15% of Windows Users are Media Center Users that Can't Upgrade

[hack14u]

I'd be glad to buy an Xbone if it could be used as a DVR and take external drives to save my content.
I keep saying I'm just going to let cable go and just use HULU and Netflix, but I need to be able to record my local TV shows when I'm not home.

See my post above, and the TiVo OTA I got has 4 tuners, and I can program it on the go.

 

[badMojo69]

I don't know. I just have the gut feeling that TiVo isn't the right choice right now. Hate to be stuck with a LTS and no 4k streaming option for Netflix. That being said I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[hack14u]

I don't know. I just have the gut feeling that TiVo isn't the right choice right now. Hate to be stuck with a LTS and no 4k streaming option for Netflix. That being said I'll keep an eye on it.

Ya, I wish, lol. I have to make do with 6-7 meg DSL, so this is as good as it gets for me. I think I am finally in the bottom 15 percent of internet speeds now. Kinda sucks.

 

[jtpcamp]

I also use my WMC as a DVR and only that. I use VLC to play DVD's. I have a Ceton Infinity 4 card and love it. I rarely use WMC to watch live tv but it is fantastic as a DVR.

Since Ceton is continuing to sell the Infinity 6 cards "now" they have to be planning on some way for their cards to work in Win 10 computers although they are not releasing any future plans. I really doubt that they are just selling cards and then when sales drop off, just quit business. They have to have some play for us customers.

I did last week get the X 1 system from Comcast which has 4 tuners in it but will get the upgrade to 6 tuner box when they become available. I also got a $20 a month reduction in my cable bill for 2 years. I have one laptop and one desktop and as of now I will only upgrade my laptop to Windows 10 and will wait on Ceton to see what they do. I have only one TV that is connected to my computer so I can watch recorded TV on my TV set.

This works for me and others that I know.

Jim

 

[hack14u]

I also use my WMC as a DVR and only that. I use VLC to play DVD's. I have a Ceton Infinity 4 card and love it. I rarely use WMC to watch live tv but it is fantastic as a DVR.

Since Ceton is continuing to sell the Infinity 6 cards "now" they have to be planning on some way for their cards to work in Win 10 computers although they are not releasing any future plans. I really doubt that they are just selling cards and then when sales drop off, just quit business. They have to have some play for us customers.

I did last week get the X 1 system from Comcast which has 4 tuners in it but will get the upgrade to 6 tuner box when they become available. I also got a $20 a month reduction in my cable bill for 2 years. I have one laptop and one desktop and as of now I will only upgrade my laptop to Windows 10 and will wait on Ceton to see what they do. I have only one TV that is connected to my computer so I can watch recorded TV on my TV set.

This works for me and others that I know.

Jim

But, what's the bill? Those of us who do this are looking for either very cheap, or free.

 

[DavidinCT]

But, what's the bill? Those of us who do this are looking for either very cheap, or free.

Not everyone is going for CHEAP. Media Center works great with OTA tuners or even Cablecard tuners (AKA not free), The advantage is, you can extend the content to other rooms in your home with a Xbox 360 (you can have it boot directly into MC), you can run 5 Extenders at a time and the limit for tuners (officially with modifications) is 32 (32 FREAKING TUNERS !). The most I had at one time was 12 tuners. It is a VERY EXPANDABLE product in this aspect. Look over every other product out there, all HTPC options or even Tivo, the expandability of WMC can not be matched. And for all the HTPC based software Media Center is the ONLY one available right now that works with protected content from cablecard (premium channels)

Now if you had a DVR with cable, you would pay a $9.99 DVR fee, then you would pay $5.99 for the rental of the cable box (depending on provider), With WMC, you would need just a cablecard, dropped into a 3, 4 or 6 cablecard tuner and most cable companies allow the first cable card for free ($1.50-3 for a 2nd one). Media Center would wipe away all those fees and in most areas you just pay for the content you want, not rental or DVR fees.

And no monthly charges like TiVo charges for guide data....guide data on WMC is free.

Another thing about Media Center that can be cost effective, When Windows 7 was released, single core and dual core CPUs were the norm. Windows Media Center does NOT need a i7 with all the trimmings. My HTPC has a Core2Quad (about a 5-6 year old CPU) and with a good video card I can even play back 4K video on it with not a single studder. It was designed for older CPUs, so even with a BRAND new i7, the performance on WMC is not really crazy more than a 5 year old PC

A lower end $200-300 PC with a few tuners and a remote could work with OTA or even cablecard content perfectly. People who don't think a PC can be reliable, are nuts ! With tweaking, clean install, disabling updates (warning noted if used for more than TV/movie watching). and scheduled reboots, it can be flawless. I went over a year with out touching my system as everything was automated in the back ground. It can be made set it and forget it...

