Front Row (software)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Front Row v2 (Included with Leopard) |
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
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| Stable release | 2.1.7 (309) / March 11, 2009 |
| Operating system | Mac OS X |
| Type | Media Center |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Apple: Front Row |
Front Row is media center software for Apple's Macintosh computers and Apple TV with a 10-foot user interface design for the living-room TV for viewing and downloading video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disk, networks using iTunes or iPhoto, and the Internet using an Apple Remote. The software is both the interface for Apple TV and a standalone application on all shipping Macs. It is similar to Windows Media Center and iTheater. The first version was released October 2005 with two major revisions since.
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[edit] Versions
Versions of Front Row exist for Macs and Apple TV.
Front Row was introduced with an update of the iMac G5 which added a built-in iSight camera, and also introduced infrared receivers and the new Apple Remote. Photo Booth was likewise introduced, supporting the new integrated camera. These new iMacs became available a week after the October 12, 2005 announcement.[1] In this original version, Front Row was mainly an alternative interface for iPhoto, DVD Player, and iTunes which was required to run simultaneously. Front Row could play DVDs and anything in the iTunes and iPhoto libraries and the Movies user directory. Internet radio stations could play by adding the station into a playlist in iTunes.
The next incarnation, released in the original Apple TV software in March 2007 was a radical change in interface and functionality. It changed into a complete, stand alone application that played content from libraries directly. Album and video art was introduced for local media but not network media for which the protocol does not provide support. Podcasts and TV shows appear more prominently in the menus. It could also play content from other computers on the local network using the pre-existing sharing features of iTunes and iPhoto. It could also stream trailers for movies and samples of popular TV episodes from Apple's servers. A Settings menu was introduced. A community of enthusiasts formed to bring additional features such as YouTube and RSS browsing. In the summer of 2007 Apple released an update bringing official YouTube viewing. This version lacked support for using the remote to change the volume or playing Internet radio.
Front Row 2 was released in November 2007 with Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard)[2] including the new Apple TV features (except using YouTube) for use on all Macs. Apple TV runs a modified version of Mac OS X so the same version of Front Row can run on both platforms. Front Row 2 has an undocumented plug-in architecture, but no official plugins are available. Nevertheless, various third-party plugins are now available based on reverse-engineering of the Front Row environment. Because it uses QuickTime to render video, Front Row can utilize any codec installed in QuickTime including DivX, Xvid, and WMV. It can also play DVD images copied to the hard disk. Minor differences between the Tiger and Leopard versions includes a different vision transition when opened, ending AirTunes functionality, and a launcher application in addition to the Command+Escape keyboard shortcut.
In February 2008, Apple announced a Front Row update branded "Apple TV Take Two." As before, the interface changed drastically and significant features were added. Whereas originally content could only be added via iTunes, movies, TV episodes, and podcasts could now be downloaded via Front Row via the iTunes Store. Front Row uses a user's Apple account to pay for the content. This introduced renting movies from iTunes. Also added was the ability to view online photos from Flickr or MobileMe (branded .Mac at the time) and streaming audio to AirTunes.
[edit] SDK
There is no official software development kit for Front Row but a variety of websites have published methods of changing the contents in the Front Row package to alter the application's behavior.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Apple Introduces the New iMac G5". Apple PR. October 12, 2005. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/oct/12imac.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-26.
- ^ Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - 300+ New Features
