVER making it easy to playback VIDEO_TS from Front Row (although I always have hope). Frankly, I've always been happy that Apple's DVD Player did (with the wonderful VLC riding shotgun) and that's why DVD Assist has been such a powerful a tool for my HTPC set-up.

:D

Further

07-06-07, 12:32 PM

ftaok

07-06-07, 12:40 PM

Doesn't MCE play ripped DVDs? Since Microsoft is far, far more subservient to the Hollywood studios than Apple is, it would seem far more likely that Front Row doesn't play ripped DVDs for technical or other reasons rather than trying to be nice to the studios.
It's probably not technical reasons, as DVDAssist allows FR to play ripped DVDs.

I would think that the reason is that Apple would rather you buy movies from iTS.

Another wrinkle is that the CEO of Apple is also a major shareholder (and boardmember, right??) of Disney. How would it look to the Disney folks if one of their main guys "supports" bypassing the DCMA?

Further

07-06-07, 01:00 PM

Another wrinkle is that the CEO of Apple is also a major shareholder (and boardmember, right??) of Disney. How would it look to the Disney folks if one of their main guys "supports" bypassing the DCMA?

I don't know the DCMA, but isn't Microsoft doing it as well? And considering their legal situation, wouldn't that be even worse?

jwcrash

07-06-07, 01:13 PM

Doesn't MCE play ripped DVDs? Since Microsoft is far, far more subservient to the Hollywood studios than Apple...

Am I unaware of an Apple/iTunes Store-type relationship that Microsoft has with Hollywood?

I always assumed that Apple's need to constantly stock and obtain new product from the studios drove them to bend to DRM-type actions more than MS - who don't appear nearly as reliant on that niche of the business as Apple does.

:confused:

Further

07-06-07, 01:17 PM

Am I unaware of an Apple/iTunes Store-type relationship that Microsoft has with Hollywood?

I always assumed that Apple's need to constantly stock and obtain new product from the studios drove them to bend to DRM-type actions more than MS - who don't appear nearly as reliant on that niche of the business as Apple does.

:confused:

As far as I know, Microsoft has been trying to (and, I believe, succeeding) in selling the studios on their (MS's) DRM system.

jason75

07-06-07, 01:28 PM

Hi all

I currently testing a copy of Leopard 9a466 (the most recent release with the new finder and dock) and I can say for sure that Video_TS is not supported in the new version of Front Row

Not to be rude, but you're completely wrong. VIDEO_TS is supported in Front Row 2.0 in Leopard 9a466.

Jordy15675

07-06-07, 04:26 PM

Not to be rude, but you're completely wrong. VIDEO_TS is supported in Front Row 2.0 in Leopard 9a466.

Your not being rude at all, but I have it sat here in front of me with a number of Video_TS files and none will play in Front Row 2 with or without DVDAssist.
Id be interested to know how you are getting it to play. I take it you are putting the Video_TS into the Movies folder?

I'd like to solve Video_TS in Front Row 2 like everyone else, so count me in on looking for the solution.

jason75

07-06-07, 04:30 PM

grubavs

07-06-07, 04:41 PM

You folks have to get out more... check out this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10953056#post10953056) starting with post #38...

Jordy15675

07-06-07, 04:56 PM

Yeah, just putting them in the Movies folder. Then I just browse Movies > Movies Folder and select the ripped DVD I want to play. When I select it, Front Row says "Loading DVD" and treats the same as a physical DVD.

My turn to eat humble pie, you are indeed correct, Front Row 2 does play Video_TS. I was just putting the video-TS folder in the movies folder, as soon as I put it into a sub folder of the movies name, I got the loading DVD menu.

The only problem was I was unable to resume, start from the beginning or see the DVD menu. It just sat there.

I need to poke around with this a little I think

jwcrash

07-06-07, 05:00 PM

Front Row says "Loading DVD" and treats the same as a physical DVD.

Suhweet!

Jordy15675

07-06-07, 05:05 PM

Okay I think I know what the problem is, I could be wrong but it appears that the DVD Menu's are not accessible with the keyboard.

Here's what is happening. I get the DVD menu up, with play already highlighted I hit return. A Pause menu bar appears and appears to pause the menu. Using the up and down arrows does not allow me to move around the DVD Menu.

This is probably why I can't play the film. Are you able to navigate a DVD menu?

I have to say what a great step in the right direction for Apple (And my DVD collection).

jason75

07-06-07, 05:21 PM

cavalierlwt

07-06-07, 05:26 PM

Good job scoping that out guys! I'm really looking forward to October/November, hopefully they'll have Core2 in the Minis (along with Leopard) so I can go ahead spring for one.

Jordy15675

07-06-07, 05:37 PM

Everything works fine with DVDs or ripped DVDs in Front Row 2 except for one problem which I'll mention in just a sec. Keyboard or Apple Remote interaction works well. Now for the problem I have... After about half way through the movie, whether it's a real DVD or a rip, playback starts to lose frames. So, I'm just sticking to using DVD Player for now. Otherwise, functionality is all there, it just needs some performance tuning.