We still need a Windows Media Center option in Windows 10 and a Xbox one for an extender option would be sweet...

 

[Bobvfr]

If nothing else this thread reminded me I had upgraded to Pro with WMC some time ago and then forgot all about it, then wiped my PC and re-installed Windows.

If I hadn't seen this thread I would have just got the home version of W10 instead of the pro version.

 

[Yazen]

Microsoft does not want to compete with cable companies. Vidipath looks alright, DLNA compliance is nice.

 

[kriz225]

NOT 15% at all...

So you pull an obviously inflated number out of your ****, put it in your subject to get attention, and then you "don't feel the need" to admit that this is obviously something you made up.

Microsoft has publicly stated that Media Center users are a tiny minority of the user base (i.e. not 15%) and that most of the people who used Media Center clicked on it by accident! They also said most users that do run it only use it for DVD playback.

So not only are you wrong about the % usage of Media Center, you're also one that falls into a use case that is a minority of a minority.

Look, I get it. It sucks when companies kill off products that you use regularly and enjoy. But that's life. You make it sound like Microsoft owes it to you because you've "paid" for this feature. Honestly, you probably haven't since it was essentially a free OS component. Even if you did, you've already gotten your use out of it.

Move on or don't. But don't go posting lies that are doing nothing but misguide people.

 

[jtpcamp]

I have cable and internet and my bill was $132 a month and for the next two years it will be $109 a month. Without this deal/package a DVR supplied by Comcast would have cost about $18 a month more than what I was paying and I was not going to pay more since I had purchased the Ceton card for $299, which paid for in savings by not renting a DVR from Comcast.
I still will wait to upgrade to Win 10 on this box till I see what Ceton does.

 

[anthonymcinnis]

I use InfiniTV ETH for my six tuners and I plan on staying with Windows 8.1.

No other software can control the six tuners on InfiniTV but Media Center and InfinTV is the only one that gets encrypted channels such as HBO.

I don't see an issue because my TV PC is a big ugly but fast desktop that is tucked away and has a sole purpose of being always on and record TV. I really don't need Windows 10 on it.

My advice, by a home Windows laptop and leave your Media Center PC alone.

 

[jtpcamp]

I just saw an add for "new" customers that offers cable and internet and the X1 system for $79.99 a month for 2 years. Comcast is finally offering deals longer than 6 months. You may not like Comcast but that is a pretty good price.
One other thing is for a while now Comcast is not offering the first Cable Card for free, as they are charging me $1.50 for the Cable Card that is in my Ceton pcie card.

 

[Billy Sisco]

Nothing is forcing you to upgrade your HTPC to Windows 10. Microsoft did just breathe some extra life in the WMC this month. They changed their listing provider from Zap2It to Rovi. Rovi is their provider for Xbox One's listings. That at least tells me that Media Center will continue to get listing data for a while. It is sad that Microsoft is letting this go but as it was pointed out earlier in the thread, nothing has really been changed since Vista Media Center. I use a CableCard and have the ability to record 4 channels at once. I really think that it is the best solution for a DVR. That being said I decided to not accept the free Windows 10 upgrade and continue running Windows 7. Windows 7 will have extended support for another 5 years. I do hope that Microsoft will open source as much of Media Center as they can.

There is also NO way that 15% of Windows users use Media Center in 2015. All the information I have seen was it was a VERY tiny percentage of users actually use it on over the "Oops I clicked the wrong button" stat ups. It is a shame because it is a very nice piece of software.

 

[Kevin Rush]

Not everyone is going for CHEAP. Media Center works great with OTA tuners or even Cablecard tuners (AKA not free), The advantage is, you can extend the content to other rooms in your home with a Xbox 360 (you can have it boot directly into MC), you can run 5 Extenders at a time and the limit for tuners (officially with modifications) is 32 (32 FREAKING TUNERS !). The most I had at one time was 12 tuners. It is a VERY EXPANDABLE product in this aspect. Look over every other product out there, all HTPC options or even Tivo, the expandability of WMC can not be matched. And for all the HTPC based software Media Center is the ONLY one available right now that works with protected content from cablecard (premium channels)

Now if you had a DVR with cable, you would pay a $9.99 DVR fee, then you would pay $5.99 for the rental of the cable box (depending on provider), With WMC, you would need just a cablecard, dropped into a 3, 4 or 6 cablecard tuner and most cable companies allow the first cable card for free ($1.50-3 for a 2nd one). Media Center would wipe away all those fees and in most areas you just pay for the content you want, not rental or DVR fees.

And no monthly charges like TiVo charges for guide data....guide data on WMC is free.

