The recent Front Row update wouldn't install on my iMac G4 (unsurprisingly) resulting in an error: "This software update requires a Macintosh with a built-in infrared (IR) receiver running Mac OS X 10.4.5 or later." I set out to change that...

DISCLAIMER: Following these instructions and/or installing Front Row on a Mac that isn't officially supported by Apple for such purposes is done entirely at your own risk. I accept no responsibility for damage to any other software installed on your computer, damage to the computer itself, or damage to the brickwork of your house. Seriously: this worked on my iMac G4 running Mac OS X 10.4.7, but I give no guarantees that it'll work on whatever set-up you have. If you're have any doubts then don't do it!.

Download the disk image (which can be downloaded from the Front Row update page), open it, drag the file named FrontRowUpdate1.3.pkg onto your desktop (or other preferred location) and then, once the file has copied, eject the disk image. Control-click FrontRowUpdate1.3.pkg and select Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Navigate into the Contents folder and open the file FrontRowUpdate1.3.dist using TextEdit. To do this, simply Control-click on the file and select Open With > Other... from the pop-up menu, and then navigate to and select TextEdit from the resulting file dialog.

When the file is open, scroll down to around line 39 which should read something like:

function installationCheck()
{
  if (!hasIR()) {
    my.result.message = system.localizedStringWithFormat('ERROR_MODEL');

Change the if line to remove the !, like so:

  if (hasIR()) {

Quit TextEdit and select Save when prompted. Navigate to your desktop, or wherever you copied FrontRowUpdate1.3.pkg to, and double-click FrontRowUpdate1.3.pkg -- it should now install.