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WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 2:10 am
by jachin99
I know this was mentioned elsewhere but I still see older versions brought up in this forum, and the thread over at MDL is a lot for someone to dive into all at once so here it is. Kevin Chalet has created an updated installer package for WMC on windows 10. Stinkyimp also brought this up in Win 8 forums over here.

Here is a copy from his announcement on MDL from this post: https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1515101

Here is the announcement on the French WMC site: https://www.windowsmediacenter.fr/2019/ ... isponible/

It's really impressive to see how active the Windows Media Center community is, these days

Today, I'm very excited to announce the release of the 8.8.3 package (based on our previous 8.8.2 installer), in collaboration with @lachape_one, who owns the windowsmediacenter.fr blog (on which a corresponding blog post should be posted soon).

mega.nz/#!qegV2IgI!eqZBWXEEF6Lq7wSoNYcISM_6msgpXZITfYo677E4vWA (sorry for not posting that as a proper link, but it's my first post here)

As usual, don't forget to unblock the .zip file before extracting it.

Here's the change log:

- The installer was updated to create a .lnk file pointing to the Windows Media Center Systray executable in the ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp folder.
Unlike Windows 7, Windows 10 doesn't seem to have a magical way to automatically launch it when booting. Yet, the WMC Systray is responsible of fairly critical tasks, like allowing to start Windows Media Center using the green button of RC6 remotes, showing a red button in the Windows task bar when TV programs are being recorded and even warning the user when rebooting the system if TV shows are still being recorded (to prevent accidental reboots). This release fixes that by explicitly starting the WMC Systray at boot time.

- To support EPG program icons pointing to HTTPS servers that no longer support TLS 1.0/1.1 (and now require TLS 1.2), ehshell.exe.config was updated to allow Windows Media Center to use the default TLS versions provided by the operating system (which currently includes TLS 1.2 and will include TLS 1.3 once it's supported by Windows).
Note: this change has no effect if .NET Framework 4.7 or a newer version is not installed on the machine.

For those interested in reading more about the method used for making WMC TLS 1.2-compatible, I blogged about it on my personal blog: kevinchalet.com/2019/04/11/forcing-an-old-net-application-to-support-tls-1-2-without-recompiling-it/

Cheers.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:31 pm
by SpencerC
Thanks Jacin99. Any word if they added support for cable card tuners?

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:44 pm
by jachin99
I think I have seen some references to dvb link working in later versions of win 10 but nothing deffinitive. There seems to be more progress on it lately than there was in 2017 or 2018 though and that's just my rough observation. I'm keeping an eye on the thread and posting anything interesting over here.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:57 am
by 1ST1
Hello, does 8.3.3 run in 1809 and 1903? My HTPC still runs with 1803, and I am courious if I can upgrade when using v8.3.3.

How to update without loosing TV channels, library and recording settings, etc. ?

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:01 pm
by EZEd
I have a question that I can't seem to find answer to. I was a 7MC user for many years because I had cablecard with Time Warner/Spectrum. We moved 2 years ago and the area Im in doesnt have cable. We have AT&T two wire ( not fiber/uverse). The only other alternative is satellite ( not going back to that).

Right now Im using native Emby (not the WMC plugin) for OTA TV and Directv Now for non-OTA. For a while I had Hdhomerun Premium but we know how that ended up.

Now the question. With the new versions of Win10 WMC and Modern Media UI+ is there a way to bring streaming TV services into WMC environment for local record?

Im okay with DirecTV Now but would switch in a minute if there was a streaming service compatible with WMC recording. Is anyone working on such between the two initiatives?

Any info would be helpful.

Thx
EZEd

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:35 pm
by DavidinCT
SpencerC wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:31 pm Thanks Jacin99. Any word if they added support for cable card tuners?
Do not get your hopes up for cablecards. I don't think it's an item you will ever see, unless you go back to 7 or 8.1 (and installing this version). Cablecards depend on PlayReady, a early version. Microsoft completely gutted it form the newer versions of Windows 10, this is what broke cablecards on 10. So, other DRM programs that depended on Windows Media Player tech was disabled, this includes Zune and many other smaller music providers. The DRM'ed content from them is no longer playable in Windows 10.

