Windows 10 Media Center

[milli260876]

I tweeted gave aul about that a while back, think I posted it in this thread... Here's hoping!!

[steveo_in_sd]

I haven't used PlayLater, but i tried PlayOn just recently and it's an extremely disappointing piece of software.
I wouldn't honestly expect nothing from it, if it even works for you at all.

I have no experience with PlayOn/Later but it sounds interesting. What about it is "extremely disappointing" from your perspective?

[3rob3]

Playon itself works well enough (the streaming aspect), but the interface it exposes (ie categories) is a horrible text list of endless scrolling. There is also no search, resume, or watched status and very little metadata.

[steveo_in_sd]

Playon itself works well enough (the streaming aspect), but the interface it exposes (ie categories) is a horrible text list of endless scrolling. There is also no search, resume, or watched status and very little metadata.

Thanks.

I was thinking of recording everything using PlayLater and then accessing the recorded files via Xbox 360 in Extender mode (or through the PlayOn app if it is good); no streaming. Does that use case make sense? We never watch live TV, and often wait until a season is all the way over to even begin watching, so the "last 5 episodes" model that most sites offer doesn't work and we don't want to have to navigate to 30 different apps to get to what we want to watch. If this is a workable use case, we might be able to ditch the monthly cable bill and just pay for some streaming services and supplement with free episodes from the network websites. We don't care about mobile streaming, just DVR, and it looks like this could make cutting cable a possibility. Based on what I have read, it looks like the major downside is that I would have to manually queue up all the things I want recorded each week. I could live with that to save $80/month - if it can actually replace the WMC/CableCard DVR model we have now.

[3rob3]

I never actually tried Playlater, but from what I understand it does exactly what you mentioned above. I think it would grow tiresome maintaining that "queue" each week though. If you went this route I wouldn't use a 360, I'd use a Rasberry Pi with either RasPlex or Openelec (Kodi) or roku (with Plex app).

Personally though I would forgo Playlater and just find content in the native apps. You know that Roku can search for content through different streaming services right?

[steveo_in_sd]

Since many sites and services only offer the last 5 episodes or so, just going to them doesn't really work since it may be several months later that we even start watching a season. I love WMC and have been using it since Vista, but fighting the TA regularly and these increasingly frequent guide problems has me looking around to see what else is out there. Maybe I'll look more into TiVo. Thanks for your thoughts.

[saxnix]

I use PlayLater and think it is great. It has the occasional problem where you download something and it fails half way through, but that may have something to me VPN'ing in from Australia?? In my situation I subscribe to Hulu and Netflix. Netflix releases a full season at a time so there is very little messing around there. As far as Hulu is concerned, if I have a show selected as a favourite they are automatically added to the "My List" category (of the Hulu section in Play later). That category is listed first so it is very easy to find the shows you know you want to play later. Once the show(s) is downloaded simply move it into my folder structure for watching via Media Browser/Emby.

It takes some maintenance but if you are not in a hurry to download the show the day it is available, do it once a week/month, go to My List, and select all the ones you want to do at one time, and hit download. There is also the added benefit that you can take them with you and don't need to rely on bandwidth or connectivity.

[Kieran]

Just in time?
Check out what Silicon Dust has brewing over at Kickstarter. I immediately signed up at the $30 level. This could be the solution to our woes...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/12 ... e-imagined

[The Mac]

Only if you want to completely rejigger your hardware and pay a subscription fee...

no thank you.

and it doesnt say, but i seriously doubt it will play archived ms-dvr and wtv files.

One of the systems i maintain has over 30TB of archived WMC shows...

[Kieran]

I'm not sure what would require completely re-jiggering one's hardware. If you don't already have a HDHomerun tuner then you probably wouldn't be interested in this DVR software product from them. But many of the folks participating in this thread do use a HDHR tuner (and if you don't you should consider one, they are excellent).

Also many people have stated they would gladly pay a nominal fee to ensure the continued support/development of WMC as a DVR. So IMO $30/year is a pretty small price to pay. Furthermore some of the most popular EPG solutions for the *nix crowd require nominal fees as well. We've been extremely fortunate that MS has provided this as an included feature with Windows, but it's by no means free, and we're not entitled to a free EPG.

I would be surprised if it supports the .wtv format, but it's easy enough to convert your entire library to .mp4 or .mkv using MCEBuddy. It even has a no-compression option that does not re-encode the streams, just transcribes them from .wtv to .mp4 or whatever you like, and you can do batch jobs, set up filters, whathaveyou. You could set it off and let it run on your 30TB archive and it'd be done in a few days probably. The added bonus of transcoding your library is that each recording then becomes compatible with a plethora of other devices.

Finally, if we are all ultimately to face the day that WMC is taken away from us, given the other options, this HDHR-DVR software seems like a very similar solution, with similar benefits over a commercial DVR from Tivo or your cable company (or a home-brew DVR that does not support PlayReady and premium protected content.)

[mike_ekim]

I donated to SiliconDust's kickstarter. I have a SD tuner and a WMC PC. When the software is released I will have to:
1) Install the software on my PC.
2) Attach an android device to my TV.
3) Have the ability to watch live/recorded copy-once cable on my TV, along with streaming apps and local playback, all with one device i.e. no switching inputs, no grabbing a different remote. It's android, so it can do whatever an Android can do. Some people pay hundreds of dollars for universal remotes.

