Windows 8

A

Azhar

Fixing stupid since 1972
Joined
Jan 9, 2001
Messages
18,877
My media center is still running MediaBrowser within Windows Media Center on Windows 7. I have several laptops and computers running Windows 8 and I'm pretty impress with how responsive it runs compared to Windows 7. I'm not entirely comfortable making the change to Windows 8 yet because I don't know how my Harmony will work, and I've been waiting to hear (from here) about other people's Windows 8 experiences, but I see that hasn't really happened yet.

I want to know what your Windows 8 media center experience is like. I love the Start Screen Netflix app and I'm imagining a media center that runs from the start screen without needing to go to Desktop or run Media Center. Does anyone have suggestions on how to go about it? Making a movie library populate from Start Screen like how there's a photo and music app?

I know Windows 8 doesn't have Media Center anymore which is probably why I don't see anyone talking about it in here, but surely there are other improved apps that can take it's place?
 
I also notice there's an app in the Store called Television which further increases my enthusiasm for a Windows 8 Start Screen media center experience. Ditto YouTube Movie Provider.
 
Going to watch this closely as I am interested with what they do with Windows 8 and media center.

It is already clear they are starting to sunset WMC as they have made it a separate add-on and not to mention they never upgade or fix problems with it.

I have migrated over to XBMC right now and it is working well.
 
I've been spending a little time last night on mediabrowser's forum and apparently they're way ahead of me! They're in the process of developing MediaBrowser for Metro. That would be so awesome.

Can we say ARM powered Windows RT media center?

Edit: that is, ARM powered media center if there are Blu-ray players available for it. Perhaps ArcSoft will get on the ball and release a Metro app of TotalMedia Theater.
 
IF I EVER upgrade to 8 it will be a year after it's release. I just don't see anything worth compelling in Win8. I have also moved away from WMC, as much as I hate that, and I will be using Media Portal (maybe XMBC, maybe).
 
I know Metro brings a lot of hate, but keep in mind, it was born on the Xbox 360 a few years back on the big screen. It could end up working out well in Windows 8
 
Yeah, Metro works in HTPC's favor unlike the hate-fest going around on Metro desktop (personally I like Windows 8 on my desktop and laptop, but that's another topic). Metro is basically the same thing as WMC. Why launch another program (WMC) and plugs for a program when you can have it all as standalone right from Metro? I can see HTPC getting a great deal of speed boost from less system resource use in that aspect.

Netflix for Metro is already far superior to Netflix add-on for WMC - for me, the top reason being they included subtitle and closed captioning capabilities in Metro Netflix. It's been missing from WMC to this day.
 
Azhar, good stuff! :) I'm looking at Intel NUC w/ VESA mount + Windows 8 + TV.
 
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I'm not to fond of Windows 8 for my everyday computing machine but for HTPC I think Windows 8 looks very interesting. I have windows 8 installed on a test machine now. I'm just waiting for Windows Media Center to drop so I can install and test it with MyMovies addon. If everything runs smoothly I will most likely upgrade my 2 HTPC's to windows 8.
 
I honestly think WMC would be very redundant. Why scroll through features in WMC in Windows 8 when you can use the Start Screen instead? I'm very hopeful that upcoming HTPC programs - particularly third party programs like MediaBrowser and TotalMedia will come out with a Metro version as well as WMC plug-in to keep WinXP/Vista/7 users happy.

Anyone know if the Harmony remote (I have a Harmony One) will scroll Metro tiles?
 
Azhar said:
I honestly think WMC would be very redundant. Why scroll through features in WMC in Windows 8 when you can use the Start Screen instead? I'm very hopeful that upcoming HTPC programs - particularly third party programs like MediaBrowser and TotalMedia will come out with a Metro version as well as WMC plug-in to keep WinXP/Vista/7 users happy.

Anyone know if the Harmony remote (I have a Harmony One) will scroll Metro tiles?
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Agree.

If there was a tile that said "Watch TV" I don't see why we need WMC. The Window 8 start screen could make a good HTPC interface.
 
I am very interested in metro on my HTPC too, the biggest issue I currently have is I really do not know how I am going to be able to configure it to avoid burn in on a plasma TV. With windows 7 it was pretty easy, remove all icons from the desktop and make the desktop black, then set the task bar to auto hide, set up a screen saver and its been great. The trick is this is all automated so other people cannot screw it up. With windows 8 is there anyway to hide the start screen a 1 minute screen saver would be too annoying.
 
