New iMac, FrontRow and PhotoBooth Apps

[matticus008]

Huh. I wonder if someone just deleted the Front Row app on that particular demo machine. Customers do all sorts of crazy things to the computers when they're not responsible for fixing them. Sort of like all the people I've seen at electronics stores scratching the hell out of iPods.

 

[wdlove]

Visited the Littleton CO store today.. they had both the new iPod Video as well as the new iMacs. The iPod Video has a great screen. I waited a bit to play with the new iMac hoping to try out Front Row. Unfortunately there were no remotes with either of the two demo machines they had up front. I did a Spotlight search for the term Front Row as well several variants of Front and Row and it did not appear to exist on the HD of these machines. Does anyone know why this would be the case?

My local Apple Store said that the new Mac's would be in the store until the end of October. So I'm hoping that they will be available to view next Sunday.

 

[mrichmon]

Visited the Littleton CO store today.. they had both the new iPod Video as well as the new iMacs. The iPod Video has a great screen. I waited a bit to play with the new iMac hoping to try out Front Row. Unfortunately there were no remotes with either of the two demo machines they had up front. I did a Spotlight search for the term Front Row as well several variants of Front and Row and it did not appear to exist on the HD of these machines. Does anyone know why this would be the case?

Based on some poking around with new iMacs at two different Apple stores, it appears that Front Row is not implemented as a stand-alone application. Searches for it using spotlight didn't turn up anything. I also tried to determine if there was a keyboard shortcut to activate it but didn't find anything.

I know that Front Row was installed on both machines since they were displaying Front Row when I walked up to the machines. With Front Row visible, arrow keys and return are sufficient to control Front Row. I believe that I backed out of Front Row entirely by pressing the Escape key.

There was no indication in the System Preferences of a Front Row activation HotKey. None of the Function keys activated Front Row with or without command, option, control or shift modifiers activated it.

 

[~Shard~]

Based on some poking around with new iMacs at two different Apple stores, it appears that Front Row is not implemented as a stand-alone application. Searches for it using spotlight didn't turn up anything. I also tried to determine if there was a keyboard shortcut to activate it but didn't find anything.

I know that Front Row was installed on both machines since they were displaying Front Row when I walked up to the machines. With Front Row visible, arrow keys and return are sufficient to control Front Row. I believe that I backed out of Front Row entirely by pressing the Escape key.

There was no indication in the System Preferences of a Front Row activation HotKey. None of the Function keys activated Front Row with or without command, option, control or shift modifiers activated it.

Actually, Front Row is a stand-alone application, however it is in Core Services and relies on frameworks only available in the 10.4.2-versions coming with the new iMacs. It also performs a check to see if there's a remote present.

 

[BGil]

The shuttle PC you described would not be the same size as a mini. Two full size TV tuners and a full-size hard drive would not all fit in a 6.5x.6.5" anything, let alone being 2 or even 3" thick.

As an HTPC, yes, I agree that a mini ITX form factor is superior and much more flexible than a mini. But getting one that looks good and comes with all the incidental features costs as much as a new 15" PowerBook. I've been pricing them out for months, trying to assemble a small, nearly silent, and powerful MythTV box. So for aesthetics and value, a Mac mini with a tuner add-on would be much better. Especially with the Front Row interface (which is much more refined and smooth than any Linux frontend).

Right now I use the same box as my actual PC (an Antec Sonata case), and simply worked Myth into my Linux distro. It works phenomenally, but I want to take advantage of a separate machine so I can use my monitor's Picture in Picture.

The Mini doesn't have the power to be a good HTPC IMO. A small Shuttle PC with a 300GB hard drive, a very fast processor, and two tv turners (one GPU/Tuner card) for about $1000. That's fully loaded. You could probably go dual core for about $150 more. Look for a Shuttle PC or SFF case, get yourself an ATI TV tuner/GPU and another tuner (HD if you like), then pick up the 300GB drive for $90 after rebate. You can get a Shuttle case that will take anything like an Athlon XP-M 2500, a Pentium M, A64 (dual core, Turion etc.), or a P4. If you get hardware accelerated tuners then you don't need much for a processor. You could get by with a P4 2.4 with HT and still be able to play high-definition content while capturing another show at the same time.

I just built a dual core P4 system for a friend that had one HDTV tuner, a 300GB hard drive, DX9 card, double layer DVD burner ($40), and a bunch more stuff for just about $900. It's ATX but the case he got was made specifically for HTPCs. Check HTPCnews.com for reviews on most of the components you might want.

 

[matticus008]

The Mini doesn't have the power to be a good HTPC IMO. A small Shuttle PC with a 300GB hard drive, a very fast processor, and two tv turners (one GPU/Tuner card) for about $1000. That's fully loaded. You could probably go dual core for about $150 more. Look for a Shuttle PC or SFF case, get yourself an ATI TV tuner/GPU and another tuner (HD if you like), then pick up the 300GB drive for $90 after rebate. You can get a Shuttle case that will take anything like an Athlon XP-M 2500, a Pentium M, A64 (dual core, Turion etc.), or a P4. If you get hardware accelerated tuners then you don't need much for a processor. You could get by with a P4 2.4 with HT and still be able to play high-definition content while capturing another show at the same time.

I just built a dual core P4 system for a friend that had one HDTV tuner, a 300GB hard drive, DX9 card, double layer DVD burner ($40), and a bunch more stuff for just about $900. It's ATX but the case he got was made specifically for HTPCs. Check HTPCnews.com for reviews on most of the components you might want.

That's the very site I use for reviews, and in fact was where I found the case I ultimately settled on buying. It was more expensive than it should have been, but that's life. The case alone was $300...but it'll be one hell of a system when it's finished.

I agree that the mini is a little underpowered for intensive tasks, but for most people it would more than fit the bill. A Tivo doesn't have particularly much going for it, but people are thrilled with them.

 

[mdavey]

Here's a question for everybody...
How do you suggest Apple fit a TV tuner, a video card and processor capable of encoding/decoding H.264 and a series of video output ports on or in a Mac Mini.

Why would you want a TV tuner? Within the next 5 years there will be a massive explosion of IPTV everywhere. You can already get 8 MB broadband in most UK, European and US cities - which is plenty for a single H.264 or MP4 stream. TV companies will provide IPTV streams for their own-content (eg news) channels just as broadcasters like the BBC broadcast their radio stations over the Internet now.

 

[nimo26]

Wall Mount of the new iMac

Not sure if any knows if you can use the "old" iMac G5 kit with the new eyeMac..I pop open the new iMac and found out that its a real pain to get to the back of the unit..don't want to try unless I know that I can use the old kit..as you may or may not know, Apple no longer supports wall-mounting of the new iMac's
Thanks

 

[skythefly13]

Hm.

Ok, I am just wondering why they would put out the infrared remote when its basically for the imacs right now, because they only have front row (besides the hackers). It's only other purpose is to do like 3 things on the iPod with the universal dock, you cant even switch through the menus?! What the heck?

 

[Seasought]

Damn it, now I'm all excited about buying a Mac desktop and I just bought my laptop.

I suppose it's a never-ending cycle.

 

[~Shard~]

Damn it, now I'm all excited about buying a Mac desktop and I just bought my laptop.

I suppose it's a never-ending cycle.

Yeah, that's how they get ya - beware of Steve's RDF and the kool-aid!