Windows 8 Pro RTM - Getting Media Center

[richard1980]

I remember seeing a W7 commercial where a lady said something like "the DVR thing was nice". But that was the only mention of WMC in the entire commercial. I can't recall ever seeing any other mention of WMC in any TV commercials. I can't say anything about any in-store advertising because I generally don't go into stores that sell computers/parts.

[barnabas1969]

After complaining about Microsoft's shameful treatment of Windows Media Center, I was able to get Steven Sinofsky to address the issue.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/For ... afcc0e675c

He claims to be a huge fan and personally relies on the technology. Unfortunately, he also believes it was marketed well when we all know that couldn't be further from the truth.

I have to agree with you on that. He claimed they spent alot on "marketing", but I have never seen a single tent card, end cap or TV commercial for WMC.

I agree too... but I don't often walk into a computer store... and when I go somewhere like Best Buy, I rarely walk into the area with PC's for sale... so I wouldn't have seen any in-store advertising. I like to build my own PC's.

If I had to guess, the "advertising" consisted of something like "includes Windows Media Center!" without any explanation of what that means to the consumer. Back when Windows XP Media Center Edition came out, I had no clue that it could be a DVR. I thought, "Why on earth would I need a special edition of Windows to play my pictures, music, and videos? Windows already does that!" I never saw any advertising that said, "This can replace the DVR that you rent from the cable company!"

I stumbled upon Windows Media Center because I was looking for a whole-home DVR solution. I was using my cable provider's online chat to find out more about their offerings. The guy who answered my chat session was actually very knowledgeable... and I asked lots of questions. When I realized how much their whole-home DVR solution was going to cost... and its shortcomings, I told him that I wasn't interested in their product. He responded that I might want to look into a new CableCARD tuner from a company named Centon (sic). He misspelled Ceton's name, but I found the product he was talking about. At the time, there was a 3-month back-order for the InfiniTV tuner... so I bought one at a price premium on e-bay because I didn't want to wait.

So, I have Ceton and that guy at my cable provider to thank for pointing me to Windows Media Center. I'm so glad I found it. It's the best DVR I've ever seen.