Should I upgrade my Windows 7 running Windows Media Center to Windows 8?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Should I upgrade my Windows 7 running Windows Media Center to Windows 8?

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phrunt

135 posts

Master Geek

#715044 10-Nov-2012 09:10

nope, no extenders. I just use it to play avi/mkv/mp4 and so on stored on another machine via a wireless n network and have 2 tuners in it, one dvb-s doing freeview and another pvr-150 linked via rca cable to a settop box doing australian tv. Even the network access speed seems faster browsing though the folders as there are 2 x 2tb drives of media stored on another pc that I view from the MCE PC. Very fast scrolling through the folders.

Its all working well, im very happy with win8, using the shark codec pack and mce standby tool with classic shell and mce buddy. Its been perfect for over a week now except the odd tv3 glitch but i had that prior to the upgrade too.

stiffwin

49 posts

Geek

#720709 21-Nov-2012 12:44

I'm interested in knowing more about the "TV3 issues" . In WMC on my Win7 HTPC I experience freezes (for about 1 minute) and poor audio sync only on TV3 (and only on live TV - recordings don't seem to be affected). It seems to happen after 15 to 30 minutes of error free viewing (except for the sync problem, which is there all the time). Are these the "issues" you referred to? Has anyone come up with a fix?

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#720712 21-Nov-2012 12:48

I attempted an upgrade the other day but quickly realised that Media Browser was not supported which was kind of a deal breaker for me, so I reverted back.

Does anybody know if that has been sorted? also, is there any benefit to switching? Perf Improvement? Anything?

Thanks,

Guillaume

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#721054 22-Nov-2012 01:11

No support for mediabrowser or media centre studio or several other 3rd party apps means no upgrade for my HTPC for a while...

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#721089 22-Nov-2012 08:20

I tried to upgrade my win7 64 bit to Windows 8 and no go. Made disk ran setup from desktop goes through all the motions for an hour and then says cant upgrade and reverts back to win 7. So I booted from the disk and all good but it wouldnt activate. Says product key already in use. Brand new unused key from Microsoft and it says already in use. Oh well. Reinstalled Windows 7 and probably stick with it now. Just I like the movies to watch from Windows 8 tiles.
Didnt want to ring Microsoft as frightened would be huge mobile phone bill waiting in line to be attended to. Only have naked broadband and no land phone

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

phrunt

135 posts

Master Geek

#721108 22-Nov-2012 08:51

I have the same issues with TV3, the large pauses and the out of sync problems, happens on mce win7 and win8, as with you my recordings are fine too and my first 15-20 minutes of viewing are fine also except for the out of sync.
and
As for the activation issue, that seems odd... Pretty the Winows Key and X, go to command prompt as admin and type slmgr -ipk yourproductkey then press enter (your product key being the key you have) and then type slmgr.vbs -ipk and see if it activates the key then.

What sort of key is it? an upgrade or full key or?

The main difference I'm finding with Win8 over Win7 is pure speed, even from standby I'm up and running in about 4 seconds. From a Cold start its no longer than 10 seconds until I can watch Live TV.

Also you can use Media Browser in Win8, you can get a working copy here http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/12721/mb-2-x-and-windows-8

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#721126 22-Nov-2012 09:20

phrunt: I have the same issues with TV3, the large pauses and the out of sync problems, happens on mce win7 and win8, as with you my recordings are fine too and my first 15-20 minutes of viewing are fine also except for the out of sync.
and
As for the activation issue, that seems odd... Pretty the Winows Key and X, go to command prompt as admin and type slmgr -ipk yourproductkey then press enter (your product key being the key you have) and then type slmgr.vbs -ipk and see if it activates the key then.

What sort of key is it? an upgrade or full key or?

The main difference I'm finding with Win8 over Win7 is pure speed, even from standby I'm up and running in about 4 seconds. From a Cold start its no longer than 10 seconds until I can watch Live TV.

Also you can use Media Browser in Win8, you can get a working copy here http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/12721/mb-2-x-and-windows-8

My key was the downloaded upgrade for $50. May try again but not for a day or 2

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

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Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#721198 22-Nov-2012 10:39

Gilco2: I tried to upgrade my win7 64 bit to Windows 8 and no go. Made disk ran setup from desktop goes through all the motions for an hour and then says cant upgrade and reverts back to win 7. So I booted from the disk and all good but it wouldnt activate. Says product key already in use. Brand new unused key from Microsoft and it says already in use. Oh well. Reinstalled Windows 7 and probably stick with it now. Just I like the movies to watch from Windows 8 tiles.
Didnt want to ring Microsoft as frightened would be huge mobile phone bill waiting in line to be attended to. Only have naked broadband and no land phone

Use the phone system to activate. Is free (0800) and if there is a issue with the code you will be put through to a real person to sort it out.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

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