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Mac Mini and Front Row

G

gman901

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 1, 2007
607
14
Houston, TX
I just bought a 2009 Mac Mini and love it! I am currently adding movies and then music to itunes on an external drive so that my media shows up Front Row. My question is where is the best place to go online to show me all the plugins that work with Front Row so I can also view TV shows and Movies from online sites like Hulu, CBS, Netflix (when I get a subscription), etc. I can't seem to find a central hub for all the cool plugins. I also have the Elgato Eye TV version 2. :D
 
Awesome!

Wow! Plex is incredible! Thanks so much for the recommendation!! This is exactly what I was looking for!!! Any way to play Hulu streams in HD through Plex?:D
 
Hulu only supports 480p at the moment. To play those in Plex sign into your Hulu account in Safari and change the settings in your profile to default to the higher quality stream.
 
Thanks, PHermes! Do you know how I can set content in Plex? When I load my movies from my iTunes library, the set content option does not work or let me arrow up or down to choose IDMb scraping options.
 
Bye Bye Baby said:
Why is Plex so good?
Click to expand...

For me, it's because it can play Blu-ray rips even with a Mini, does Dolby Digital and DTS passthrough, and doesn't need tagging.

gman901 said:
Thanks, PHermes! Do you know how I can set content in Plex? When I load my movies from my iTunes library, the set content option does not work or let me arrow up or down to choose IDMb scraping options.
Click to expand...

You need to switch from File mode to Library mode. Please read the documentation over at plexapp.com for the details on doing this (and many other things). Plex is a bit clunky, but once you learn it, it becomes rather easy. Also keep in mind the 0.7 series still has some bugs to work out.
 
Thanks for that information! I just tried to find how to switch from file mode go library mode in the documentation page, but could not find this particular info. Can you please explain the procedure to me on this post? Thanks!
 
Okay, thanks for all the help! I appreciate it! I figured it out tonight by dumb luck. I was hitting the arrow up and down on my keyboard as I highlighted the arrows up in the right corner to choose my source. I hit the enter button and it pulled up the sources and now everything works! I am officially a fan of Plex! :)
 
gman901 said:
Thanks, PHermes! Do you know how I can set content in Plex? When I load my movies from my iTunes library, the set content option does not work or let me arrow up or down to choose IDMb scraping options.
Click to expand...
*
exactly why I wouldn't recommend Plex..I jumped on it too when I read it in the forums...but it does not play content bought from Itunes, and it's *itch to import content...best is to use frontrow and install the Boxee plugin on frontrow

http://www.holeintheceiling.com/blog/2008/12/12/front-row-boxee/

when you want Netflix and Hulu, just click on boxee on Frontrow...exit out of boxee and your back to frontrow for all your itunes movies, tv shows and video podcast....best solution I could find

I wish Frontrow had a richer interface..but it is what it is:cool:
 
I'm currently building a hackintosh media center, so I'm guessing I'll have to use front row.
 
Sorry, a couple posts up I asked about playing videos purchased from itunes with plex and since I can't do this, I think front row is my only option.
 
impact1290 said:
Sorry, a couple posts up I asked about playing videos purchased from itunes with plex and since I can't do this, I think front row is my only option.
Click to expand...

You can run FR from within Plex, thus get around the DRM issue. A little inconvenient, but the studios insist upon it. This is why I don't buy anything from the iTunes Store. Not an issue with Apple, but an issue with the studios.
 
Good to hear, is it an add on that I need to download or is it already there. I haven't had alot of time to play around with it yet.
 
impact1290 said:
Good to hear, is it an add on that I need to download or is it already there. I haven't had alot of time to play around with it yet.
Click to expand...

Plex comes out of the "box" with Front Row support (in the Applications). What happens is you navigate to FR in Plex, select it and Front Row launches. Use it as usual. When you're done, exit FR and you're returned to Plex.
 
Here's the question that I have with my new Mini/Front Row configuration. I would greatly appreciate some insight.

Main PC controls my iTunes library, which resides on a windows home server (WHS).

New mini resides in a different room attached to my home theater. It boots straight to Plex, etc. Initially I did not realize that Plex couldn't play my DRM iTunes video content. Ok fair enough... I'll use Front Row from within Plex to play this content.

I had a good amount of video on hand, so I fired up iTunes on the main PC... configured to share. I fire up FR from Plex, select the appropriate library, and play some TV shows. Everything looked good... until I chose the only HD TV show I had (Fringe Pilot). FR gave me the message that it was not authorized to play this content.

Is the issue here that FR cannot play shared HD video?

As a workaround I had to manually copy the content in question over to the local library on the mini.
 
Cave Man said:
Plex comes out of the "box" with Front Row support (in the Applications). What happens is you navigate to FR in Plex, select it and Front Row launches. Use it as usual. When you're done, exit FR and you're returned to Plex.
Click to expand...
*
interesting...I guess..but Frontrow is so much easier everything is there...I mean what would plex before?
 
Gotta add my love for plex. I've been a long time xbmc user on linux, i upgraded my htpc to a mac mini and switched over to plex. the interface is to die for. It's really a must have for a media computer if you have a lot of non-drm content, although it still works great with drm content thanks to the integration with apple's software.
It trumps anything I've ever used. Front row is a joke in comparison.
 
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