To use cablecards in Windows, you NEED playready installed with Windows components as part of it. You also have the fact that most of the hackers who create these builds, don't reside in the USA, so they don't use cablecards with no need to get them working.

Would love to see this myself but, I know it will never happen....sad to say...

Does this do any hacks like past hacks of WMC.... Like playing video over RDP, or disabling the 4K too high res message when starting WMC ?

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 10:03 pm
by cmal
upfront the basics about my system:
Intel Kaby Lake with HD6200; twintuner DVB S2; Win10 LTSC 2019 x64; Intel driver 25.20.100.6577 with display audio;

I observe three problems with this package:
- the slide show screen saver does not engage; I see just a black screen;
- when I press the "mute" button the speaker symbol with the "x" appears but the sound continues;
- after a longer time in the not working screensaver (e.g. after having paused), playback does not work anymore ("video error") and mediacenter restarts or I have to restart manually;

are there any suggestions?
Thanks

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 1:55 pm
by PrplHaz4
I seem to be having more luck replacing the DLLs as they disappear than using the new installers. Would be nice if there were a github repo or something that would do a better job of capturing issues/fixes and updates to these installers as they come out.

In order to overwrite MSVidCtl.dll this time, I had to first stop the "Windows Media Center Receiver" service.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 1:17 am
by cvanwormer
I'm moving to a new machine and found that WMC 8.8.3 worked with my win10-1809. I let the new instal update to 1903 and it stopped working. Should I go back and do a re-install of the old win-10, or will somebody be making an updated installer soon?

Thanks,
Carl

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 10:30 pm
by technodevotee
cvanwormer wrote: Thu May 23, 2019 1:17 am I let the new instal update to 1903 and it stopped working.
I assume you are aware that Microsoft automatically remove windows\ehome (the majority of Windows Media Center) whenever an upgrade takes place, which means it is necessary to remove the remainder and reinstall it?

If you have a complex setup like me and don't want to have to redo everything from scratch, you can use the script in the installer folder to make a copy of programdata\ehome and the registry settings before uninstalling and restore them afterward.

There are a *few* documented issues running 8.8.3 on 1903 but it mostly works and I'm sure that people are beavering away at fixing the bits that stopped working.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 12:11 am
by seanbperiod
technodevotee wrote: Thu May 23, 2019 10:30 pm
cvanwormer wrote: Thu May 23, 2019 1:17 am I let the new instal update to 1903 and it stopped working.
There are a *few* documented issues running 8.8.3 on 1903 but it mostly works and I'm sure that people are beavering away at fixing the bits that stopped working.
What are the documented issues? As a whore for updates that I don't need I'm anxious to press the button, but holding back for now - I only use MCE for DVR with my hdhomerun. Any issues there?

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 12:39 pm
by technodevotee
I'm sure that everyone would agree that Kévin Chalet over at MDL did some more great work on 8.8.3.

However, in addition to the widely documented issues seen when running 1809, the mechanism he put in place to obviate the need to roll back DLLs in system32 to an older version no longer works and both MSVidCtl and CPFilters need to be rolled back.

The good news is that the tray icon still works all the time.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 8:15 pm
by cvanwormer
technodevotee wrote: Fri May 24, 2019 12:39 pm I'm sure that everyone would agree that Kévin Chalet over at MDL did some more great work on 8.8.3.
However, in addition to the widely documented issues seen when running 1809, the mechanism he put in place to obviate the need to roll back DLLs in system32 to an older version no longer works and both MSVidCtl and CPFilters need to be rolled back.
You mention "rolled back". Since I haven't read the whole Green Button content and I've just jumped in at the end, are there any pointers available to the "Cliff's Notes" version on dealing with upgrades, bugs, and fixes? I'm building up the system for my wife and she just found that she can no longer click on WMC output file and convert it to her favorite formats. Any short-form version or quick-start guide would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Carl

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 9:40 pm
by technodevotee
I have successfully run 8.8.3 on windows 10 versions 1803,1809 and 1903 (including RTM).