Okay chap

Looks like there maybe some different bugs depending on the system, or it could just be something slightly wrong on this install or the Video_TS file I am testing it with.

I am running this from an external firewire hd on a powerbook g4 550, which isn't ideal, but it's better than running it as the main OS as it is still quite buggy in places.

I'll try a few different Video_TS files over the weekend and report back my findings.

Jordy

Jordy15675

07-06-07, 05:39 PM

Good job scoping that out guys! I'm really looking forward to October/November, hopefully they'll have Core2 in the Minis (along with Leopard) so I can go ahead spring for one.

A recent article on appleinsider.com stated that Apple was going to end the life of the Mini, I do hope they are wrong as I to would prefer to wait for a more powerful Mac mini.

cavalierlwt

07-06-07, 11:48 PM

wildrock

07-07-07, 12:43 AM

Yeah, I read that too. Some of sage minds on this board think that either might not be the case, or that the end is pretty far off in the distance.
I think either way we'll get one last update in before the end. It may not be for everyone, but I truly dig the Mini.I think that sage minds see three options:

1) the mini withers and dies
2) the mini gets incremental update and has another year of life, satisfying some, and frustrating others
3) Mini gets fantastic update, and we are all happy here with an adequate htpc box.

Then of course there always is #4, Mini gets replaced with the xMac, which is the computer of your dreams.

I'd put my money on #2 happening in 2-3 months. Santa Rosa chipset, with 1.8-2.0Ghz C2D, wireless N, and the gma 3000 gpu. No more, no less. It may be tied to Leopard, for no other reason than Apple doesn't want to have to release any more hardware for Tiger than it has to.

cavalierlwt

07-07-07, 02:43 AM

I agree with #2.
My guess is Apple will never release a complete HTPC, as their business model is less about users recording content and timeshifting as it is about users downloading content from Itunes. Oh well. I have to say though, if anyone could release the absolute TIVO killer, it's Apple: Rock solid appliance-like stability? yep Intuitive and visually pleasing interface? yep.
Looks good in the entertainment center? affirmative
It's never going to happen though. The Mini still fits the bill though. The only real shortcoming on my G4 Mini is that it can't play back Hi Def, and the ethernet is 10/100 instead of gigabit.

jveltman

07-08-07, 02:40 AM

Is there a way to configure DVDAssist to launch VIDEO_TS folders (ripped DVDs) in VLC rather than the DVD Player? I'm streaming these ripped DVDs over a network, and VLC does a much better job, but I can't seem to figure out how to get DVDAssist to launch VLC rather than the Apple DVD player.

Thanks,
Josh

dipdog21

08-24-07, 01:39 AM

I have a new strange problem. I just updated Front row last night with whatever update was issued and now all of a sudden some of my movie alias in the movie folder start a totally different movie. I have tried remaking the alias, remaking the .mov file, moving the video ts folder to a different location and none have worked. If I start the folder directly with dvd player it works fine. The alias is correct, I have cheaked this many times. And it only seems to happen to certain video.ts folders. Any one deal with any issues like this yet? I have been doing this for a little while and have about 400 discs that work fine so hopefully it is not user error.

Jordy15675

08-24-07, 10:06 AM

Hi there

I'm not sure what is causing your problem, but this should fix it no problem:
http://seiryu.home.comcast.net/symboliclinker.html

dipdog21

08-24-07, 11:21 AM

Unfortunetly this did not fix it. The funny thing is as I go through and try different things to fix this problem the movie that starts up jumps between two different movies. And is always the same two movies. Very strange...

Jordy15675

08-24-07, 05:07 PM

I would suggest deleting your DVD player preference file in both User Library and System library, and see if that works. sounds like something has got hung up somewhere.

dipdog21

08-25-07, 09:25 AM

That one didn't work either. I am going to try to re-rip the disc.

Jordy15675

08-25-07, 11:41 AM

Hmm that's odd.

Have you changed the IP address of the source of the files, I am assuming you have them on an external storage device.

I'm not sure Ripping the disk again will help but it's worth a go. I have a feeling it looks like an OSX re-intall to cure the problem or at the very least creating a new account and testing the video files in that one.

dipdog21

08-26-07, 01:19 AM

I finally got it to pop. What happened was the title of the dvd was "season3 disc6" I changed the title to "S3 D6" and all of a sudden it worked. I did this to 3 different disc's and they all worked.Go figure.

dipdog21

08-27-07, 02:13 PM

Ackkkk I was wrong! I got a couple of the other dvd files to work correctly but not the real troubled on. So I guess I will plug forth and see if re-ripping the disk solves the problem.

Jordy15675

08-27-07, 05:49 PM

Good luck, hope it works

dipdog21

08-28-07, 07:28 PM

Ok another up date. I created a new user, drug a couple of the problemed quicktime (alias files) to the movie folder, started up front row and they worked fine. How do I go about fixing this without losing all the work I have put into the quicktime file structure or having to make a new user and remaking all the aliases. I have about 450 discs that I would have to do this for.

