I used to use my PowerMac G4/450 AGP “Sawtooth” as my home server, handling storing files (backups, or long-term offloading), time-consuming processes like long downloads (developer tools, Linux ISOs, etc.), and home music and such. For what it did, it did it very well and I was pleased. The one thing it could not do, especially with only 450MHz to spend, was video playback on the television. I’d‘ve had to had a card with TV out and a processor upgrade to handle the latest media and so on, and that was unlikely to happen.

However, Apple released the Intel-based Mac mini many months ago and I saw the future in that little machine — well, at least my future. I snatched one up, threw out the DVD player and took all the external drives from the huge G4 and put it all into the entertainment center with the mini, saving about two cubic feet of space. Since then, Front Row has been amazing for what I use that for.

First, as I said, it replaced my DVD player entirely. I don’t have weird DVD region-encoding wants or other special needs — it plays what NetFlix feeds me. For that, it’s been stellar. Moreso, I can rip my personal DVD collection on it with Handbrake and keep them at the ready in MPEG-4 format for Front Row to play back at will. I’ve only done a few, but I’ll be getting a 750GB drive in the coming months and really get on that. Should be very nice.

But the part that really made me happy was when I got back from WWDC this year and had 600+ photos on my MacBook Pro to share. Well, I whittled it down to 140 good shots and turned on iPhoto’s sharing and, as advertised, Front Row on the mini picked it up and displayed it on the television. Perfection.

Because Front Row is using QuickTime, iPhoto, and iTunes to do all the work, it retains some settings in those apps as well. Notably, if you set iTunes to use AirPort Express speakers, then Front Row will as well. Thus, it works great for a home stereo system interface; setup music you like on it, or a machine with music sharing on, and then control it with Front Row from afar like a big-ass iPod.

And here I thought it was just going to let me browse the web from the couch. Which, of course, I can do as well.