Official Leopard Front Row thread [Text View]

mlmorg

10-27-07, 12:16 PM

I'd just like to say that I have one problem with the new front row: There is no longer a "Resume" for movies (xvid/divx, etc.). I do a lot of torrenting and have a bunch of movies in this format and when I stop halfway in a movie and go do something else and then come back I can no longer "Resume" like the old front row could. Instead it just starts from the beginning. Very annoying but I think the problem is that it's not really using quicktime and iTunes like front row had before. Now front row is a sort of seperate operation. So if you play something in itunes, you can't start it back up at the same point in front row.

Maybe there is some way to fix this or they will update it later...but right now it's stupid that I have to fast forward to where I was before.

Other than that the new front row is MUCH faster. I have not had any problems playing anything (I have Perian but I thought perian doesnt work with leopard, maybe I'm wrong). Everything seems to work great. The only other thing I would have liked is if they had made it easier to add external movies to the movie folder. I have an external hard drive that has all my movies on it. I put an alias in my Movies folder but it's annoying having to click on Movies -> Movies -> Movies Alias to finally get to my movies. Would be nice if there was an easier way.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say. The Divx/Xvid movies don't look any better than the old front row. I was hoping with the new DVD player they could have also made the detailing on just regular .avi movies look better too. Oh well.

Haven't looked at DVD's yet but I will now that I remembered that the DVD player is better.

Nope, just VIDEO_TS folders. QuickLook is used for video files.

** Just like to add that putting Preview.jpg of the cover of a movie in the folder where your Divx/Xvid movies also WORKS, so it's not just video_ts folders. But it seems to show three different images. The Preview.jpg image, a still image of the first frame of the movie, and then I guess the stock image of a front row movie file (a movie reel). Don't know if there's a way to just have it show the Preview.jpg

Andrew67

10-27-07, 12:32 PM

Very annoying but I think the problem is that it's not really using quicktime and iTunes like front row had before.

It still uses Quicktime. Try uninstalling your quicktime extensions to confirm.

The Divx/Xvid movies don't look any better than the old front row. I was hoping with the new DVD player they could have also made the detailing on just regular .avi movies look better too. Oh well.

The DVD player is for DVD's and nothing else. It has absolutely no bearing on other formats. If you want better image quality, contact the makers of your quicktime extensions.

mlmorg

10-27-07, 12:39 PM

so what's up with it not allowing to resume?

and I guess it still uses quicktime if you say so...but what about itunes?

and I was mistaken, I thought the DVD player used some quicktime extensions that's why I was hoping other files might look better too. Sorry.

** above I said that if you put the preview.jpg in an xvid movie folder it will show that in front row. It does, but it just shows a thumbnail of each file in that folder. So as I said above, one was the Preview.jpg which is showed, then it showed the movie file (so the first frame of the movie), and then it showed a third which was the .srt file that was in that folder (and it just showed a front row movie reel image). So this doesn't really work that well so nevermind ha.

imlucid

10-27-07, 12:52 PM

So would a Preview.mov work as well -- if you download the trailer from Apple.com, for example?

Nope.

Squished Squirre

10-27-07, 01:13 PM

So it really isn't just a rumor then? VIDEO_TS support is in Front Row 2? (Still waiting on my copy... should be downloaded from corporate soon.)

Well DVD Assist, it was a fun ride while it lasted ;-)

imlucid

10-27-07, 01:15 PM

So it really isn't just a rumor then? VIDEO_TS support is in Front Row 2?

Yes, this is no rumor but official.

Kevin

Pbryanw

10-27-07, 08:27 PM

Yep, I've got Leopard and Video_TS support is definitely in - I've been able to stream HD movies across from a Windows share and play them in Front Row.

The only problem I have with Front Row now is that you can't specify custom aspect ratios for HD movies - or at least I haven't found a way yet.

Funnily enough DVD Player now supports, and remembers, custom aspect ratios for Video_TS movies which it didn't do in Tiger, so maybe there still is a place for DVD Assist???

Will Collier

10-30-07, 09:43 AM

My first take is, it's excellent. The interface has been cleaned up, there's more room for text titles, and it's much quicker in navigation. Plays VIDEO_TS files without a hitch, zapping DVD intro screens finally works, and FF/REV on HD files finally works. I haven't found a file yet that I couldn't play back flawlessly (although I haven't tried an MKV, since I really don't have any of those).

I'm extremely happy, much better than FR 1.0.

chefklc

10-30-07, 10:27 AM

My first take is, it's excellent.

Agreed, Will, especially in conjunction with Finder's almost effortless "Shared Mac" improvements.

cFoo

10-30-07, 12:14 PM

Frustration with Vista's DRM crap is forcing me to look into Mac and Linux. I have a quick question. Will Front Row play HD-DVD or BluRay folders?

wiederhold

10-30-07, 03:15 PM

imlucid

10-30-07, 03:31 PM

Thoroughly enjoying the improvements to Front Row. Why Apple has not brought Cover Flow to the program has me scratching my head. Image of imlucid's HT (very nice BTW) shows squarish progress bar similar to Windows Player/MCE. Is this another application or have you figured out how to skin Front Row/DVD Player?

Heh, that is funny. That's just a cut scene from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

I need to update my HT pics as many of those are out of date! :D

bulleri

10-30-07, 06:54 PM

can iso images be played?

imlucid

10-30-07, 07:01 PM

No, there is no support for iso images.

Kevin

sbelyo

10-30-07, 07:51 PM

jcouvret

10-31-07, 03:31 AM

Has anyone else seen this issue? The only way I can navigate in Front Row with Leopard is to use the remote. This includes exiting Front Row. My machine is essentially locked without the remote and I have to cmd-opt-esc to exit. Front Row works fine with the remote. I have a 1 year old macbook. I can't seem to find any other threads about this, but I can't believe I am the only one.

Will Collier

10-31-07, 07:38 AM

I'm currently ripping my DVD library to a Thecus 4100+ NAS box. I rip all the DVD's uncompressed in VIDEO_TS folders.

I see that Leopard supports VIDEO_TS folders, so my question is what does the file structure have to be like for the movie title to show up in front row?

My plans were to use tiger with DVD assist, so I renamed the VIDEO_TS folders to the movie title so that you didn't have to go in one more level to start playing the movies

Front Row under Leopard opens a DVD file set when you command it to open a directory and it sees a VIDEO_TS inside that directory, you never "see" the VIDEO_TS folder on the screen. In other words, the correct structure is MovieTitle/VIDEO_TS/.

Further

10-31-07, 07:49 AM

Squished Squirre

10-31-07, 10:23 AM

Hmm.... I haven't tried it yet, but if you place an alias of the MOUNTED ISO into your Movies folder, will the OS auto-mount it? All the dufuses here at the office that have a Firefox icon in their dock that actually points to the app on a dmg made me think of this.

sbelyo

10-31-07, 04:09 PM

Front Row under Leopard opens a DVD file set when you command it to open a directory and it sees a VIDEO_TS inside that directory, you never "see" the VIDEO_TS folder on the screen. In other words, the correct structure is MovieTitle/VIDEO_TS/.

Got it... I just wanted to know so that I don't have to create 700 VIDEO_TS folders

I had actually renamed VIDEO_TS into the movie title, but I've only ripped 50 so far

JoshFink

10-31-07, 05:38 PM

I'd just like to say that I have one problem with the new front row: There is no longer a "Resume" for movies (xvid/divx, etc.).

You can use resume but opening up DVDPlayer and setting the option in the preferences. Then it will start working in Front Row.

Josh

JoshFink

10-31-07, 05:39 PM

Is there no way at all to attach 'Details' to movies?

Josh

imlucid

11-01-07, 12:03 PM

Is there no way at all to attach 'Details' to movies?

Josh

Not for movies in the Movies folder. Use iTunes for metadata manipulation.

Kevin

JoshFink

11-01-07, 12:04 PM

Not for movies in the Movies folder. Use iTunes for metadata manipulation.

Kevin

I would love to but unfortunately ITunes will not let me load in my ripped DVD's. What a pain.

Looks like it's back to DVDPedia.

Thanks

Josh

dapowers

11-01-07, 12:25 PM

I have this problem on my MacMini with Leopard, anybody else experiencing this?

If I start a DVD from FrontRow - no sound. If I start the DVD from Leopard DVD player works great.

I also have many DVD's on my harddrive. If I start the DVD from FrontRow from Harddrive nosound...if I start the DVD from Harddrive with Leopard DVD player, sound works.

All sound effects in FrontRow work, as does playing of music. One note, my sound from MacMini is a TOSLink Cable to Optical Audio into my receiver which is my surround sound system for my TV.

PS - I tried these tests on my MacBook Pro with Leopard and everything works fine in Frontrow. Really need this working on my MacMini as it is my home theater system now. Thanks.

imlucid

11-01-07, 12:42 PM

Is this an upgrade from Tiger?

what is the result from typing the following in terminal?

% defaults read com.apple.frontrow Muted

Joel Graffman

11-01-07, 04:15 PM

I have movies recorded using my Panasonic DVD recorder, and I am considering copying them to a hard drive. Thought I would try it first, and I ran into some problems. Running VIDEO_TS folders/files using the video player works works fine, but I have problems using Front Row.

When selecting movies for viewing by depressing run button, the Panasonic menu is displayed. Depressing the run button again selects pause. There isn't anyway to select the movie on the Panasonic menu. Sometimes I can get it to work, but I haven't been able to figure out the button sequence. Using the DVD player, I can use the mouse and click on the Panasonic button and it works fine. The problem seems to be that the focus is not on the Panasonic run button. Unfortunately, using the keyboard tab button exits Front Row.

There is also problem is related to picture aspect. I recorded widescreen movies using sort of an anamorphic process. This allows playback in full screen using a 4:3 aspect recorder. Using a standard DVD player or the Mac DVD player I can zoom to proper aspect. Front Row does not allow me to access the DVD player menu. Nor can I find anyway to preserve the settings for each move.

Anyone have any ideas?

imlucid

11-01-07, 04:32 PM

There are some DVDs whose menus have strange quirks to them. Try hitting left or right on the Apple Remote and then try up and down.

Kevin

khisayruou

11-01-07, 05:47 PM

I have this problem on my MacMini with Leopard, anybody else experiencing this?

If I start a DVD from FrontRow - no sound. If I start the DVD from Leopard DVD player works great.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5706726�

Found a fix. Apple tech support suggested I create a new account and see if it worked under that. I did and it did work. So now I am just going to use that account as my main account, and delete the other Administrator account. A pain, but it is working now.

imlucid

11-01-07, 06:00 PM

Instead of creating a new account, try the following which is probably going to fix your issue:

% defaults delete com.apple.frontrow

or you can do this via the Finder by deleting the com.apple.frontrow.plist Preferences file in your user preferences folder.

Kevin

Joel Graffman

11-02-07, 04:38 AM

There are some DVDs whose menus have strange quirks to them. Try hitting left or right on the Apple Remote and then try up and down.

KevinFooling around with these buttons sometimes works, but it isn't consistent.

Jonesky

11-02-07, 08:41 AM

I installed Leopard on my Mac Book Pro Core Duo and Front Row starts on its on after I reboot my computer. Any thoughts?

jenkman61

11-02-07, 11:12 AM

How do you play Video_TS content from Front Row. Also, what if the files are on an external drive?

