RIP Windows Media Center

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freitasm

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#171853 3-May-2015 10:04

The word around is that Windows Media Center won't make it to Windows 10.

What started as a special Windows XP edition then a feature of Windows 7 and finally an add-on for Windows 8 is disappearing.

I personally still use a Windows 7 Media Center in the lounge, with a small form factor BRIX and HDHomerun on the network to get Freeview HD there. There are alternatives obviously and the lack of updates of late makes it now so "special" but if you want something to play and record live TV, go through your music, photos, DVDs and videos then it's hard to get past it.

The alternatives seem to be fixated on bringing a "decent look" to torrent downloads mostly - and even so with online streaming going mainstream there's a chance those media players aren't going to be part of a HT experience for long - Amazon Fire TV, Roku, XBOX, PS4, Chromecast all offer better options in content.

Our Windows 7 box will continue running as long as we have a HDhomerun in the network.

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#1296029 3-May-2015 10:16

WMC really isn't in the same league as other solutions like MediaPortal, xbmc, or plex.

Overall i found it to be a frustrating experience. It's fairly complicated to do anything other than the most basic things, and for me even many of the basic things didn't work.

If should have died with XP if you ask me

freitasm

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#1296031 3-May-2015 10:19

Interesting, as I found exactly the opposite. Getting live TV on WMC is much easier than on Plex or Kodi. And seeing it actually doesn't need a "server" it's easier to configure too.

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freitasm

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#1296032 3-May-2015 10:22

For example, only last month Kodi came out with a HDhomerun plugin, and even so it only allows live view - recording requires a backend server.

Same for Plex, which requires playing with VLC to reencode the stream to send it to the client.

All too much while with WMC you simply need to scan the channels and it's ready to use.

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#1296041 3-May-2015 10:44

andrewNZ: WMC really isn't in the same league as other solutions like MediaPortal, xbmc, or plex.

Overall i found it to be a frustrating experience. It's fairly complicated to do anything other than the most basic things, and for me even many of the basic things didn't work.

If should have died with XP if you ask me

I use mediaportal and have for years. But only on W7HmPrem computers because it made codec support less hassle for playing Freeview TS files. I do admit I haven't revisited the codec scene to see if I could do without WMC for quite a while. Hopefully it will be as easy as MP makes it at the moment.

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#1296074 3-May-2015 12:10

I can see the sense in this.

It only really did live tv and timeshifting better than the alternates. And as those are industries on the verge of death, why keep updating the product.

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#1296078 3-May-2015 12:21

I've found Media Portal perfect for freeview and media. I have a server with a TV capture cards and an Intel Nuc in my lounge as the client. Both have windows 8 on them. I understand Mediaportal has a HDHome Run pugin, which I will probably be using in the future, when my server gives up.

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#1296079 3-May-2015 12:29

freitasm: For example, only last month Kodi came out with a HDhomerun plugin, and even so it only allows live view - recording requires a backend server.

Same for Plex, which requires playing with VLC to reencode the stream to send it to the client.

All too much while with WMC you simply need to scan the channels and it's ready to use.

I don't get how people could find the opposite is true.

I'm with you, wmc just works with very little configuration.

I tried plex and couldn't get it working properly after a few hours mucking around with it. It's features are cool, but I wasn't really overly bothered about trying to figure out where it was going wrong as wmc was working just fine.

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#1296094 3-May-2015 13:38

Bugger. I also use it because it works. Select channel push the Red button done

turb

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#1296145 3-May-2015 15:59

ubernoob: Bugger. I also use it because it works. Select channel push the Red button done

Absolutely right. Pause, FF, RW, skip forward through the adverts etc etc.

Also has the best picture quality by far on my system.

Never bothered with any of the other functions apart from the TV. What's wrong with navigating to a media file and double clicking it?

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#1296176 3-May-2015 16:30

I hope thats not true. I love WMC as it is so easy for setting my TV card and recording tv. With Windows 8 and 8.1 I bought the WMC add on. I certainly wont get Windows 10 if its not going to be available there. WMC has been my main hold out of switching to Linux as so easy. WMC gone then no need for me to stay with Windows

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#1296178 3-May-2015 16:32

I personally don't think any of the systems I've used since WMC have been as good, especially for integrating as many content types in one app. I haven't used WMC for a few years as I sold my HTPC and tuners, etc, and I've been using a combination of Xbox/Apple TV/Raspberry Pi, with XBMC (and now Plex) since then as I haven't had a TV tuner requirement. I do still look back on WMC very fondly, it was a great time and will be missed.

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#1296208 3-May-2015 17:44

surfisup1000:
I tried plex and couldn't get it working properly after a few hours mucking around with it. It's features are cool, but I wasn't really overly bothered about trying to figure out where it was going wrong as wmc was working just fine.

I haven't tried WMC but totally agree on Plex. So un-intuitive to setup, however once you get it going it is a very nice solution. I use it pretty much exclusively now with a chromecast on my TV and it is great for streaming. Have no idea about how it handles live tv though.

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#1296221 3-May-2015 18:22

surfisup1000: I don't get how people could find the opposite is true.

I'm with you, wmc just works with very little configuration.

Each to their own I guess. Personally I'd liken it to a straight-jacket. It was okay if you were happy to accept its restrictions... but painfully inflexible for anything more than the most basic configurations. It took a long time for it to support satellite TV (DVB-S/S2)... and AFAIK it never supported DVB-C.

freitasm

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#1296226 3-May-2015 18:37

It does support DVB-C. At least gives me the option to search for either aerial or cable when I select my HDhomerun.

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turb

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#1296229 3-May-2015 18:43

I've just spent a bit of time looking at the alternatives. Let's just say I'm going to keep my current system going as long as possible....

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