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

[Citizen X]

Actually, I didn't even know what it was before I googled it.

And yet that didn't prevent you from pontificating about it. Not really unusual behavior on internet forums but it is rare that people just come flat out and preface their remarks by saying they don't have a clue.

You can get a base Roamio with lifetime service for $600...

Hhhhmmm... Free vs $600... let me pull up the calculator app...

Xbox is a pretty poor extender and always was.

Since people are big into demanding sources I guess I should ask for some. MY Xbox is an excellent extender. People marvel at my setup. Particularly when they see the bill... $0.

Yeah, the only way that percentage makes sense is if its 15% of the Home version only. There's no way, with Pro/Ent versions included in the count.

Lol. You made my day!

Windows Media Center is not available on Windows 8.1 Home. You have to have Windows 8.1 Pro or higher. But thanks for posting total nonsense about a topic you know nothing about.

Gentlemen thank you. I'm beginning to see why Windows Media Center wasn't a runaway success. With even Windows fans making up lies about it, how could it have been successful? Windows users eat their young. Apple users say how wonderful a product is even if it is a total piece of crap.

I personally use it and it is hands down one of the most innovative products MSFT has ever created. Nobody I know has a more integrated home entertainment system than me. I don't have to load a bunch of third party software nor pay any fees. I plug and play. I don't have to worry about server software or content providers. Hulu and Netflix are available through my Xbox but I just use a $50 antenna and WMC for free HD tv that looks better than cable. Did I mention I'm getting all this for FREE?

The problem is people have never tried it out. And they put it down because they don't want egg on their faces for paying cable company rental fees, or $600 to Tivo (Imagine the WMC computer you could build for $600), or kludging together a bunch of third party hardware and software and still paying a fee. I understand the **** hurt but let's not lose our heads. WMC is an excellent product and I will be staying on 8.1 for now because Windows 10 might be free but I don't have $600 (Lol, seriously?!) to replicate what I am getting today for free. Thanks for the heads up on the "deal."

 

[Wilbur Schitzel]

Hardest part is opening the box.

I'd say the hardest part is paying that much for something with less features.

 

[David Feifer]

heh.. My biggest take out of all of this is that people spend waaay too much time watching tv. though.. are they actually watching it or is it a form of digital hoarding..

I have a tv card in my computer, not used in years, that I used to use with media center though I hated that program mainly because there just wasn't a way to turn off the stupid recording feature. I did not own a tv and used my second monitor to watch stuff in a window. Was ok once I had a channel selected but murder when you were channel surfing and it took 5 seconds from when you hit the channel for it to start showing. All I wanted was a pass through tv player which actually came with the card but was not supported past vista. Now days I am lucky if I even watch anything. Though, If I do, we have a fairly decent cable company and they have pretty much every single show that they broadcast available via in demand on the box.

 

[Kevin Rush]

Re: David Feifer
It seems you were a very very basic user of Windows Media Center. Respectfully, your novice and limited experience with this very capable and customizable software should not, in any way, be held up as representative of what WMC can do. Sounds like you had a poor set up and didn't use it properly. It is family friendly to use, I can't imagine why you couldn't stop it from recording.

You seem to have missed the whole point of Windows Media Center and the options it provides. Whole House Media Center, Live and DVR of DRM cable TV and Movies, Live and DVR of Over the Air television broadcasts, simultaneous use of multiple tuners, full pause and rewind control of live TV, ...

Have fun paying your cable TV provider for the set top boxes and the limited time availability and changing content of Cable On Demand.

Best Wishes.

 

[Bobvfr]

I am guessing a lot of die hard users of WMC aren't massively interested, but I thought I would let you know the following:

I upgraded three 8.1 devices this week (I did five but only three were mine) one was home version and it is still home version, the second was a Surface Pro 3 with Pro and it is still Pro but because I didn't have WMC installed that is as far as it went.

But my desktop with Pro and WMC is now a Pro machine and does have the complimentary DVD player.

Again the whole thing wasn't an issue for me as although I tried WMC last year, I pretty much missed out on it and Windows 7 so I didn't have any legacy stuff to worry about.

Got to admit I like Windows 10 a lot so maybe time to think about WMC exit strategy

 

[johnson_patrickw]

Why are you recording so much TV?

If it doesn't fit your need then don't upgrade. Microsoft is under no obligation to tailor their product to you or anyone else. That just means someone else will take advantage of that market, maybe it'll be you.

Upgraded my HTPC to Windows 10 on Wednesday.

 

[DavidinCT]

Sigh, I wish Microsoft would wake up here and just put a Windows Media Center option in Windows 10, even put it in the store and force people to re-buy it (if it's $10 or so) if the licencing costs are too much. I would re-buy it as long as it was $10 or less.

Or what might be a reasonable option is for them to release the internal beta that never was released, Soft-sled. This is one of the largest requested items for Windows Media Center EVER (and I was through 3 WMC beta tests). This was a code name or something that it was called by the commuity.

