I had issues with my computer freezing up with Windows 7, so making the upgrade to Windows 10

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
billmich

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#21

Post by billmich » Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:15 pm

Burger23 wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:35 pm Let’s back up for a second. As I understand it, your Windows 7 box stopped working. At that time, you were using Windows Media Center (WMC) to record and view shows. And you were using VideoReDo for post processing. I cannot address your post processing since I have not used VideoReDo for many years.

Now you want to build a new box with either Windows 8 or Windows 10. I am not clear what tuner you are using: I believe it is a HDHomerun- but I am not sure which model. If it is HDHomerun PRIME that is mainly used with cable providers (Comcast, etc.). I do not know anything about the abilities of the PRIME tuner that is used without a cable card inserted.

Windows 10: if you are using with a cable card, it is highly recommended that you do NOT use . If you are not using a cable card, then people are reporting good success.

Windows 8: This is what I am using. It works very well. You will need a copy of Windows 8- and you will need to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro Pack. While you will be able to download the ProPack, you will need a key to activate it- it used to cost $10- but it is no longer available from Microsoft. Keys are available from third parties- but it is hit and miss. Browse this thread to See my story- and exact instructions on how to install in this thread. viewtopic.php?f=97&t=12255&p=135143#p135143

Post Processing: Most people use EPG123 to populate tv networks into WMC. It is excellent. And a lot of people then use MCEBuddy to remove commercials. Again, it is great- and technical support forums are great.

my HTPC with windows 7 was purchased in 2014 and has served me well for 8 years. Last week there were issues where it was freezing up randomly needing a HARD reboot (holding in power button); I did NOT buy I new unit, I simply had my tech guy install windows 10 at his suggestion as being part of the resolution of the freezing.

I have an i7 processor, i have a lot of other innards that are still at or near the top insofar as what i am needing this unit to do.

instead of picking my way through a minefield, maybe a fresh clean WIN7 install is the way to go, and i can have that done, but is THAT much of long term solution, what about windows 8/8.1?

BTW I am a subscriber to EPG123, and love it.

I want to clarify again, I don't use this device for much other than a Blu-ray recorder with a hard drive.
Record the program, edit the program, burn the program to disc. I can do other stuff I know, but record/edit/burn is the primary purpose for the machine

stuartm

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#22

Post by stuartm » Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:29 pm

Installing windows 10 was not a good idea. Your tech guy was way off base I suspect. A machine that had been working fine and then started freezing up (assuming you made no software changes) was most likely developing a hardware problem of some kind. I hope he or you made a disk image/backup before the Windows 10 installation. Other possibilities are a disk geting too full or file system corruption. The hardware should have been tested by your tech guy. e.g. disk and memory diagnostics. Usual items that fail first are hard disk, power supply and graphics card.
It also depends on what operations were going on when the hang happened. e.g. was dvd/blue ray drive in use - it could be failing.

billmich

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#23

Post by billmich » Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:12 pm

stuartm wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:29 pm Installing windows 10 was not a good idea. Your tech guy was way off base I suspect. A machine that had been working fine and then started freezing up (assuming you made no software changes) was most likely developing a hardware problem of some kind. I hope he or you made a disk image/backup before the Windows 10 installation. Other possibilities are a disk geting too full or file system corruption. The hardware should have been tested by your tech guy. e.g. disk and memory diagnostics. Usual items that fail first are hard disk, power supply and graphics card.
It also depends on what operations were going on when the hang happened. e.g. was dvd/blue ray drive in use - it could be failing.
unless i am way off base about this, what I am doing with my HTPC is rather specialized; he didn't really understand what the programs were for, his bread and butter is the normal mom and pop home computer or regular office-environment usage. Maybe most of you guys are DIY computer wiz's that love the tinkering and do all this stuff yourself. That's not me, and it's not going to be me. Doing a cursory google search for computer tech/windows media center tech guys yielded useless results for my area. I live in metro Detroit, I'm in a major metro area. If anyone "knows a guy" in SoutheEast Michigan ,please pass it along

I have no doubt that the knowledge base on this site far exceeds my tech guys (in this area) , that's why I made the post, asking for assistance. Everything was backed up, restore points and otherwise. I initially purchased the HTPC with 1 TM disc space, and then augmented it with a 250Gig solid state drive, running out of memory is not an issue and I am fail hawkish in deleting old recordings after a successful burn.
Even if my computer had melted in a fire, i still have all the emails and keys and everything else to build things back up from scratch.

