Windows Media Center to make a return on Windows 10 ? Any updates ?

[DavidinCT]

Hey all,

Does anyone know if Windows Media Center will have a return on Windows 10 ? To me, who uses a Home theater PC with cablecards and 360's for extenders this is one of the best products Microsoft has ever made.

If you use and support Windows Media Center and are using Windows 10, put a request in, the more people that do, might make a chance it will get a return.

Even better, would love for it to be updated, new interface, support for 4K, blu-ray native support and more internet based options. Integration with the Xbox one using all it's streaming intefaces on WMC that is controllable via the remote. I would even pay extra over the cost of Windows to get a better. updated product.

One can dream, right ?

 

[dKp1977]

Doubt it, since it has become sort of redundant nowadays.

 

[DavidinCT]

Doubt it, since it has become sort of redundant nowadays.

In what way ? WMC is a DVR with libraries that you can access via a remote control, Windows 8 or even Windows 10 does not have the interface or feature set for this.

 

[dKp1977]

In what way ? WMC is a DVR with libraries that you can access via a remote control, Windows 8 or even Windows 10 does not have the interface or feature set for this.

I know. But with so many free MediaCenter alternatives available and especially considering how cheap NAS devices have become by now, there's sort of no need for Microsoft to provide and maintain their own solution. I used the MediaCenter <-> Xbox 360 extender solution myself for a long time, but I eventually ditched it in favor of a Linux server running miniDLNA.

 

[Br1t]

Well one thing is for sure, it will not come preinstalled on 10 as it didn't on 8. If MS decides to offer it you can expect to purchase it as an add on. I feel Windows 10 will milk DLC in anyway possible since its up for free.

 

[PepperdotNet]

Last time I checked, it's still in there. You get it the same way as before by using a product key to enable the feature. Problem is, we haven't got a product key for it at this point.

On the earlier builds, some people found that they could use their W8/W8.1 WMC product key to upgrade W10 to include Media Center, but found that doing so disabled Windows Updates because it's an unsupported configuration for the Preview timeframe. (They are using different [non-RTM] keys now, so this doesn't work anymore).

I expect when the dust settles, it will still be there.

 

[davenc]

I use wmc as DVR to record live tv. I'd hate for it to go away in Win 10

 

[RichardBurt]

WMC is part of Windows 8 Pro. The standard version didn't have it as MS has to pay for licences for every version of OS that has it installed.

 

[jhoff80]

But with so many free MediaCenter alternatives available

That's not at all true. There is no other solution for CableCard besides WMC.

 

[dKp1977]

That's not at all true. There is no other solution for CableCard besides WMC.

Doesn't XBMC offer that too?

 

[link68759]

WMC is part of Windows 8 Pro. The standard version didn't have it as MS has to pay for licences for every version of OS that has it installed.

WMC is not a part of 8 pro. There was the promotion early on where you could apply for a free WMC key with 8 pro, but that's been over for years now.

-

I always liked the idea of WMC but the software is really shoddy and fragile unless you're using it in the most basic way possible. I never used the tv tuner feature, only video playback over my network. Whether the client was my laptop or the 360, there was always 2s worth of input lag in the menus (yet the network was fast enough to steam 1080p video), there is no subtitle support (which excludes half of my non English video library), and if you spent a lot of time hacking about the registry you MIGHT be able to extend support to mkv/other file types (the other half of my library) without it crashing. And when the 360 is involved, there's a good chance you'll get a cryptic error halfway through the connection procedure at which point there is literally nothing you can do.



.... Significantly less of a hassle to just plug my laptop into my TV's hdmi.

 

[Asskickulater]

just get Kodi and you can do everything wmc could.

 

[HelloNNNewman]

Searching around on-line I found the following info on WMC on Windows 10. I hope it does come with the new OS since I use it as a DVR also:

On my copy of Windows 10, you can get WMC by going to control panel and clicking "add features", but this oddly renames the tech preview to windows 8.1 with media center
​

The same thing happened to me. it still works as windows 10, just shows as Windows 8.1 with media center, no problems so far !

 

[Wevenhuis]

There are increasing media like centers popping up in the windows store. I think microsoft will shift away from mediacenter and focus more on xbox music, movie and games as a replacement for media center.
Microsoft did mention than windows 10 would still be backwards compatible so I could imagine that if you wanted media center per se you can download it to your desktop in windows 10 to use.

 

[UptownWebhead]

Sad to lose it but I really hoped Windows 10 would've brought us a new Media Center app. I still kind of hate MS a little for rebranding Zune services as Xbox but hey, whatever.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[WayneRobinson]

I use WMC every day. My life would not be the same without it. Seriously. I have it installed on a dedicated Dell mini tower running a Hauppauge TV tuner card and that goes on every time I turn on the TV. I use it for recording live TV and, particularly, for time shifting. Couldn't live without it. Yes, I've tried other solutions. All of them have been abject failures. WMC is the only solution that works. Perfectly. For me.
I've been holding off installing the Windows 10 preview on that machine for fear of borking Media Center. Can anyone confirm (please!) that that won't be the case?

 

[UptownWebhead]

If Media Center were to be updated to match the look and feel of Windows 10 I'd definitely consider getting back into HTPC's. Though things like Xbox and PlayStation or set top boxes like Apple TV or Roku have basically rendered obsolete, there is still a substantial amount of power HTPC users who always recommend Media Center and hold it in high regard. I think we should definitely get a thread started on the Windows Uservoice if there isn't one already.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Scott Bradley]

Microsoft has stopped supporting Media Center and I do expect that at some point it will not be usable on a future update. Dream all you want, it is a product in it's final death throws.

There are open source OTA DVR options available, but the OP is looking for a solution that will support cable cards - and as far as I know, Media Center was the only full service, PC based, software certified for Cable Cards. Correct me if I am wrong.

Once WMC is gone, about the only other option for non MSO cable DVR is TiVo....

I have TiVo's, I am very fond of them, they are cheaper than MSO rental units and provide significantly improved experience - that said, Media Center was good and "basically" free.

 

[jhoff80]

In regard to CableCard support:

Doesn't XBMC offer that too?

No, only WMC does. You can kind of cheat, by using WMC as the backend recording service and XBMC (or other apps) as the frontend, but that's it... and that only works with copy freely channels.

 

[cyberprashant]

I tried that - doesn't work with WMC 8.1 keys anymore as of TP2 - as someone mentioned above, hopefully there will be new WMC keys for Win10 that get issued. Also I read if you do get it work somehow you can also invalidate receiving future Win10TP2 updates.