FrontRow, Lion, iTunes 10.5. Pah!

[cjbryce]

Why no FrontRow in Lion?

I use a brand new 2011 Mac Mini as an HTPC and am very disappointed that Apple have dropped FrontRow. Never mind I thought - just download and install it - job done. But iTunes 10.5 library is unreadable by FrontRow

OK, I can use iTunes and "manually" switch to EyeTV as required, but FrontRow made it easy for my partner and kids to do the same without having to go near the "guts" of the Mini. Ridiculous that my 3 year old 24" iMac which I use as a TV in the bedroom and haven't installed Lion on is actually easier to use than the spanking new Mac Mini with Lion.

So now I have to muck around downgrading iTunes back to production from beta. Just as well I didn;t install iOS 5 betas on any of my iDevices.

This is a great pity - and yes, I've fed back to Apple via the usual means and written to His Stevieness to ask if it's going to be fixed in the prodcution release.

 

[Omne666]

The dropping of Front Row from the Mac OS has been on the cards for a while now..I think they announced as much about 4 weeks back if not further.

Mind you, its a bit dated. I loved it when I first got it, hated the new ATV1 interface for about a week, then swung around and have hated Front Row since.

I suggest you look at the third party options: Centre Stage looks interesting. Plex is raved on about.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I miss the original Front Row interface. The menu faded in and movie trailers was easier to navigate and the menus were more graphical and animated. Apple probably knew it would phase out Front Row so they made it dull first and then removed it.

Maybe in a few months, you will see many alternatives in the App store that don't even exist today.

 

[ncc1701d]

the 'replacements' stated above do not access itunes content very well at all.

It may sound odd, but I metadata all my movies and store them in my movies folder (which is an alias to my external drive) and I metadata my tv shows and add them to itunes. And front row accesses both very well.

Does Apple tv 2 access the movie folder from your computer?

Does apple tv 2 recreate the itunes library as well (tv shows?)

 

[cjbryce]

Update

Downgraded iTunes to 10.3.x and all is now well in my HTPC world. Hope it will be even better when the Crucial 8Gb RAM upgrade arrives

Tried Plex but integrating it with EyeTV is just too much hassle for it to be worthwhiile for me.

I think Apple may well be building it's own full blown Media Centre application - maybe including "soft" Apple TV type functionality. The Mac Mini connected via HDMI and TosLink audio to my Arcam Movie Solo is the ideal solution for me. And I can surf on my TV when I feel like it.

I tried Apple TV and whilst I did quite like it, it's functionality is somewhat restricted in the UK as we have no NetFlix and the broadband infratructure where I live is dire. The other requirement of ATV2 of having to have a box with iTunes running is a bit of a pain too, save the planet and all that.

Hoping that the "PAYG" version of Sky Go gets released soon, and then I'll have iTunes for purchased content, live DVB-T TV and Sky content on demand (if my broadband will stream it without annoying me too much)

 

[ipollak]

annoying

I also have a brand new mac mini connected to my 42 LED and holding from up grading. frontrow might be dated, but still, very easy interface that my kids find very easy to use.

I also have ATV2, but sometime there are codec problems with converted MKV into mp4.

Squire looks like it would be a nice frontrow replacement, but still very raw at the moment..

 

[NZed]

Front Row for Lion here

http://www.mac-hatter.com/blog/frontrowenablerforlion

THIS IS FRONT ROW FOR LION. It works but it needs iTunes 10.3 to be able to access Music in front row.

 

[ngenerator]

Does Apple tv 2 access the movie folder from your computer?

Yes, perfectly.

Does apple tv 2 recreate the itunes library as well (tv shows?)

Yes, perfectly.

My metadata added via MetaX pulls up nicely on my ATV2.

 

[KeithJenner]

The loss of Front Row in Lion is my one complaint about the new OS.

I have an iMac which is our media server (feeds 3 ATV2's) and also runs Eye TV. It basically acts as a TV in one room, using EyeTV for live TV/recordings and FrontRow for iTunes content.

At present, I have not upgraded to Lion on that machine, purely because I would lose Front Row. It's not a major issue, but I keep trying to use Lion gestures on it, and such like.

I hope that someone comes up with a decent front end that can feed off iTunes soon, so that I can upgrade to Lion. I can see the other alternative being to sell the iMac and buy a TV/ATV2 for that room, which would be a shame.