Front Row on an External Monitor

Having spent an hour tonight trying figure out why Front Row refused to work with my “external monitor” (A Sony Bravia TV), I thought I would share the solution I found.

Normally, to allow Front Row to work with an external monitor, all I do is:

System Preferences » Displays » Arrangement

And then drag the grey menu bar to desired screen.

99% of the time this allows me to use the external monitor as the main Front Row screen. Recently, even after performing the steps above, Front Row will run only on my Macbook Pro.

Having tried several suggestions found on Apple Discussions, I think I have found a solution to the problem.

If your Front Row refuses to move to the external monitor, whilst Front Row is running simply press CMD + ALT + ESC - this forces Front Row to quit. The next time you run Front Row it should now appear on your external monitor (as long as you have followed the normal steps above).

I’ve tried this on the last 3 occassions I have had this problem and each time has fixed it… but as always YMMV.

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Posted on April 27th, 2008 at 3:10 am and filed under Software.

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Comments

  1. Wes G 

    Hello! I noticed you’re trying to view Front Row on the external screen with your MacBook Pro. I’ve blogged about an even easier solution at http://www.wesg.ca/2008/06/use-front-row-with-an-external-monitor/

    Basically, if you close the MBP while connected to the TV, then turn the computer on with the remote (press any button), you can use Front Row as if the TV is your only monitor.

    Hope that helps!

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The blog of Chris Owens, a twenty nine year old web designer, developer, project manager and amatuer photographer currently residing in Daisy Hill, Bolton, Lancashire, UK.

This blog is a record of my life, my photos, my adventures and achievements and also serves as a repository of links to things that interest me.

I'm currently working as "Head of Digital" at Cube3 Marketing Limited an all-media design agency based in Bolton.

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