Ted Todorov

11-02-07, 11:25 AM

How do you play Video_TS content from Front Row. Also, what if the files are on an external drive?
Just put an alias to the folder(s) you keep your DVDs in the Movies folder on your boot drive.

Ted Todorov

11-02-07, 11:49 AM

I installed Leopard on my Mac Book Pro Core Duo and Front Row starts on its on after I reboot my computer. Any thoughts?
I presume you have checked the obvious stuff like your Login Items (in System Preferences: Accounts) or your remote's menu button being stuck?

jenkman61

11-02-07, 12:57 PM

Thanks I will try this.

sbelyo

11-03-07, 11:02 PM

Just put an alias to the folder(s) you keep your DVDs in the Movies folder on your boot drive.

Do you need to create an alias for each title, or will an alias to the folder where all the titles are work?

imlucid

11-03-07, 11:31 PM

Do you need to create an alias for each title, or will an alias to the folder where all the titles are work?

An alias to the enclosing folder should work fine.

Kevin

Genius74

11-04-07, 12:02 PM

I'm not on Leopard so please bare with me.

Are there any pics online showing what Front Row in Leopard looks like? Particularly the DVD Section. I'd like to know what "shows" up when you drop a jpeg in the same folder.

Is Coverflow implemented?

Can files from www . dvdxml . com be used as "aliases" to get metadata?

Thanks for your help

imlucid

11-04-07, 01:59 PM

Front Row has the same look as Apple TV. You'll get a list of movies on the right and the preview image on the left. If you have a folder selected, you'll get a parade of the enclosed movies instead.

Kevin

drptpcpe

11-04-07, 03:29 PM

Although I am sure its here, I have searched and haven't found it. Do audio files have to be in a particular format for front row to play them? Right now they are in m4a, because I want them lossless, and front row will show, "cannot play this file". I have tried putting them in several locations and directly in itunes and the Music folder. I have them on a server also and my Video_ts files work fine from my Unraid server including the 'preview.jpg' cover art.
Suggestions?
Thanks as always,
andy

chefklc

11-04-07, 03:52 PM

Did you use iTunes to rip them as Apple lossless? or were they already some other flavor of lossless and then you used some other program besides iTunes to convert them?

drptpcpe

11-04-07, 04:00 PM

converted them with cd-da extractor.

imlucid

11-04-07, 04:02 PM

Will they play in iTunes?

Kevin

drptpcpe

11-04-07, 05:29 PM

yes

imlucid

11-04-07, 05:33 PM

yes

That is bizarre since they are basically using the same playback engine.

Kevin

imlucid

11-04-07, 05:36 PM

What if you rip them lossless using iTunes?

Kevin

chefklc

11-04-07, 06:22 PM

Andy, so you're able to play these files locally, from within iTunes--but not when you activate Front Row and not streamed over the network from your server, is that correct? When you do a "get info" on a particular file what does it say under "encoded with?"

If this is the case, and I'm guessing here, it's a metadata placement thing caused by not using iTunes initially to do the converting/encoding. There is probably a setting or utility to make sure the metadata is in the right place.

kenliles

11-04-07, 06:50 PM

that sounds like a good theory to me as well.

If so, perhaps, you could run a 'convert to Apple Lossless' in Itunes to reset the metadata.

ken

Genius74

11-04-07, 07:24 PM

drptpcpe

11-04-07, 09:02 PM

I will try the itunes lossless rip.
chefklc-
they will play fine from the server or not, through itunes, just not when going through front row. I will check the 'get info'.
thanks

CrisisDog

11-04-07, 11:30 PM

Does Front Row in Leopard work on a PowerMac G5 tower? Apple never officially supported Front Row with Tiger on G5 towers, just wondering if they finally gave in. Thanks!

imlucid

11-04-07, 11:37 PM

Yes it works on non-IR Macs.

Kevin

tommylotto

11-05-07, 01:08 AM

imlucid

11-05-07, 11:18 AM

What resolution are you outputting for the G4 Mac mini? That little box is way under powered...

Kevin

boogaloo

11-05-07, 11:25 AM

boogaloo

11-05-07, 11:28 AM

Leopard Front Row does indeed work on all Macs. I have it running on my G4 Mac mini. However, there is a problem. It stutters while playing a ts folder over my network, the same ts folder will play better in DVD player (but still stutters). The same set-up on my MacBook will stutter in front row but play fine in DVD player. I don't think it is my network, because the ts folders always played fine in Tiger. Any suggestions??
Is your router a Airport Extreme? My guess is that the channel on your router is set to automatic. You should change it to a "static" channel. Go through each channel until you come to one without any stutter. I had the stutter problem with video too until I changed my channel to 11 instead of automatic.

I hope that helps.

imlucid

11-05-07, 11:48 AM

Im just wondering if anyone else has had this problem. We all know of the black screen when playing a movie with subtitles in Front Row. Yesterday I was watching a film through front row that does not have subtitles and it went to a black screen after 7 to 10 minutes. It is very strange. I would then fast forward the mkv file and get the picture back but then after a few minutes it would go to a black screen. The file plays fine in VLC.

Has anyone else had this problem and have a solution? Is it a Screen Saver or Energy Saver problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I haven't heard of this. Try turning the screen saver off and playback that same movie.

Kevin

Squished Squirre

11-06-07, 08:11 AM

Channel 11 is used by several neighbors, but it is STILL the best choice for me. Someone mentioned that 2.4GHz phones use channels up to 9, so it would make sense that 10 and 11 behave a little better.

mlmorg

11-06-07, 02:45 PM

You can use resume but opening up DVDPlayer and setting the option in the preferences. Then it will start working in Front Row.

Josh

Doesn't seem to work for me...I'm talking about ripped movies, like xvid and divx movies, front row doesn't let me resume those anymore.

If I put a DVD in, then I can resume, which is what the preferences for DVDPlayer do. But DVDPlayer isn't used at all when playing ripped movies, that's Quicktime's thing...so why isn't there a resume setting in quicktime's preferences?? hmm....

Anyone got any more ideas on how to get this "resume" setting working again in the new front row...it doesn't make sense that apple would just get rid of this feature...

boogaloo

11-06-07, 04:12 PM

I haven't heard of this. Try turning the screen saver off and playback that same movie.

Kevin

Hey Kevin, I tried your suggestion but it did not seem to help. I think it may be just this particular movie as my other files work with no problem. There could be an embedded subtitle that is causing it.

Thanks for your help.

imlucid

11-06-07, 05:20 PM

Hey Kevin, I tried your suggestion but it did not seem to help. I think it may be just this particular movie as my other files work with no problem. There could be an embedded subtitle that is causing it.

Thanks for your help.

Can you open the movie up in QuickTime Player and look at the movie properties? (Command - J).

What kinds of tracks are listed?

Kevin

mlmorg

11-06-07, 05:42 PM

Don't know if everyone knows about this already but I found a way to add artwork/information to .avi files (xvid/divx/etc.) but it's pretty annoying.

First, you open your movie in Quicktime and click on Save As -> Reference Movie (You can't save as a quicktime media link because then you can't add artwork - making movie2itunes pointless). This will be about 2 or 3MB (which, again, is annoying).

Then you add that to iTunes. Get Info, add artwork. You can also change the title, year, genre, and comments (but nothing else). So I usually do all those and in the comments I put in a quick synopsis from imdb and then the actors.

Then you can get rid of of reference file etc. (if you have itunes set to copy the file to the itunes library). So now I have all my movie files on a seperate hard drive (taking up all the space haha) and then my mac mini's drive holds the reference files (which don't take up that much space) and now I have artwork/information AND it's not in a Movie Alias folder so it's right there when you open up Front Row...Seems to be the best and only option for adding artwork/info to .avi files.

The only thing I want to do now is make a automator action so that when a new file pops in my external movies folder (when it's done downloading from torrents etc.) then the automator script pops into action and converts it to a reference file and adds to iTunes. Then later I can add the artwork/info. But, I've never really used automator so I'll have to first figure out how to use it haha.

Hope this helps people.

**plus it also let's you resume!

gmwedding

11-11-07, 08:45 PM

From what I've read in this thread, I assume that Front Row for Leopard really works with all Macs now, including the Mac Pro. I have some questions.

1. Is Front Row automatically installed when Leopard is installed on the Mac Pro, or does it require a separate install?

2. What about Front Row for Tiger? I'm holding off on Leopard until the first (10.5.1) update (and maybe until DiskWarrior and a couple of other updates become available). I assume Front Row 1.3x is not worth the trouble to try and get it up and running on a Mac Pro with Tiger (...and is this even possible?).

tic-tac

11-11-07, 10:24 PM

d3p0

11-12-07, 12:53 AM

On the subject of fixes..

I'm geting no audio when trying to play some Xvid files in Front Row. What's weird is, the audio plays just fine in Quicktime. Do I need to make the QT components available to Front Row as well as QT?

JeremyMc

11-12-07, 05:50 PM

Don't know if everyone knows about this already but I found a way to add artwork/information to .avi files (xvid/divx/etc.) but it's pretty annoying.

Well we can get artwork for Video_TS into Leopard Frontrow, but if only we could get description at least or ideally all metadata (actors, director, etc). Seems no (stable, release) Mac program does this or has it planned for the "near" future. Sigh, the one thing I REALLY want.

ZBeeb

11-12-07, 06:53 PM

So I don't know most of the software pieces you guys (and dolls) are talking about here... I was quite annoyed by the whole get my movies into Front Row thing here... the preview video is pretty useless when you are scanning through a folder full of video files (mp4 movies), I get a title and the opening of the video, which is usually Studio logos and leadins anyway... can't tell anything from anything that way...

It's also frustrating that iTunes Movie section doesn't have any way of organizing my content, I need something more than a list of 150 movie files...

So here's what I did...

I put all my movies into iTunes, giving them content information, cover artwork etc. Then I'd go to the Video info box and make them a TV Show instead of a Movie, and make them part of a TV Show like "Comedy", or "Drama" and so on...

Then I can go to iTunes "TV Shows" listing and all my Comedies will be grouped together... if I go to Front Row I can go to TV Shows instead of Movies, and look in the different "Shows" for the movie listings. For more fun I can organize my Movies display order by assigning them "Episode Numbers", and I can control the artwork for the "Show"s appearance on Front Row by making a 0 second movie and giving it the artwork I want and making that movie Episode 0... display order for other movies is then controlled by assigning them episode numbers.

The end result is I get my movies in Front Row with cover art, descriptions etc and organized into topic relevant "sub directories"... It's a pain I don't have something like that within the Movies category of iTunes to start with, but it's easy to do and I get the benefit of it in both Front Row and iTunes.

stevegt87

11-12-07, 08:43 PM

What about dvdpedia?

gmwedding

11-13-07, 12:58 PM

Front Row for Leopard really works with all Macs now, including the Mac Pro. I have some questions...

3. Does a on a top-of-the-line, dual quad-core (Xeon) Mac Pro have an IR receiver for the Apple or other remote (like the Logitech Harmony 880)?

imlucid

11-13-07, 01:05 PM

3. Does a on a top-of-the-line, dual quad-core (Xeon) Mac Pro have an IR receiver for the Apple or other remote (like the Logitech Harmony 880)?
No, only the iMacs and Minis have IR built in.