Jordy15675

08-29-07, 02:48 AM

I had a feeling it would be an account problem that's why it works in the new user account.

This one is a tuff one, as without knowing what the catalyst was for the files to start acting up (could be a software update, Application install etc...) it's difficult to cure.

My first stap would be to repair disk permissions. You do this via Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. Launch it, and click on your internal drive and click on the First Aid tab. Run the Repair Disk Permissions and then the Repair Disk option. I would do this on all drives you have connected to your Mac.

If that doesn't work, I would try something a bit stronger like Techtool Pro (Comes with a Apple Extended Warrenty) and see if that sorts the problem.

If all that fails I'm afraid it could just be a matter of changing the accounts.

Good luck

dipdog21

08-29-07, 11:04 PM

Jordy15675

08-30-07, 01:14 PM

You are welcome

Glad that sorted the problem

Jordy

grubavs

08-30-07, 04:25 PM

Jordy15675 you are my hero! That was what the problem was ran the fix permissions and now they all work fine. It also fixed another problem I was having with trying to mount more than 4 external drives. Thanks a ton.

FYI: it's a fairly good idea to repair permissions on the start-up drive periodically (like monthly) and when ever you have installed new, or updated software.

dipdog21

08-31-07, 12:16 PM

grubavs

08-31-07, 01:52 PM

FYI: it's a fairly good idea to repair permissions on the start-up drive periodically (like monthly) and when ever you have installed new, or updated software.

Thanks for the advice. I am fairly new to macs but so far it has been a pretty easy learn up until this last problem. I will definetly follow this advice though.

and just to be sure... not effective to repair your main drive permissions while running from an alternate drive (but you should update the alternate drive's permissions when running from it). The process should be done on the start-up drive.
Welcome to Mac! I've been a Mac user (though definitely not a technical guru!) since mid-1980's and have never regretted it.

Jordy15675

09-01-07, 03:23 AM

Hi all

I don't know how many of you have had access to the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard builds, but I have been lucky to know someone who has access to it.

Front Row 2 as we know now loads Video_TS folders, but the one thing we can't figure out is how to display an image assosiated with the film/video.

Has anyone figured out a way to do this yet?

Further

09-01-07, 06:38 AM

Front Row 2 as we know now loads Video_TS folders, but the one thing we can't figure out is how to display an image assosiated with the film/video.

Has anyone figured out a way to do this yet?

Jordy, this question has been asked multiple times (one of the reasons we have a search feature for the forum), most recently about four days ago here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11439596&postcount=15

However, everyone should keep in mind that the copies of Leopard out now are beta and the final version is only a few weeks away. So, it's not long to wait and we'll then know exactly what we're getting and how it works.

Jordy15675

09-02-07, 06:16 AM

Fair play.

The last two builds of Leaopard haven't added any new features to Front Row, although the stability has improved some what. I having a feeling, what we see is what we are going to get, but i'll be keeping my fingers crossed for some nice surprises.

Further

09-02-07, 09:46 AM

i'll be keeping my fingers crossed for some nice surprises.(Leopard)

Welcome to the club:)

dipdog21

09-05-07, 02:33 AM

Ok so it seems my problem was not solved. So I tried uninstalling and reinstalling front row. No success. The I tried to delete and reinstall dvd assist. This is when I noticed something I had seen when I first installed the program. A warning that the quicktime files should be in a sub folder to the movies folder "or else dvd assist may play random movies"! Even though I already have my system set up this way it led me to think that perhaps my folder structure might have some thing to do with this. It goes as follows Movies>Dvd Movies>P-S>MINIseries>*.mov files. The problem dvd's all seemed to reside in this miniseries folder. All my other movies were just in the P-S folder. So I took all the .mov files in the miniseries folder, dumped them in the P-S folder and as of the 20th try all seems to be operating correctly. Hopefully this solves this problem and my hours of fussing around could help someone who may have a similar problem in the future. Now to watch some Smallville!

Jordy15675

09-05-07, 03:54 AM

Thanks for the update and advice, glad you got there in the end.

oconnellc

10-04-07, 09:14 PM

This is off topic, so sorry if it seems like I am hijacking a thread...

Does anyone with a version of Leopard know if Apple has fixed the DMR issues that Front Row has? If you haven't come across it, you are lucky. I have checked the apple discussion boards, and only people with the problem, no solutions.

What happens is that Front Row will every once in a while tell you that you do not have rights to play a song. The song will play in ITunes, but not Front Row. I have had it happen with songs that I ripped myself, not with songs that I purchased. Lots of people talking about this on the boards. I would like to upgrade, but not if Apple hasn't fixed this basic problem.

Just to keep from getting kicked off... DVD Assist rocks! I have been telling anyone who will listen how great it is.

Jordy15675

10-05-07, 03:58 AM

I've not come across this problem myself but then again I haven't been using Leopard as a main OS and only on an external drive.