Soft-sled is a software based Windows Media Center Extender. So someone could keep a WMC machine someplace on their network (even in a VM if you use networkable tuners) and use another computer as an exender, it could work with Windows 7, 8.1 or 10, and you can open this app, no configuration besides connecting to your WMC machine. There would be no software licencing costs because they are just sharing the content from another machine.

We just need something, If Microsoft cant or wont put WMC in WIndows 10 then I wish they would do something like soft-sled, at least we can watch our TV in WIndows 10 if they would do that...

I like Windows 10, I really do but, this causes havoc for my setup at home, so 10 for games only and 7 for everything else, I really would like to have 10 for everything but, thanks to Microsoft, I cant.

 

[elindalyne]

Windows Media Center was a giant bust. It never took off. The majority of people don't care about recording live TV on non-brand name device (TIVO).

Since you're whining, here's an alternative that should suit your needs.

www(dot)team-mediaportal(dot)com/

I can't post links, so replace the (dots) with .

 

[MikeSo]

Windows Media Center was a giant bust. It never took off. The majority of people don't care about recording live TV on non-brand name device (TIVO).

Since you're whining, here's an alternative that should suit your needs.

www(dot)team-mediaportal(dot)com/

I can't post links, so replace the (dots) with .

If you think that's an alternative, you clearly don't know what WMC did that differentiated it from other products. That's a completely useless "alternative" for anyone with CableCARDs and premium cable - in other words, those who are the most effected by WMC's demise. So we'll keep on "whining" as long as people like you talk about things you have no knowledge of.

OK, that might have been overly harsh, but the "whining" comment was unnecessary. The link you gave might be a good solution for some, but there is no shortage of media center alternatives, or OTA recording applications. What set WMC apart was its ability to be used as a hub for the extenders, and its unique CableCARD decryption. Sadly, as far as I know, there is no alternative to that, at least not yet.

 

[Baron164]

I love my media center and it will be staying 8.1 for the foreseeable future. I also the box as a Steam in-home streaming client. I've looked at a few alternatives such as xbmc and emby(Media Browser) but neither is really up to the task yet. I don't need cable card. Just need to be able to record 4 channels at once. Emby looks promising since I could then stream recorded shows to Roku's and my phone/tablet. I'm hoping Plex incorporates some kind of tv recording feature at some point. Since I already use it for streaming 99% of my media to my phone/tablet/roku's it would be nice to continue using it. But as long as the guide data keeps updating I should still be good. I'm certainly never going to be using a TWC **** box as my dvr.

 

[elindalyne]

If you think that's an alternative, you clearly don't know what WMC did that differentiated it from other products. That's a completely useless "alternative" for anyone with CableCARDs and premium cable - in other words, those who are the most effected by WMC's demise. So we'll keep on "whining" as long as people like you talk about things you have no knowledge of.

OK, that might have been overly harsh, but the "whining" comment was unnecessary. The link you gave might be a good solution for some, but there is no shortage of media center alternatives, or OTA recording applications. What set WMC apart was its ability to be used as a hub for the extenders, and its unique CableCARD decryption. Sadly, as far as I know, there is no alternative to that, at least not yet.

False. As of 1.3 they support CableCards and premium channels.

 

[DavidinCT]

False. As of 1.3 they support CableCards and premium channels.

Prove it. Offically (according to cable labs) no other PC based software supports DRM from cablecards. Sure they might be able to view cablecard channels but, premium DRMed channels they wont.

So, I looked, According to Engadget, FOR YOUR reference. 1.5 does support cablecards, yes but, A quote from Engadget "As promised, the home theater PC client now supports CableCARD tuning for most channels outside of pay TV. ". Pay TV, AKA Premium channels, or Protected channels with a DRM path.

MediaPortal 1.5 released with CableCARD and Windows 8.1 support

So, it will work with cabecards but, if subscribe to ANY premium channels (HBO, Skinamax, etc) or your unlucky where your cable operator DRMs all channels besides locals (a lot of cable companies do this) MediaPortal is worthless unless you like paying for channels you CANT watch.

Do us a favor, do your homework before slamming a product here. Windows Media Center is so much better on so many more aspects. This is one of the MAJOR things that it has an advanage of. No other PC software product right now has this certification. Even the HDR product at this point of the beta does not even support it.

Nothing else, Zip, Zilch, NOTHING.

 

[MikeSo]

Prove it. Offically (according to cable labs) no other PC based software supports DRM from cablecards. Sure they might be able to view cablecard channels but, premium DRMed channels they wont.

So, I looked, According to Engadget, FOR YOUR reference. 1.5 does support cablecards, yes but, A quote from Engadget "As promised, the home theater PC client now supports CableCARD tuning for most channels outside of pay TV. ". Pay TV, AKA Premium channels, or Protected channels with a DRM path.

MediaPortal 1.5 released with CableCARD and Windows 8.1 support

So, it will work with cabecards but, if subscribe to ANY premium channels (HBO, Skinamax, etc) or your unlucky where your cable operator DRMs all channels besides locals (a lot of cable companies do this) MediaPortal is worthless unless you like paying for channels you CANT watch.

Do us a favor, do your homework before slamming a product here. Windows Media Center is so much better on so many more aspects. This is one of the MAJOR things that it has an advanage of. No other PC software product right now has this certification. Even the HDR product at this point of the beta does not even support it.

