Windows Media Center 8.8.5 is out

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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Shark007

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#41

Post by Shark007 » Tue Dec 08, 2020 4:57 pm

MrDude645 wrote: Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:14 pmI'm also looking at my codecs in Shark007
To share my 2 cents worth, Media Center needs to be closed when making codec settings changes.
1st of all, you should know that I do not test anything Media Center related in Windows 10.
That being said, save your current codec configuration by going to the Misc TAB and choose to [Save ALL Settings]
after doing the below testing, you can easily revert to the saved settings by using [Restore settings]

For Media Center usage, It is always best to use the [RESET ALL] button as your 1st step.
test.

Try using the [x] WMP suggested settings checkbox next (you should know that this setting disables the Microsoft Audio decoder)
test.

The next suggestion (for playback ability) is to disable the Microsoft Video decoder on the Swap Tab
you probably already know that doing this will break LiveTV playback but it can improve file playback.
You may need to sign out of Windows and make this setting immediately after logging back in to get past the FILE IN USE error message.
It is easy to revert this setting simply by unchecking the box.

good luck!

For those leary of codecpacks and installers, I also release portable codecs without an installer.
Retain your sanity, use Shark007 Codecs

technodevotee

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#42

Post by technodevotee » Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:48 am

MrDude645 wrote: Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:14 pm I'm currently studying an IT course over here in AUS and its almost Christmas so i wanna get it solved but 2 sides of a coin I guess ha, so I have my MSVidCtl file for you if that helps... its a mediafire link I don't know if they're allowed.... I'm also looking at my codecs in Shark007, I'd prefer not to uninstall it, like I said it's a great pack, I'm sure if that's the problem I can find the right codec.....

http://www.mediafire.com/file/t24sl4qgv ... l.dll/file
the file you have is
msvidctl properties.png
the one I used in V13 is
my dll.png

cmal

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#43

Post by cmal » Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:22 pm

I am using DigitalDevices Sat-Tuners;
at least up to driver version 3.0.2.211-x64 it was possible to inject a transponder list into Media Center (the DD driver had up to version .211 an option to do this; it used loadmxf.exe); in the case of Astra 19.2 that reduced to me the number of channels from >>1000 to ~300, which made life easier with sorting and selecting;
that worked until version 8.8.3 but with 8.8.5 I get a loadmxf.exe error:
'unexpected end of file in line 971, position 206'

don't know who is 'guilty'; would be nice if it would work again...

Erwin

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#44

Post by Erwin » Fri Dec 25, 2020 10:07 pm

djiain wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:23 pm Cheers will give that version a try this evening
@djiain Did you get this to work?

Gr. E

spigeorge

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#45

Post by spigeorge » Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:17 am

Hello all.

Long time member, 1st time looking for help.
Just got a new Dell PC with HDMI 2.1 card so I can have 4k/120Hz

Windows 11 Home 21H2

I downloaded and expanded WMC-V8.8.5 zip file.
This is where I am at now, with no idea what to do next.

The readme.txt does not give you any instructions and there are a plethora of windows command script files, but no idea what they do and or what order to install them in.

I looked all around YouTube, but the one video I found.. his files do not match the ones I have.

Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance!

th3luk3st3r

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#46

Post by th3luk3st3r » Thu Dec 16, 2021 1:01 am

spigeorge wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:17 am Hello all.

Long time member, 1st time looking for help.
Just got a new Dell PC with HDMI 2.1 card so I can have 4k/120Hz

Windows 11 Home 21H2

I downloaded and expanded WMC-V8.8.5 zip file.
This is where I am at now, with no idea what to do next.

The readme.txt does not give you any instructions and there are a plethora of windows command script files, but no idea what they do and or what order to install them in.

I looked all around YouTube, but the one video I found.. his files do not match the ones I have.

Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance!
Inside the ZIP should be two scripts named 'InstallBlue.bat' and 'InstallGreen.bat'. Either of these will install WMC, with the normal blue theme or a green-centric theme. ;)

spigeorge

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#47

Post by spigeorge » Thu Dec 16, 2021 1:58 am

th3luk3st3r wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 1:01 am
spigeorge wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:17 am Hello all.