Front Row has had some updates in the latest seed 9a559 but i have yet to use this version. It maybe that this has been fixed in this build, don't forget Leopard will probably go Gold Master in the next 10 days, so there is still time for Apple to fix it ;-)

NetWorkS

10-08-07, 12:07 AM

Hey all,

I am new to Mac and am very happy with my MacBook Pro! I discovered DVD Assist (Kudos to the creator, thanks for your time and dedication!!) and would love to use it to play my DVD's from the VIDEO_TS folder instead of popping the DVD in the drive every time.
I've set it up as mentioned and it seems to be working fine, except for one thing... DVD Player starts but is minimized... i can see the app open in the dock and hear the DVD play, but can only see the picture when i click on he DVD player icon in the dock. I've searched the forums and no luck.

I've checked to see whether it was a DVD Player Preference or something, but no joy...

Any idea why?

Thanks in advance! :)

Jordy15675

10-08-07, 03:47 AM

Hello chap

I'm trying to figure out what your problem is and what you are trying to do? DVD Assist is designed to work with Front Row, as long as it's running you can go to Front Row -> Movies -> and then select the Video_TS folder you want to play and the movie will begin. You activate Front Row by using your white Apple remote control that came with your Macbook Pro or I think you can hit Apple Key + escape (this button combination can be changed in System preferences under Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts).

Hope that's what you are after.

NetWorkS

10-08-07, 10:21 AM

Hey Jordy,

Thank for the reply.
I am doing exactly what you describe... sorry for the lack of clarification.

I am able to access my VIDEO_TS folders and movies from Front Row using the correct alias for each movie (no issue there). Here is my problem and the list of events that occur when i select an alias in Front Row (please note that DVD Assist IS running in the background already):

1. I select an alias in Front Row and i see the small movie clip with the countdown begin to play (still within Front Row).
2. Front Row exits and i can hear the movie running in the background but i am ultimately looking at my MacBook desktop. I can "hear" that DVD Player was successfully started by DVD Assist and is in fact playing the DVD, but i cannot "see" any video.
3. I then have to click on the DVD Player shortcut i created in the dock and the video from the movie shows up in full screen.

i know that DVD Assist was able to start DVD Player since, as i mentioned, i can "hear" the movie playing, and i can see that little dot underneath its' shortcut in the dock.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for any help. :)

Jordy15675

10-08-07, 10:34 AM

Hmm sounds like it could be a compatibility problem with DVD assist and Front Row. Are you running the recent Front Row update v1.3.1? If so it's possible that DVD Assist has some issues with this update. It could also be the Background Version of DVD Assist you are using... there are some issues on certain Mac's where the Background version doesn't work correctly, try running the normal DVD assist (that you can see in the dock) and try again.

If that doesn't work I would suggest contacting the author of DVD Assist for a bit of help

NetWorkS

10-08-07, 10:39 AM

i guess it would be a good time to mention that i am running version 1.4.7. of DVD Assist and Leopard. However, the readme's explaining the version updates indicate that testing has been done in Leopard, although i guess it cannot be conclusive since Leopard has not been released yet.

I guess i should try this in Tiger and report back, but i prefer the new version of Front Row.

Jordy15675

10-08-07, 10:57 AM

Woah hold up, if you are using Leopard you don't need DVD Assist, just plonk a plain old Video_TS folder (With no DVD Assist video) into a folder of the movie name and bung it in Your Moves folder and the new version of Front Row will start the film.

The reason it's not working is because the DVD Assist video that you put in the Video_TS folder boots you out of Front Row, so remove it and everything will run, Front Row 2 plays back Video_TS folders

:)

NetWorkS

10-09-07, 02:16 PM

Whoa is right!
I will surely give this a try... it's just so simple, it just might work! :)
i will post back as soon as i try it.
Thanks!

jason75

10-09-07, 02:53 PM

In the revision history where it mentions testing on Leopard is over a year old. That is a very old build of Leopard that did not have the new version of Front Row. It is no longer compatible with Front Row 2.0 and is no longer needed. Front Row 2.0 now plays Video_TS folders. Just put them in your Movies folder and browse them from the Movies component in Front Row.

NetWorkS

10-10-07, 09:26 AM

Thank you Jordy and Jason...
With all the trial and error i did, i forgot what i tried and what errored :rolleyes:
I in fact did try and play the VIDEO_TS folder before posting to this message board, but it did not work the first time. It still doesn't work with the first movie i tried, but it does work with another movie. I guess there is something wrong with the rip of the first movie. I willl try and rip again and report back.

On another note, does anyone know if i can get DD5.1 and DTS using Front Row? have not tried it yet, but i know that once i connect the toslink to my mac, a digital output option will be available under preferences, but will this play the movies in DD 5.1 or DTS if i should choose?

Also, what kind of setups do most people have using Front Row? i am seriously considering getting a Mac Mini to use strictly as a media center appliance, and do some occasional web browsing and check email (as a novelty, of course) from my big screen... any experience with this type of setup? are there any other cool features available?

Thanks for the help and any information chaps!

Jordy15675

10-10-07, 09:42 AM

I'm glad you have it up and running. I personally have my Video_TS files on an external HD on the network and use SymbolicLinker installed on my Mac to see them in Front Row. The netork is gigabit ethernet and runs fine without any slow down (100bit is also fine).

