Goodbye WMC, it's been a long ride

~12 month update:
WMC lives on! Was having too many missed recordings and a few other small issues with NextPVR backend, so re-installed the Win7 SSD and updated ServerWMC. Like I mentioned it's a tad slower switching channels and starting live tv, but the stability is worth it to me. It's also nice having Ceton MyMediaCenter again, much nicer than NextPVR's web interface. I'm also running Kodi 17 on my Android TV devices now which has a really great new UI.

[HTPC Specs:]

I kept my 7 box untouched, still runs fine.

My 10 box build 10586.0 update service disabled, is still running fine.

My 10 box build 14393 "anniversary" runs fine except for protected channels. DVBLink Server enables WMC to see Virtual Tuners.

I have been to busy to work much on my LTSB 2015 "N"

I run Windows 10 with current updates (active) and WMC 10 (V12 installer). No Problem yet. Last summer update to build 1607 destroyed WMC, but I fixed it with new install. Since then I use the backup script from WMC 10 V12 installer sometimes, so if update would destroy WMC, I hope that I can fix it that way easier than last time.

You still get copy protected content?

Hello, here in Germany getting protected TV content on a PC is impossible. There are no TV cards with the necessary smart card readers which have Windows 10 drivers (I still have a KNC one with card reader, HD capable, but only XP driver. But maybe even that card reader is incompatible for current cards.). But free to air mostly is enough. The most of the private channels are still free to air in SD quality. Only HD and real pay TV like Sky channels is not possible to recieve (legally) on PC.

Thanks. Just wanted to confirm. I had read that protected content no longer works in WMC on Win 10. I see this is still the case.

[HTPC Specs:]

To be a little more precise regarding the current situation in the United States.... CableCard tuners including DRM/Protected Channels work fine using Win10 (2015)Version 10586. CableCard Tuners do not work with Win10 (2016) Version 14393. Other types of tuners, such as over the air (DVB-T), and satellite (DVB-S) do indeed work with 14393.

A workaround for CableCard Tuners in Win10 14393, using DVBLink Server allows WMC to see, play, and record using a CableCard Tuner installed into WMC as a "Virtual Tuner". On the downside DRM/Protected channels do not work with DVBLink Server.

I have read a couple reports of people using PowerDVD 16, to view DRM/Protected Channels....no reports as of yet on a PowerDVD-DVR.

[HTPC Specs:]

Hello, here in Germany getting protected TV content on a PC is impossible. There are no TV cards with the necessary smart card readers which have Windows 10 drivers (I still have a KNC one with card reader, HD capable, but only XP driver. But maybe even that card reader is incompatible for current cards.). But free to air mostly is enough. The most of the private channels are still free to air in SD quality. Only HD and real pay TV like Sky channels is not possible to recieve (legally) on PC.

During 2017 in Germany (March for me in Bavaria) the current DVBT over the air TV will be upgraded to DVBT2 with H265 (HEVC encoded) full HD and from that time the non-public service chanels will become Pay TV which will not work as there are no PC tunners on the market that support the CI+ CAMs (as stated by 1ST1). The bigger question though is will WMC work with the new system even for the free to air 20 or so publicly funded channels (given DVBT2 tuner and antenna)? Does anyone know if WMC has support or codecs etc. whatever may be necessary to handle HEVC encoded full HD TV? I would be very interested to know if anyone in here Germany has tried it with the currently available test channels?

[HTPC Specs:]

Further to the above and to answer my own question, based on research on the internet, WMC does not work with DVBT2 HEVC encoded HD TV even when hardware (tuner, antenna, GPU etc.) supports it. As a result from March 2017 (regionally dependant) OTA TV in Germany will no longer work with WMC. Another nail in the coffin, sad to say and pretty much the end for me. I switched to Media Portal some while back on my HTPC and just used WMC occaisionally on my laptop. For anyone interested Media Portal has recently released a preview version that not only supports HEVC encoded HD TV (works great on the test transmissions in Germany) but also other intergrates the Madvr renderer which will play frame packed BD 3D (in .mkv/mvc format) among other things. I have to say that it is really very refreshing to use a product like Media Portal that is still being developed is well supported and going somewhere other than the grave.