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1. Download the Front Row application and various other necessities. Download the “Open Front Row” script. Unzip both.
2. Place the “BezelServices.framework” folder inside your /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks folder. You’ll have to authenticate with an admin password. You might want to back up your existing “BezelServices.framework” folder to somewhere else on your hard drive first. Or maybe not. It’s your call, man. (If you want to get the original 10.4.2 version back, download it here).
3. Place the “Front Row.app” in your Applications folder.
4. Go to System Preferences and then Accounts. Select your account. Set “Front Row.app” to be a login item.
5. Place the ” Open Front Row.scpt” into the “Script” folder in the “Library” folder in your home directory. Use the “AppleScript Utility” (in the “AppleScript” folder in your Applications folder) and turn on “Show Script Menu in menu bar”.
6. Reboot.
7. When your machine is done rebooting, select ” Open Front Row” from the script menu on your menu bar. Enjoy!
8. OPTIONAL: Install the Divx Fusion codec to be able to play more .avi files.

(information and software gathered from a post at TUAW).

UPDATE: the DVD playing function doesn’t work. That’s because Front Row really doesn’t actually play anything, it just acts as a front end to the applications (iPhoto, iTunes, QuickTime Player) that do. So I’m guessing that the new iMacs ship with an updated “Front Row-aware” DVD Player application. Also, it seems to bork your yellow-minimize buttons. I’m guessing Front Row is NRFPT until 10.4.3…

UPDATE 2: What do I think about Front Row? Glad you kind-of, sort-of, maybe-did but ultimately-didn’t ask.

• Zooming into and out of the Front Row interface is capital-K Kewl, classic Apple style. Honestly, that will never get old.
• There should be some kind of Growl-style pop-up email and IM notifier built-in, so if you get an email or IM while watching a movie, Front Row might be able to let you know, if you wanted it to.
• Front Row sadly does not find the media on other macs via Bonjour in your local area network, which is lame; if iTunes and iPhoto can find and stream music and photos this way, Front Row should be able to as well.
• The mirrored thumbnails are awfully nice.
• How do I say this? Performance seems bad, as none of the data seems to be cached anywhere. Photo-viewing performance seems especially dire, but honestly, who would use this for looking at photos? There are much more efficient ways to view porn porn, I mean, CRAP.
• Still no support for — or even acknowledgment of the existence of — TV tuners, which is just astoundingly stubborn on Apple’s part.

~jeff