A Mac mini works very well on a large screen, it is capable of out putting a resolution of up 1080 and you will be able to get your digital sound out to your Amp to. I haven't been able to test whether you can get DD or DTS from a Mac, but the Video_TS file will have the DD and DTS sounds tracks inside it so there is no reason why it wouldn't stream the sound out to your Amp in full 5.1 or 6.1 glory. I'll be interested to hear the results of your test.

I'm sure I read somewhere on Apple's site you can get 5.1 out via the optical out.

jason75

10-10-07, 12:55 PM

imlucid

10-10-07, 12:58 PM

Yes, you can listen to DD or DTS via Front Row. You do, however, need to set DVD Player to use digital out as its sound output first since DVD Player is the playback engine Front Row uses for DVD media.

More correctly, Front Row uses the same preferences as the DVD Player. Front Row uses the same lower level framework for playback as the DVD Player.

Kevin

jelockwood

10-11-07, 04:11 PM

More correctly, Front Row uses the same preferences as the DVD Player. Front Row uses the same lower level framework for playback as the DVD Player.

Kevin

That's right, thankfully FrontRow 2.0 uses the same DVDPlayback.framework as the DVD Player application to play VIDEO_TS folders, rather than the useless QuickTime player which cannot do multiple audio tracks, or proper subtitles, or proper surround sound.

Ironically, because of the inadequacies of QuickTime, you would get better results converting a DivX which includes subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc. to a DVD, than playing it directly as a DivX. This is not the fault of the DivX codec, but is due to the current limitations of QuickTime. VLC is way ahead of QuickTime at doing all this.

Unfortunately, according the the Apple website, Leopard is going to ship with the same QuickTime 7.2 version as is current in Tiger, so we are not going to see any improvements yet.

Note: Even buying the MPEG2 codec for QuickTime does not help, Perian does help but is still hamstrung by QuickTime.

Its a shame, because QuickTime is overall still an excellent set of software, and a shame because one would normally associate Macs with being excellent at multimedia.

agsmv1

10-11-07, 05:28 PM

I tried a search but came up with nothing. I am using DVD assist with front row on my imac. Now I was wondering if anyone is using this with apple tv? I know the specs say it can play .mov files, and that it can play your home videos. Since the alias file is in your home movies, I was wondering if anyone has tried this yet. I may have to pick one up at Costco and give it a try.

Thanks,
Art

Jordy15675

10-12-07, 03:57 AM

Currently the only decent way to playback Video_TS on an AppleTV box is to install NitoTV:

http://plugins.awkwardtv.org/det.php?p=nitoTV

NetWorkS

10-12-07, 11:48 AM

Hey guys,
Thanks for all your help... i still have to do my testing regarding Front Row 2 and whether it would be a good solution to replace my current Media Center 2005 setup... as it stands, there is no real advantage to using Front Row 2 over Media Center... is there?
Since i got my MacBook, i have been all mac, all the time... This is why I am considering getting a Mini to run as my media center... well, that and the fact that i am looking for a new way to burn money that i don't really have! ;-)

Jordy15675

10-15-07, 03:41 AM

Okay, well I managed to do some testing this weekend with a Friends Mac mini and Front Row 2. All Video_TS files played back and all output the correct DD or DTS sound track to the Amp. The TV resolution was set to 1080 and looked great even in a non upscaled state, sending the video signal through the Amp and upscaling from there did make a difference but it did depend on the quality of the original DVD from which the Video_TS file was taken.

Benifits over Windows Media? Well you get access to all of iTunes including TV shows, Posdcast, your Music and the Rumour HD Movie content soon to be available tomr the ITMS. You also get all your iPhoto albums on screen as well. Also in my WMC experience it is prone to glitches from time to time.

Apart from that Windows Media Center is a good bit of kit, I just like Front Row a whole lot more. Opinions will always vary.

NetWorkS

10-16-07, 12:56 PM

Jordy, YOU DA MAN!
Thank you for the testing and report... very informative!
Results are exactly what i am looking for... Front Row 2 is looking more and more attractive with a Mac Mini...
Three more questions if i may:

Can you please elaborate on the upscaling you mentioned? I have wanted to implement something like this on my WMC but never got it working correctly...
Can Front Row 2 play .TS files (or any other HD filetype)?
Is Front Row 2 available as a standalone install?

Thank you!!

imlucid

10-16-07, 01:20 PM

Jordy, YOU DA MAN!
Is Front Row 2 available as a standalone install?

No. It is only available with Leopard (and requires Leopard).

Kevin

Jordy15675

10-17-07, 04:26 AM

1) The upsacaling I mentioned was to run the video via DVI/HDMI converter form the Mac through the HDMI input on the AMP. The AMP upscales the video to 1080p via the HDMI output into the TV/Projector.

2) I'm not sure if I have tested other .TS files before, but there is always a chance it may work. If not you could always convert them with Handbreak. There is a quicktime codec that can be downloaded that handles HD .mkv files a google search will turn this up for you. Having these codecs installed in the Library/Quicktime folder may mean Front Row has access to them. I haven't tested this I'm afraid.