Kevin

Ted Todorov

11-13-07, 03:21 PM

What about dvdpedia?
Indeed -- for those who insist on metadata, sophisticated sorting, etc., DVDPedia is the program for you -- it works in full screen mode and with the Apple Remote and the UI is quite attractive in Leopard.

There is no way that Front Row will ever match a dedicated program like DVDPedia, nor should it.

Jonesky

11-13-07, 08:10 PM

Can anyone tell me why when I start my MacBookPro, with Leopard, after it boots up Front Row starts on its own. And how do I stop it?
Thanks.

oztech

11-14-07, 03:36 PM

Can anyone tell me why when I start my MacBookPro, with Leopard, after it boots up Front Row starts on its own. And how do I stop it?
Thanks.

what do you have selected in desktop for screen appearance.
also make sure the command and escape key are not sticking as those two
activate front row without the remote and is the remote nearby with the
menu key possibly sticking on it.

Jonesky

11-14-07, 05:26 PM

what do you have selected in desktop for screen appearance.
also make sure the command and escape key are not sticking as those two
activate front row without the remote and is the remote nearby with the
menu key possibly sticking on it.

Thanks for your response. I have earth selected for desktop and the all keys on the keyboard are free. I am now 400 miles from my rc so it is not a problem. It started immediately after I installed Leopard. Any other thoughts?

Thanks again.

oztech

11-14-07, 09:38 PM

i don't know if this will help with your problem but i watched a tech at the apple store
shut down a girls macbook with a keyboard issue and removed the battery for about
15 or so seconds and then reinstalled it and rebooted it with happy results.

madSkeelz

11-14-07, 10:32 PM

System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items

Make sure Front Row isn't listed there.

Jonesky

11-15-07, 10:58 AM

Yes, of course! I couldn't remember that login items lives under accounts. Thanks so much. Fixed!

Ted Todorov

11-15-07, 02:57 PM

Yes, of course! I couldn't remember that login items lives under accounts. Thanks so much. Fixed!
Two weeks ago in post #58 I said: I presume you have checked the obvious stuff like your Login Items (in System Preferences: Accounts) or your remote's menu button being stuck?
OK, OK, I should stop patting myself on the back or I might hurt myself :)

mslide

11-15-07, 04:26 PM

I Read through all the pages and I don't think this one was discussed:

How does one go about modifying the menus in Front Row? For example, I want to delete things off of the menus that I know I'll never use. I thought I read that the menus are XML files and can be manipulated.

Another example would be for displaying my movie collection. They are ripped, in VIDEO_TS folders, on my NAS. I have an alias in my ~/movies folder that points to my NAS' movie partition. In order for me to get to my movie collection in Front Row, I have to click through 3 layers of menus (Main Menu -> Movies -> Movies Folder (or whatever that option is called) -> Movies (my alias directory) -> finally can see my movies). From the main menu, I want to select Movies and have all of the movies, in my NAS, displayed. None of my movies are in iTunes, nor do I want them in there.

imlucid

11-15-07, 05:42 PM

How does one go about modifying the menus in Front Row?
You don't.

Kevin

Jonesky

11-15-07, 07:31 PM

Two weeks ago in post #58 I said:
OK, OK, I should stop patting myself on the back or I might hurt myself :)

You are correct, sir. :o My apologies. Must have diverted myself somehow. I am traveling and it is a real pain to get online in this hotel and my focus is not my computer. Here's the kicker, I turned it off in the startup accounts as directed and then shutdown the computer and went back to work. Well, I just started it up this evening and the Front Row program started itself up again. It's possessed. I checked the accounts and it is still turned off there.

mslide

11-16-07, 12:26 PM

You don't.

Kevin

I don't think the answer to my question is that simple. I was successful at removing items from Front Row's Main Menu.

I, of course, backed everything up before doing this.

Open up the front row package at /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app.

In there is a contents/plugins directory containing "frappliances" for each menu item in front row. Delete one of them and that menu item goes away. I deleted the podcasts one and now do not have the podcasts menu option anymore. I did have to restart the computer. I'm sure there's a way to just kill the FR service and restart it, but I didn't know how.

You can also change any icon and text for the menu items. There are a bunch of other settings and files buried in there as well. I should check out some AppleTV forums because I believe they know how to do more customization to front row. http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Main_Page has some promising info.

I still think there's a solution to my annoyance with the Movies structure, that is, eliminating the need for me to navigate through 3 layers of menus to get to my movie collection.

imlucid

11-16-07, 01:19 PM

I still think there's a solution to my annoyance with the Movies structure, that is, eliminating the need for me to navigate through 3 layers of menus to get to my movie collection.

Well yes, you can remove appliances pretty easily. However if you want to modify the current menu behavior its going to take much more than just messing around with bundles or plists.

Kevin

Jonesky

11-16-07, 02:14 PM

Problem solved. Thanks!

rydot

11-17-07, 08:33 PM

Wasn't the TV community able to write "plugins" for the Front Row that runs on that box? If the architecture is similar, that might open the door for folks like DVDPedia to write "doors" to their software that would exist in Leopard's Front Row menu.

smoldersonline

11-18-07, 12:49 AM

Check out awkwardtv (http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Main_Page) for TV plugins.

No idea whether DVDpedia some day could be connected with Front Row. Anyway, it seems that the next version of Sapphire (http://appletv.nanopi.net/) -a brilliant TV plugin- will also work with Leopard's Front Row.

oyong

11-19-07, 02:20 PM

Im just wondering if anyone else has had this problem. We all know of the black screen when playing a movie with subtitles in Front Row. Yesterday I was watching a film through front row that does not have subtitles and it went to a black screen after 7 to 10 minutes. It is very strange. I would then fast forward the mkv file and get the picture back but then after a few minutes it would go to a black screen. The file plays fine in VLC.

Has anyone else had this problem and have a solution? Is it a Screen Saver or Energy Saver problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

You're probably using Perian to play avi or divx with srt subtitle files on FrontRow right? Well, this is a known bug. If you play the same file in standalone QuickTime player, it will be fine. There seems to be a conflict in the way FrontRow uses the alpha channels and the way Perian displays the subs. Stay tuned...

Joel Graffman

11-24-07, 10:10 AM

Joel Graffman

11-26-07, 07:53 AM

Found a very nice program called myDVDEdit which among other things can quickly change the aspect of videos stored in VIDEO_TS folders. Quickly removes unwanted titles also. This program is a big asset for setting up Front Row movie display.

ATX

11-26-07, 01:50 PM

I upgraded the OS on my Mini from Tiger to Leopard over the weekend. Front Row 2.0 is working great for me with all of my Video_TS files...except it seems that the Mini is dropping a frame or two here and there while playing videos.

My Mini is the 1.66GHz dual core flavor, with 1GB or RAM. It didn't drop any frames using just the Apple DVD player in Tiger to play movies...so I'm wondering if the new OS would benefit from some more memory. Looks like it's time to upgrade to 2GB's of RAM... :confused:

[One option that I have yet to try is to turn off the de-interlacing option in the new version of the DVD player. I figure that my display can handle that - and it might take some processing load off of the Mini. I'll report back if this seems to help...]

Joel Graffman

11-27-07, 05:36 AM

My Mini is the 1.66GHz dual core flavor, with 1GB or RAM. It didn't drop any frames using just the Apple DVD player in Tiger to play movies...so I'm wondering if the new OS would benefit from some more memory. Looks like it's time to upgrade to 2GB's of RAM...Haven't seen any dropped frames using a 1.83 mini with 1GB of RAM.

ATX

11-27-07, 08:32 PM

well... i did some more testing tonight. if i open up a video_ts with the new version of the DVD player, the file plays fine. if i open the same file using front row 2.0, and watch the same scenes, the video will studder at certain points. (maybe my reference to dropping frames was inaccurate...)

looks like going from 1GB to 2GB's of RAM will be my next upgrade...

Slotto

11-28-07, 08:08 AM

I'm waiting on my copy of Leopard, but I had a thought about organizing and setting up an alias (for the purpose of using a network attached storage drive to hold all of my video_ts folders).

Could I setup multiple aliases in the Movies folder? For example, an alias for Comedy, Drama, Action, etc.?

Will this work, or does the alias have to be called "Movies" or something specific? This would at least make the extra steps worth it, because they are now organized.

mslide

11-28-07, 10:14 AM

Yup, you can do that. You can name the folders, inside the Movies folder, anything you want. They will all show up in front row, as long as they are in your Movies folder. Front Row is kind of like a directory browser. I'm sure there are lots here that are doing just what you want to do.

One thing I've wanted to do for a while is replace the Movies folder, in my home directory, with an alias to my NAS but OSX won't let me rename or delete the Movies folder. Even if I log in as root, I can't do it. This would eliminate one level of menus in front row. So now I have to do Main Menu -> Movies -> Movies Folder -> Movies Collection -> listing of the actual movies. Kind of annoying for me.

jason75

11-28-07, 10:58 AM

Use Terminal.

d3p0

11-29-07, 03:05 AM

As someone mentioned earlier; the default zoom for Video_ts folders is 1:1 leaving a lot of black space surrounding a 750~px image on a 1080p screen. It's very easy to set the proper zoom setting in DVD Player but, is there anyway to set the zoom in Front Row?

mslide

11-29-07, 09:28 AM

Use Terminal.
Have you actually done this? I have been using terminal to try to delete the ~/movies folder and replace it with a symbolic link to my NAS's movie share. I cannot delete or rename it. It says permission denied. I am the owner of the directory and have rwx permissions for the directory. I've also logged in as root and also tried using "su" with no luck. Has anyone actually renamed or deleted their ~/Movies directory and replaced it with a symbolic link? If so, can you post how you did it?

jason75

11-29-07, 11:06 AM

sudo rm -r ~/Movies
ln -s /path/to/linked/location ~/Movies

spyderx

12-01-07, 01:01 PM

On the alias thing, I've not changed my Movies folder but just have an alias to the different movie sources on my NAS.

I just setup leopard on all my machines in the past couple weeks.

It works so well with the new frontrow, I came home from poker with the boys last night and my wife was watching a movie from the NAS. Harmony remote & new frontrow are definitely wife approved.

kenliles

12-01-07, 01:16 PM

It works so well with the new frontrow, I came home from poker with the boys last night and my wife was watching a movie from the NAS. Harmony remote & new frontrow are definitely wife approved.

now that's a definitive testimonial - and one we all strive to achieve. You should be proud!

By the way - what NAS are you using? and are you using a mini, ATV or other?

ken

smoldersonline

12-05-07, 11:23 AM

Just to make sure that you are all aware of the most recent release of Sapphire plugin (http://appletv.nanopi.net/). You might also want to check this thread (http://forum.awkwardtv.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=856) on AwkwardTV forum. The plugin really rocks!

Cheers

spyderx

12-06-07, 01:52 AM

now that's a definitive testimonial - and one we all strive to achieve. You should be proud!