Nothing else, Zip, Zilch, NOTHING.

Exactly. Cox Communications, which I have, and many others treat every channel except the local ones like pay channels.

 

[MikeSo]

False. As of 1.3 they support CableCards and premium channels.

I hope that is the case. It would as far as I know be the only one that does. I will try it out.

EDIT: After reading about it, it seems that they only support channels set to "Copy Freely" which makes it unusable for me.

 

[Kevin Rush]

False. As of 1.3 they support CableCards and premium channels.

We are glad to have knowledgeable and helpful people join the discussion and learn the intricacies (details) of the "one of a kind features" that Windows Media Center offers. We have studied the topic and features, in depth.
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We would be happy and welcome a true alternate solution, that matched feature with feature with Windows Media Center, but so far none exist.
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It puzzles me why enthusiasts of other lesser featured solutions don't know the facts and continue to suggest that we try the other lesser solutions?
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Please educate yourself and join us in advocating for a solution with more features, not less.
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To understand the great value of Windows Media Center, you just have to read all the comments and be open to what is being said. The many use cases are the key to understanding the value of Windows Media Center.
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I hope people read up and join us in our goal for a better, more feature rich Windows Media Center solution, or at least an extension of the "status quo".
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We aren't looking for lesser solutions.
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I wish Microsoft would wake up and understand the features and value of Windows Media Center. I think it has untapped potential in commercial uses.

Best Wishes.

 

[elindalyne]

The fact of the matter is as a whole, the windows world has decided the current version of WMC isn't worth the development time. When they come out on BusinessInsider and say WMC was a giant bust, that means we probably won't see it come back.

Now you have 3 options:

1. Don't Upgrade
2. Complain, a lot.
3. Try to find alternative solutions

Now I've given you an alternative that should work. You can take it or leave it. Yeah, it's probably not as friendly as WMC was. Yeah, it'll probably take a while to set it up, but like I stated earlier, you have 3 options.

Here is a link to the pertinent setup info: wiki(dot)team-mediaportal(dot)com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/13_Setup_Guides/2_TV_Setup/1_Server_Setup

As for tuner recording being an untapped market... The market has pretty much spoken at this point. People are more interested in on demand streaming media (Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo, etc...) than they are in setting up tuners and the like...

 

[MikeSo]

The fact of the matter is as a whole, the windows world has decided the current version of WMC isn't worth the development time. When they come out on BusinessInsider and say WMC was a giant bust, that means we probably won't see it come back.

Now you have 3 options:

1. Don't Upgrade
2. Complain, a lot.
3. Try to find alternative solutions

Now I've given you an alternative that should work. You can take it or leave it. Yeah, it's probably not as friendly as WMC was. Yeah, it'll probably take a while to set it up, but like I stated earlier, you have 3 options.

Here is a link to the pertinent setup info: wiki(dot)team-mediaportal(dot)com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/13_Setup_Guides/2_TV_Setup/1_Server_Setup

As for tuner recording being an untapped market... The market has pretty much spoken at this point. People are more interested in on demand streaming media (Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo, etc...) than they are in setting up tuners and the like...

Even though you think it "should work", it doesn't, at least not that I can find. Maybe it will in the future.

I do agree that regular TV is on the way out. I still watch a lot of sports and it is not a market that is served particularly well at currently online.

 

[DavidinCT]

Now I've given you an alternative that should work. You can take it or leave it. Yeah, it's probably not as friendly as WMC was. Yeah, it'll probably take a while to set it up, but like I stated earlier, you have 3 options.

Here is a link to the pertinent setup info: wiki(dot)team-mediaportal(dot)com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/13_Setup_Guides/2_TV_Setup/1_Server_Setup

As for tuner recording being an untapped market... The market has pretty much spoken at this point. People are more interested in on demand streaming media (Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo, etc...) than they are in setting up tuners and the like...

Please spend 2 seconds to read this post.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-general-discussion/369178-3.htm#post3182885

Although mediaportal has a good following and over all is a decent product, it's no where near the expandability, DRM, or scalable as Windows Media Center. Nor does it help with people with Protected DRM based channels, it's worthless in this matter.

The feature set is not even close, AGAIN do your homework before bashing WMC or saying XX product is so much better, when in all reality, it's not.

And Media Center is VERY easy to setup, 100% wizard based, MediaPortal is a while different story.

If you like the product, cool, all the power to you but, do a serious compare to WHY it's better than Media Center, I will shut up but, at this point from what I have CLEARLY read IN DETAIL on Media Portal, it's not even close.

 

[ajj3085]

well I don't feel the need to prove a point to you scott
So I am not going to waste my time finding the statistic for you but it is more than 1%

Dude, seriously, you're telling everyone that Microsoft is wrong. If anyone knows how many people use media center, Microsoft does.

 

[ajj3085]

This is highly suspect data. It is ridiculous poor data if Microsoft thinks that Windows Media Center users are primarily using it for playing DVDs. MS seems to have lost touch and to be clueless about their own product.

No, they haven't. You realize that they collect data about the OS and applications including usage right?