3) Front Row 2 is currently Leopard only. When an updated to Front Row is posted you may be able to download it from Apples website and install it in a way to Andrew Escobar's method: http://andrewescobar.com/frontrow.

Hope that helps

agsmv1

10-17-07, 11:48 AM

Currently the only decent way to playback Video_TS on an AppleTV box is to install NitoTV:

http://plugins.awkwardtv.org/det.php?p=nitoTV

Kind of like the way front row does not playback Video_TS files? That is why we use DVDAssist. On the apple site it claims that apple tv plays .mov files. With DVDAssist isn't front row tricked into thinking that the Video_TS file is a .mov file. Do you think this would work with AppleTV? Technically it will look in your movie folder and see the alias to your movies as a .mov file. I think it will work, but I could be wrong. I am heading to Costco this evening and may purchase one just to do some experimenting.

Thanks,
Art

NetWorkS

10-17-07, 04:28 PM

Jordy,
Thanks for the info...
A little dissapointed cause I was looking for a way to upconvert the signal before it is output to the TV... i don't have one of those fancy amps you mentioned, unless you know of another hardware solution (with a reasonable pricetag) that could do this without getting a new amp...
I will test the .TS files when i get a chance and report back...
Thanks for the help!

philliptiongson

10-20-07, 08:06 PM

I wrote an applescript that automatically makes DVD assist aliases. I assumes two things.

1) Start the Movie.mov lives in the User's Movies folder
2) You want to create an alias in a folder called DVDs in the User's Movies folder

You drag and drop a Folder "My Movie Name" containing a VIDEO_TS folder to the droplet.
The app copies Start the Movie.mov to that VIDEO_TS folder.
The app renames the copy to the Folder's name "My Movie Name".
The app creates an alias to the movie and places it in "DVDs" in the User's Movies Folder.

You can drop any number of Folders onto the droplet and it should process all the folders automatically. However, if the alias already exists, or the copied version of Start the Movie exists, the droplet will stop processing...

Hope other people find this useful!

Pvr4Craig

10-21-07, 09:41 AM

I wrote an applescript that automatically makes DVD assist aliases. ...

Will you make the source available?

Craig

jason75

10-21-07, 12:17 PM

The source is already available in the applet posted. Just open it within Script Editor.

bchonger

10-30-07, 05:18 PM

First off, a warm thanks to Squished Squirre for the DVD Assist app. I've been using it for a while to mount ISO files in Front Row. I've always been a lurker on this helpful site and have finally found myself stuck enough to ask for help.

Recently, I decide to take the Mini to a new level and add Remote Buddy to help out with other aps. It has the option to launch a file from it's overlay application. Unfortunately, it only allows it to be opened with diskimagemounter or disk utility. The same occurs if I use finder. I feel like I'm out of options trying to get my system to launch ISO files with DVD Assist.
Attempts so far:

1. Changing the "Open With" for the file
2. Changing the "always open with" for the file
3. Downloading the utility rcdefaultapp and using it to change the default app for ISO files.

Every time it seems to default back to diskimagemounter/disk utility. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

-Bryan

trugel

11-07-07, 10:58 AM

I've been using DVD Assist in OS X Tiger and it worked great. I know that people are excited that Front Row 2 in Leopard now plays Video_TS folders natively but I would still like to use DVD Assist because it gives me the flexibility to add tags to the startthemovie.mov file so that my movie folders have the same look and feel of other Front Row 2 movies (image fades back and movie information is shown below the image).

However, now when I click on one of the movies alias that is in the Movie folder, Front Row 2 quits and I'm back at my desktop. I can see that DVD Player is active on the dock but I need to click on it to have the movie shown in full screen. I have looked at the DVD Player preferences and clicked on play full screen but it doesn't seem to work. Any help would be appreciated.

Squished Squirre

11-11-07, 12:07 AM

Well, it has only been a FEW months since I have spent any time with DVD Assist, and now with Leopard, I'm not sure if there really is much call to update it for 10.5.

trugel: If you just click on DVD Player, does it immediately pop to the front and show the movie?

skkyup

11-11-07, 04:17 PM

Just place a picture of your DVD box called:
preview.jpg

Example:

BATMAN_1
preview.jpg
VIDEO_TS
AUDIO_TS

Have Fun!

trugel

11-12-07, 10:11 AM

Squished Squire: Yes.

bootx

03-13-08, 07:38 PM

Mr. Squirrel,

I recently upgraded to Leopard and my .iso setup doesn't work exactly. I can hear the DVD playing in the DVD Player, but Front Row is still active. I'm no script writer, but I believe the part of the DVDAssist script that tells FR to quit is broken due to the fact that FR is now an "app" in the Applications folder and no longer part of "Core Services" as in Tiger.

