WMC to be separate add-on in W8

cjmccarthy72

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#141

Post by cjmccarthy72 » Fri May 04, 2012 12:22 pm

Following on from the comment above by adam, it would be interesting to hear from Microsoft how many people upgrade from plain versions to pro in the past- as oppossed to intentionally buying pro from the onset. Because those who do upgrade to Windows 8 will have no choice but to have WMC. However, the many people who buy Windows 8 Pro outright I imagine will never bother to go onto getting the Media Center pack.

It does feel like WMC is being starved of oxygen and Microsoft is asking its loyal WMC base to show them its worth saving...

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#142

Post by richard1980 » Fri May 04, 2012 1:20 pm

cjmccarthy72 wrote:Because those who do upgrade to Windows 8 will have no choice but to have WMC.
Well, Microsoft didn't say the Pro Pack is the only way to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro. They may have a similar upgrade that doesn't include WMC. It's not clear at this point.

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#143

Post by trooper11 » Fri May 04, 2012 1:53 pm

Yeah, i think since the topic of the post was media center, they focused on the upgrade paths for it. That doesn't necessarily mean that's the only way to get to pro.

Im still not sure why they don't just offer the same 'media pack' to both versions of the OS. it would cut down on these different names and different versions MS has to support.

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#144

Post by gcoupe » Fri May 04, 2012 2:42 pm

trooper11 wrote: Im still not sure why they don't just offer the same 'media pack' to both versions of the OS. it would cut down on these different names and different versions MS has to support.
Because (it seems clear to me) they want to kill it off, while at the same time saying "see, we told you only a few people bought WMC".

If X is the price differential between licensing Windows 8 Pro over plain old Windows 8, and Y is the additional cost for the WMC add-on, then it looks as though:

1) the Windows 8 Media Pack will cost Y, and
2) the Windows 8 Pro Pack will cost X + Y.

Slice, dice, and kill the product...
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#145

Post by trooper11 » Fri May 04, 2012 3:35 pm

Thats true.

As I said in other threads, this will either mean MS is bowing to third parties to hold that market or they want to replace it with something built from the ground up to integrate in Metro.

We will see. I would say if they are working on a replacement, it wont be a quick process.

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#146

Post by tommo » Fri May 04, 2012 8:33 pm

a replacement surely wouldn't be that hard. Just a few metro remote friendly apps.

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#147

Post by gcoupe » Sat May 05, 2012 7:33 am

trooper11 wrote:As I said in other threads, this will either mean MS is bowing to third parties to hold that market or they want to replace it with something built from the ground up to integrate in Metro.

We will see. I would say if they are working on a replacement, it wont be a quick process.
Nope, no replacement. Microsoft has now stated (in a FAQ) that WMC 8 will be what we are seeing in the Consumer Preview, i.e. a lightly-tweaked WMC 7.
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NWW

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#148

Post by NWW » Sat May 05, 2012 9:12 am

This is BS. I wish Ceton could take over what's left of the eHome group and create a new WMC (Metro style, centralized recording + streaming to network PC "extenders" ...)

Please, Ceton?

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#149

Post by mark1234 » Sat May 05, 2012 9:36 am

I do think the best (only) hope for Media Centre is if MS sell it to a third party. From an outsiders perspective Ceton do seem to be the best placed to be this third party.

Who knows, maybe Ceton & MS have already explored this and decided against.
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#150

Post by adam1991 » Sat May 05, 2012 12:38 pm

Who knows, maybe Ceton & MS have already decided this and we're just awaiting the Ceton press release.

Maybe we're awaiting the Ceton press release that they've gone all Google and are implementing Sage under the hood of the Q.

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#151

Post by STC » Sat May 05, 2012 12:50 pm

^ Damn! We were not supposed to tell anyone until Q3! :roll:

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#152

Post by mark1234 » Sat May 05, 2012 2:51 pm

adam1991 wrote:Who knows, maybe Ceton & MS have already decided this and we're just awaiting the Ceton press release.

Maybe we're awaiting the Ceton press release that they've gone all Google and are implementing Sage under the hood of the Q.
Both just as likely as what I said!
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#153

Post by trooper11 » Mon May 07, 2012 2:48 pm

gcoupe wrote:
trooper11 wrote:As I said in other threads, this will either mean MS is bowing to third parties to hold that market or they want to replace it with something built from the ground up to integrate in Metro.

We will see. I would say if they are working on a replacement, it wont be a quick process.
Nope, no replacement. Microsoft has now stated (in a FAQ) that WMC 8 will be what we are seeing in the Consumer Preview, i.e. a lightly-tweaked WMC 7.

That doesn't rule out what I said at all.