Another thing about Media Center that can be cost effective, When Windows 7 was released, single core and dual core CPUs were the norm. Windows Media Center does NOT need a i7 with all the trimmings. My HTPC has a Core2Quad (about a 5-6 year old CPU) and with a good video card I can even play back 4K video on it with not a single studder. It was designed for older CPUs, so even with a BRAND new i7, the performance on WMC is not really crazy more than a 5 year old PC

A lower end $200-300 PC with a few tuners and a remote could work with OTA or even cablecard content perfectly. People who don't think a PC can be reliable, are nuts ! With tweaking, clean install, disabling updates (warning noted if used for more than TV/movie watching). and scheduled reboots, it can be flawless. I went over a year with out touching my system as everything was automated in the back ground. It can be made set it and forget it...

We still need a Windows Media Center option in Windows 10 and a Xbox one for an extender option would be sweet...

Re: DavidinCT,
Thank you for all your good work telling people who don't know about it. Don't stop.


Thank you for all your efforts to explain WMC

 

[DavidinCT]

Re: DavidinCT,
Thank you for all your good work telling people who don't know about it. Don't stop.


Thank you for all your efforts to explain WMC

NP.... It's a product I know like the back of my hand, anyone needs help or support on it drop me a PM.

The big screw-up is how people saw it. Just a desktop app that most people never really played with BECAUSE they didn't know anything about it, oh, another media player.... The lack of interest in the product is Microsoft's screw up 100%, they didn't promote it at all. People never saw the vision of what it is, or could be.

Still the fact of the matter is people want streaming content, Netflix, Amazon video and all the other options out there. Windows Media Center would be more relevant today than it was 5-8 years ago. The market is going to all those little boxes, I have seen tons of people with them and even noobs who know nothing about tech, as it's a box they connect to their TV and they can view streaming content and take their little card out of their phone and drop it into it to see them on their TV. Windows Media Center could be the ULTIMATE flagship here with all this content and more.

Did you know if you drop a flash card or USB drive in with pictures or videos in there while running WMC, it will give you options to view them or even copy them to your library, all that can be done with a simple remote ?

This is missed thing by Microsoft, to think what the possibilities of what Media Center COULD be if it was updated. In it's current stance, its the BEST PC based software available hands down (feature for feature , nothing comes close) and it has not been updated since 2009 (OMG !)

This is a big miss by Microsoft, every once and a while they screw something up and still today the drop of the eHome team is one of their biggest and on the other side is one of things Microsoft wants MORE than being on every desktop in the world, it's being in your living room.

Again another loss for Microsoft.

It's too bad, I have 6 computers in my home (from desktops, tablets laptops, etc) that COULD be upgraded to Windows 10, Only 1 will be, and that is a dual boot with Windows 7. The ONLY reason why I am going to Windows 10 is because of gaming (DirectX 12 wont be available for 7 or 8). I like Windows 10, I really do but, I need Windows Media Center and with out it, My PC is not complete so 7 for life for me, Thanks Microsoft...

I guess it will be time for the hackers to take action, Media Center was hacked into Windows 8 (before MS released it) and even going to XP media center, it was hacked into WIndows server and non WMC XP versions (it was OEM only back then).

They have a year

 

[Wilbur Schitzel]

I'm keeping my HTPC on Win8.1. And it will stay as such until there is a better option for MCE. Currently there are no options that offer extender support and CableCard support. I have hope for the new offering that SiliconDust is putting out, but is has yet to be released. We'll see...

 

[Scott Bradley]

I'm keeping my HTPC on Win8.1. And it will stay as such until there is a better option for MCE. Currently there are no options that offer extender support and CableCard support. I have hope for the new offering that SiliconDust is putting out, but is has yet to be released. We'll see...

The only option that offers both at retail is TiVo.

 

[MikeSo]

15% is way exaggerated, but I am one of the users of WMC with CableCARD decryption. There is no alternative to it, literally.
I used to own a TiVo and it's a great product, but WMC on my HTPC beats it easily for convenience and ease of use.
But yeah, I might have to suck it up and get a TiVo when Microsoft declares Windows 8.1 dead. Unless TV is dead before then.

 

[MikeSo]

The only option that offers both at retail is TiVo.

TiVo used to be a real hassle to upgrade storage on, at least compared to how easy it is on a PC. It also costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars more than the "built in" functionality of WMC. Does TiVo still offer Lifetime service at least?

 

[Scott Bradley]

TiVo used to be a real hassle to upgrade storage on, at least compared to how easy it is on a PC. It also costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars more than the "built in" functionality of WMC. Does TiVo still offer Lifetime service at least?

Yes, lifetime service is available on boxes. The newest model TiVos hard drive upgrade is simple as well. The OS is maintained on flash, simply drop a new drive in the box and it will be formatted and the OS copied over to the drive.

Hardest part is opening the box.