By the way - what NAS are you using? and are you using a mini, ATV or other?

ken

My setup is simple. Sharp HDTV, Rotel AV receiver, MacMini (CoreDuo). The NAS is a Promise NS4300N with 4x500 in Raid 5, they have these at Fry's for $350 + I think I paid $95 per drive. Mostly used for my big lossless music collection, I do have my 100 or so dvds on it. The NAS is on a GBit network, so is the Mini.

On my setup, I don't use the Mini for DVR functions. I do have a tuner on the iMac in my office, though. Sometimes I'll watch recorded shows off this, but I have a DVR with the cable Co that works fine for that. Has FireWire too so I can rip if I want.

Basically, wife presses "Watch Mini" on Harmony, all the harmony magic happens, she presses "menu" and there you go, in front row and she had no issues just navigating to the movies.

kenliles

12-06-07, 10:33 AM

^it's a beautiful thing...^ Great setup spyderx - thanks

ken

lellis

12-13-07, 07:53 AM

sounds like a great setup!

benzizbit

12-27-07, 08:30 AM

Hi guy's

I just received my copy of leopard, now before I go and install it on my mini I like to ask if there are any issues with menu/text with old fashion TV’s?
I use my mini to view movies on my TV (toshiba 29'' one of the old ones - not lcd or plasma) now in Tigers FR the text (menu & movie names) is big and crispy so there is no problem to read it,
In FR 2 the text is smaller and I wonder if there is any problem to read it with low resolution TV.

BTW – are they (apple) are going to fix the “resume playing” issue in FR 2?

Thx for the help.

Jshwon

12-28-07, 11:29 AM

dr_mal

12-28-07, 11:56 AM

This thread has answered alot of my questions but I have a couple more that hopefully you guys can answer. I have my mini 2.0 C2D hooked up to the TV and all is well with FR. I am buying an external HD which will house my movies that I plan to rip from my DVD collection. I see mentioned often about video_ts folders. Now the questions:

Are these folders generated after you rip the DVD and contain the movie itself? If so how do you generate them using say Mac The Ripper or Handbrake?
Yes, the VIDEO_TS (and, optionally, AUDIO_TS [the audio is actually contained in the files inside the VIDEO_TS folder]) are created when you rip a DVD. I don't know any of the Mac tools, but I use DVDShrink on a PC then move the files over to my Mac Mini.
What is the benefit of these folders vs. just ripping to a .mp4 file? I plan to store the movies on the external HD and create an alias and drop that into my ~/Movies folder.
When you rip to a VIDEO_TS folder, it's completely lossless. You're storing the exact bits (compressed by very expensive, very efficient machines that the studios own) that are on the DVD. When you rip to an .mp4 file, you're using a consumer-grade MPEG encoder and losing information in the process. Some people may not be able to see the difference (especially on smaller screens) but most certainly some people will be able to see the difference.
The last question is can I do the same with TV shows so they are viewable in FR? Meaning when I record shows (using EyeTV) I want to store those also on my external HD. Can I create a alias and drop that into the folder that iTunes looks at to view them in FR?
I do not know.

Jshwon

12-28-07, 12:33 PM

Thanks for the reply. After looking around some more it seems that MTR will rip DVD's using the lossless method and create a VIDEO_TS folder. Albeit larger (4-8g) than with Handbrake. But I'm more concerned about quality and since I'll have a 500-1Tb external it shouldn't really be an issue.

Can anyone confirm my findings?

The last question is can I do the same with TV shows so they are viewable in FR? Meaning when I record shows (using EyeTV) I want to store those also on my external HD. Can I create a alias and drop that into the folder that iTunes looks at to view them in FR?

An answer to this would be extremely helpful too.

JeremyMc

12-28-07, 02:05 PM

The benefits of Sapphire will soon cross-over to Video_TS.

The additional code necessary to access the metadata and cover art benefits of Sapphire will soon be available to Video_TS .vob files.

The code has been written. Video_TS .vob will cause Sapphire to launch the dvdplayer app in Frontrow 2. While regular video files (avi, wmv, etc) will continue to be launched through the QuickTime app in FR2.

This is "supposed" to be launched in Sapphire beta 4.3. Since 4.2 JUST came out it might be a little while but hopefully the stability will continue to be improved as well. THEN we'll have a COMPLETE solution.

Woo Hoo !

nightowl

12-28-07, 03:49 PM

The last question is can I do the same with TV shows so they are viewable in FR? Meaning when I record shows (using EyeTV) I want to store those also on my external HD. Can I create a alias and drop that into the folder that iTunes looks at to view them in FR?

You can do that right in EyeTV. When you set the timer, you can also choose to have the program automatically export to AppleTV/iTunes. It works fairly well. Personally, I don't automatically do it, I edit out the commercials then batch export to iTunes. By default, it automatically puts the files in the /Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/TV Shows folder, in a folder with the program name. All episodes of "Chuck" would export to the "Chuck" folder, for example.

Jshwon

12-28-07, 04:01 PM

You can do that right in EyeTV. When you set the timer, you can also choose to have the program automatically export to AppleTV/iTunes. It works fairly well. Personally, I don't automatically do it, I edit out the commercials then batch export to iTunes. By default, it automatically puts the files in the /Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/TV Shows folder, in a folder with the program name. All episodes of "Chuck" would export to the "Chuck" folder, for example.

Thanks for that. So essentially the file will be on the local drive for a period of time until you delete it or move it to external? Since /Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/TV Shows is on the internal HD.

tales

12-30-07, 03:05 PM

I use a 80GB mini with a 500GB LaCie mini HD with a 47" display. IMO, its worth it using Video_TS folders. Much better picture and easy to back-up your movies to disc

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/yessongs/DSCN6685.jpg

I also use a alias in the External HD to play video_TS folders using the Apple remote in Front Row 2.

Someone asked about the IF remote with the Mac Pro or if you dont have FRv2 you can use your Mouse to access the Video_TS folders using Matinee in your dock http://matinee.dizandat.com/ This is much easier then tricking DVD player by dragging a Video_TS folder (that you have to find) into the DVD player icon in your dock.

DrZiplok

01-02-08, 03:28 AM

One thing I've wanted to do for a while is replace the Movies folder, in my home directory, with an alias to my NAS but OSX won't let me rename or delete the Movies folder. Even if I log in as root, I can't do it. This would eliminate one level of menus in front row. So now I have to do Main Menu -> Movies -> Movies Folder -> Movies Collection -> listing of the actual movies. Kind of annoying for me.

You can do this (as other posters have noted) but it has historically not been reliable to have the top-level "content" containers (Movies, Pictures, Music, etc.) be anything other than "real" folders.

= Mike

Jshwon

01-02-08, 12:13 PM

Increase global font size. How do you do this? I have my mini hooked up to my 42" TV and while everything looks good and proportioned I would like the standard font to be a little bigger. I have been able to increase application fonts (safari etc) but couldn't figure out how to get the global fonts bigger (Finder, preferences, etc) I checked preferences/appearance but nothing there. Does anyone know how to do this?

JeremyMc

01-02-08, 12:25 PM

You can do this (as other posters have noted) but it has historically not been reliable to have the top-level "content" containers (Movies, Pictures, Music, etc.) be anything other than "real" folders.

= Mike

The way I got around this was just just make an alias for each file and drop it in the movie folder. This got rid of the extra folder level in FR. I just selected all the files in my remote drive, right clicked, created alias, sorted by type, then dragged all over to the movies folder. It didn't take but 2 min to do. Going forward it's easy enough to create a new alias for each file or just delete and create them all again.

dproffit

01-02-08, 08:48 PM

Firstly, I just wanted to say a big "Thanks" to everyone on this thread (and numerous others on AVSF) who have helped me so much over the last couple of years without even knowing it... You are all pioneers!

Secondly, I have one question/idea/wish which, knowing it's beyond my meagre powers to answer, have decided to put to you all directly, and see what you think...

When you view the list of Theatrical Trailers and pause over a title in the list, the poster art gets smaller, moves to the top of the screen and a bunch of text appears underneath. Front Row is clearly pulling this text from a web dbase somewhere (presumably the iTunes Store?, via iTunes?) but however it's doing it, FRONT ROW 2 CAN CLEARLY HANDLE TEXT, in conjunction with preview.jpg files.

I have lots of movies on my external drive, all with lovely poster art as preview.jpg files. (movieposterdb.com is excellent!) And having a bit of user-defined text to go underneath the artwork in certain folder views WOULD BE EXCELLENT!

Maybe there's a simple way to do this (for example by dropping a "preview.txt" or "preview.xml" file into the movie folder along with the .jpg), but I've tried several variations and no-go. Or maybe you could hack the FR code somehow to have Front Row fetch text from somewhere on my system, rather than from the web.

Any ideas? (Other than Sapphire?) Or suggestions for who to ask?

Many thanks,

IndyLions

01-02-08, 11:11 PM

OK - I've done some browsing elsewhere, but I cannot find anything definitive in this forum on this topic - which shocks me.

I've got a new iMac with Leopard and QuickTime 7.3.1, and it looks like it is "Back to the Future" when it comes to surround sound and QuickTime/Front Row - no dice.

I've got surround sound from Front Row on DVDs, Video_TS folders aliased in my Movies folder, but with my MPEG2 HD movies only from VLC. But even with Perian installed per the instructions referenced in this Forum, no dice on surround sound with QuickTime 7.3.1. Actually, I have no sound at all. The same mpg file plays flawlessly with VLC.

Are we hosed yet again? It looks like as soon as Apple gives us HT geeks something (playing Video_TS folders from FR) they take something else away (DD5.1 with FR/QT using Perian).

Why has this not been a bigger topic on this Forum? Is there some sort of workaround I don't know about? If this is a real issue - why has the Surround Sound sticky on this Forum not been updated?

Thanks for whatever validation you can give me.

imlucid

01-02-08, 11:38 PM

Maybe there's a simple way to do this (for example by dropping a "preview.txt" or "preview.xml" file into the movie folder along with the .jpg), but I've tried several variations and no-go. Or maybe you could hack the FR code somehow to have Front Row fetch text from somewhere on my system, rather than from the web.

Any ideas? (Other than Sapphire?) Or suggestions for who to ask?

Many thanks,

Sorry but there isn't anyway to do this with VIDEO_TS folders. If you have video files in iTunes, you can use iTunes to edit the metadata.

Kevin

openbox9

01-03-08, 10:28 AM

(DD5.1 with FR/QT using Perian).
...
Is there some sort of workaround I don't know about?Take a look at this thread. There's a link in there detailing how to enable Quicktime playback of DD. I've got DD 5.1 working great with Quicktime and FR on my Mac Mini.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=950514&highlight=quicktime+5.1

IndyLions

01-03-08, 02:15 PM

Take a look at this thread. There's a link in there detailing how to enable Quicktime playback of DD. I've got DD 5.1 working great with Quicktime and FR on my Mac Mini.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=950514&highlight=quicktime+5.1

Thanks - but this is exactly the steps I followed (the 5 easy steps...) but I have no sound on MPEG2 files with QuickTime/FR2.

Are you using Leopard?
Are you using QuickTime 7.3.1?

Chuck

openbox9

01-03-08, 02:53 PM

I have QuickTime Pro 7.3.1 running on Leopard 10.5.1. I'm mainly playing MKV files, not MPG. I'm assuming you have the MPEG-2 plugin? If so, you're out of luck according to Apple's FAQ.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/faq.html

fostytou

01-04-08, 09:04 PM

The eye candy aspect of front row 1.0 was much nicer. I do like that I can actually select my shared iTunes libraries easier and shuffle a playlist out of the other library. The look is more function over form compared to v1.0, but in the end I think it will be better for everybody.

