Windows Media Center in Windows 8 will be paid upgrade

So it might come as little surprise that Microsoft will require users to pay extra for Media Center in Windows 8, according to Liliputing.

The exact cost hasn't been disclosed, but consumers should be aware that if they want the ability to set up DVRs from their computers or stream live TV through Windows, it's going to cost this time.

Source

A Guy
 
Guy, I had already decided that I would keep Win 7 and install the full version of 8 on another partition. Prices aren't out yet, but that might be the cheapest way to solve the problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
The return of "Microsoft Plus Digital Media edition" ? :confused:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Here is the upgrade path.

WMC.PNG

Jim
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 HP 64bit, Windows 8.1 Pro w/Media Center 64BIT
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS - Home Built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A99X EVO
    Memory
    Crucial Balistic DDR-3 1866 CL 9 (8 GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI R6850 Cyclone IGD5 PE
    Sound Card
    On Chip
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VE258Q 25" LED with DVI-HDMI-DisplayPort
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Two WD Cavier Black 2TB Sata 6gbs
    WD My Book Essential 2TB USB 3.0
    PSU
    Seasonic X650 80 Plus GOLD Modular
    Case
    Corsair 400R
    Cooling
    Antec Kuhler H2O 620, Two 120mm and four 140mm
    Keyboard
    AVS Gear Blue LED Backlight
    Mouse
    Logitech Marble Mouse USB, Logitech Precision Game Pad
    Internet Speed
    15MB
    Antivirus
    NIS, Malwarebytes Premium 2
    Other Info
    APC UPS ES 750, Netgear WNR3500L Gigabit & Wireless N Router with SamKnows Test Program,
    Motorola SB6120 Gigabit Cable Modem.
    Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer,
    Epson V300 Scanner
IS Microsoft insane?

It appears that MS is in trouble. They have to compete in a growing tablet and touch phone world in which Androd offers a free operating system. Dumping Media Center lowers the price of Win 8, because MS has to pay manufacturers to make their DVDs compatible with it. Everything that WMC does is available from other sources, many of them free.

Me? I'm hanging on to Win 7 and installing Win 8 (which I love) on a second partition.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Windows 7 won't be going away anytime soon! As for 8? Well I will have a second OS drive free until 9 beta or CP or ? comes along!

Wouldn't be needing Media Center to start with but no dvd(or vcd) playback in WMP 13? While MS is "cutting corners" on their own OS how do you explain to someone who has hardly ever even used Windows to switch over to it despite the interest in touchscreen?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    1st W10 Professional x64/W7 Ultimate x64 - 2nd Remote system: W10 Insider Builds/W7 Professional
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Builds
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz -2nd case AMD Atholon II 3.2ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1600mhz 16gb - 2nd case Kingston Hyper-X "Fury" DDR3 1600mhz 8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Radeon HD 5750 1gb - 2nd AMD Radeon 6450
    Sound Card
    Creative Xtreme Gamer - 2nd case Realtek Onboard audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 19" dual monitor setup - 2nd case HP 20" lcd
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 same on both builds
    Hard Drives
    1st build
    WD Caviar Black Edition Sata II 1tb two OS drives
    WD RE "Heavy Duty Sata II 2tb two Storage/Backup
    2nd build
    WD Blue Sata II 500gb
    WD Black Edition Sata III 1tb
    WD Green Power Sata II 1tb in external usb enclosure
    PSU
    Corsair TX750H 750w -Corsair 500w
    Case
    Antec 900-2 -NXZT Vulcan Mini tower/carrying handle
    Cooling
    120mm front pair, 120 rear 200cm top - 120mm Front intake 200mm side cover
    Keyboard
    Azio Blue led back lit both builds.
    Mouse
    MSI DS200 11 button programmable Gaming optical mouse - Odessa 3 button dual scroll trackball
    Internet Speed
    30mbps
    Other Info
    two MSI 22x ide dvd burners, 25 usb flash drives used for Linux Live, live data recovery 128gb, and Windows 7, 10 usb installation keys
IS Microsoft insane?

