front row/itunes/etc general newbie stuff

D

deebo

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I've been a pc user for a long time now, but the money and setting up
needed to build a decent htpc is too much for me. Then someone told
me about the new x86 minimac. And i cant help but be very interested.

Some things bother me alot tho.

I store all my dvd's in divx/xvid with ac3 (or mp3 depending on source) audio.
I own an iPod, and on my windows iTunes i cant even add .avi files to the library. It requires mov mpeg4.

So if i am to invest in a mac mini for a mainly htpc computer can i:

a)
somehow play .avi divx/xvid, ogm, etc using nothing but frontrow (i really loved the demo so i dont want to use another player/frontend)
i know there are divx/xvid etc codecs for quicktime, but will it work with front row?

b)
i have all my videos and music on my linux fileserver sporting samba shares for them
can i mount the samba shares and add the files there to the front row library without having real local copies?

and those are my concerns before spending 900 euros on this (god **** VAT)

-- deebo
 
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a) If it will work with Quicktime, it will work with FrontRow.

b) You don't have to have local copies for FrontRow to play them, as long as the aliases are in your "Movies" folder (this is where FrontRow looks for videos) and the server is connected when you try to play the video. (duh) I have all of my videos on my external HD and have aliases to them in my movies folder and FrontRow still plays them. :mac:
 
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mactopsuit said:
What's your take on Frontrow VS VLC?
Not really comparable: VLC is a great media player, but Front row's advantage is that you can use it remotely...
 
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D

deebo

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thanks for the reply

but its not possible to tell fronrow like "my vids are at smb://othermachine/videos" instead of making symlinks (aliases as i understand?) of all the videos, which wont be dynamic every time you add something
 
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I don't know much about Simba, but for an example:

If my roommate's iBook has a video on it that I'd like to watch with FrontRow, I can connect to his iBook, create an alias of the video and save it in my Movies folder, then every time I want to watch that video FrontRow looks to his iBook. If it's not connected it won't play, if it is, it will play.

I would assume it's the same for any type of server protocol. :mac:
 
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With the latest Frontrow version it's a lot easier anyway:

Just enable Bonjour on your windows or mac computer and you should see all media shared on your local network within Front Row.
(Update to today's version to see what I mean)
 

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