Long time member, 1st time looking for help.
Just got a new Dell PC with HDMI 2.1 card so I can have 4k/120Hz

Windows 11 Home 21H2

I downloaded and expanded WMC-V8.8.5 zip file.
This is where I am at now, with no idea what to do next.

The readme.txt does not give you any instructions and there are a plethora of windows command script files, but no idea what they do and or what order to install them in.

I looked all around YouTube, but the one video I found.. his files do not match the ones I have.

Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance!
Inside the ZIP should be two scripts named 'InstallBlue.bat' and 'InstallGreen.bat'. Either of these will install WMC, with the normal blue theme or a green-centric theme. ;)
Thank you so much!!!

I wanted to get it right the 1st time, again... thanks!

andrewdbate

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#48

Post by andrewdbate » Wed Dec 29, 2021 5:58 pm

Thank you for making this available! I have installed Windows Media Center 8.8.5 on a fresh install of Windows 10 21H2 and it works without issue with my HDHomeRun Connect tuner on an Intel NUC10i7FNHN.

I had no problems getting the Guide data (I am in the UK).

I did get the the "Decoder Error" when attempting to watch live TV on my 4k Samsung TV, but installing LAV Filters as described in the Workarounds.txt file in the zip fixed this. (Although, live TV played without error before installing LAV Filters when connected to an HD monitor.)

However, I did notice two small issues:
  1. The Windows DVD Player app is not installed by the script if the Microsoft Store and other default apps are removed from Windows 10 before running the InstallerBLUE.cmd script.

    I do not want any Modern / UWP apps on my computer (except the calculator) or the Microsoft Store, so I remove them from Windows 10 on fresh installs by running the following in PowerShell:

    Code: Select all

    Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | where-object {$_.name -notlike "*Microsoft.WindowsCalculator*"} | Remove-AppxPackage
    Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -online | where-object {$_.packagename -notlike "*Microsoft.WindowsCalculator*"} | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online
    If I run these commands before running InstallerBLUE.cmd, then the Windows DVD player app is not installed by the script.

    The workaround described in the Workarounds.txt file in the zip for when the Windows DVD Player app is not installed says to follow the instructions at https://matthill.eu/tutorials/install-w ... layer-free. I downloaded the Windows 10 DVD Player 64-bit cab file (linked to from that page), and extracted it to obtain the MSI file. But I then deviated from the given instructions, and instead installed the MSI file as usual by double-clicking it. This did install the Windows DVD Player app.

    Would it be possible to improve the script so that the Windows DVD player is installed even on systems where the default Modern / UWP apps and the Microsoft Store app have been removed?
  2. There is a spelling mistake in the script output. When I ran InstallerBLUE.cmd I got the following output:

    Code: Select all

    Detected Windows build: 19044
    The installation is starting (the stock Blue skinned WMC will be installed)...
    
    Copying files...
    
    Creating hard links
    
    Setting attributes...
    
    Deleting the unwanted WMC languages
    
    Installing assemblies...
    
    Creating services...
    [SC] CreateService SUCCESS
    [SC] CreateService SUCCESS
    [SC] CreateService SUCCESS
    
    Updating registry settings...
    
    Creating scheduled tasks...
    
    Setting access permissions...
    
    Restoring Microsoft SQLCE COM registrations...
    
    Unblocking files
    
    
    Enabling the stock MPEG2 Codecs trough the DVD Player app...
    
    Installing the app...
    
    Done.
    
    Press any key to exit.
    The spelling mistake is on the line which says:
    Enabling the stock MPEG2 Codecs trough the DVD Player app...

    The word trough should be corrected to through. Perhaps this could be fixed in a future release of the script.
Many thanks again!

andrewdbate

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#49

Post by andrewdbate » Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:15 pm

There is another issue with the install script on Windows 10 when there is a non-standard find executable on the PATH.

This can happen if you have Git for Windows or GnuWin32 installed (which is reasonable if you are using the same computer for software development).

When I run InstallerBLUE.cmd on this computer I get the following output:

Code: Select all

find: '/i': No such file or directory
find: 'S-1-5-18': No such file or directory
============================================================
ERROR: Use the outer Installer.cmd to launch the process.
============================================================


Press any key to exit...
The fix is to specify the path to the find command in the scripts InstallBLUE.bat, InstallGREEN.bat and Uninstall.bat which are in the bin directory in the zip.