I will admit that it has made connecting to my windows video folder share much easier, though I still really should pick up a SMB RAIDed NAS soon for hosting files.

The only thing that is really jerking me around is getting displayconfig X to work well with leopard. It seems to keep dumping my correct display profiles and just showing up as 1024x768 even though my 1368x768 profile is selected. It seems I have to add a new video profile (not just check one from the list), restart and then enable the new profile.

openbox9

01-04-08, 10:45 PM

The only thing that is really jerking me around is getting displayconfig X to work well with leopard.FWIW, I found SwitchResX to be a much better fit in Leopard and I have it working very well on my 42" Sony.

davidpeele

01-06-08, 05:44 PM

Hello FR2 gurus..

I just switched over from a Mediagate35 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=970032) to a mini. I removed the 400GB FAT32 HD from the Mediagate35 and put it in a firewire case. I have it about full with mostly xvid .avi TV shows. In the past I never really had success using Front Row (on Tiger) so I have been using VLC and a bluetooth mighty mouse. That works ok but the WAF is not to good. I just upgraded to leopard and thought I would give FR2 a look.

I placed a alias in the movies folder to the folder on the ext. HD that has my shows. That works ok for me, as I don't mind having to navigate a little in FR.

Here is my problem.
Whenever I select an Xvid avi to play, there is a long (a good min. if not longer) pause, black screen, nothing going on, before the file plays. then it seems that most files play good. If I stop the playback then I have to wait through another pause to start it again.

Does anyone else get that long pause before playback starts?

I like everything else about FR2. I just installed Sapphire (thanks to this thread) and that looks very promising.

Thanks,
Dave

pkscout

01-06-08, 06:15 PM

I'm having a problem with Front Row and TV Show episodes. Apparently Apple has decided that you can list the episodes in any order you want as long as it's the "newest" episode at the top (i.e. the one with the highest episode number). I'd much rather have it listed with the first episode at the top, as I use Front Row to watch stuff I own and most often watch them in order.

Anybody know any terminal or plist magic to change the sort order? There is a TVShowSortOrder option in the plist, but changing that causes TV Shows not to be grouped together at all, and the individual episodes are still in the reverse order.

imlucid

01-06-08, 06:19 PM

pkscout

01-06-08, 07:34 PM

There isn't anything you can do magically here other than manipulate the data.

That's what I figured, and I did find a work around (finally). If you don't provide any episode numbers, then Front Row alphabetizes the episodes. And Front Row also respects the Sort Name in iTunes. So I can give the TV episodes their actual names, and in the Sort Name Field in prepend it with the episode number so it gets in the correct order (i.e. 01 [name of episode).

Embraer

01-07-08, 05:16 AM

Is there any way of adding artwork to empty folders underneath the Movies folder without the word preview visible?

Difficult question to understand, but let me explain. I have all my films in Video_TS format on an external drive with aliases in the movies folder and I want to be able to create a bit more of a structure to my subfolders. For example I have a folder alias inside Movies called "War", within which I have numerous titles of that genre but also a number of series like Band of Brothers. I want to be able to put a preview artwork in a Band of Brothers subfolder which contains no video_ts files only subfolders with video_ts files WITHOUT the single file preview being visible from frontrow. If anybody wants to better understand what I'm getting at just try creating the circumstances I'm talking about and you should see :)

openbox9

01-08-08, 09:27 AM

Whenever I select an Xvid avi to play, there is a long (a good min. if not longer) pause, black screen, nothing going on, before the file plays. then it seems that most files play good. If I stop the playback then I have to wait through another pause to start it again.QT is buffering the video. If you open the files in QT and save a .mov reference file and then play that from FR, the buffering will disappear. If you've got a couple hundred videos, it will take you some time, but in the end, it'll be much nicer than waiting for the buffering.

mohanman

01-11-08, 10:27 AM

Hey guys,
I am new to front row. I love macs, and for some reason, never really got into this awesome HTPC software. I have a mac mini hooked up to my plasma, the picture looks great. I have most of my movies stored on a NAS and like to stream it from there. The problem is when playing back MKV or HD movies, 1080p and 720p etc. It takes forever to load on a 1gb wired internet, and with playback the picture is choppy. FFW or RW causes multiple pauses. I have a sage extender HD box which does this perfectly, but I like front row's cover art. Is there any fix for this?
Thanks
Mo

davidpeele

01-12-08, 07:20 AM

QT is buffering the video. If you open the files in QT and save a .mov reference file and then play that from FR, the buffering will disappear. If you've got a couple hundred videos, it will take you some time, but in the end, it'll be much nicer than waiting for the buffering.
Thanx openbox9

I'll try that... But like you said, I have probably close to a thousand Xvid files.

Does anyone know of a script or how to automate something like that?

It would be nice to let it run for a day or so and do it automatically...

dp

pkscout

01-12-08, 08:37 AM

Thanx openbox9

I'll try that... But like you said, I have probably close to a thousand Xvid files.

Does anyone know of a script or how to automate something like that?

It would be nice to let it run for a day or so and do it automatically...

dp

Ask and you shall receive:

http://dettmer.maclab.org/forum/Movie2iTunes.zip

via Mac OSX Hints (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051013124423475)

The only problem I have with it is that I can't seem to add an image to the reference file meta data via iTunes, so I'm stuck with the first frame as the poster image. I can make a poster image using Quicktime, but then I have to save another new reference movie. So I'm planning on just humping through my movies manually. It'll be a pain in the ass once, but after that it'll be one short step when I add a new movie.

davidpeele

01-12-08, 09:46 AM

Awesome, Thanks for the links PK...

I will look in to this. I really like front row. If I can get it to play nice with my shows on my firewire drive, I think I'll be all set...

dp

davidpeele

01-12-08, 09:56 AM

Question...

How does iTunes handle these small reference mov files when syncing with an iPod?
Will end up with a bunch of shows on my iPod that aren't really there?

dp

pkscout

01-12-08, 03:53 PM

Question...

How does iTunes handle these small reference mov files when syncing with an iPod?
Will end up with a bunch of shows on my iPod that aren't really there?

I'm pretty sure they won't sync to the iPod because they aren't iPod compatible.

sbelyo

01-15-08, 11:13 AM

Hi Guys...

I've placed my 1.6 Ghz Mini in the Home Theater and I have some tweaks that I just cant work out.

When playing VIDEO_TS folders I can get AC3 sound but not DTS. Sometimes the AC3 is down mixed, and sometimes it's the true digital signal.

Is there a plist edit that can enable the bitstream passthrough? If so what plist am I looking for and where is it?

luvmytivo

01-17-08, 08:54 PM

I've got a temporary B(edroom)TMac setup with a dell 1024x768 PJ hooked up to my MBP. I can get frontrow to work just fine on the BTMac by switching primary displays or mirroring, but when I start a DVD, it switches resolutions on the external display and I lose my PJ. Or it could just be cutting off my external display altogether, though I don't know why it would do that... Works fine hooked up to my 52" Vizio 1080P LCD over DVI-HDMI too.

Any ideas?

Oh yeah - DVD player works spot on....

chipnuts

01-26-08, 03:34 AM

imlucid

01-26-08, 11:58 AM

Hi there

I just was wondering, with all you guys using Front Row to play VIDEO_TS Folders, no one ever mentioned a Problem with the DVD menu navigation.

What I mean is that sometimes (not in all DVD menus ... mainly in most submenus) when try to use the Apple Remote to navigate through a menu, I'm not navigating but increasing/decreasing the volume.

I just was wandering if any of you guys have the same problem, or maybe one of you even might have a solution for that.

Chipnuts

The problem seems to be in the way these DVDs are authored. I've found that hitting left or right on the remote once will fix the issue. (You are actually taken to a different menu that looks identical to the orignal but is laid out in a more compatible way)

Kevin

bommai

01-26-08, 03:28 PM

Has anyone found a way to get FrontRow to work on a secondary monitor without having to make the secondary one the primary one. I can't believe Apple still has not fixed this issue. I use an iMac as my home theater computer and use my TV as the secondary monitor. eyeTV works fine with my secondary monitor set to the full screen targer, but no luck with FrontRow.

svtdougie

01-28-08, 02:05 PM

As many of you may know I am now officially on the Mac HTPC community and I will try to help when I can, but for now I need some help.

Here is what I have.

* 2 mac mini 1.83 C2D with 1 GB RAM running Leopard
* 1 3.75TB UNRAID, with video_ts, .mkv, ALAC, .mp3, and photos.
* 1 windows laptop
* 1 JVC 61" LCOS & 1 PT-AE2000 Projector on 120" wide screen

Here is what I want.

1.) I want to stream music and photos like I can with video_ts and movies with an alias. I do not want to have to logon to my mini everytime I add more music or pictures to my server. Is this possible, if so how? I had an aTV until I sold it for a mini and it did both of these via streaming.

2.) I want to reconnect my shares to my UNRAID on reboot. I posted this before and the answer didn't really work. I am in Leopard not Tiger, and need to figure this out, again is it possible, if so how?

If those two things can be worked out I'll be in Mac Mini nirvana (less .mkvs)

Thanks.

albo75

01-28-08, 03:54 PM

2.) I want to reconnect my shares to my UNRAID on reboot.
Add them as a Login Item?

imlucid

01-28-08, 04:26 PM

Add them as a Login Item?

That works for me. I'm running Leopard on an intel mini and it mounts 9 of my unRAID volumes at login time.

Kevin

chipnuts

01-28-08, 04:31 PM

@svtdougie

If I understand you correct this link might help you http://www.stress-free.co.nz/automounting_samba_shares_in_leopard

Chipnuts

svtdougie

01-28-08, 04:53 PM

Thanks for the help, I will try tonight.

Any input on 'streaming' content?

To my question 1?

1.) I want to stream music and photos like I can with video_ts and movies with an alias. I do not want to have to logon to my mini everytime I add more music or pictures to my server. Is this possible, if so how? I had an aTV until I sold it for a mini and it did both of these via streaming.

imlucid

01-28-08, 04:56 PM

In FrontRow can stream photos from iPhoto, and you can stream music from iTunes.

Kevin

svtdougie

01-28-08, 05:18 PM

Is there a setting that needs to happen to do this in each? Sorry just tired and looking for a quick go to file->settings->'enable streaming' option if it exists.

imlucid

01-28-08, 05:31 PM

Yeah, in iTunes, select Preferences -> Sharing and check off the "Share my library on my local network".

In iPhoto do the same but select "Share my photos"

Kevin

svtdougie

01-28-08, 10:28 PM

Thanks, though since I am using a Windows computer and do not have any other mac besides these two HTPC, am I SOL? I want to have the two macs share from my unraid. I do not see a way to do that, am I missing something? I only see the ability to import photos. In the preferences it says 'look for shared photos' but i can not specify a place to look for them (which would be my unraid server). am I missing something??

