Picture in picture?

[dishwater63]

Again, maybe my google-fu isn't up to snuff, but I couldn't find anything about the topic. I found a couple questions here and there saying that it doesn't exist, but they were from a few years ago. Is it still not available for Win7 Media Center?

[Dragonfly]

No. But if you have two or more tuners available (HDHomerun, Ceton, etc.) you can run Media Center in a window and other tuners using VLC or another player in separate window/s.

Clunky, but ok for sports when you need it.

[mark1234]

Is it still not available for Win7 Media Center?

Just to manage your expectations, you should consider Media Centre to be feature complete and not get any further updates. You can see this by 8MC essentially being identical to 7MC when previous versions had all received decent upgrades. I don't think I'm making too extravagant a claim to say that there won't be a 9MC.

[dishwater63]

Is it still not available for Win7 Media Center?

Just to manage your expectations, you should consider Media Centre to be feature complete and not get any further updates. You can see this by 8MC essentially being identical to 7MC when previous versions had all received decent upgrades. I don't think I'm making too extravagant a claim to say that there won't be a 9MC.

Thanks. I just figured it would be something ingrained in the tech. I mean, I'm able to record two shows and still have the ability to rewind live TV at the same time, but I can't have PiP? Just seems like an oversight that they don't want to implement, or it's a lot hard than I'm thinking it is.

[barnabas1969]

I don't know how difficult it would have been for Microsoft to implement it, but Media Center probably won't ever get any more updates in the future... so don't hold your breath. If I had to guess as to why they didn't include the PIP feature, my guess would be that not many people ever use PIP. I certainly never have, even when the feature was available on my old cable box.

[jerryt]

NextPVR has PIP

http://www.gbpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Manual.LiveTV

[barnabas1969]

NextPVR has PIP

http://www.gbpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Manual.LiveTV

That's a nice implementation. The one thing I've hated about every PIP implementation I've ever seen was how to control it via the remote.

However, NextPVR doesn't do copy-protected US cable TV (CableCARD). I don't know if the OP requires this, but it's important to mention.

[mark1234]

If I had to guess as to why they didn't include the PIP feature, my guess would be that not many people ever use PIP. I certainly never have, even when the feature was available on my old cable box.

I've never owned any device that had PIP. Never wanted it either. I've only ever seen the sports fans want it. That makes it a subset of viewers, but I'd have thought a reasonably sized subset.

I would say that PIP wasn't done because it introduces difficulties managing tuners. You've suddenly got Live TV using two tuners. Then you add extenders to the mix and even without thinking about recordings you've quickly blown the tuner limits that Media Centre (by default) has.

[dishwater63]

Thanks for everybody's replies.

PiP isn't a "make or break" addition for me, just something nice to have.

The copy protection isn't that big of an issue for me either because I'm only recording tv shows, not football or movies or anything of that nature.

I'm happy with what I got now, just seeing if there was any other tweaks I could add to the mix.

[barnabas1969]

The copy protection isn't that big of an issue for me either because I'm only recording tv shows, not football or movies or anything of that nature.

Depending on your cable company, everything might be copy-protected. Have you checked?

On mine (Brighthouse Networks), everything but the local channels is copy-protected. Some cable companies even copy-protect those in some regions.