These files begin with lines that look like the following:

Code: Select all

@echo off
cd /d "%~dp0"
%windir%\system32\whoami.exe /USER | find /i "S-1-5-18" 1>nul || (
echo ============================================================
echo ERROR: Use the outer Installer.cmd to launch the process.
echo ============================================================
echo.
echo.
echo Press any key to exit...
pause >nul
goto :eof
)
The fix is to change line 3 in each of the scripts InstallBLUE.bat, InstallGREEN.bat and Uninstall.bat from:

Code: Select all

%windir%\system32\whoami.exe /USER | find /i "S-1-5-18" 1>nul || (
to:

Code: Select all

%windir%\system32\whoami.exe /USER | %windir%\system32\find /i "S-1-5-18" 1>nul || (
The install (and uninstall) scripts then work correctly even if you have Git for Windows installed and Unix tools (such as GNU find) on the path.

Perhaps this fix could be included with a future version of the script to make it more robust? Many thanks!

patrick0525

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#50

Post by patrick0525 » Sun Jan 09, 2022 8:33 pm

I am having problems with the latest W10 Pro
21H2
OS Build 19044.145
WMC 8.8.5
When I do an install it looks for a tuner card which I no longer have.
I now have a silicondust homerun with digital card. My previous W8 system detected the tuner card and the homerun

Any comments?

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kennyken

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#51

Post by kennyken » Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:50 pm

I've got very poor live viewing since updating to this version. Live TV works fine for around a minute then all this stuttering starts and five seconds later from it the audio cuts out and disappears. Never had this problem before. Soon as I change channel it settles and the sound comes back but 30 seconds on and the problem will start again. It's also made my PC bsod so I'll check the log when I can.

jriker1

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#52

Post by jriker1 » Fri Feb 11, 2022 5:19 pm

Does anyone have a link or otherwise to an example of anyone that went from Windows 7 MCE to Windows 10? Then install WMC install and then migrate their old Windows 7 scheduled recordings and the like to the Windows 10 install?

Side item, sounds like maybe with the latest updates to Windows 10 and 8.8.5 has some reported issues. What is the current "most stable" version out there?

shimpossible

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#53

Post by shimpossible » Sun Feb 13, 2022 12:31 am

jriker1 wrote: Fri Feb 11, 2022 5:19 pm Does anyone have a link or otherwise to an example of anyone that went from Windows 7 MCE to Windows 10? Then install WMC install and then migrate their old Windows 7 scheduled recordings and the like to the Windows 10 install?

Side item, sounds like maybe with the latest updates to Windows 10 and 8.8.5 has some reported issues. What is the current "most stable" version out there?
Right now it seems PlayReady is broken. So any DRM would not work.

technodevotee

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#54

Post by technodevotee » Sun Feb 13, 2022 3:30 pm

I don't know whether it is possible to transfer anything from Windows 7 to Windows 8 or 10 because the core version of WMC is different.

Anyway, tuners, channels and recordings that require DRM won't work on anything after Windows 10 V1511 because MS changed PlayReady.

If you've got HDHR, you need an older version of software (from 2015) because Silicon Dust seem to have removed support for WMC in later versions.

If you're going to use an old version of Windows 10, you also need to completely disable updates and you might as well install an old version of WMC (V12 or 8.8.1) as the changes made to it since then are likely to introduce problems.

Apart from that, WMC V8.8.5 is rock solid on recent versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 for most folk although there do seem to be issues to do with certain older tuners.

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#55

Post by mrfrenche » Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:35 pm

Hi. First time ever posting. I have been running WMC on Win7 using a Ceton Infini Tv 6 PCIe for something like 11 years now. I planned to keep running Win 7 until it or I died, but my computer may be reaching it's limit. I built a new Ryzen 7 5700G on an Asus ROG Strix B550-F motherboard. I installed Win 11 and tried to install WMC 8.8.4. It seemed to install but would not launch.

Then I found 8.8.5 and it installed easily on the first try. I tried to install my InfiniTv card with my old setup file. Windows 11 informed me that the card could only be installed on Win 7 so then I found a setup and drivers file for Windows 8.1/10 and an updated firmware image file for the InfinTv card. I ran the setup file and it installed perfectly. Device manager sees the Ceton tuner by name and states the device is working properly. Ceton diagnostics runs and checks out the card except that the tuner is not configured for Windows Media Center. WMC will not start live tv setup because it does not detect a tuner. I downloaded the Digital Cable Adviser for WMC and ran it successfully. I also installed the latest Play ready just for good measure. Still no cable card seen by WMC. Ceton diagnostics says to reinstall the drivers and run setup. I did so to no avail.