EDIT: Ok, what I mean is basically I want to just have iPhoto and iTunes on each mac mini point to a share on my Unraid server. So that when I add new music and photos to my unraid, I do not have to actually open iPhoto or iTunes on either mac mini, they were just show up in frontrow. This may or may not be possible, but this is my dilemna.

Another Edit: I only have the two mac minis, each connected for HTPC purposes only. My main computer is still a Windows XP computer, so I would be using this to upload pictures and rip music to the unraid. Music is ripped via iTunes for ALAC and photos are just .jpg.

svtdougie

01-30-08, 11:18 AM

I still can't get iPhoto to point to a network location, any other options here or is my only choice to get a third mac just to run iPhoto and point to the unraid location?

Is another option VNC from Windows XP to each Mac to constantly update the iPhoto library?

DisabledTrucker

01-30-08, 07:07 PM

Have you tried (on the Macs) using the option click on the iTunes/iPhoto icons in your tray to open them and then change where it stores the iTunes/iPhoto folders to point to those drives? Not sure how well it will work though for networked drives unless using a Symlinked folder to those drives and having it auto connect to those when you reboot using your Login items list in your account settings? Let me know if you try this and it works, it's what I'm also thinking about doing for my drives that I'm hooking up to the Airport Extreme N router for holding all my media files.

svtdougie

01-30-08, 10:13 PM

svtdougie

01-31-08, 10:16 AM

Someone posted this link on 123macmini to my same question. I will try tonight but thought I'd post here in case someone else needs it.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93603

DisabledTrucker

02-01-08, 05:52 AM

I was able to get the auto mounting of my unraid share working based on the link chipnuts posted, and also I have the iTunes music pointed the unraid without problem.

I am still a no go on iPhoto. Does anyone have any other advice on how to get Front Row to see a shared picture directory on my unraid or any other NAS for that matter?

Thanks

You do have iPhoto '08 right? If you look in your Dock you should see the icon for it, (if not drag it there,) use [Option/alt] while clicking on that link, it asks you where your library is or if you want to create one, point to it. Inside iPhoto preferences, goto sharing and check share, when the pop up comes up saying you should protect it, tell it not to bother you again. Same way you do iTunes 7.x +.

If that or the instructions in that link you posted above doesn't work, I don't know what to tell you. Although it should work using these instructions, by pointing to your symbolic link. I've been successful in the past in using drives directly connected to the computer using my instructions above before, but not a networked drive like your trying to do as I've not tried it yet. Even iPhoto '06 worked the way I described above for locally connected drives.

svtdougie

02-01-08, 08:54 PM

Yes iPhoto 08 and I followed all of these directions and the pictures do not show up in FrontRow. In iPhoto all of my pictures are there from my NAS however, when I go into FrontRow there is 0 pictures available. What the heck is going on here!!!! help

svtdougie

02-04-08, 12:05 AM

Just an update. I was able to get move the iTunes library to the unraid and it works perfectly. However, iPhoto is being a PAIN. I have successfully moved the library to the unraid. When I open iPhoto I have my thousands of photos available in that program. However, when I open frontrow it is blank. I think there is a flaw in frontrow that even though iPhoto sees through network shares, frontrow does not. Can someone please confirm this, or let me know if I am just missing something totally obvious. I have also tried putting an alias to the iPhoto library file locally, however, this did not make it work.

Thanks

Endlich_Cabrio

02-05-08, 01:00 AM

I just got my new mac mini the other day, running leo and frontrow with no problems sofar.

I also managed to get cover art displayed for my video_ts folders if I copy them in the movie folder of my boot drive (movie folder/dvd name/preview.jpg...)

However, if I create an alias of the video_ts folder named e.g. "Great Movie" in the boot drives movie folder pointing to my external HD, frontrow still list the ripped DVD but does not show the cover art anymore.

What's wrong here? Any idea? How do I get cover art on external drives?

thank you
Karsten

svtdougie

02-06-08, 11:54 AM

Mine works fine over a network share. Just make sure you have a structure like this:

Main Share\Movies\video_ts

This is how I do it and I do not have any problems. Actually mine have sub directories for genres so it would be like this:

Here is exactly how mine is setup:

1.) Alias to main share (mine is called Media)
2.) Under Media my structure looks like this
----->Movies\genre\movie name\video_ts

So an example would be 40 year old virgin

I click like this through frontrow:

1.) Movies
2.) Movies Folder
3.) Movies Alias
4.) Comedy
5.) 40 year old virgin (cover art shows up as preview.jpg)

Hope this helps.

Endlich_Cabrio

02-07-08, 05:55 PM

Thank you for your help! If I am not mistaken, I have done it in the same way. So the structure on my external firewire drive looks like this:

Movies/dvd_name/

the dvd_name folder contains both the preview.jpg as well as the video_ts folder

I also have the same like above with a genre folder in the middle

So than I created an alias of the movie folder of the external drive and have moved this alias to the movie folder of the boot drive.

When I start frontrow, it works like yours.

1, Movies
2. Movies Folder
3. Movies Alias
4. Genre or DVD Name
5. DVD Name (if Genere)

but no cover art :-((((

If I have exactly the same filestructure on the boot drives movie folder with no alias but with orginal files it works.....

Unfortunately the Mac Mini drive is to small, so I definetly need an external drive.

Karsten

imlucid

02-07-08, 06:02 PM

Did you try "Preview.jpg" (capitalized?)

Kevin

jason75

02-07-08, 06:46 PM

Didn't you say above that you're making an alias of the VIDEO_TS folder? You need to be making an alias of the enclosing folder, the one that contains the preview.jpg and VIDEO_TS folder.

Endlich_Cabrio

02-08-08, 02:28 AM

Kevin, I could not belive it, but this was the solution!!!! thank you very much to spot this small little detail. So Preview.jpg instead of preview.jpg works with an alias.....

However, preview.jpg works without an alias, not sure if I really understand this...but anyway, it works now!

Thank you for the help!!!

The only "little" detail is judder you see on horizontal moves (which the windows folks solve with reclock), is there a solution for the mac around?

Karsten

DisabledTrucker

02-09-08, 07:41 PM

I have found that in Leopard, you can use any .jpg in that folder to have them show up in Front Row, it doesn't have to be named "Preview". I accidentally named one after the name of the movie, and it still worked. PNG and ICNS files however don't work, but creating a folder from the .jpg makes it easier in cover flow to find the movie at a glance. Using IMG2ICNS makes that quick and painless to do. (I don't work for them but I've found that nugget of software to be a valuable tool on the Mac.)

DisabledTrucker

02-09-08, 08:08 PM

I also made links to my external drive, but, I've not yet tried to tie it into my Front Row, but I use the directory structure in my drive as follows:

DVD \Genre \Movie \VIDEO_TS
QUICKTIME \Genre \Movie
MPEG \Genre \Movie

Making the shortcuts in the ~\Movie Folder for "DVD", "QUICKTIME", and "MPEG", which works from within Finder just well.

So when I click through, I should go (as I did before I moved them):
Movie \Movies Folder \DVD \Genre \Movie \VIDEO_TS
Movie \Movies Folder \QUICKTIME \Genre \Movie
Movie \Movies Folder \MPEG \Genre \Movie

Which requires more links to be made but, it makes it easier when I go to that drive (/those drives) in Finder, to find the files or add more to it, since I have eliminated the "Movies" folder from within it, just naming the drive "Movies" works fine so far. I've found that this also works if you're going to use separate drives for each format, such as naming the drive "DVD" instead of "Movies" then putting a folder inside it called "GENRE", the same for "QUICKTIME", "MPEG", etc. When I make my links I just rename them after the drives, if they aren't already named that way, (usually they are.)

Since I don't usually turn off my computers, (ones a dedicated server, the others I'm either using, (unless I'm asleep then it's monitor just sleeps, while they're doing other work,) or is the Mini that contains the "TV Tuner Server",) I don't have to worry about the drives not showing up right away on the servers but, am seriously considering creating those SYMLINKs for those folders that need it, to save me time when I do reboot my machines. The "TV Tuner Server" is constantly on so as to be available to record whatever shows one may want recorded for later viewing.

JeremyMc

02-09-08, 10:11 PM

Further

02-10-08, 05:48 AM

I also switched from dvd covers to movie posters and from FrontRow 2.0 to xHub.

I use DVDpedia, but I've done the same thing - switched from DVD covers to film posters. I think it gives a much nicer presentation and the DVD covers seem almost like product promotion!

jason75

02-10-08, 10:50 PM

Where do you get your film poster images?

JeremyMc

02-11-08, 01:21 AM

Where do you get your film poster images?

The best source is impawards.com

Further

02-11-08, 04:47 AM

The best source is impawards.com

If you are mostly interested in new films, then I agree with JeremyMc. However, I have a lot of classic films and finding posters is harder. You can find poster sites by starting with Google Images and typing in (including the quotation marks):

"name of film" poster

Depending on what sort of films you like, you should end up with several sites that keep coming up in your searches.

hagar2008

02-12-08, 03:19 PM

Iteki

02-12-08, 04:02 PM

There is a new tool for mac allowing you to import all your videos in itunes without reconversion. It supports multiple drives, and automatically downloads metadata from IMDB and cover art from amazon. You can choose which amazon shop, so if you have foreign movies, it still finds the cover art.

it also supports TV shows and automatic season and episode numbering. I have added all my videos (over 200) to itunes without any issues!

It's called iTunes Drive-In and you can download it for free (just search it in google ;-)

The tool does support subtitles, but the Front Row subtitle bug really gets to me. I just want to sit in the couch and watch my movies without having to get up. As long as the bug is not fixed I watch my movies in QT or VLC.

Hagar, can you PM me a link? Google search doesn't seem to find it (only a few references to it)

Further

02-12-08, 04:08 PM

It's here: http://users.skynet.be/fc047310/DriveIn/Home.html

Google worked for me.

Iteki

02-12-08, 04:10 PM

It's here: http://users.skynet.be/fc047310/DriveIn/Home.html

Google worked for me.

Thanks!

bluenotedesigns

02-12-08, 11:43 PM

hagar2008

02-13-08, 02:32 AM

itunes drive-in doesnt work for me.
it gives me a different error every time.
i have tried several times making different adjustments to try to meet the error requirements...and still nothing.

the most i was able to get was 1 tv show added.
otherwise it will say it cant make the alias in the itunes folder, or quicktime cant save the movie, or a bunch of other errors.

That's too bad, I had no problems whatsoever. Are you sure you have the correct QT Codecs installed? the movie must be playable in QT, otherwise it does not work.

Something that will work for sure is adding the movies as "Media Links" with itunes drive-in, but then you cannot set metadata automatically (only manually in itunes afterwards) and I guess that's what you want to avoid?

JeremyMc

02-13-08, 03:57 AM

There is a new tool for mac allowing you to import all your videos in itunes without reconversion. It supports multiple drives, and automatically downloads metadata from IMDB and cover art from amazon. You can choose which amazon shop, so if you have foreign movies, it still finds the cover art.

it also supports TV shows and automatic season and episode numbering. I have added all my videos (over 200) to itunes without any issues!

It's called iTunes Drive-In and you can download it for free (just search it in google ;-)

The tool does support subtitles, but the Front Row subtitle bug really gets to me. I just want to sit in the couch and watch my movies without having to get up. As long as the bug is not fixed I watch my movies in QT or VLC.