I'm not going to bother with the WMC code myself. I'm set on either going fully Metro, else I'll just stick with what already works - Windows 7.

For the time being anyways.

My HTPC is old - Athlon64 4200+ with a Geforce 210 GPU. I don't want to risk upgrading to Windows 8 unless there's a compelling reason to. For all I know, the nForce4 board it runs doesn't handle sleep/wake mode too well in Windows 8.
 
One thing to note, if you are going to use windows 8, I highly suggest you remap an extra mouse button to the windows key. Makes a world of difference in how fast you can move around.
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
So if you buy Windows 8 Pro (and do not buy the "Pro Pack", can't you still get WMC for through the end of January? Confused...
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If you get windows 8 Pro windows media center is free til January. Then its going to be $10 from what i've seen from people speculating.

The pro pack is for upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro.
 
The only thing metro needs to fully userp WMC is Live TV support.

without it I will be using WMC either in 8 or in 7.

I dont need metro from a remote control (seems not to be well created for one anyways)

My touchscreen inwall PC will get W8 on it for sure, but that will just be to play music in the house and launch my HomeSeer Home Automation software
 
Ironically the one program that makes sense to be done with a Metro Interface, WMC, is frozen into its old interface and abandoned.

I really have no interest in it otherwise, but a WMC tile interface and WiiMote I've actually would get behind.
 
jpm100 said:
Ironically the one program that makes sense to be done with a Metro Interface, WMC, is frozen into its old interface and abandoned.

I really have no interest in it otherwise, but a WMC tile interface and WiiMote I've actually would get behind.
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I was hoping MS would have broken up WMC like that when they first showed off Metro but nope. They see no reason to do anything like that but instead to let WMC die off.
 
CrimandEvil said:
I was hoping MS would have broken up WMC like that when they first showed off Metro but nope. They see no reason to do anything like that but instead to let WMC die off.
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I have a feeling with the tile system it will be much easier to break up WMC into smaller more focused elements. It doesn't all need to be "under one roof" any more; which is fine in my case.
 
Trepidati0n said:
I have a feeling with the tile system it will be much easier to break up WMC into smaller more focused elements. It doesn't all need to be "under one roof" any more; which is fine in my case.
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Which is why I'm waiting for SP1 before even bothering with Win8. I don't like Metro on the desktop, I see how useful it can be for an HTPC but MS hasn't done shit yet to bring out that potential.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Which is why I'm waiting for SP1 before even bothering with Win8. I don't like Metro on the desktop, I see how useful it can be for an HTPC but MS hasn't done shit yet to bring out that potential.
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As a FYI, i've been running a Windows 8 box in parallel with my Sage system. Right now the wife only goes to Sage for recorded TV. Once that gets sorted out...I have a feeling i'll make a tidy profit on my HD300's. Is it perfect...no. Is my wife happy with it...more than I have ever seen before. I also think this will be good in general since her lappy will going to windows 8 soon. This means she will only have to know 2 eco systems going forward (win8 and android). If the W8 phones don't suck..we might be drinking square koolaid for a long time.
 
Since I use Xbox 360 as an extender I'm not seeing a need to upgrade. I typically am an early adopter, but I'm truly concerned M$'s position on WMC in Win 8.
 
bLiTzJoN said:
Since I use Xbox 360 as an extender I'm not seeing a need to upgrade. I typically am an early adopter, but I'm truly concerned M$'s position on WMC in Win 8.
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Get your free WMC code or install XBMC.

Everybody wins.
 
I suppose I needed to be more specific to say, I'm concerned that M$ hasn't updated WMC. I understand the business aspect and the usage appears to be lackluster, but with the emergence of smart appliance I would bet the usage would increase unless M$ plans to replace WMC with something entirely new.

I've looked briefly at XBMC and installed it once to toy around with it, but didn't get into the extender piece of it, or XBMC only expose DLNA streams which forces me to use the generic video player of the 360? I do have Serviio running on the tank and notice it does work with the 360 and displays covers, fairly low res. I assume XBMC is gonna give me the same and not the rich WMC experience I'm accustomed to.
 
bLiTzJoN said:
I suppose I needed to be more specific to say, I'm concerned that M$ hasn't updated WMC. I understand the business aspect and the usage appears to be lackluster, but with the emergence of smart appliance I would bet the usage would increase unless M$ plans to replace WMC with something entirely new.

