Front Row source

After you start Front Row, what shows up when you select Sources? Just your computer?

Adam

Excuse me for sounding picky, but...

Don't ask a question like your here without even first trying what you are attempting. It can put people off, and believe when I say, I am not easily put off.

So if you have never had your external hooked up when you have looked in source then of course it will not show as a possible source. Hook it up and let us know what happens.

Good Luck.

Adam

I don't believe Front Row allows you to access any folder directly besides your "Movies" folder in your account's home folder.

The "Sources" setting is for selecting shared iTunes libraries on other Macs. They will appear automatically only if iTunes is running on them, they are networked to your MacBook, & sharing is turned on in their iTunes preferences. If a user of one of those Macs tries to quit iTunes on them while your Mac's Front Row source is set to it, they receive a warning about that interrupting your Mac's Front Row source. If they quit iTunes anyway, your Front Row will no longer be able to access that iTunes library.

One possible workaround (that I have not tried) is to make an alias of movie folders on an external drive & put them in your "Movies" folder in your account's home folder, which may give you access to those movies. I think this should work because I can do something similar: I made an alias of the "Movie" folder on my iMac & put that into my MacBook's "Movie" folder. As long as I am connected to the iMac's hard drive (in Finder), the movie folder alias appears in the MB's "Movies" folder, just like any other folder in it, & I can play any movie in the iMac's movie folders.

Front Row looks in three places for movie files: the "sources" option (which only looks for other computers with iTunes), your iTunes and your user's "Movies" folder. R C-R was correct, if you put an alias to your external hard drive in your user's "Movies" folder, then it will appear in Front Row and you can follow it to the files stored on the hard drive. If you hold down on the command and option keys while you drag the icon of the hard drive into your user's "Movies" folder, an alias will be created when you drop it.

-Doug

P.S. There is an actual Front Row forum where this question comes up often.

The hard drive will not appear in the "sources" option. The available "sources" will only be other Macs with iTunes sharing turned on.

-Doug

surfrocker wrote:
RC... How do i create an alias of my "movies" folder on my ext. HDD.

1. Mount your external hard drive as you would for any other use that allows you to access its user folders with movies in them.

2. In the Finder locate one of those folders & drag it into your home folder's "Music" folder, but as you start to drag it, hold down the Command & Option keys. A curved arrow should appear next to the pointer, indicating that you are making an alias.

In the Finder locate one of those folders & drag it into your home folder's "Music" folder...

You need to make the alias in the "Movies" folder in order for videos to show up in Front Row.

-Doug

Oops! Thanks for catching the error -- I was thinking "Movies" but typed "Music."