For what it's worth: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-10-Will-Launch-in-Several-New-Versions-Leak-Suggests-475967.shtml
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Hopefully it is not just an outdated config file.
Hopefully it is not just an outdated config file.
Windows 10 Media Center, maybe...
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Since MS disbanded the WMC team some time ago, I'm guessing even if they do have Media Center in 10, it'll be just like it is in 8; that is, just like the version from 7. Maybe they're just keeping it around for legacy users (many of whom may have complained?) but I doubt it's going to be anything new.
I'd bet anything you want that there won't be anything new. WMC is dead in terms of any new development. That has been made clear by MS for years now.
While the leak is encouraging in terms of possibly including the "old" WMC in Win10, I'm still not getting my hopes up until MS makes an announcement.
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Does this mean that there will be an exclusive edition of Win 10 Pro that includes WMC or is there any word about it being an add-on like it was with Win 8/8.1?
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I guess I'm encouraged by that. Could [very likely] mean nothing, but at least its more than I expected to ever see.
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It's probably a carry over from Win 8/8.1 as most of the internal stuffs in Win10 are. I personally don't really care about if there is any changes to WMC. If MS does decide to release the WMC w/Win10, it means they will keep the guides open for another couple years. That's all that matters to me. I personally prefer W7 version of WMC because of the compatibility with other extenders. No intention to upgrade to W8 or W10.
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I'd try W10 if it included WMC. The cross compatibility with Xbox One is pretty exciting.
Any new streaming apps will be developed for it, as they are now with 8.1. The new web browser probably won't make its way back to 7 either.
The Media Browser config files could be updated to accept Windows version 6.3 (W8.1) so hopefully changing that to 10.0 will work in the future.
Any new streaming apps will be developed for it, as they are now with 8.1. The new web browser probably won't make its way back to 7 either.
The Media Browser config files could be updated to accept Windows version 6.3 (W8.1) so hopefully changing that to 10.0 will work in the future.
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I just wish Microsoft would confirm if they intend to offer the old WMC with Windows 10 as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the last minute to make the announcement one way or the other. As nice as it is to have the ability to continue using WMC with the new Windows OS and legacy devices, it would be much better if developers of new devices knew ahead of time, so that they could justify continuing support for WMC in their new devices and drivers.
As most here know, Hauppauge's HD PVR 2 lineup does not support WMC because they assumed that WMC would die off with the adoption of Windows 8 (as originally, WMC was not going to be offered to Windows 8 users). Hauppauge recently announced the release of the Colussus 2 capture card, which uses the same encoder as the HD PVR 2. Because it likely uses the same drivers as the HD PVR 2, I strongly suspect that it won't work with WMC, either. It would be nice if they knew the fate of WMC now, as that might allow them to build WMC support into the next generation of capture devices (presumably the HD PVR 3). It would be nice to have a device that could capture 1080p and work with WMC. Even if the content you are using WMC to record is limited to 1080i/720p, there are people who would like to capture 1080p from gaming consoles AND use WMC to record from their set top boxes. Currently, you would need two capture devices to do that...the original HD PVR/Colossus for your WMC setup and a newer capture device for your gaming setup.
As most here know, Hauppauge's HD PVR 2 lineup does not support WMC because they assumed that WMC would die off with the adoption of Windows 8 (as originally, WMC was not going to be offered to Windows 8 users). Hauppauge recently announced the release of the Colussus 2 capture card, which uses the same encoder as the HD PVR 2. Because it likely uses the same drivers as the HD PVR 2, I strongly suspect that it won't work with WMC, either. It would be nice if they knew the fate of WMC now, as that might allow them to build WMC support into the next generation of capture devices (presumably the HD PVR 3). It would be nice to have a device that could capture 1080p and work with WMC. Even if the content you are using WMC to record is limited to 1080i/720p, there are people who would like to capture 1080p from gaming consoles AND use WMC to record from their set top boxes. Currently, you would need two capture devices to do that...the original HD PVR/Colossus for your WMC setup and a newer capture device for your gaming setup.
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+1. I also prefer Win 7 and never saw any reason to switch to Win 8/8.1 just to use WMC. Whatever benefits or detriments people see with Win 8 are irrelevant if you just want to use the PC with WMC. Keeping WMC with Win 10 means that legacy WMC users will have guide data for as long as Microsoft keeps including WMC with future OS releases.
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Imagine how good WMC could be right now if MS continued to develop it.
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that's really the frustrating part. the xbox one is begging for it. its a bluray player that supports tuners in the rest of the world.
Imagine what would have happened if we had multi-tuner cablecard devices from the get-go and cablecard wasn't locked to a handful OEM systems.
