• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.
  • The forums have been upgraded with support for dark mode. By default it will follow the setting on your system/browser. You may override it by scrolling to the end of the page and clicking the gears icon.

Help save Windows Media Center

Do you use Windows Media Center?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 21.3%

  • No

    Votes: 37 78.7%
  • Total voters
    47
FordGT90Concept said:
Microsoft can't. There's a lot of licensed software in there which is a huge reason why it got the axe (Microsoft doesn't want to keep paying to renew licenses).
Click to expand...
They could sell it. another option on the mediacenterdontdie.com petition. Perhaps someone could start a kickstarter project to buy it.
 
Hillbilly said:
They could sell it. another option on the mediacenterdontdie.com petition. Perhaps someone could start a kickstarter project to buy it.
Click to expand...

They would have to devote resources to keeping it up to date and secure. They are as likely to do that as I am to turn into a frog in the next five seconds. Revenue would not come close to the cost.
 
Hillbilly said:
This is how I am rolling right now Windows 8.1 Pro with the WMC add on. I got lucky and got it for an early discounted price of $9.99.
Click to expand...

Then don't worry about it. Keep that PC 8.1, and you'll have media center (supported) until 2023 (IIRC). Once they didn't sell alot of them though with 8.1, I think that was the last nail in the cofffin.
 
Hillbilly said:
This is how I am rolling right now Windows 8.1 Pro with the WMC add on. I got lucky and got it for an early promotional price of $0.
Click to expand...

how is having to pay for something that they removed considered 'got lucky...'
windows people are about to = the new apple people. you paid for the right to buy everything else you want.
i will stick my cheap a$$ to FOSS.
 
Hillbilly said:
This is how I am rolling right now Windows 8.1 Pro with the WMC add on. I got lucky and got it for an early promotional price of $0.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Unless you need DX12 there is zero reason for you to upgrade right now. Hell there isn't a real reason to leave Windows 7 if you don't need a new DX.
 
rtwjunkie said:
Then don't worry about it. Keep that PC 8.1, and you'll have media center (supported) until 2023 (IIRC). Once they didn't sell alot of them though with 8.1, I think that was the last nail in the cofffin.
Click to expand...
That is the plan.
 
TheMailMan78 said:
Exactly. Unless you need DX12 there is zero reason for you to upgrade right now. Hell there isn't a real reason to leave Windows 7 if you don't need a new DX.
Click to expand...
Exactly, but once DX12 games start coming out the need to upgrade will force me into other options if I want to continue to game with my HTPC. I do game on it with the exception of FPS.
 
They'll be out in a few months. XCOM2 was already announced to be available on DX12. That pretty strongly suggests Unreal Engine 4 already has support for DX12 which means several other games that are already out on Unreal Engine 4 (e.g. Daylight) could get DX12 updates.
 
FordGT90Concept said:
A four hour recording will buffer maybe a dozen times. An hour long recording doesn't buffer.
Click to expand...

This definitely sounds like a buffering issue. I will admit Kodi has to improve their buffering algorithm quite a bit. It works but it definitely needs improvement.

A large part of it has to do with how you are connecting to the media. The buffering issues seem a lot worse if you are using DLNA, I switched to Windows shares with mapped network drives because of this.

rtwjunkie said:
Since when do we have to all be the same and not have choice?
Click to expand...

We all don't have to be the same, but when it involves large amounts of work to keep using something instead of simply switching to something just as good(or better) it just doesn't make sense to me.
 
newtekie1 said:
A large part of it has to do with how you are connecting to the media. The buffering issues seem a lot worse if you are using DLNA, I switched to Windows shares with mapped network drives because of this.
Click to expand...
That was it! Kodi's DLNA support is horribad. The buffering happens no matter how I access it nor what player.
 
So I tried opening my MPEG2-TS files with Windows 10's Movies & TV application. First time it didn't work because of missing codec. Second time it worked apparently after Movies & TV automatically acquired the necessary codec. Of the players I used (MediaPortal, Kodi, and MPC-HC), this is actually the best.
1) it automatically pauses under certain conditions where it should be paused anyway
2) instead of stopping to buffer, it keeps playing and shows some artifacts (much better, IMO, because it isn't a distraction)
3) the controls are minimalistic and functional (clearly designed for tablets which is okay in my book)

A shame it doesn't support tuning and such with the MediaPortal server like Windows Media Player of old but, to be perfectly honest, I'm fine with that. I'd rather add recordings via editing the MySQL database anyway and I only watch prerecorded stuff on my computer. It should hold me over until open software matures.
 
TheMailMan78 said:
Exactly. Unless you need DX12 there is zero reason for you to upgrade right now. Hell there isn't a real reason to leave Windows 7 if you don't need a new DX.
Click to expand...

And even if there are DX12 games soon, they most likely have an option to run in DX11 as well
 
P4-630 said:
And even if there are DX12 games soon, they most likely have an option to run in DX11 as well
Click to expand...

That is something we're going to have to see. We'll know the trend by say, the first five major DirectX 12 games, I think. I'm guessing though, probably not.
 
I have been using XBMC (now Kodi) on linux for years and years on an underpowered atom. It works amazing streaming 1080p and DTS. Boom. Who needs WMC when there is better free stuff out there
 
Easy Rhino said:
I have been using XBMC (now Kodi) on linux for years and years on an underpowered atom. It works amazing streaming 1080p and DTS. Boom. Who needs WMC when there is better free stuff out there
Click to expand...
What about live TV and DVR functionality. In my experience KODI is not good for these. That is what I use the most
 
Hillbilly said:
What about live TV and DVR functionality. In my experience KODI is not good for these. That is what I use the most
Click to expand...

I don't use either of those.
 
I use Windows Media Center with Media browser addon on one of my HTPCs (and I call MPC-HC from it at playbacks). It's a pain to set it up and maintain, Kodi is much easier to work with, but I just cba to switch from it on that PC. MCE is really good in supported countries, but - imo - it's not worth the trouble if you don't want to watch TV and other cable content with it.
 
Starting this thread was a good move for me. I now realize that trying to convince Microsoft to bring WMC to Windows 10 is not going to happen. Instead a better course of action would be to get Microsoft to expand the features of the Movies & TV app to include live TV and DVR functionality. Thanks to all for your feedback.
 
i CAN sympathize with your concern, however I myself have been disabling Most if not ALL of Windows Native Software for a very Long time, including Media center.I hope it works out for You just the same.
 
jboydgolfer said:
i CAN sympathize with your concern, however I myself have been disabling Most if not ALL of Windows Native Software for a very Long time, including Media center.I hope it works out for You just the same.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
Hillbilly said:
Starting this thread was a good move for me. I now realize that trying to convince Microsoft to bring WMC to Windows 10 is not going to happen. Instead a better course of action would be to get Microsoft to expand the features of the Movies & TV app to include live TV and DVR functionality. Thanks to all for your feedback.
Click to expand...
It looks to me like Movies & TV is designed for the future where there is no terrestrial antennas and all movies and TV are streamed to the viewer via the internet. Adding timeshifting and recording to Movies & TV would counter that end goal. Microsoft won't do that.
 
FordGT90Concept said:
It looks to me like Movies & TV is designed for the future where there is no terrestrial antennas and all movies and TV are streamed to the viewer via the internet. Adding timeshifting and recording to Movies & TV would counter that end goal. Microsoft won't do that.
Click to expand...
No terrestrial TV is still a few years out and the current Microsoft caved on the start menu debacle. So why would they not change this? All that is required is noise from the users.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top