My US$0.02 worth is the same as it has since day one. MS firmly believe their future income stream is via downloaded apps and cloud computing. Whether they are insane or not only time will tell but I'm sticking with my working fine Win7 rig for now
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 & 8 64bit / Linux Mint 14
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5 2400
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI HD3870
    Sound Card
    On-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1280
    Hard Drives
    128gb SSD, 500gb SATA
    PSU
    Coolermaster
    Case
    Zalman Z7
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Logitech Illuminated wired
    Mouse
    MS Optical wireless
    Antivirus
    Avast
Oh dear.

It won't be long before there are only teeny devices which take the user straight into some mindless activity, like playing Farting Fish (tm) or to Fbook.

There will be nothing for those of us who come to these kind of forums.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
One report I just spotted points to the increased and dominant Tablet PC market by 2016 suggesting Tablet will rule the world over the standard desktop. Completely changing the OS to meet only portable and mobile markets will leave MS high and dry once people finally reach a point where they still need a desktop OS but have to start looking elsewhere for it?! :(

Another one indicated running 7 apps on one of those fruit company I(can't think straight) Pads. The other guy will take advantage of the MS downslide for sure! While portables are certainly the "in thing" as far as advances in technology the loss of the desktop OS would be catastrophic in the long run!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    1st W10 Professional x64/W7 Ultimate x64 - 2nd Remote system: W10 Insider Builds/W7 Professional
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Builds
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz -2nd case AMD Atholon II 3.2ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1600mhz 16gb - 2nd case Kingston Hyper-X "Fury" DDR3 1600mhz 8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Radeon HD 5750 1gb - 2nd AMD Radeon 6450
    Sound Card
    Creative Xtreme Gamer - 2nd case Realtek Onboard audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 19" dual monitor setup - 2nd case HP 20" lcd
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 same on both builds
    Hard Drives
    1st build
    WD Caviar Black Edition Sata II 1tb two OS drives
    WD RE "Heavy Duty Sata II 2tb two Storage/Backup
    2nd build
    WD Blue Sata II 500gb
    WD Black Edition Sata III 1tb
    WD Green Power Sata II 1tb in external usb enclosure
    PSU
    Corsair TX750H 750w -Corsair 500w
    Case
    Antec 900-2 -NXZT Vulcan Mini tower/carrying handle
    Cooling
    120mm front pair, 120 rear 200cm top - 120mm Front intake 200mm side cover
    Keyboard
    Azio Blue led back lit both builds.
    Mouse
    MSI DS200 11 button programmable Gaming optical mouse - Odessa 3 button dual scroll trackball
    Internet Speed
    30mbps
    Other Info
    two MSI 22x ide dvd burners, 25 usb flash drives used for Linux Live, live data recovery 128gb, and Windows 7, 10 usb installation keys
I saw a similar report a while back where Tablets would out sell the Desktop PC but they would still sell more PC's each year. So the Desktop is not going away, its just people will also be buying Tablets. Some reports are showing that big corporations are investing in Tablets as an addition to the Desktop and like the idea of Windows 8 with the same OS on both. Time will tell.

Jim :cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 HP 64bit, Windows 8.1 Pro w/Media Center 64BIT
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS - Home Built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A99X EVO
    Memory
    Crucial Balistic DDR-3 1866 CL 9 (8 GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI R6850 Cyclone IGD5 PE
    Sound Card
    On Chip
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VE258Q 25" LED with DVI-HDMI-DisplayPort
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Two WD Cavier Black 2TB Sata 6gbs
    WD My Book Essential 2TB USB 3.0
    PSU
    Seasonic X650 80 Plus GOLD Modular
    Case
    Corsair 400R
    Cooling
    Antec Kuhler H2O 620, Two 120mm and four 140mm
    Keyboard
    AVS Gear Blue LED Backlight
    Mouse
    Logitech Marble Mouse USB, Logitech Precision Game Pad
    Internet Speed
    15MB
    Antivirus
    NIS, Malwarebytes Premium 2
    Other Info
    APC UPS ES 750, Netgear WNR3500L Gigabit & Wireless N Router with SamKnows Test Program,
    Motorola SB6120 Gigabit Cable Modem.
    Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer,
    Epson V300 Scanner