Imagine what would have happened if DirecTV hadn't discontinued their WMC Tuner
Imagine what would have happened if Dish Netowrk hadn't discontinued their WMC Tuner
Imagine what would have happened if someone had made a small low power reliable extender, years ago.
Home entertainment might be a completely different world. So many what-ifs.
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What a shame... Those Dish tuners could have made them way more competitive with cable.
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Imagine how badly they could screw it up if they kept mucking with it. We could have ended up with a Metro interface or some other useless nonsense from the brilliant young minds in Redmond.
What has always amazed me about Microsoft is that they don't seem to have a problem venturing into areas that will have a small market share. They'll develop a good product and then just drop it if it doesn't make them mega millions in the first year or two. Their Ultimate TV DVR for DirecTV was a great product, but the hardware was unreliable and prone to failure. Microsoft charged double the amount that Tivo charged for their DVR service through DirecTV. The product was doomed from the start, even though it had great promise. Microsoft just set it up to fail with an inferior platform and price gouging.
I think the main reason WMC never really took off is because Microsoft never really told the public it existed. They'd have cryptic commercials hinting at the possibilities of a PC that could control all of your media without ever really explaining what it was all about. I know a lot of people with Windows 7 or Vista that have no clue that WMC is included in their OS or what it's for.
The premise behind WMC was largely out of the reach of 99.673% of consumers until a few years ago. I remember the Windows XP Media Center days and all the talk of living room PCs connected to HDTVs (which were well out of the financial reach of most consumers in that time period), media extenders, Xbox 360 as a content hub, etc. and things were always too expensive or too advanced for consumers to reach out and grab. Now consumers have home networks - often with Gigabit and advanced WiFi capabilities - and everyone is consuming content on their phones, tablets, consoles, etc. because of widespread broadband availability that wasn't around in the XP/Vista days. Back then, DSL was about as good as it got and it wasn't very good for most people. Now, WMC is certainly something useful with current tech, particularly if it can be highly-integrated with streaming services.
I'm sure this is EXACTLY why all that stuff was discontinued, as well as support/development of WMC. You can probably add to that any other major player developing similar software nevermind the small ones that don't have the resources to get things going.
Like Lex said....WMC was ahead of it's time, released before it was within reach as a viable option for most people. Computers were still expensive, the one or 2 cablecard tuners were still very expensive, those cablecard tuners initially could only be used with specific WMC model PC's without hacks/work around, TV's that could be connect to PC's easily at full quality wasn't as prevalent, etc. You would think these days where all that stuff is cheap and easy, it would now be prime time for this kind of functionality to get going...and with the sheer amount of other specific software apps even for obscure purposes, that some other major players would be making their own similar suites as well.
Problem is that the nearly mandatory equipment rentals are big revenue streams for tv providers. I'm sure they have had a heavy hand in ensuring this type stuff doesn't take off. In fact, as far as WMC goes, I wouldn't even be surprised if the cableco's had some sort of deal with MS not to pursue it any longer. ESPECIALLY considering the tv functionality they really kept touting with the XB1. With that alone, you would think that MS wouldn't limit such a heavily touted feature to simply an overlay of a passed through box with slow IR blasters rigged up etc when they already have the core software to do it all directly and would simply have to add in driver support for the few external tuners there are out there. I'm pretty sure they had some outside influence with that one, nevermind WMC in general. I don't think the tv providers would be too keen on losing $20-$50+/mo equipment rentals to easier better alternatives thus do what they can to protect that, making sure what is out there is nothing more then a novelty.
The thing is, the rest of the world isn't like HTPC users, we're a tiny, tiny, tiny minority. "Normal" people don't want PCs connected to their TVs. Whether justified or not there are just too many bad connotations associated with PCs for people to want that.
I agree in general but it depends on how it's marketed.
It still wouldn't be mainstream if MS marketed it, and all of the tuners came to fruition. It would still be a thriving niche market in all likelihood but it wouldn't be huge.
But it still could have been huge. Just not as a PC/HTPC solution. They included WMC in Win7 embedded and that was where the potential for huge sales existed. Selling STBs that you could use instead of boxes from your cable or satellite provider. We know that a Tivo is basically a PC running linux, but most users don't know that. Same could have been done with WMC embedded. Sell the functionality, not the OS.
Basically what I'm saying is they should have put me in charge.
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Absolutely. HTPCs are tech toys attractive to a very small audience. Most people want something they just plug in and have it work right out of the box. They don't want to have something that requires constant upkeep and tweaking. What they don't realize is that the HTPC hardware and software has become so stable to the point where they can get all that even with a PC. HTPCs these days can be set 'em and forget 'em, with only monthly Windows updates to deal with, but only if you choose to.
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This is one of the reasons the HTPC subforum is seeing so much less traffic these days. People no longer need help to get and keep their HTPC running...it has become super easy.
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