I would pay $500 for a box that has that capability. Instead I'll pay whatever an AndroidTV costs, and $30/year.

Only if you want to completely rejigger your hardware and pay a subscription fee...

no thank you.

and it doesnt say, but i seriously doubt it will play archived ms-dvr and wtv files.

One of the systems i maintain has over 30TB of archived WMC shows...

In other words, a new system is not a good idea for someone who does not want a new system. And yeah, you spend over $1000 in hard drives alone but you won't pay $30/year. That's cool.

[Ed]

I donated to SiliconDust's kickstarter. I have a SD tuner and a WMC PC. When the software is released I will have to:
1) Install the software on my PC.
2) Attach an android device to my TV.
3) Have the ability to watch live/recorded copy-once cable on my TV, along with streaming apps and local playback, all with one device i.e. no switching inputs, no grabbing a different remote. It's android, so it can do whatever an Android can do. Some people pay hundreds of dollars for universal remotes.

I would pay $500 for a box that has that capability. Instead I'll pay whatever an AndroidTV costs, and $30/year.

Only if you want to completely rejigger your hardware and pay a subscription fee...

no thank you.

and it doesnt say, but i seriously doubt it will play archived ms-dvr and wtv files.

One of the systems i maintain has over 30TB of archived WMC shows...

In other words, a new system is not a good idea for someone who does not want a new system. And yeah, you spend over $1000 in hard drives alone but you won't pay $30/year. That's cool.

You can also use a PC as the playback device just FYI.

However, if you're going the Android/Android TV route - you need to make sure you either a) have the HDHR Transcode model b) have an Android device that has native MPEG 2 decode support. Currently, the ADT-1 is the only Android TV device that does. It is not for sale though (have to go to eBay) and won't be receiving any further OS updates (but can still download new apps fine). The Nvidia Shield Android TV is the next lucky candidate to have MPEG 2 support - but we have to wait till it's released to see if it does. If so, that's what I'll be upgrading to (currently using an ADT-1).

[tootal2]

What ceton needs to do is make there own software for Windows 10. That way they can improve it as much as they want.

[bob_p]

If Microsoft doesn't intend to carry WMC forward into Windows 10 - another option for Ceton would be to license the WMC source code - and take responsibility for supporting it with Windows 10.

Though the cost of that could end up being higher than what Silicondust is doing - because Ceton may have to bear the cost of getting a WMC 10 version certified by CableLabs plus support for the Xbox 360 extender software - though if Ceton did have access to the source code, they could probably resurrect their extender product.

[IT Troll]

I am not sure why the "No WMC in Win 10" thread was locked but the story is now all over the tech sites.

It is sad news indeed for long time Media Center users. Media Center still offers the best experience for broadcast TV bar none. The trouble there is no revenue for Microsoft in OTA TV and so no incentive for them to continue to support Media Center.

I currently use Windows 7 but was planning a new HTPC build for the release of Windows 10 (hopeful with a free upgrade). So do I just stick with Windows 7 or cough up for Windows 8 + MC whilst it is still available to buy?

It would be great if the Windows 10 install hacks for Media Center left you with an activated O/S. I'd be happy with that.

[jladwig]

Well looks like I'll be staying with Windows 8.1 and will not contribute to SiliconDust. For me the only option I have is Satellite TV which SiliconDust will not support. To tell you the truth I have been running Windows 10 preview since it was available (on a test PC) and have not found anything that makes me say I like this better than Windows 8.1 on my home PC. For work yes the desktop emphasis in Windows 10 makes much more sense. Windows 8.1 with metro interface was just spectacular when running on my 60" Big Screen in my living room. The only non-Metro application I ran was Media Center and wished for and was hoping that Microsoft would update it with a metro version that just did Live TV/PRV functions (There are plenty of Windows 8.1 apps for Photos, Videos and Music). I would have no problem paying for such an application. Windows 8 Pro with Media Center will continue to be supported until January 2023 which is a very long time. Hopefully in that time another option becomes available and if it comes to no guide support before the end of Windows 8.1 support then at that time will be looking at one of the other Media Center type applications - XBMC, Sage, Media Portal etc..

[STC]

I am not sure why the "No WMC in Win 10" thread was locked...

The topic degraded to a point of being heavily moderated. It has now been unlocked.

[Dgr_874]

With the Xbox One getting an OTA tuner later this year for the US and Canada, where do you think the guide service info will come from? Will it be from the same source that Windows Media Center now uses?

[Ed]

With the Xbox One getting an OTA tuner later this year for the US and Canada, where do you think the guide service info will come from? Will it be from the same source that Windows Media Center now uses?

No one -outside of Microsoft- really knows (that I am aware of). It could be from a different provider, it could be from the same provider (Zap2it). And, even if from the same provider, it's most likely included in a separate contract between the provider and Microsoft; that is exclusive to the Xbox One and/or doesn't include WMC.

[Moderator note: continue WMC 10 discussion here--> http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... =30&t=8755]

[shavid0610]

HI all

I am hoping for some assistance. I have recently upgraded to Win 10 and have managed to get WMC working with a lot of assistance from The Green Button forum and My Digital Life forum.

However when watching eithe live TV or digital media, which were watch though Emby plug-in for WMC there is a little jitter every 5 seconds or so.

I am running a Compro Video Mate E750 capture card and my video adaptor is a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti running driver 10.18.13.6839.

Any assistance would be much apprecited to get rid of the jitter.

Thank you
Sharon