I've had to use files from 1709 to replace the newer ones as follows:

Copy in & register encdec.dll and modify the registry settings. On a fresh installation of 1903 I've found that there aren't any registry entries for encdec so I've had to import them from an older PC.

Rename existing msvidctl and cpfilters DLLs and copy in older ones.

PlayReady installs and updates fine.

WMC finds DVB-T and DVB-S channels, the Guide works and it can record and play recorded TV (including HD).

Music is a different story as having download album art etc., still causes WMC to crash.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 10:06 pm
by jachin99
I wonder if the music issues could be caused by user agent reporting issues. Maybe it's trying to report as as win 7 instead of win 10 or there is some other conflict there. The user agent is the only way I could think of to differentiate between the various OSs

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 10:34 pm
by technodevotee
Looking at event viewer, there are reports an error in a key windows component. Can't be sure but I think it was kernelbase.dll.

I'm sure that this problem has been around since 1803 so it seems likely that there is an incompatibility. Thing is, Windows Media Player suffers from similar problems as well and that IS a supported product but they haven't fixed it.

I suspect it may be insurmountable.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 7:13 am
by technodevotee
cvanwormer wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 8:15 pm I'm building up the system for my wife and she just found that she can no longer click on WMC output file and convert it to her favorite formats.
I assume that you are trying to use WTVConverter?

I haven't used it for years so hadn't noticed that it wasn't working.

Well on some PCs anyway - on my PC with 8.8.3, I get a message about the content not being compatible but on one with my custom version, I can convert some but not others.

This is complicated.

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:12 pm
by cmal
cmal wrote: Sun Apr 28, 2019 10:03 pm ...
I observe three problems with this package:
- the slide show screen saver does not engage; I see just a black screen;
- when I press the "mute" button the speaker symbol with the "x" appears but the sound continues;
- after a longer time in the not working screensaver (e.g. after having paused), playback does not work anymore ("video error") and mediacenter restarts or I have to restart manually;
...
I was able to solve this issues:
1+3: the Windows energy setting were set to the same time (3 min) like the Media Center; so, basically Windows cut off the screen at the same moment WMC wanted to start the slide show; and from this it did not recover anymore in a proper way, which led to the video error; I set it to 25 min and now it works;
2: here I had to remove the check mark in "Application have exclusive control/access (whatever)"; now also mute works

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:55 pm
by BMV
I found a little bug in line 621 of the file: "bin\Install.reg"

Original line is:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3109CFE8-DCA4-4272-BD4E-605AF9D675A1}\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\\{62C8FE65-4EBB-45e7-B440-6E39B2CDBF29}]

It have to be replaced with:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3109CFE8-DCA4-4272-BD4E-605AF9D675A1}\Implemented Categories\{62C8FE65-4EBB-45e7-B440-6E39B2CDBF29}]


Can you tell me if there is also a 32-bit version of the WMC-V8.8.3 installation available?

Re: WMC 8.8.3 for Win 10

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:08 pm
by technodevotee
Well spotted. This error actually exists in 8.8.1 and 8.8.2 as well.

Did you create a reg file to patch an installed system?

I knocked one up and can post it if anyone wants it.

AFAIK V12 is the latest 32 bit version of WMC available. There was a 32bit non DISM V12 posted briefly on MDL but it vanished.

I created a hybrid 64 bit V12/v8 installer so that I can run WMC full screen in a remote session so it may be possible to do the same for a 32 bit V12. I have a 32bit copy of V12 but unfortunately, I don't have the resources to build a hybrid from it and I certainly don't know what is required to modify the files.