Help with playing movies in FrontRow

Hi,

I have alot of movies in different formats, some will play in Front Row, some won't, some will have video but no sound.

I was just wondering what the best option is out there.

1. Should I try to find a codec package for Front Row that will play everything?

2. Convert all movies to a single format.

Please advise.

Thanks,

I honestly haven't experimented all that much with FrontRow, but I think it will play anything that Quicktime will (someone correct me if I'm wrong). So, if that's true, I'd imagine installing the Perian codec package should make it pretty versatile.

Correct on both counts. Front Row relies on the QuickTime codecs for playback. Installing Perian takes care of several different formats. The most consistent stumbling block seems to be copy protected Windows media files.

Frankly, unless you're playing DRM'd iTunes video / Music, I'd look into a different front end for playing video in a home theater appearance.

You can take a look at some like:

Boxee
XBMC
or my favorite Plex

I use Plex with my mini hooked into my HDTV as my dedicated HTPC. It plays pretty much everything I've thrown at it (mkv, AVI, FLV, OGM, mp4, etc.), and handles multiple audio / subtitle tracks in MKVs nicely, and offers offsetting of audio incase a file plays out of sync. Works well with the Apple remote, and it can launch Front Row or Apples DVD player from within its interface (which is convenient if you want to play iTunes DRM video or audio, or want to play DVDs as although Plex does a great job with video files, it's not great at playing DVDs (actually, it's built in DVD playback functionality kinda sucks)) It doesn't do DRM music / video, and I've had a couple of files that didn't play back right, but compared with the amount that wouldn't play back right in Front Row for me it was well worth it (especially since the cost - free - is perfect) and I just didn't want to transcode my video.