Anyone still using media centre?

Manbatius

Manbatius

Manbatius

Associate
Joined
11 Mar 2012
Posts
1,782
Location
North East
Hi all,

I just noticed media centre is predictably being removed from Windows 10.

Personally I still use it, though I do have the option of using DLNA through my blu-ray. The Mrs prefers to see the photo of the film in media centre instead of a folder.

I did try XBMC a long time ago but could not get it to work fully.

I have looked into plex, but stopped when seen it was a monthly subscription.

any suggestions?
 
I don't think it's confirmed however they stopped development before even windows8 shipped. And so far wmc hasn't come in any of the previews of win10.
It's a bit of wait and see, whish they changed it to an app and recommenced development.

Edit - apparently if you have a wmc key for win8 you can add it to win10 preview.

So maybe it'll just be like 8, nothing new just throw it in again.
 
Last edited:
I don't care about development, so long as live & recorded TV continues to work.

It's surprising how often I use WMC, but it's great for having TV on in background, for example the Augusta Masters or the snooker final that I'm watching right now.

I guess streamed TV will take over eventually, and the BBC streamed footage is already sufficient, but most other channels lag far, far behind in that regard.
 
I just have XBMC on my Pi. Works nicely with HDMI control thing (Viera Link). I used to have XBMC on my desktop & it worked nicely with a remote. Nothing wrong with it really, although I do only use it to play AVI/MKV/etc.
 
dneill2006 said:
Plex is free :)

The monthly sub is just for useless extras.
Click to expand...

It's the chromecast app that seems to suggest I need to be paying.

I was looking at a way of getting rid of my streaming pc, if the pc bit is free guess I could just keep it.

I should have mentioned in opening post Microsoft have confirmed it being killed off.

My main pc is only windows 7 and I have been getting the urge to update hence the dilemma.
 
I don't get them either.
I will really miss WMC. So simple and effective for watching and recording TV.
 
Glaucus said:
I don't think it's confirmed however they stopped development before even windows8 shipped. And so far wmc hasn't come in any of the previews of win10.
It's a bit of wait and see, whish they changed it to an app and recommenced development.

Edit - apparently if you have a wmc key for win8 you can add it to win10 preview.

So maybe it'll just be like 8, nothing new just throw it in again.
Click to expand...
That'd work for me if it's the case...

I use it for music and videos on my main server/pc and to "play to" the Tv's around the home...

Don't really want to buy something to replace it unless it's the only option.
 
If it's specifically just live TV you need, SmartDVB is really good and free - though you do need to provide codecs yourself, most are readily available to download online anyway.

I've tried WMC on and off over the years since Vista and also WinTV but I just can't get used to it for live TV, seems a bit too rigid and clunky. Arcsoft Totalmedia was good for a while but it got a bit limited with more than one tuner. I'm also not keen on DVB apps with front end / back end / web stuff so this might not suit all tastes.

I've always been keen for having Picture In Picture, but not just one or two.
DVBDream (paid for) and SmartDVB (free) are equally good and allow lots of PIP off a single tuner / multiplex so for several cards, it's brilliant! Both support DVB-T2 Freeview HD.

DVBDream has a better schedule and EPG interface than SmartDVB but that's probably because it is paid for.

I noticed only recently in the 1-2 weeks that Google has highlighted SmartDVB website as being hacked. That has only happened recently and I think it is because the forum has started getting spam posts. Prior to that, it has been fine.

SmartDVB lets you stream live TV via UDP / HTTP. I can't comment on how well it integrates with a remote control as I don't use one, but I do like it for live SD / HD TV and multiple PIP / record.

PS: If the codecs are already on PC, SmartDVB will also install / work as a portable app too. I also have it so each tuner records to a specific HDD drive or folder I want.
 
Last edited:
this_is_gav said:
Plex via Chromecast is just a one-off payment (the app itself). You do need to register but that is free. At least that's the way it was last year.
Click to expand...

I got this working however,

The xbox app requires a monthly subscription of £3.99.
That or I get another chromecast.

Find this lack of media centre a bit frustrating!
 
mctiny said:
That'd work for me if it's the case...

I use it for music and videos on my main server/pc and to "play to" the Tv's around the home...

Don't really want to buy something to replace it unless it's the only option.
Click to expand...

It isn't the case, it's gone.

Media portal is very good, once you get it set up.
 
Windows Mediacentre is pretty much the best at what it does and it makes no sense why Microsoft want to drop it as dead weight. Currently Mediacentre does everything I need it to, watching tv and cataloguing films and music.

Its a simple self contained app presenting the minimum needed configuration and does pretty much all you need a media centre app to do. It operates how you might expect a living room device to behave with easy channel navigation, program info and epg viewing as well as scheduling and recording and they got this aspect right as far back as 2005 with windowsxp media centre edition. No other media centre app comes close in presentation or ease of use and I will miss it greatly once upgrading to windows 10 as I do use it daily for watching stuff on freeview hd with a dual tuner card and have it recording stuff that I would otherwise forget about. (record series button helps greatly).

All other solutions seem to use a client server relationship so you end up with multiple UI's for doing different things and its just a messy way of doing things.

XMBC seemed to work ok with various streamed tv plugins, but the ones using my own tuner and 3rd paty epg plugin just ended up a mess and not working properly.

Mediaportal is a bloated mess that ends up far more complicated than it needs to be. way to many options even in the basic config setup. and that's before all the different programs that place shortcuts all over the desktop for doing different things. Its useless as a self contained mediacentre app and configuring it is a chore. This program is over engineered and a good example of how not to build a media centre app.

Creative Entertainment centre is probably the closest to ms mediacentre but its a pretty bad app now.

I tried smartdvb and dvbdream as mentioned a few posts above as well as dvbviewer and they just don't look the part. They use a crappy gui layout from win95 era presenting way to many options, opening multiple windows for different things and doesn't work like a mediacentre should. Not suitable for remote use on an actual tv (which I do have connected as a 42" display for films/tv).

Mediacentre sure does need some work especially with compatibility but I say again, its the best at what it does and I don't know if their will be a suitable replacement that fits my needs (wants?) with windows 10. XMBC(Kodi) is probably the best mediacentre interface currently, just a shame the tv tuner aspect doesn't work that well. For me, MS Media Centre is the benchark to judge all the other wannabes.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom