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Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:49 am
by mceTim
Woot! When did tgb.tv happen? So glad to see this!

Many moons ago I kept up with the original tgb when I worked on the MS Media Center Team.

I've been a fan of MCE for over 10 years and was always impressed with the community here. I really look forward to diving back in.

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:13 am
by STC
Welcome Tim. Glad to have you here. Now make some phone calls to fix the guide ;)

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:06 pm
by Scallica
mceTim wrote:Woot! When did tgb.tv happen? So glad to see this!
We launched on June 5, 2011. Shortly after Microsoft converted the old TGB.com into the Windows Experts Community, which had the worst user interface ever.

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:24 pm
by mceTim
I actually re-found TGB by searching around for why my guide wasn't updating and the errors I was seeing in Event Viewer. I was very glad to find the info about MS switching guide providers.

I was a bit disappointed that MS didn't trigger an alert tile in MCE, but the info found here was all I needed. I'm OTA, so just rescanned TV channels and all appears to be working again.

I agree that the Windows Expert Community was/is nowhere near as nice as TGB, but missed the memo about the launch in 2011. I blame Barb. :)

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:15 pm
by STC
Scallica wrote:...which had the worst user interface ever.
...and has been taken down because it was so very popular, along with all the valuable info there-in.
Writing into history an example of what not to do with great stuff that already works.

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:23 am
by richard1980
Is that Tim Schreck?

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:08 am
by mceTim
richard1980 wrote:Is that Tim Schreck?
Yip. Is the avatar too much? :)

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:26 am
by richard1980
Not at all!

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 6:29 am
by gregusjay
My name is Greg ...I think WMC is the bomb ...I'm sorry to see a lot of the functionality going out the window....it used to be great to flip on the desktop, use a Hauppage WMC remote and access pretty much all of your content and streaming stuff in one spot.....now the challenge is to retain the functionality and continue to enjoy the product..
but damn I feel like a microsoft ORPHAN

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:08 pm
by seanf
Hi all,

I have been searching the net looking for a forum/site that still has life in it after the discontinuation of WMC by Microsoft this year.
A lot of the sites I used to visit for advice, downloads of 3rd part apps have all but disappeared. :(

I have been using WMC since vista came out and have loved it ever since - was extremely disappointed to see Microsoft abandon it.

After all these years, I still believe WMC is the best system available for the Home Theatre. I really believe Microsoft have abandoned it at the wrong time - with digital downloads / streaming services being so popular WMC could have been expanded/customised to suit almost any service.

I'll be using my windows 7 HTPC / HP mediasmart home server combination hopefully for many more years to come.
The system runs 24/7 and has been very reliable for years.

A bit about my system:

As I am located in Australia, I use icetv for the epg and remote recording from my phone (although it seems they may not be around for to much longer), use Mymovies for DVD/BD and tv series catalogue and Mymemories for photo/video screen saver. My system is connected to a Sony receiver with 5.1 speakers & 60" LG plasma screen.

Hope this site continues to grow and I look forward to reading through the posts.

Sean

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 1:16 pm
by holidayboy
Welcome!

There's life in the old dog that is MC yet :)

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 6:31 pm
by sy_trilogy
Looks like I'm the first to find this board and join up since June! I, too, am one of the many who are disappointed that Microsoft has decided to drop Media Center from the program list included with its OS. I'd gladly pay a reasonable price for a version of Media Center that functions in the exact same way as the version I have (and plan to keep) that was included with my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. There are three Windows computers in my household. Only the Surface Pro 3 has been upgraded from 8.1 to Windows 10, so I have had a chance to play with it; no problems there. The big box that I use in part to drive my home theater system is upgradeable to Windows 10. The ancient Qosmio G35-AV-600 (on which I now typing) has an incompatible video card, but I still love it for what it is - portable, still quick, came with XP in 2006 when I bought it, was my home theater system when I was a liveaboard cruiser, and was powerful enough to be ungraded to Windows 7 Ultimate with a simple RAM udgrade. Yup, was using Media Center on it with cable plugged into the coax fitting on its back!

Microsoft says it dropped Media Center because so few were making use of it, and because it was user viscous. When compared with the likes of Media Portal and KODI, Media Center is better than just a piece of cake! I think maybe there is some "cooperation" between Microsoft and the satellite/cable companies that has encouraged Microsoft to drop it. Follow the money! Almost nobody was "cutting the chord" in 2007. It's really catching on now. Microsoft's timing was off! I''m saving more than $1450 a year having cut the chord. Bought a Mohu Skye60 which pulls in more than 45 stations OTA. I don't even have the antenna in an optimal location! Media Center pulls in a perfectly acceptable OTA Guide with a liitle tweak anyone can find online. I have connected to an AVR that pumps out everything to a 58" plasma screen and an ORB 5.1 surround sound system that I just love. I have more and better viewing choices than I ever had at a fraction of the former cost, and any recorded OTA program that I really want to keep, I can burn to DVD if I choose; but with all my storage on a 6TB RAID 10 in the box, I expect I'll be long dead before I have to remove programs to recover space. Programs I have recorded are effectively backed up unless I lose two of the four drives at once that make up the RAID.