Look's like it doesn't support Video_TS files though. Not that that's a surprise since QuickTime doesn't native or with any plug-in's, as far and I know.
Thats a deal breaker for me and many others since it would require converting the file with would be time intensive and lower the quality. Otherwise this could be ideal.

bluenotedesigns

02-13-08, 05:24 AM

That's too bad, I had no problems whatsoever. Are you sure you have the correct QT Codecs installed? the movie must be playable in QT, otherwise it does not work.

Something that will work for sure is adding the movies as "Media Links" with itunes drive-in, but then you cannot set metadata automatically (only manually in itunes afterwards) and I guess that's what you want to avoid?

yeah...i have perian installed, and everything works great in QT and front row (via sapphire). But when i run the Drive-In...too many errors and problems.

i want to do meta-data...if not then ill keep sapphire.

harpoon

02-13-08, 06:35 AM

Look's like it doesn't support Video_TS files though. Not that that's a surprise since QuickTime doesn't native or with any plug-in's, as far and I know.
Thats a deal breaker for me and many others since it would require converting the file with would be time intensive and lower the quality. Otherwise this could be ideal.

It won't necessarily lower the quality (MPEG 4 > MPEG 2, if you get a nice high bitrate) but the time is the real bite in the backside. That and the pain of ripping the MPEG 4 to DVD if you want to take a disc to a friend's house or lend out a title to someone.

hagar2008

02-13-08, 08:35 AM

yeah...i have perian installed, and everything works great in QT and front row (via sapphire). But when i run the Drive-In...too many errors and problems.

i want to do meta-data...if not then ill keep sapphire.

I suggest you mail your error messages to their support page (itunesdrivein@gmail.com). I had a minor issue and it was fixed soon after my request

DisabledTrucker

02-13-08, 01:53 PM

Where do you get your film poster images? I get mine from http://www.allposters.com/ and http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

drjohnc

02-13-08, 05:44 PM

Another good site for movie posters (not dvd covers) is wikipedia.

dbfreq

02-14-08, 11:28 AM

Is it possible to create a QT plugin for Video_TS? Is there any reason why this hasn't been done?

As I understand it, this would allow us to add Video_TS to iTunes with metadata, although I believe additional work would be needed to sort movies by genre, actor, etc. in FR or ATV, the way that something like DVDpedia does. Is this correct?

bluenotedesigns

02-14-08, 11:02 PM

as of the latest beta 5, Sapphire Browser supports video_ts folders.

i dont use video_ts..... so im not sure of how well it works. but Sapphire is great, and they do all the auto meta data, artwork, and genre, etc. very nice stuff...and fairly stable compared to other options on the market today.

srauly

02-22-08, 01:51 PM

pkscout

02-22-08, 03:37 PM

Is it possible to categorize your movies so that, unlike with the AppleTV, you can look through a large movie collection via category first (e.g., Comedies, Action, etc.) and not have to scroll through a single long list? I don't own a Mac, but am considering getting a Mac Mini.

I haven't found any way to do it. I suppose you could make the movies a TV Show and have the show name be a genre, but that's a real hack.

RyeGuy77

02-24-08, 10:38 PM

The problem seems to be in the way these DVDs are authored. I've found that hitting left or right on the remote once will fix the issue. (You are actually taken to a different menu that looks identical to the orignal but is laid out in a more compatible way)

Kevin

I've started to notice this quite a bit over the last little while using FR2 with networked VIDEO_TS folders (never had it happen in FR1) and many of the titles I am having issues with, I know for a fact I didn't have issues with in FR1. It is quite a pain.....

bluenotedesigns

02-24-08, 11:26 PM

Is it possible to categorize your movies so that, unlike with the AppleTV, you can look through a large movie collection via category first (e.g., Comedies, Action, etc.) and not have to scroll through a single long list? I don't own a Mac, but am considering getting a Mac Mini.

just use sapphire plugin.
it seems to work well and organizes all the genres automatically.

sync

02-29-08, 07:24 PM

Some of the videos I watch don't look good at full scale resolution. Is it possible to scale down the video?

Sometimes I want to move forward or backward 5 or 10 seconds. Is that possible? Using the arrow keys I get minute increments.

dipdog21

03-11-08, 07:19 PM

So if I am to understand this correctly if I choose to switch over to Leopard then the file structure I use now with dvd assist and quicktime movies will all have to be redone to alias the video.ts folders? I just want to make sure cause if I am going to do this I have about 400 discs I would have to update and need to make a tuff decision. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Chimpware

03-11-08, 11:20 PM

dipdog21

03-12-08, 03:39 AM

You only need to Alias the folder all of the DVD folders are in that contain video.ts files, not each folder.

I assume that I have to add jpg's to each folder when I already spent the time making the quicktime's for each dvd already. Or can I use the quicktime movies.

lish

03-13-08, 12:47 PM

So anybody know what the best size to make these jpg's is?

Thanks.

Chimpware

03-13-08, 03:54 PM

I assume that I have to add jpg's to each folder when I already spent the time making the quicktime's for each dvd already. Or can I use the quicktime movies.

Yes you will need to add jpgs to each folder. I have used a number of different sizes so it deos not seem to matter. You just need to name them Preview.jpg. Make sure the P is capitalized, for some reason that matters (at least it did for me).

I just recently updated my library to use Leopard Front Row, instead of DVD Assist in Tiger and spent only about 45 minutes creating jpgs using Google Images for about 50 movies. So if you move quick and have a process it should take about 1 minute on average, per movie.

Equusz

03-20-08, 06:16 AM

Hiyas:

Just got my new Mini intel core-duo running Leopard. Worked fantastic out of the box with my Panasonic AX-200 projector. Image-wise that is. Audio is another matter.

I'm using a monoprice mini-toslink-to-toslink cable and I have sound through my receiver, but no DD 5.1 or DTS. I know the HT receiver is set to detect this because it switches just fine when I plug my HD Dish receiver audio out into the same toslink input on the HT receiver when there's a DD 5.1 movie playing. Seems like it wouldn't be the cable or I wouldn't get any sound at all. What appears to be coming through is digital 2-channel, ie only the front L and R speakers have sound even when I know I'm playing a Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD or Video_TS folder.

Sound preferences are on "Digital Out" and there are no other options when the toslink cable is plugged in. AudioMidi Setup shows "System Output" and "Output options are not available". I can't see any place in DVD Player that specifies what kind of audio stream to use.

Any ideas?

Another slightly annoying problem is I can't copy anything into the Movies folder. I just get the circle-with-slash icon when I try to drag a video file into it.

Any help is appreciated, I'm sure it's something obvious!

--Equusz

Equusz

03-20-08, 06:47 AM

Disregard the first part - I found the option in DVD Player - dunno how I missed that for an hour!

Still not sure why I can't copy anything into my Movies folder...

Further

03-20-08, 07:38 AM

Still not sure why I can't copy anything into my Movies folder...

It sounds like you are using a different account. Have you made more than one account on the computer?

Equusz

03-20-08, 01:39 PM

Nope, just the one I made when I took it out of the box, and it's an owner account.

Further

03-20-08, 04:03 PM

Nope, just the one I made when I took it out of the box, and it's an owner account.

There should be a folder on your hard drive called "Users". Look inside there and report back what you find.

Equusz

04-06-08, 03:37 PM

OK most problems have been sorted. I thought I'd post what I've done with my setup and ask along the way if you all have simpler or better solutions to various aspects.

My Mini 1.8Ghz Core Duo with Leopard worked great out of the box with my Panasonic AX200. All I had to do was set the screen resolution back to 1080x720 - since the projector is 720p no since sending it a signal that needs scaling. Looks fantastic, DVD's and Video_TS rips look far better than on my old DVD player.

Question: Why do people use SwitchResX? Seems like all aspect ratios are automatically correct with Leopard.

I logged in as root, changed the name of my Movies folder to "More Movies" and named my 1TB USB 2.0 drive (where most of my DVD rips are stored) "Movies" and put an alias to it in my Users folder. Shows up just fine as if it were the system Movies folder. USB 2.0 seems to play most of my DVD-rips with no jutter; if I find a movie that doesn't play well then I put that in the "More Movies" folder on the internal hard drive and put an alias to it on the USB drive. FR2 sees the movies just as if they were all physically there on the internal drive.

But, after fiddling with FR2 for a long time, it seems like there's no real solution to get it to do everything you want, when it comes to playing .avi's in your movie library, the ones that QT won't play without Perian. So, I installed Perian and ran up against the black-screen Perian/FR2 glitch. So I switched to DVDPedia and am quite happy with it.

Question 1: Am I missing something? Is there a way to get Front Row to play those dreaded "white screen" .avi's without using Perian? I think I'd like to use Front Row (even though I already paid for DVDPedia) simply because of the photos and music it also does (which I haven't even played with yet).

Question 2: Now that Sapphire is doing Video_TS, it's caught my attention again. Any Perian problems with Sapphire?

I'm using Remote Buddy and have trained my Pronto Remote to send the same commands as the Apple Remote. I still have some tweaking to do but so far that's working really well.

DD 5.1 and DTS pass-through work great, although I haven't yet tried the 5-step fix for getting digital audio from non DVD files. I have a few movies that are .avi's that could probably use that, if it works.

This is all a brand-new setup but so far it seems like the problems are minimal and it's working great. Any comments to my setup?

Thanks!

Eq

tales

07-25-08, 03:26 AM

dvdflashbacks

09-09-08, 02:19 PM

tales

09-09-08, 04:09 PM

I have been testing out FR2 on my mac Mini w/Leopard and have encountered some snags that are really bothering me.

When I launch a movie from my video_ts folder (ripped movie only with no menus), I have no way to access the DVD Player options preferences. The issue with this is that some movies that I have backed up, seem to not display correctly, such as movies that are letterbox 1.85:1. These movies are centered in the screen with black bars on all sides. Movies that are 16x9 play correctly. The other problem with not being able to access the DVD player options/preferences is that I have no way of selecting audio/subtitles options.

If I use distanstDVD and VNC to launch these movies I am able to change the video modes, audio, subtitles, and the settings seem to be saved for that movie after that. But not in FR2.

Any suggestions?

Is it a HTPC? If the mini is connected to a TV/Large monitor that has zoom try that.
Also are you using your Apple remote to access FR2?

You should have DVD player in your dock. In your movie folder click on the movie, find & drag the Video_TS folder ONLY into DVD player in your dock.

This would "trick" it into thinking its a DVD. Then you can use your mouse & cursor in the toolbar while the TS folder is playing. You can access DVD player preferences.

The black bars are part of the video. The mini will not scale or crop a movie.
Its playing the movie in the format it was intended to be seen.

There are other choices if you read here. Its a Mac mini site, if your not a member join. They are very helpful.

mini HTPC
http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=64

123Macmini
http://www.123macmini.com/forums/

dvdflashbacks

09-09-08, 06:30 PM

hey Tales,

Currently my mac mini is only connected to a 23" inch widescreen LCD monitor. I plan on connecting to my big screen tv which has a DVI port or a 720p projector, but I am still in my testing phase of how to do everything on the mac mini.

Launching the movie in DVDplayer.app does in fact alleviate most of my issues, because I can access the options/preferences for video/audio/subtitles. But that also defeats the purpose of using Front Row.