Is this a simple fix, can it be fixed or is DVDAssist not being updated anymore? Any info would be helpful.

bootx

Jordy15675

03-15-08, 02:19 PM

Hi there, as far as I know, and forgive me if I'm wrong, DVD assist is designed to run under Tiger and not Leopard, the main reason there isn't Leopard compatibility with DVD Assist is because Leopard plays Video_TS files in Front Row.

ISO files as far as I know aren't compatible with Front Row in Leopard, so I'm thinking you'll need to turn them into folders containing the Video_TS file in order to play them back.

Like I say I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll see DVD Assist getting any updates. There is a plugin for the new Front Row called Sapphire (http://appletv.nanopi.net/), I don't know much about it but it might help with your problem if you don't fancy converting your files.

bootx

03-18-08, 09:59 PM

Jordy15675, thanks for the quick reply and info. I'll try the Sapphire plug. It seems to do something else that I was looking to do.

I was wrong in one respect, Front Row is still part of "CoreServices".

DVDAssist works or should I say, it almost does everything: it mounts the iso, opens DVD Player, starts playing in DVD Player. It's just that the DVD Player app stays in the background behind Front Row, meaning, Front Row is the "front most app", commandeering the screen/Mac. I can quit Front Row and navigate to DVD Player to play the "iso", but it defeats the purpose of what I was trying to do.

My guess is that the part of the script that supposed to quit Front Row is broken. I looked at the script, but I'm not "fluent" in scripting and couldn't figure it out. It seems like it would be a simple fix, but not being a scripter I don't know, I'm just speculating.

Thanks again for your advice.

B

simpletonne

05-11-08, 05:41 AM

The following will mount all iso files found in /Volumes/share/Movies/iso. The show will be available in Front Row under the disc name.

for f in /Volumes/share/Movies/iso/*.iso ; do hdiutil mount -readonly - mountroot ~/Movies "$f" ; done

Add a capital letter in front of the first asterisk to limit the scope for testing.

pch1

05-27-08, 02:26 AM

Dear all:

I tried to set up a Media Center environment out of my MacBook before I will buy a MacMini, did a lot of testing. I have a few test dvd's (video_ts files) on my external ethernet HDD and tried to pplat them with Frontrow, but when playing the files there were al lot of "hick-ups" and the picture and sound were not smooth. I tried playing the files directly with VLC and the dvd-player in Apple and then they played very good and smooth! So I went on the internet looking for some kind of plugin in Frontrow and came across "DVD Assist" and this site. 1st I did all the things explained in the tutural with the extra .mov folder and the aliasses but that didn't work out, then I started reading this whole topic (that lasted some time, my English isn't perfect because I'm Dutch!) and now I know that because I have Leopard and Frontrow 2.0 DVD Assist won't work at all...That's a pity.
Still have my problem: when ripping a dvd to external ethernet HDD in video_ts and playing them with VLC and Apple dvd-player picture and sound are ok, but playing them in Frontrow (aliasses of the movies) the picture and sound "hicks" and isn't smooth at all, how come?
For your knowledge:
I'm using a MacBook 2.2Ghz Santa Rosa with 120 Gb HDD and 2 Gb memory and Leopard and Frontrow 2.0
The rips are made in Windows with DVD Fab Platinum.

Paul.

chefklc

05-27-08, 06:53 AM

I have a few test dvd's (video_ts files) on my external ethernet HDD and tried to play them with Frontrow, but when playing the files there were a lot of "hick-ups" and the picture and sound were not smooth. I tried playing the files directly with VLC and the dvd-player in Apple and then they played very good and smooth!

Paul--first remove your ethernet network from the equation: move a VIDEO_TS file over to your Macbook hard drive and play that back with Front Row instead of the alias. Is it as smooth as with VLC & Apple dvd player or do you still get the hiccups?

How do you have your external ethernet hard drive hooked up?

pch1

05-27-08, 10:58 AM

Paul--first remove your ethernet network from the equation: move a VIDEO_TS file over to your Macbook hard drive and play that back with Front Row instead of the alias. Is it as smooth as with VLC & Apple dvd player or do you still get the hiccups?

How do you have your external ethernet hard drive hooked up?

Forget to tell you that: everything (dvd-rips/video_ts) in Frontrow play with hickups! Even from the internal MacBook HDD!!!
So video_ts ripped dvd's play well from the internal HDD or external ethernet HDD with VLC or standard Apple dvd-player software, it is just that Frontrow won't plat them properly....I've tried to convert them to mpeg-4 with Handbrake and after a couple of hours (!) (that's the reason I won't it that way!? those files play ok in Frontrow...
Is that the only way?
I hoped for a Frontrow kind of playback of all my dvd's/files.

Gr. Paul.

pch1

05-27-08, 11:01 AM

How do you have your external ethernet hard drive hooked up?

Well, I do have a ADSL2+ modem with two CAT5/ethernet ports. One goes to my Western Digital Netcenter 250 Gb HDD and the other is plugged into my MacBook, I thought that would be OK?

Paul.

pch1

05-28-08, 08:56 AM

Pity no one can help me anymore....

Paul.

chefklc

05-28-08, 10:10 AM

Further

05-28-08, 10:11 AM

Don't give up so soon. Chefklc is one of our experts and he is probably just busy with his work.

