Front Row Problem

[iMacBook]

Anytime I want to watch a movie in Front Row, it freezes when I press the center button on the remote. Then, after freezing for about, 2 minutes, it goes into the movie section and takes a while (about a minute) to load each movie.


The movies are in AVI format. They are in the movie folder, all by themselves. They aren't in Movies/American Pie/AmericanPie.avi. It's Movies/AmericanPie.avi.

Is that how they should be? Or, should they be in a folder, like the first directory?

I found out why. You do indeed have to have the movies in a folder.

 

[polycat33]

Hm... that's odd, mine is the complete opposite. The movies in my movies folder do not show up unless the actual movie file is directly in the movies folder, they don't show if they are in a folder within the movies folder.

 

[kolax]

Mine works with folders within Movies and shortcuts too.

Shortcuts are handy if your movies are on an external drive; enabling you to still access them within Front Row.

 

[iMacBook]

Well, it seems like there is another problem.

I press menu and then go to the Movies thing. It works fast, but then when I go to click on a movie, it freezes for a minute. Then, it goes to where I can start the movie and then that freezes also.

Here is the directory: Movies/AmericanPie/AmericanPie.avi

Could it be because they are in .avi format? I have .mov formats in there too and it works normal and fast.

How can I fix this!? It's annoying to have to wait to watch a movie

 

[kolax]

I've always had delays with Front Row. It isn't the most efficient thing out there.

I just open videos manually without Front Row. I rarely use it unless I'm showing photos to someone.

 

[bmcgonag]

What i've found with Front Row, is that .avi movies do take longer for the movie to load, because most likely it is not an apple native codec.

Alos, before the movie will start in Front Row, it insists on starting the little thumbnail preview of the movie...I imagine this is where Quicktime is opening, and closing....so you enter your folder...for instance I have...

Movies/Action/A - F/<Action movies starting with the letters A-F>

All the way til I get into the folder it's fast, but once i'm on the first movie in the list....let's say hypothetically .... Apacolypto.avi....it freezes until the movie preview starts. I can't go to the next movie in the list until that preview starts. Then the next movie is the same way, and so on with each click down....

Now if you click the button and hold it after the Apacolypto.avi preview starts, then it will go to the second movie, and after that preview starts, it will scan quickly down the list while you hold down the button....but be quick to stop at the movie you want.

I converted all of my .avi's to .mp4's and they load much more quickly, without such long delays in between, but still...Front Row is just a pretty face for iTunes, Quicktime, iPhoto, and DVDPlayer.

So, when you select a movie, Quicktime has to actually open that movie, and begin playing it...that's the preview, then when you select it...it basically rewinds to the beginning, and switches to full screen mode.

Hope this helps, If any of you find a way to use a screen shot still, instead of the movie preview, let me know.

Brian

 

[iMacBook]

What i've found with Front Row, is that .avi movies do take longer for the movie to load, because most likely it is not an apple native codec.

Alos, before the movie will start in Front Row, it insists on starting the little thumbnail preview of the movie...I imagine this is where Quicktime is opening, and closing....so you enter your folder...for instance I have...

Movies/Action/A - F/<Action movies starting with the letters A-F>

All the way til I get into the folder it's fast, but once i'm on the first movie in the list....let's say hypothetically .... Apacolypto.avi....it freezes until the movie preview starts. I can't go to the next movie in the list until that preview starts. Then the next movie is the same way, and so on with each click down....

Now if you click the button and hold it after the Apacolypto.avi preview starts, then it will go to the second movie, and after that preview starts, it will scan quickly down the list while you hold down the button....but be quick to stop at the movie you want.

I converted all of my .avi's to .mp4's and they load much more quickly, without such long delays in between, but still...Front Row is just a pretty face for iTunes, Quicktime, iPhoto, and DVDPlayer.

So, when you select a movie, Quicktime has to actually open that movie, and begin playing it...that's the preview, then when you select it...it basically rewinds to the beginning, and switches to full screen mode.

Hope this helps, If any of you find a way to use a screen shot still, instead of the movie preview, let me know.

Brian

Well, that does explain a lot.

What program are you using to convert your .AVI to .MP4? I could use that.

Thank you very much for the help!

 

[bmcgonag]

Well, that does explain a lot.

What program are you using to convert your .AVI to .MP4? I could use that.

Thank you very much for the help!

I use visual hub to covert them. It's not free, but worth the money. You can try loading it into QTPro and then save it, or export it as a .mov. Not sure if the file size will increase dramtically or not that way though.

also, there are some freeware things that may work for you. ffmpegX (not the same as ffmpeg), and MPEGstreamclip.

Best,

Brian

 

[iMacBook]

I use visual hub to covert them. It's not free, but worth the money. You can try loading it into QTPro and then save it, or export it as a .mov. Not sure if the file size will increase dramtically or not that way though.

also, there are some freeware things that may work for you. ffmpegX (not the same as ffmpeg), and MPEGstreamclip.

Best,

Brian

At the moment, I'm trying the exporting in QTPro.

I'll see how that works.

Thanks for your help.