If there is a hardware fail and the unit is showing the first signs of a long slow terminal death, so be it, his tests showed nothing of the sort.
the hang happened NEVER during activity, but some random time after I'd be away for hours, being it 9 at night me checking it, or at 327 am (i could tell because the close would be frozen at that time) and i notice it when i woke up.)

In the day or so since win10 was installed, there has not been a hang, and i was good for about 3-4 a day for the prior week. Obviously i need to let the sample size for that grow for a few more days, if it comes back then it times to scrap.

But if it doesn't, what's my best option, just revert back to windows 7, and a clean/full uninstall re-install?
window 8.1 offer any advantages?

what is this I see from a couple years back about downloading a certain build of windows 10 and then not have it updated and then everything seems to work, does that still work?

so many questions and I don't expect to be spoon-fed every nugget, just some starting basis points to go down rabbit holes and research

Burger23

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#24

Post by Burger23 » Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:21 pm

Bilolmich- read my post below.

If you have the ability to reinstall Windows 7- and then activate the Do Not Update discussed in other Windows 7 threads, that would eeasier than trying to get a Windows 8 ProPack key.

But, I have no idea what the requiremnts of your post-processing. Maybe Windows 7 or Windows 8 are too old.

billmich

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#25

Post by billmich » Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:52 pm

Burger23 wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:21 pm Bilolmich- read my post below.

If you have the ability to reinstall Windows 7- and then activate the Do Not Update discussed in other Windows 7 threads, that would eeasier than trying to get a Windows 8 ProPack key.

But, I have no idea what the requiremnts of your post-processing. Maybe Windows 7 or Windows 8 are too old.
thank you sir

windows 7 was working fine and dandy until last week, and it handles all of my needs including post processing.
I know so much of this is niche, and hanging on by a threat every day, and appreciate guys like Garyqan with the EPG and RyC with the My MMC work they have done.

If my desires are better fulfilled by going with a plex (or whatever) and windows 10, maybe i should explore that, I have 2 months before football/recording season starts, this is the time of the year for me to be doing this.

I appreciate your time in clearing some of the shock/fog from my brain

billmich

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#26

Post by billmich » Fri Jul 08, 2022 3:41 pm

doing a trial with Channels DVR, at the moment. while missing some features I had gotten used to (such as a remote iPhone app where I can skip ahead days at a time easily), being able to have not only HDHOMERUN prime but also TV Everywhere is a nice touch.

Anyone here tried channels DVR before and had issues that maybe i have not encountered (Yet?)

SpencerC

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#27

Post by SpencerC » Tue Jul 12, 2022 1:04 am

billmich wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 3:41 pm doing a trial with Channels DVR, at the moment. while missing some features I had gotten used to (such as a remote iPhone app where I can skip ahead days at a time easily), being able to have not only HDHOMERUN prime but also TV Everywhere is a nice touch.

Anyone here tried channels DVR before and had issues that maybe i have not encountered (Yet?)
I tried channels and it kept pixelating for me. I'm in the same situation as you, Win10 with HDHR Prime (cable card). I ended up getting the HDHomeRun DVR. The interface isn't that great but it works. The biggest disappointment is no grid guide. SiliconDust has recently said that a grid guide is coming soon. In the end, all my live TV works and recording works. For now I just use TV Guide.com for a guide until SD releases theirs.

billmich

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#28

Post by billmich » Tue Jul 12, 2022 3:28 am

I haven’t seen pixelated programs, yet

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