Total Media Theater discontinued by Arcsoft

[Ed]

http://www.arcsoft.com/forum/forum_post ... ia-theater

Time to move on to dedicated BR players everyone

[STC]

One step ahead of you

[Ed]

One step ahead of you

We could have saved our breath for how it was a better option for end users - Arcsoft settled the argument for us/them

[makryger]

It was bound to happen. Bluray players are too inexpensive nowadays to warrant the $100 pricetag. Even when it's on sale, you can still get a standalone for a lot cheaper- plus you don't have to worry about software crashes, sudden bluray disk incompatibilities, etc.

With all the "smart" TVs out there, too bad none of them have a built in DVR and BD player already now that could potentially replace media center...

[STC]

One step ahead of you

We could have saved our breath for how it was a better option for end users - Arcsoft settled the argument for us/them

You know I feel they aren't to blame. They certainly produced the best BR SW player IMO. My implementations always seemed to produce random playback glitches though...
Besides there's just not much money in this sort of thing now.

Too many changes by both O/S and DRM to keep up with.

[newfiend]

Just out of pure curiosity .. Does the latest Power DVD 14 have the WMC plug-in still? Not that I will update (downgrade) to PowerDVD for WMC as I also have a dedicated BR-Disk player, but others that were (are) using TMT 5/6 might want an option for a software player.. Do you know if the latest version still works from WMC?
newfiend~

[STC]

^ I was going to suggest that TMT is still working quite well for everyone at present?

Then I saw this:
http://www.arcsoft.com/forum/forum_post ... reen#54352

0YCeG_YuWF0
...and it reminded me why I quit the BRSWP game some time ago.

[adam1991]

Dumb question: why would they pull the download itself?

I can understand discontinuing development, and even support, but to make it unavailable for existing paid customers is just plain...rude.

And software companies wonder why piracy exists.

[newfiend]

Dumb question: why would they pull the download itself?

I can understand discontinuing development, and even support, but to make it unavailable for existing paid customers is just plain...rude.

And software companies wonder why piracy exists.

Yeah, I don't get that either. If I paid for it I should be able to still log into my account and DL the software IMO.. Problem is now that support is dead once new disks come out that need new decryption keys we're screwed anyway. We're left either changing over to PowerDVD or Getting/using a stand alone player. Yet another nail in the WMC Coffin..

[IT Troll]

I am a long term user of TMT and this is a sad day indeed. Is the one box home theatre solution really dead now?

I do think the retirement of TMT could have been handled better. There should have been advanced notice, perhaps an email to registered users, prior to pulling the product and downloads. There will be people who have purchased recently who are completely oblivious to this news.

My real concern are playback problems with new titles, like we have seen so many times before. I think Arcsoft should make a commitment to at least look into these for a period of time and if reasonable, fix them.

[Scallica]

Dumb question: why would they pull the download itself?

Arcsoft was sued by Dolby Digital two years ago for breaching a license agreement. My educated guess is that they lost the lawsuit and as a result, had to bury TMT in a shallow grave.

http://investor.dolby.com/releasedetail ... eid=648633

[STC]

^Interesting. Thanks for the juicy.

You will all come to rejoice in a stand-alone BDP that just works, all the time. It will be quite refreshing. It was for our family.

A bitter taste in the mouth for those that just paid for it/an upgrade though...

[makryger]

I suppose the all-in-one Home Theater was not meant to be...

[cwinfield]

Dumb question: why would they pull the download itself?

Arcsoft was sued by Dolby Digital two years ago for breaching a license agreement. My educated guess is that they lost the lawsuit and as a result, had to bury TMT in a shallow grave.

http://investor.dolby.com/releasedetail ... eid=648633

I was thinking windows 9 not having WMC was the decision but this makes sense.

[mcewinter]

^Interesting. Thanks for the juicy.

You will all come to rejoice in a stand-alone BDP that just works, all the time. It will be quite refreshing. It was for our family.

A bitter taste in the mouth for those that just paid for it/an upgrade though...

I think the word is surrender.

[adam1991]

You will all come to rejoice in a stand-alone BDP that just works, all the time. It will be quite refreshing. It was for our family.

<snort> You don't remember when DVD first came out, do you. Discs that wouldn't work, players that needed upgrades so you could watch The Matrix, etc, etc. And then Blu-ray Disc came out, and demanded--DEMANDED--network connectivity. Because, you know, if they're not able to control your whole experience (and remove capabilites from you that they don't want you to have), you're not allowed to view the content you PURCHASED.

"BDP that just works, all the time" is pure fantasy in my mind.

[STC]

^ Try a modern one for yourself

Now, if you buy a cheapo throw away one, then yes perhaps your experience will be marred.

[Crash2009]

Dam, and I just laminated the kb shortcuts to my desk.

[newfiend]

So, I tried PowerDVD 14. It works in WMC (in case anyone didn't know that tidbit already).. Is it as nice (and simple) as TMT? NO...
but it works and still supported at the moment.

If you have an older Antec Case (like I do) with the iMon Software it can be a bit of a pain to get set up, but is feasible using the PowerDVD11.imo file.

I also didn't like how it tried to add all my media to it's library automatically (which I disabled). I don't play a lot of Blu-Ray disk's as most of my stuff is ripped to HDD on my server in .mkv files and I just use Media Browser for all of that. But I do have some movie's that aren't ripped and on Disk still so having playback capability (that's still supported) is important to me. I do also have a dedicated Blu-Ray player in the bedroom just in case but the loss of TMT seems like another step closer to Media Center's demise.

So the question I have for you all is.. If/When you guys decide to move on from WMC what will you replace it with? I'm curious to see your answers..
newfiend~

^ /moderator note: split topic to HERE

[mcewinter]

PDVD is the comprimise that I would investigate. While STC seems eager to drift away from MCs features, I'm not quite ready. As long as PDVD "works" then this is the route I'll take. At the moment, I do not see a viable alternative to MC.