The possibilities of Front Row

[Fahrvergnuugen]

For me, the most exciting part of today's event was Front Row. I have been waiting since the mac mini came out for someone to create software that will provide integration with iPhoto, iTunes, Videos & home entertainment. iTheater looked promising, but the project is taking forever and in my opinion they have made some critical design errors. Center stage is another, but that too falls short.

Now Apple has given us Front Row. But it appears to be iMac only

This is the setup I would like to have:
Mac Mini driving a 43" plasma display via DVI.

An Eye TV or something similar will provide video input and will allow the mini to act as a DVR. iCal will control video recording schedule, videos will be put into a directory so that Front Row has access to them.

The mini has a DVD player. The only thing it lacks is an optical audio jack and the IR port for the remote. The whole mess would be controlled from Apple's 6 button remote.

So the questions are:
1) Will front row work on other Macs besides the iMac
2) Can the new Universal Dock act as an IR receiver for the remote or does the iMac have its own separate receiver?

[kainjow]

Originally Posted by Fahrvergnuugen

1) Will front row work on other Macs besides the iMac
2) Can the new Universal Dock act as an IR receiver for the remote or does the iMac have its own separate receiver?

1) Who knows. Apple hasn't said anything about it yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they allowed you to buy it later on.
2) The new Dock does have the receiver for the remote, and the iMac has the receiver built-in.

[fryke]

So it's not Bluetooth, I guess, but some RF thingie. This would mean you'd have to add some kind of USB-stick if you wanted to enable your PowerBook or Mac mini or PowerMac for Front Row. Theoretically, they could just make a package: "Front Row software with Remote Control and USB adapter for Mac" ... If they price that nicely, it'd be a huge success in my opinion. My guess is that the Front Row software will be a regular part of Leopard, anyway. Might be able to control it via your Bluetooth mobile phone even. We'll see.

[9114619]

What's this in front of the new Universal Dock? An IR sensor? Does it control only the iPod or could it control the computer as well (through FrontRow)? A simple possibility with no answer from Apple...

[crcr2003]

Front Row is great but the sad thing is that it looks so much like the media software on vaio PCs. My friends are already bothering n they r right at least on this, front row looks and works exactly the same as the remote/software from vaio computers that came 1 year and a half ago in japan. anyway i m glad apple decided to "copy the idea of" a software like this for mac.

[Lt Major Burns]

it does sort of appear to be sort of like XP Media Centre, but as he said in the keynote, so much more... apple

i thought it was an amzingly well done piece of software. it.. just.. works.

[senne]

This looks like IR:



Maybe the IR sensor of the iMac is located in the iSight webcam? There's also a light sensor inthere, so why not?

In low-light environments, a sensor detects the room’s ambient light and adjusts the sleep light to match — so you and your iMac G5 can both catch some Zs.

[fryke]

Doesn't record anything, though. So it's a bit of a joke to compare the two systems, their remote controls etc. I think it's good. Perfect sample of how Apple can do things simple and good. But it's not a direct competition to the media centers in my opinion. And with Apple selling TV shows through iTunes, I don't see them integrating any kind of TV reception and recording into the iMacs anytime soon. That's what eyeTV etc. are for. But those _ain't_ as beautifully simple as Apple's software.