Finally, I updated the firmware using the image that I found at seanmauch.com. This was scary. I was afraid that I might brick the tuner card. Nope. Everything is fine. I even reinstalled it in the Win 7 machine and it is fine. Oh ya, I also downloaded and installed EPG123 on the Win 11 machine and imported my lineups form Schedules Direct. No problem except that it won't import to WMC of course since WMC won't set up a tv yet

So i think that if I could find the right driver or maybe hack some dll or reg file WMC would see the tuner and all my dreams would come true. Can anyone help me with this? Or will I have to install Win7 on the new rig? Which would not be the end of the world. Sorry if this post is too long.

Thanks,

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StinkyImp

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#56

Post by StinkyImp » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:42 pm

mrfrenche wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:35 pmStill no cable card seen by WMC.
It's my understanding that cable cards will not work on any Windows version after Win10 build 1511.

mrfrenche wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:35 pmOr will I have to install Win7 on the new rig?
Installing Win7 on new hardware is fraught with difficulties, if not impossible.

macrossfan40

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#57

Post by macrossfan40 » Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:58 pm

I have installed the latest version of windows 10 and wmc8.8.5 and wmc cannot see my hdhomerun tuners at all. As soon as I click on setup live tv I get a message saying no tuners found like its not even trying. I can use the tv watching program included in the hdhomerun drivers just fine, but wmc8.8.5 just refuses. Any ideas what to do? No one else seems to be having this problem

mrfrenche

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#58

Post by mrfrenche » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:37 pm

StinkyImp wrote: Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:42 pm
mrfrenche wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:35 pmStill no cable card seen by WMC.
It's my understanding that cable cards will not work on any Windows version after Win10 build 1511.

mrfrenche wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:35 pmOr will I have to install Win7 on the new rig?
Installing Win7 on new hardware is fraught with difficulties, if not impossible.
I have heard this. I am definitely no expert but it seems that the Windows 11 OS sees the tuner card. It recognizes it and reports that it is working properly. This seems to indicate that it is only WMC that won't recognize the card. Maybe I don't understand how it works. Can anyone tell me if the Windows 10 versions after 1511 show a cable card in the device manager and it is just WMC that won't play nice, or if the OS won't recognize it?
BTW thanks for the input StinkyImp.

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StinkyImp

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#59

Post by StinkyImp » Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:51 pm

mrfrenche wrote: Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:37 pmThis seems to indicate that it is only WMC that won't recognize the card.
I believe this may be correct.

One thing you might be able to do is install Win7 or 8 in a virtual machine (Oracle, VM Ware, etc.) and run WMC in that with your card? People report various results using this method.

Personally... I run a dedicated Win7 Pro system as my main HTPC and have a "backup" Win7 machine to put into service when this one bites the dust. I'm always on the lookout for cheap refurbished or off-lease systems so I can continue running a "native" Win7 system until it's simply not technologically feasible.

I follow the old adage -> If it ain't broke, don't fix it! :D

technodevotee

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#60

Post by technodevotee » Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:34 pm

We don't use DRM in the UK so I have no first hand knowledge on the subject but people who know about these things recon that Microsoft changed the DRM mechanism in Windows 10 after 1511 and that was when It stopped working.

It doesn't matter which version of WMC you install on Windows 10 after 1511 - it doesn't support cable cards or anything else that requires the old style DRM.

I believe it was because MS didn't want to pay the license fee going forward because Live TV no longer fitted into their plans. They dumped WMC because they saw streaming media as the way forward. Not to mention that they saw it as another revenue stream.

I'm under the impression that Ceton and Silicon Dust also wrote off WMC and stopped supporting it around the same time which is why people have to install older drivers to get cable cards working on 1511.

V12 of WMC was the first stable standalone version that was virtually fully functional and that works with cable cards on 1511. Most of the changes made to WMC since then are just work arounds for problems that Microsoft introduced in later versions of Windows 10.

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