I have one question: were all these rips done in Windows? If so, you should try ripping on the Mac and see if it has the same results.

Good luck.

Further

05-28-08, 10:12 AM

Whoops, I spoke too soon!

pch1

05-28-08, 10:16 AM

well, your situation is strange, Paul, and we do have lives. What I can tell you is this: Front Row in Leopard (10.5.2) plays back VIDEO_TS just fine. Your network and external drive could have been a problem--so instead of trying to play back a file over your network, you've put a VIDEO_TS in the Movies folder of your Mac's internal hard drive--that removes those variables--then you verified Apple dvd player handles it just fine--that means the rip likely is good--and that Front Row still hiccups. OK, the next most likely candidate is that you've installed some hack or plug-in that is still interfering with Front Row. So, now boot your Mac up off of a "clean" Leopard install and try to play that VIDEO_TS with Front Row.

Like I said: the external HDD isn't the problem: from the internal HDD the problem in Frontrow is the same: hickups!
I was thinking: maybe it is the way my rips (video_ts) is on the External HDD: it is made in Windows with DVD Fab platinum, does Windows make some kind of other video_ts then a Mac ripping program or what ripprogram do you advice for me to play my dvd's smooth in Frontrow?
Still strange: with the present files on the external HDD made with a Windows machine they play smooth and WITHOUT hickups with the standard Apple dvd-playet and VLC: it is always that Frontrow plays them awfull...
Strange isn't it???

Paul.

chefklc

05-28-08, 10:30 AM

Paul--at this point we've removed your external hard drive, ethernet network, Windows, ripping software, etc from the equation. So before you expand your range of questions about Windows software and ripping programs in OS X, back up.

Fact: you have a VIDEO_TS that opens and plays just fine in Apple dvd player when on your internal hard drive.

Fact: such a VIDEO_TS should ALSO play fine in Front Row.

Suspicion: you've screwed up your current OS install by installing/uninstalling various other stuff.

Solution: boot up from a clean Leopard install and test that VIDEO_TS.

Why? Apple dvd player.app is pretty picky--it doesn't just open and play everything. So the fact that it IS playing your VIDEO_TS--even though you got it from Windows ripping software--makes me think that VIDEO_TS is fine and it still leads me to believe that Front Row should be able to handle it.

Another thing you can do is stick a dvd in the drive, then open FR, and try to play it back. Hiccups?

pch1

05-28-08, 12:14 PM

Paul--at this point we've removed your external hard drive, ethernet network, Windows, ripping software, etc from the equation. So before you expand your range of questions about Windows software and ripping programs in OS X, back up.

First of all I want to thank you chefkic for your help and time so far!!! :)

Fact: you have a VIDEO_TS that opens and plays just fine in Apple dvd player when on your internal hard drive.

yes, even from the external HDD.

Fact: such a VIDEO_TS should ALSO play fine in Front Row.

OK

Suspicion: you've screwed up your current OS install by installing/uninstalling various other stuff.

can that be caused by "Perian" or "Flip4Mac"?

Solution: boot up from a clean Leopard install and test that VIDEO_TS.

WOW, that is too risky for me, I cannot do that I'm afraid.

Why? Apple dvd player.app is pretty picky--it doesn't just open and play everything. So the fact that it IS playing your VIDEO_TS--even though you got it from Windows ripping software--makes me think that VIDEO_TS is fine and it still leads me to believe that Front Row should be able to handle it.

OK

Another thing you can do is stick a dvd in the drive, then open FR, and try to play it back. Hiccups?
I will test that right now!

THX!

Paul.

chefklc

05-28-08, 12:39 PM

Paul, I don't mean erase and reinstall your Macbook drive--I mean boot the Macbook off of a separate clean install of Leopard that's on an external drive. All you need is a spare drive--any size, 2.5 or 3.5, IDE or SATA--it's good practice to have a bootable backup of your Macbook on an external drive anyway. For troubleshooting like this--it's wise to have an external drive, it can be firewire or USB, partitioned with one volume that's a bootable clone (a perfect copy of your Macbook drive, I use SuperDuper) and a second volume that has a "clean" Leopard install on it. (Leopard installed right to that drive.) It's painless to create--and it's useful just for this strange situation. What you want is to boot off the clean install that hasn't ever had any version of Perian or Divx or Flip4Mac or DVDAssist or remote/keyboard drivers installed or uninstalled--just such things can muck up Front Row and Quicktime.

You actually need both of these--the SuperDuper clone protects you if you ever install something that really screws up your Macbook, even an official Apple software update can break something--and the only way to fix it is to revert to what your system was before the upgrade. With that clone, you just copy that back to the Macbook drive and you're back where you were pre-update. For your current Front Row troubleshooting--something that should work inherently without any third party stuff--that second "clean" volume with an install of Leopard on it but with no third party stuff is what you need. If that VIDEO_TS plays in FR, booted off of that clean install, then you know you did muck things up...

pch1

05-28-08, 12:51 PM