I've looked briefly at XBMC and installed it once to toy around with it, but didn't get into the extender piece of it, or XBMC only expose DLNA streams which forces me to use the generic video player of the 360? I do have Serviio running on the tank and notice it does work with the 360 and displays covers, fairly low res. I assume XBMC is gonna give me the same and not the rich WMC experience I'm accustomed to.
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On the other hand Microsoft may have deliberately withheld WMC in hopes third party developers would come up with apps for their App Stores. They kept a lot back from Windows 8 and I suspect that they did that so a lot of programmers would flock to improve or add to 8.

There's also the fact that Microsoft didn't want to pay for DVD playback licenses anymore for the handful that plays DVD movies on computers, but that's easily remedied by installing a third party DVD player software.
 
Anyone else try to claim a second WMC code, ouch. It says the offer is good for up to five licences, but they are only sending you one code per email. It gets better when you assume that means it can be activated on you other PC, the new genuine checker is annoying and the only way currently to get another key is with another email address.
 
Azhar said:
On the other hand Microsoft may have deliberately withheld WMC in hopes third party developers would come up with apps for their App Stores. They kept a lot back from Windows 8 and I suspect that they did that so a lot of programmers would flock to improve or add to 8.

There's also the fact that Microsoft didn't want to pay for DVD playback licenses anymore for the handful that plays DVD movies on computers, but that's easily remedied by installing a third party DVD player software.
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Or, they want to nickel and dime WMC users.

Or, they no longer want to offer a free feature that conflicts with other services which make MS money on a regular basis.

The distinguishing feature of WMC is the ability to Play and Record Live TV including copy protected content. This is very much at odds to their Xbox Xfinity app. It offers the last 3-4 episodes of many shows. But you need to buy and Xbox and a Xbox Live Gold membership. Right there that makes microsoft money regularly with the Gold Membership. And has you bring an Xbox or two into your house which is an opportunity for more media sales. The xbox current functionality that is pushed by Microsoft is in overlap with most of the functionality offered by WMC. Except much of it is ad sponsored or has other fees associated with it.

Then there's the surprise I got when I installed WIndows 8 Preview. It was a sea for ads for movies and music bought through WIndows or even from Microsoft's own services.

So, why would Microsoft want to give you free software that you use with equipment bought from someone else that conflicts other services they offer which are a continuous revenue stream for Microsoft?

From what I see, this supposed policy of making you pay for low use feature didn't bring down the price of Windows 8 a whole lot, if at all. But that's the implied excuse.
 
Windows 8 is really cool as a dedicated htpc box

Start screen (metro) can be stripped out all the extra junk, and you can add the apps for Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc.. I also linked xbmc to the start menu (used for any local content and bluray's).

You can pin shows from Hulu right to the start screen, talk about WAF right there!

I was using kiosk mode, but it turns out i can't bring up the task manager with the on screen keyboard to start explorer so i'm back to loading the start screen (explorer).

I've still gonna remap my arrow keys on my cheapo remote so the can navigate the metro ui with those, but other then that it's really awesome.
 
I upgraded my HTPC to Win 8 pro yesterday. I did preliminary research to find out that Media Browser is pretty much a no go on Windows 8 even after installing Windows Media Centre.

So I made a decision... abandon Media Browser and convert to something else. I grabbed the latest version of XBMC and to be honest, within an hour or so of messing with themes, setting library locations and letting it download the meta data for my movies, TV shows, music etc. I've got something that works well, possibly better than what I had before. I find the interface way snappier, and movies load almost instantly now...

My harmony remote continues to work on Windows 8 and allows me to select things from the new start screen without a hitch. Navigation inside of some of the new modern apps is a bit hit or miss. I haven't figured it out yet (but i'm sure there is a way based on reading i've done previously as it applies to windows 7) but the WMC key doesn't do anything (unless you have it installed obviously), it would be nice if this was a windows key so you could get back to the Start screen.

Overall... if you are really attached to Media Browser inside of windows media centre or you are using windows media centre for DVR capabilities, I'd say jump on the Windows 8 upgrade while it's cheap. I absolutely prefer what I managed to build in Windows 8 compared to what I was using before.
 
I have found that a windows key in a quick access space is crucial in windows 8. I use a smart phone with unified remote combined with harmony link. Once my PC is on I can control everything with unified remote. periodically I need to switch over to harmony link to adjust volume or turn devices on and off. You can make custom remotes in unified remote with the pro version so you could make one that had all your common inputs on it. The pro version also has the XMBC specific remote as well.
 
As much as I'm having a lot of issues w/stock Windows 8 as my primary desktop, as an HTPC I think it's a fantastic OS.
 
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