I gather Microsoft will be supporting Win 7 until 2020. I plan to sit still with what I have, but I still keep my eyes sharp for a drop in replacement for Media Center. I have until July of 2016 to upgrade to Windows 10 if I want for free. I would cross over to "10" if I could be sure a replacement of Media Center would work as easily and well as what I have. I can tell from the minimal exploration I have taken that It's too tricky for me to jump ship so far. I'm not interested in a career change so I can support my TV/theater viewing.

I hope to read encouraging news here!

Michael

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 11:03 pm
by btwaddle
this is great ,nice to see that other people depend on WMC as much as i do

Great Job , Thanks

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:19 am
by lunquewill
Hi everybody! I found this board again while looking for some advice about Guide problems with my installation here.

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 3:55 pm
by ComfortEagle626
Hello all. My name is Brad. I have been trying to set up the perfect media center computer since XP. Back when TGB was . ORG? I remember a changing of the guard quite some time ago. Anyhow. I run a Marantz receiver with Polk speakers. I run windows 10 and Power DVD for most playback. I Rip blu Ray with make MKV. Seems like playback has never been perfect. So I am planing to revert back to stand alone components. I have been through the Shark codecs and many others, upgraded hardware, cables, 4k everything. Upscale, pass through, Convert, Sync issues, etc. I just want stuff to work with perfect playback, and have never been able to have it be perfect.

Little about me. I grew up in a video store. "All The Best Video" here in Northern California. Growing up with movies and getting to know customers on a personal level, gave me a true passion for a terrific cinema experience. I now own and operate an auto repair shop. Love family, Wife, and two girls, computers, cars, outdoors, rockets, and would like to learn a little Arduino coding.

:wave:

What I would like from this community may be a last ditch effort to have perfect playback from ripped blu ray and dvd. I am willing to spend some cash on a computer build. I am interested in 7.1 analog out that decodes all the latest codecs. I still need to bone up on the the latest stuff as I was last versed in DTS HD, and would like to know more about DTS X and such.

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:57 pm
by jachin99
Well Brad, if your interested in bluray playback through WMC, the last version of powerdvd to include a WMC plugin was version 15. I think you might be able to still obtain a copy of PDVD 14 through the store redirect in windows media player but I'm not sure. The first version of PDVD to be capable of playing ultra HD bluray was version 17, which will not include a MCE plugin but there are ways of putting PDVD on the start menu, and maybe even running it through the eshell.

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 6:53 pm
by DavidinCT
jachin99 wrote:Well Brad, if your interested in bluray playback through WMC, the last version of powerdvd to include a WMC plugin was version 15. I think you might be able to still obtain a copy of PDVD 14 through the store redirect in windows media player but I'm not sure. The first version of PDVD to be capable of playing ultra HD bluray was version 17, which will not include a MCE plugin but there are ways of putting PDVD on the start menu, and maybe even running it through the eshell.
The newer versions SHOULD work. You wont get auto-play working correctly in WMC but, As long as the new version can be used with a remote (arrow keys in WMC are just arrow keys on a keyboard and OK is just enter), and if that all works, use Relanch to enable it in WMC... problem done. :)

Wonder if one could rip the MCL and settings for WMC from a older version and import them into a newer version. As long as the folder layout is the same, it should work...

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2019 1:50 am
by sy_trilogy
Hi Rob,

I see I am doing this in an awkward order. I made a post about WMC first, and now am saying "Hi" and thanks. The site says either my last post was in 2016 or that 2016 is when I joined. I have been using WMC since 2006 when my Media Center laptop from Toshiba came with it along with XP! Have always loved it and have been more than pissed off since Microsoft announced that they were dropping it like a Lawrence Welk record. I have been preparing to "go it alone" ever since.

Over the years, I have only twice had tech issues that have taken me to Level three tech support at Microsoft (no charge for update issues). On both occasions, these technicians have been sympathetic to my objection to their dropping WMC. Yesterday I spoke at length with one who told me about FEEDBACK HUB. See my only post on the Windows 7 Media Center section for more details. I have made a strong recommendation about how they can keep us happy, make money on a WMC app that is configured for Win 10 and allow us to move to the Windows 10 platform. I would prefer to do that if Media Center would run on it and be supported, and you might as well. At the very least if you send them feedback on this FEEDBACK HUB they WILL answer you. (Just type it into a browser on someone's Windows 10 machine.) If enough people want this, they will respond. :mrgreen:

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 5:56 pm
by StinkyImp
Is anyone else noticing these "injected" URL's in Fleurrose's quoted replies or is it just me?

Maybe I have some malware or a virus that's injecting them on my system?? Most of them point to an "onl" domain.

Image

Re: Welcome to the all new TGB! Introduce yourself here!

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 6:35 pm
by Scallica
StinkyImp wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 5:56 pm Is anyone else noticing these "injected" URL's in Fleurrose's quoted replies or is it just me?

Maybe I have some malware or a virus that's injecting them on my system?? Most of them point to an "onl" domain.
No, the user was a spammer. In the future, you can simply click the report button (!) in the upper right corner of a suspicious post.