Front Row Update 1.2.2 - so much better now
I bought a Mac Mini, 1.5 Core Solo about a month ago and hooked it up to a Dell 17” monitor. Worked great for any sort of media that was local. However, it was pretty inconsistent when trying to stream media to it from my 12' PowerBook. Any time the mini came out of sleep, Front Row had trouble finding media on the PowerBook.
However, on 5/11/06 Apple released Front Row update 1.2.2, and now it's a completely different story. It’s as if the app came out of beta. It is absolutely incredible. New support was added for putting songs on random much like an iPod. Streaming of video, audio, and pictures from my 12' PowerBook to my Mac Mini is now flawless. 802.11g didn’t work to well in my wi-fi crowded Westwood apartment. However, when connected via 100 Mbps ethernet, I got the results I was looking for. Sadly my 12 inch doesn't have gigabit ethernet so I couldn't test out those speeds.
What I was able to test is close to what I think would be a simple and ideal setup for the average computer user. Primary computer in one part of the house and a Mac Mini in the entertainment center. The primary computer would be the "master" for all the media. All editing, storage, and organization would be done there. Then the Mac Mini would use Front Row to call the media from the primary computer and play it back through the entertainment center.
Windows XP Media Center Edition has more features than Front Row. That can't be argued. However, because of it's ease of use with both local media and shared media, I believe that Front Row will be the application that finally brings all this "techie" stuff to the average home etertainment consumer. People love their digital cameras and people love their digital audio. It will only be a matter of time before they will want to free it from their cramped home office and put it on the big screen.
However, on 5/11/06 Apple released Front Row update 1.2.2, and now it's a completely different story. It’s as if the app came out of beta. It is absolutely incredible. New support was added for putting songs on random much like an iPod. Streaming of video, audio, and pictures from my 12' PowerBook to my Mac Mini is now flawless. 802.11g didn’t work to well in my wi-fi crowded Westwood apartment. However, when connected via 100 Mbps ethernet, I got the results I was looking for. Sadly my 12 inch doesn't have gigabit ethernet so I couldn't test out those speeds.
What I was able to test is close to what I think would be a simple and ideal setup for the average computer user. Primary computer in one part of the house and a Mac Mini in the entertainment center. The primary computer would be the "master" for all the media. All editing, storage, and organization would be done there. Then the Mac Mini would use Front Row to call the media from the primary computer and play it back through the entertainment center.
Windows XP Media Center Edition has more features than Front Row. That can't be argued. However, because of it's ease of use with both local media and shared media, I believe that Front Row will be the application that finally brings all this "techie" stuff to the average home etertainment consumer. People love their digital cameras and people love their digital audio. It will only be a matter of time before they will want to free it from their cramped home office and put it on the big screen.
posted by Tim at 2:49 AM
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