Front Row on any Mac

[dakidski]

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but what is the point of Front Row? I am already able to control my Macintosh via bluetooth with such software as Salling Clicker, Veta Universal & Romeo. With those apps I can launch and remote control any software I wish, so why is this Front Row groundbreaking?

In reality isn't it just a fancy menu that allows you to launch apple native video and audio software?

Furthermore, why would I launch this app if I didn't have any remote control device? wouldn't it defeat its original purpose?

[mollipen]

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but what is the point of Front Row? I am already able to control my Macintosh via bluetooth with such software as Salling Clicker, Veta Universal & Romeo. With those apps I can launch and remote control any software I wish, so why is this Front Row groundbreaking?

I already answered this question in this very thread. Right now, there is little point to Front Row, because it is stuck on the iMac. The main use would be, say, somebody in college who has an iMac but no TV, and they could use their iMac as a pseudo television/media center - at that point, being able to sit back and do things by remote would be nice.

The point of this software is sticking it on a Mac Mini, or some secret new piece of hardware, and hooking that machine up to your TV in your living room. At that point, you aren't going to want to get up right next to your TV so that you can try to navigate folders and files and whatnot - you want a "made for TV" interface, and that is what Front Row is. This is basically, if you ask me, Apple testing out the waters before the dive into the home media center market.

It isn't really important for what it is, right now, but instead what it now lets us expect. There's no way Apple would make Front Row just for what it is doing now, so they have to have something much bigger planned for it. Then, you can combine the release of this with the iTunes Music Store now selling TV shows.

[dakidski]

ah! thanks for your response. I now understand: "Made for tv interface". I never once in my life had the need to remote control my home computer.

[Grave]

yes you still need a modchip or soft mod.

Um...

Yeah, I figured that part. What I asked was, do you need a chip, or will a soft mod suffice?

[mollipen]

DVD support works if you download the newest version of Apple's DVD app.

Also, here's a random link for no reason whatsoever.

[innova]

broken on 10.4.3 update

[kedawa]

Um...

Yeah, I figured that part. What I asked was, do you need a chip, or will a soft mod suffice?

If you swap out the HD, you lose the softmod, so I guess you need a chip or bios flash.

Maybe there's a way to set up a bigger HD with a soft mod already on it, and just drop it in, but you'd need to run an exploit on the xbox to get the lock codes first.

This thing looks like a pretty good solution for watching dl'd shit on a tv.

I would take something like that with me when I visit friends, so I could swap movies and stuff with them.

[Grave]

If you swap out the HD, you lose the softmod, so I guess you need a chip or bios flash.

Maybe there's a way to set up a bigger HD with a soft mod already on it, and just drop it in, but you'd need to run an exploit on the xbox to get the lock codes first.

I was hoping whatever software that was doing this would be able to do that to the new HD as well, but I guess maybe that's hoping for a little too much. Time to do some research.

[mollipen]

broken on 10.4.3 update

Nope - works just fine.

What might be the problem is if you use the Applescript to open it. You'll need to update your script to the following:

tell application "Front Row"
activate
tell application "System Events" to key code 53
end tell

[innova]

yeah thats what i found...works now