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HOWTO: Downgrade Front to 1.3.1

Cool, but how do you upgrade it to 2.0 again if I would ever want to?
 
plaisthos said:
Hi,

I was annoyed by the new FrontRow 2.0 I decided to downgrade my Front Row to 1.3. I decided to write a small howto, so others can downgrade their Front Row as well:

http://blog.chaos-paderborn.de/2007/11/01/downgrade-frontrow-on-leopard
Click to expand...

Bah, I'm sticking with 2. I know there are a few things that the previous one did that the new one doesn't; except I've actually had a few problems with the one in Tiger kind of "Hanging" and just doing nothing; I have yet to experience that since the upgrade.
 
Can we somehow have the old transition back again? I want the new Front Row, but with the old transition.

OP...if you can do that, I'll worship you.
 
FRONTROW DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE !!!!!!! :mad:

EDIT:
Had to use the Leopard install disc and do an upgrade to make it work again.
 
Not using terminal much - could you clarify it a bit more? I downloaded front row 1.3.1 - just don't want to start pasting in lines until I have a better understanding of what to do.
 
So what is wrong with Front Row 2.0 exactly?

I don't consider the lack of transition eye candy to be a real issue BTW.
 
dr_lha said:
So what is wrong with Front Row 2.0 exactly?

I don't consider the lack of transition eye candy to be a real issue BTW.
Click to expand...

-Transitions
-new (blue) look doesn't really fit with OS X, has more of a Vista look
-no longer an option to resume video play after going out of the video
-Trailers section doesn't look nice anymore

Actually I just hate the new Frontrow...it's just so freakin' ugly.
 
I do prefer the old eye candy and interface - but my real issue is the player itself.

Previous FR would resume playback on files.

Launching front row would continue itunes playback from OSX, and update play counts, ect... I also had better access to my playlists on the previous iteration.

Finally, 2.0 causes some issues with screen saver and/or power saving on my imac.
 
Could you please make a more detailed or new HOW TO.
The extracting part isn't working and it doesn't say what to do after the extracting or how to restore the backup AND it simply isn't working for me at all.
Right now it only brakes my Frontrow.
 
Found these on another forum - they might fix 2.0 for you - I'm still trying to find a method for returning to 1.3.1.

Anyhow, for the meantime, if you want 2.0 back:

Drop this in /System/Library/CoreServices: http://www.divshare.com/download/2288918-e1f

Drop this in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks: http://www.divshare.com/download/2329312-f3a

I make no claims in relation to these - but I did attempt the first method in this forum - and it only broke my Front Row 2.0. Those files repaired it for me.
 
Update - It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Special thanks to the cats at the Insanelymac forums. (where I found this)

Download the 1.3.1 update from Apple -
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/frontrow131.html

Using a lil program called Pacifist -
http://www.charlessoft.com/
Install that update for front row - using the "Replace" option (not "update").

I had to restart before it would function. My login window froze (I was doing a million other things at the time) when i tried to restart. I ended the task via Activity Monitor, restarted and...

It *appears* to be working, though I have yet to test every nook and cranny. Please do this at your own risk - I'm a dolt, and know nothing about the inner workings of this. So no yelling, ok?
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
Update - It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Special thanks to the cats at the Insanelymac forums. (where I found this)

Download the 1.3.1 update from Apple -
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/frontrow131.html

Using a lil program called Pacifist -
http://www.charlessoft.com/
Install that update for front row - using the "Replace" option (not "update").

I had to restart before it would function. My login window froze (I was doing a million other things at the time) when i tried to restart. I ended the task via Activity Monitor, restarted and...

It *appears* to be working, though I have yet to test every nook and cranny. Please do this at your own risk - I'm a dolt, and know nothing about the inner workings of this. So no yelling, ok?
Click to expand...


I did the downgrade that you suggested...all works for me and it streams to airtunes...only thing i noticed is it kind of hangs up a little bit when moving back from an album to an artist..but as soon as a push any button on my keyboard it breaks loose and goes back to normal...not too much of a big deal..all i wanted back was airtunes compatibility cause frontrow is perfect for parties. Thanks for the info
 
That downgrade has been working great for me - only exception being "movies" (not DVD) - hangs up from time to time. For me, it's a non-issue, because I use VLC for all my movies - and that has its own wireless remote interface.

So in Leopard - I'm running 1.3.1 - but I wasn't completely happy.

I'm now back in Tiger (triple boot system now) and couldn't be happier. :)

I'm glad this is improving your Leopard experience though. I won't live in a cave forever - and once they "fix" my Leopard issues (spotlight / front row / stacks, ect...) I'll be back.
 
2Shae said:
-Transitions
-new (blue) look doesn't really fit with OS X, has more of a Vista look
-no longer an option to resume video play after going out of the video
-Trailers section doesn't look nice anymore

Actually I just hate the new Frontrow...it's just so freakin' ugly.
Click to expand...

I'm confused by this, because mine does have that option.... it does the same defocused "resume playback or start from beginning" sequence if I go out of a video and back in.
 
Draddy said:
I'm confused by this, because mine does have that option.... it does the same defocused "resume playback or start from beginning" sequence if I go out of a video and back in.
Click to expand...

I think there's an important distinction that needs to be made here. That is the distinction between 'videos', as in movie files that are resident on your hard drive, and DVDs. DVDs do, indeed, still have the resume option, but movie files do not.
 
Making Movies work in Front Row

Hello I get leopard a couple of months ago and everything is perfect except Front Row, so I downgraded to 1.3.1 but the movies section doesn't work well, because when you change from let's say TV Shows to Music Videos it gets an error problem and gets you back to de desktop and you can't return to watch any video because all is broken, well, that's annoying.

Then I realized that if you quit the application from the activity monitor and launch Front Row again now it works well, until you get to the desktop or or try to change to other category of video, so there's a solution but well it's still too complicated so I search around and make an apple script to quit front Row, and then I made an automator application to run it, and that's better because now it only requires 1 click.

Anyway, to make this quickly here's the script:

do shell script "ps ax | grep -i 'Front Row' | grep -v grep | cut -c 1-6"
set pNum to result
do shell script "kill -9 " & pNum

Just open automator then select the action "Run Applescript", replace the text above instead of (* Your script goes here *), save the workflow as an application and place it in the dock or anywhere you want, so when front row freezes just run it and "Movies" works again.


I know it isn't the best solution, but doesn't cripple Front Row and it's not really that annoying.

PS there's an update for Front Row, now is 2.1.2, please if someone installed this, tell us if they fixed things like airtunes and the stop of music when you enter and exit front row, and the transition.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the script jlrg517.

Neither Front row 2.1.2 nor the Leopard 10.5.2 update fixes the broken connection between Front row and Airtunes. It looks like Apple has no intention of fixing this problem and willing to bury an innovative product integration between Airtunes and Front Row for the sake of a mediocre product like Apple TV. I sent several complaints to Apple support to no avail (no surprise there).

Front row has regressed with 2.0 (and 2.1.2) compared to 1.3.1 by emulating Apple TV. Let's name a few problems: airtunes broken, no interaction with iTunes (losing play count, etc.), movies preview windows are static vs. providing actual playback, no movie preview window for some of the popular movie formats and menu choices are much smaller font size.

Frankly, Front row 2.0 is a huge step back. I wish someone would actually hack Front row 1.3.1 to work properly in Leopard. I will most likely revert back to Tiger since I use the movie function frequently.
 
Well, for one thing, the ability to resume a film is missing, so when you exit FR you've "lost the place".

However, it seems that the latest version of FrontRow does play nice with subtitled video files.
 
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