I really like the whole HTPC-Graphical organization and cover previews in Front Row for launching video_ts files. I have also tried distantDVD which is nice cause it uses VLC and DVDplayer so it seems to do well with subtitles and aspect ratio. But the interface is not as nice as Front Row and lacks real organization (all movies are just sorted A-Z)

I also read somewhere today that in Front Row, you can hold down the ctrl key and use scroll wheel on mouse to zoom in and out the aspect ratio. Is this true? I am not at home to try this out yet.

tales

09-10-08, 01:02 AM

Im on my iMac now and there are a few Video_TS folders the control + scroll wheel doesn't work with FR.
My mini is a dedicated HTPC with a LaCie mini 500GB HD & hub.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/yessongs/DSCN6685.jpg
If you are planing to use Video_TS IMO, you will need an external HD to store your TS folders.

You can create an alias folder and drag it into your mini without using any of your minis HD space. And it will work with the Apple remote or a Harmony remote.

Im not sure but i think there is a setting if your using a projector that will fill the screen.

Maybe one of these can help you:
http://www.plexapp.com/ click on the "Skinable Interface" on right.
http://perian.org/#detail

I never used them, but i know a lot of people trashed FR for PLEX. Some use both, FR for photos & iTunes.

Research them. It could be what your looking for.

rickdog81

10-05-08, 03:52 AM

just made the switch from tiger to leopard. Want to take advantage of front row but my DVDs are backed up as ISOs on my external HD which is linked to airport extreme. What is the easiest way to change the ISO files to video ts so front row can play them? Thanks

Also an recommendations for an HDTV to watch the movies on? Upgrading frm 30in CRT to a 46-52in flat panel. Plan to hook up mac mini to it.

newtonuk

10-25-08, 11:23 AM

sudo rm -r ~/Movies
ln -s /path/to/linked/location ~/Movies

I've done this and now have a blank icon with an alias symbol instead of my Movies folder, but I can't get it to work with Frontrow.

Any ideas? Basically I want my Movies folder to point to a folder on my NAS, without having to do an extra selection by using an alias inside the Movies folder.

avlis

11-12-08, 08:29 PM

edalzell

11-12-08, 09:02 PM

I'm going to try Plex but, like most folks here, I like being able to launch FR using the remote.

You know there are a few remote apps that should allow you to launch Plex from the remote, right?

newtonuk

11-13-08, 07:17 AM

I have noticed quite a few of my Video_TS movies play very choppy in FR. These same movies play smooth in DVDPlayer (mostly kid's movies). I'm going to try Plex but, like most folks here, I like being able to launch FR using the remote. Is there anything I can do to smooth out FR playback?

I find it to be even worse than that, simply using FR to playback a DVD results in dropped frames more often than not.

Playing the same DVD back through DVD Player doesn't show any of the frames dropping.

chefklc

11-13-08, 07:25 AM

I find it to be even worse than that, simply using FR to playback a DVD results in dropped frames more often than not.

I have noticed quite a few of my Video_TS movies play very choppy in FR.

You both need some troubleshooting help, then, because FR should play VIDEO_TS back perfectly.

avlis

11-13-08, 10:52 PM

I tried Plex last night and, like xbmc, I'm completely frustrated by it. I'm computer and tech savy but an open source novice. I can't even get the basics of these programs figured out (like displaying the app fullscreen on my plasma, and the movie data is FUBAR). If I can't figure it out, my wife certainly won't.

edalzell, Are you referring to something like Remote Buddy?

Anyway, I desire the simplicity of Frontrow. I'd really like to get it tuned-up to play smoothly again. Where do I start?

edalzell

11-13-08, 11:01 PM

edalzell, Are you referring to something like Remote Buddy?

Yes

Anyway, I desire the simplicity of Frontrow. I'd really like to get it tuned-up to play smoothly again. Where do I start?

It depends on what you have. The two easiest way to get going are to put your movies and TV Shows in iTunes. Then Front Row will find them just fine.

Alternatively, you can put them all in your Movies folder and navigate there with FR.

If you can describe what you are looking to do, I'm sure we can help.

newtonuk

11-14-08, 05:21 AM

You both need some troubleshooting help, then, because FR should play VIDEO_TS back perfectly.

Other folk seem to experience it as well, there's a discussion on the Apple forums but I can't post a link due to too few posts.

newtonuk

11-14-08, 05:23 AM

Other folk seem to experience it as well, there's a discussion on the Apple forums but I can't post a link due to too few posts.

But now that I have three posts...

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8385514#8385514

It seems that it is not just Video_TS folders that cause the problem, but DVD playback in general. Could it be that MPEG2 decoding is causing a problem?

chefklc

11-14-08, 05:31 AM

Oh, I'm not surprised "other folks" are experiencing it, especially over on the Apple forums, which is newbie central. Here is a different story. Almost all of these 'can't play VIDEO_TS with FR" issues come down to three areas:

1) over-zealously installing all sorts of alternative front ends and plugins and expecting Quicktime and Front Row to still work properly
2) where you store your media and how you've set your network up
3) your ripping methods.

Now, it may be that there's a real issue affecting you that's solely Apple hardware/software related, and that doesn't affect the rest of us, but look to these three aspects first. We'll help if we can...

Further

11-14-08, 05:44 AM

Just to add my own experience: I also live in PAL-land and my monitor is currently set for 75Hz. I only use DVD player (not Front Row) and I have a mix of PAL, NTSC and region-free disks (I play mostly from DVD, though not only). I have not installed anything (that I know of) that could affect the system. I have never experienced any stuttering or other problems with this system.

Have you ever tried playing back with VLC? If so, what happened then?

avlis

11-17-08, 09:44 PM

Ok, Ive done a little testing to try to narrow this down:

This on a Macbook

Many (but not all) of the choppy movies are 4:3 content.

Only happens when outputting 1080 to my TV. I didn't try other resolutions yet.

Movies play fine in DVDPlayer.

Movies play fine in FR only when Macbook display is the only screen.

Dropped frames occur regardless of transmission via Ethernet or wifi.

I can stream many recent films to the Macbook display in 16:9, DTS, etc. over wireless with no dropped frames in FR (which is surprising). Once I plug the TV in, its hit or miss.

What can I do?

chefklc

11-20-08, 07:27 AM

What can I do?

First thing I'd do if I were in your shoes is test whether your problem has anything specifically to do with Front Row itself. So I'd suggest reducing potentially complicating factors and re-checking the basics.

Which Macbook do you have?

Only happens when outputting 1080 to my TV. I didn't try other resolutions yet.

You should only be trying your HDTV's native resolution--which TV is it and are you going DVI, HDMI or VGA?

Do you live in the US or UK/EU?

Also for now, take network transmission and USB/firewire issues--ethernet, wireless and aliases to external hard drive storage--out of the equation. Only try to play back VIDEO_TS from your Macbook Movies folder.

Also temporarily remove all the alphas and betas like Plex and XMBC and Sapphire and Boxee and Quicktime plugins that you've installed/uninstalled. That means temporarily remove Perian and Flip4Mac, you can reinstall them later.

And, explain to us how you're ripping your dvds: where do you live, what are the titles and region of some of the dvds, which software program (and version) are you using to rip, etc. Do you use MTR and do full disc rips?

Disconnect your HDTV.

Movies play fine in DVDPlayer.
Movies play fine in FR only when Macbook display is the only screen.
Once I plug the TV in, its hit or miss.

This "seems" to indicate the connection to your HDTV is part of the problem, not anything to do with FR per se, but re-confirm this by just playing back a VIDEO_TS from your Movies folder without the HDTV connected, then gradually add things back--re-checking at each step. This will prove your rips are fine and that your MB is working properly.

Then you introduce complications. Next connect your HDTV--and how are you connecting to your HDTV by the way?--close the lid of your MB, wake it up with the Apple remote and enter FR. (Closed lid won't work unless your MB power supply is connected.)

Then test those VIDEO_TS in your Movies folder again. What happens?

Basically, you strip down in order to begin to determine whether your problems have to do with 1) how you're connecting to your HDTV, 2) your network or 3) your external storage. You start adding these potential complications back into the equation one at a time and re-test at each step.

avlis

11-20-08, 12:44 PM

Thanks for the reply. I'll try the things you suggested.

To answer some questions:

I have a Macbook C2D 2ghz 2gb RAM.
I live in the US.
TV is a Panasonic TH-50PZ85U with 1080 native rez.
Hookup is Apple mini DVI-to-DVI adapter connected to a Monoprice DVI-to-HDMI cable.
Full disk rips were done using MTR and stored on a NAS connected to an Apple AEBS. I've never been able to get a "Main Feature" rip to play. It doesn't seem to save much space anyway so I never persisted.
I'll copy a "frame dropper" movie to my local disk and report what happens.

Apple newbe question: to remove an app, do I simply drag the app icon to the trash? That's what I've been doing because I don't see an Apple equivalent to Windows "Add Remove Programs".

Further

11-20-08, 02:41 PM

Apple newbe question: to remove an app, do I simply drag the app icon to the trash? That's what I've been doing because I don't see an Apple equivalent to Windows "Add Remove Programs".

Yes. If the program has preferences, they should do no harm if left behind. Mac's don't have a registry like Windows that needs to be cleaned out.

thezzyzx

11-24-08, 11:43 AM

The only "little" detail is judder you see on horizontal moves (which the windows folks solve with reclock), is there a solution for the mac around?

Karsten

Does anyone have an answer for this, because now that I solved my other problem, this is the only detail that's still annoying me with using my MacBook?

chefklc

11-24-08, 12:26 PM

thezzyzx

11-24-08, 12:37 PM

However you make that display connection, with or without something like SwitchResX, is it. I'm not aware of any anti-judder or third-party smoothing software in OS X, so if this is something you're particularly sensitive to, or your display type exaggerates, you're out of luck unless you get a different HDTV or a better Macbook. You might try watching particularly egregious film-based content with Apple dvd player rather than FR.

I'm a different person than one asking about Front Row... My plan is to get a mac mini after the (hopefully happening) January update; I'm hoping that some of the problems I'm seeing will be resolved with that. They're minor, but it just annoys me that my DVD player can play the files just fine but my much more expensive computer can't. You'd think someone would have solved this by now...

Gormangahst

12-18-08, 11:10 PM

I was fooling around with front row last night and I think the setting to allow resume playback is actually in iTunes. I can't remember where, just go through iTunes preferences and eventually you'll see a 'allow resume playback', or something, tick the box and it works.

I have a different problem, my movie cover art doesn't seem to stick. I know avi's won't play in iTunes or front row so what i did was save 10 700meg movies to my external TB drive, then saved each one as a small reference file with .mov extensions. I dragged those ref movs into iTunes (allowing iTunes to copy those to its movies folder) Then I got info on each movie and added a box cover artwork. Worked a treat, looks gorgeous in Front Row, the first time. but now for some reason the art isn't showing. When you look at the files in iTunes all the art is still showing, but not in Front Row. What happened? Does the art have to be saved in the same place as the movies or reference movies? You don't need to do that with iTunes music, but then I havn't tried to view my music through Front Row yet. Was planning to use my mini as a video media centre and not worry about having music on it. Anyone else had problems with adding art to movie fies?