The replacement I was referring to was a Metro solution, not updating MC as it is today. So we will still have to wait and see if something like that shows up.

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#154

Post by gcoupe » Tue May 08, 2012 7:14 am

trooper11 wrote:The replacement I was referring to was a Metro solution, not updating MC as it is today. So we will still have to wait and see if something like that shows up.
You're clearly an optimist. I'm a pessimist.

I don't expect Microsoft to come up with a Metro version of WMC - ever. Now, it's possible that something like this might emerge from a third party, e.g. a Metroised JRiver, but from Microsoft themselves? I really, really doubt it.
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#155

Post by NWW » Tue May 08, 2012 8:09 am

gcoupe wrote:
trooper11 wrote:The replacement I was referring to was a Metro solution, not updating MC as it is today. So we will still have to wait and see if something like that shows up.
You're clearly an optimist. I'm a pessimist.

I don't expect Microsoft to come up with a Metro version of WMC - ever. Now, it's possible that something like this might emerge from a third party, e.g. a Metroised JRiver, but from Microsoft themselves? I really, really doubt it.
The problem about 3rd party is that they'll never add Cablecard support for those in the US.

While a metro front end is to be expected, the live tv portion, I don't really know how they will do it. (Although, here in europe, it shouldn't be too hard, Mediaportal already does it brilliantly)

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#156

Post by richard1980 » Tue May 08, 2012 1:15 pm

NWW wrote:The problem about 3rd party is that they'll never add Cablecard support for those in the US.
Unless of course that third party is a company that manufactures CableCARD tuners.

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#157

Post by NWW » Tue May 08, 2012 1:40 pm

richard1980 wrote:
NWW wrote:The problem about 3rd party is that they'll never add Cablecard support for those in the US.
Unless of course that third party is a company that manufactures CableCARD tuners.
Of course. The problem I see with that is that they could completely alienate people outside the US. I sure hope they don't.

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#158

Post by trooper11 » Tue May 08, 2012 3:33 pm

gcoupe wrote:
trooper11 wrote:The replacement I was referring to was a Metro solution, not updating MC as it is today. So we will still have to wait and see if something like that shows up.
You're clearly an optimist. I'm a pessimist.

I don't expect Microsoft to come up with a Metro version of WMC - ever. Now, it's possible that something like this might emerge from a third party, e.g. a Metroised JRiver, but from Microsoft themselves? I really, really doubt it.

At this point, all I would like it see is a live tv app, then I can use third party apps for everything else as I do now. The MB folks are already in the early stages of developing a standalone app around Metro, so the rest will be covered.

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#159

Post by Heckler » Wed May 09, 2012 6:27 pm

Am I the only one that wishes that, since Microsoft is going down the path of making 8MC an paid option for Win8, that perhaps they could make "8MC" also a paid option for Win8's Windows Home Server counterpart, based on Windows Server 2012 (assuming they make one)...?

Since I've already got a WHSv1 box running 24/7 (don't have it set to sleep presently, but might investigate the option under WHS2012/WHS2012), it could also serve as the central "8MC" server that has the tuners, maintains the central guide, and does the recording. I could switch to all extenders (or HomeGroup-limited softsled, in my dreams)...

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#160

Post by crawfish » Wed May 09, 2012 7:12 pm

gcoupe wrote:I don't expect Microsoft to come up with a Metro version of WMC - ever. Now, it's possible that something like this might emerge from a third party, e.g. a Metroised JRiver, but from Microsoft themselves? I really, really doubt it.
If there is a choice, I can't think of anything more boneheaded than a company doing a Metro version of WMC, which I assume would be the only version and thus require Windows 8, which a lot of people plan to pass on. There would seem to be no technical reason to do it. I guess if Microsoft were to somehow facilitate dealing with Cablelabs, they might tie it to Windows 8, making it the "easy" way, and this would certainly be consistent with their Customer Contempt Policy. However, cable is said to be a dwindling market, and I'm not optimistic anyone is going to invest in building a new PC DVR program or even add DVR capabilities to a network streamer (PC could be a storage option), the latter being my preference by a factor of infinity as it would eliminate Nvidia and the rest from my TV life forever. I think it's especially unlikely considering that Windows 7 will continue to work for many years, and Media Center will be a paid option for Windows 8, so you'd still be competing with free for the Windows 7 users, and probably cheap for the koolaid drinkers who buy into Windows HE (Hobgoblin Edition for its foolish attempted consistency with phones and tablets). We know what path Ceton is taking here. I wonder if SiliconDust has anything up its sleeve? I hope so. I really like that company and its products. (Sorry, I'm not yet counting the Whiteman project as real.)

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