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    1st W10 Professional x64/W7 Ultimate x64 - 2nd Remote system: W10 Insider Builds/W7 Professional
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Builds
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz -2nd case AMD Atholon II 3.2ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1600mhz 16gb - 2nd case Kingston Hyper-X "Fury" DDR3 1600mhz 8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Radeon HD 5750 1gb - 2nd AMD Radeon 6450
    Sound Card
    Creative Xtreme Gamer - 2nd case Realtek Onboard audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 19" dual monitor setup - 2nd case HP 20" lcd
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 same on both builds
    Hard Drives
    1st build
    WD Caviar Black Edition Sata II 1tb two OS drives
    WD RE "Heavy Duty Sata II 2tb two Storage/Backup
    2nd build
    WD Blue Sata II 500gb
    WD Black Edition Sata III 1tb
    WD Green Power Sata II 1tb in external usb enclosure
    PSU
    Corsair TX750H 750w -Corsair 500w
    Case
    Antec 900-2 -NXZT Vulcan Mini tower/carrying handle
    Cooling
    120mm front pair, 120 rear 200cm top - 120mm Front intake 200mm side cover
    Keyboard
    Azio Blue led back lit both builds.
    Mouse
    MSI DS200 11 button programmable Gaming optical mouse - Odessa 3 button dual scroll trackball
    Internet Speed
    30mbps
    Other Info
    two MSI 22x ide dvd burners, 25 usb flash drives used for Linux Live, live data recovery 128gb, and Windows 7, 10 usb installation keys
This is a bad decision. They are risking already by using a user-interface that is not user-friendly or intuitive or visually appealing but removing a feature that should be free to average home users who will want to play dvds. This is a bad idea. Unless Microsoft has computer manufacturer's install the professional version they have lost a chunk of customers. It's confusing that their products always have all these different versions but to remove such an important feature is their biggest mistake. Making us pay premium for a basic feature? Media player has always been bundled with all versions.
 

My Computer

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 enterprise x64
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pc-Quebec / Area 66
    CPU
    i7-3960X Extreme Edition
    Motherboard
    Rampage IV Extreme
    Memory
    Gskill 4x4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    4 x HD 7970
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Screen Resolution
    2560*1600
    Hard Drives
    C:\Intel series 520 SSD , 250 GB
    D:\ WD 750 black with Intel 40gb SSD cache Intel RST
    E:\ WD 2TB Black
    PSU
    Corsair AX 1200
    Case
    TT Mozart TX
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Logitech G-15
    Other Info
    Windows 8 VM is install on his own SSD.
Well WMP wasn't by any means the best player over the years but first came along back in 1991 for Windows 3.0 with the original Media Player. That particular edition of Windows however came prepacked on Multimedia capable machines only back then. It was able to play animations mostly with extensions being added on. Video for Windows first saw light with 3.1 as a free addon proceeding what would be seen for 95.

For the 9X family and ME 5.1 and later 6.4 were separate downloads while 2000 and XP saw WMP 6.4 bundled with 2000 and at first WMP 8 with XP later to see 9 on with SP2 disks due to Vista's lengthy delay. 10 was a totally separate release for XP still prior to Vista's arrival with 11. WMP 12 is not only in 7 but the same for 8 but with something missing! The full history is seen at Wikipedia. Windows Media Player - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I remember back when first seeing 9 right after getting the SP 2 disk where I had been downloading it until 10 was seen with codecs included as well as support for more things like dvds and live media streams over what was supported with the previous versions. Whether included or not MS has always had a free video player starting off in the Legacy days to suddenly run into this?

Information has it while MS will save on licensing the 8 machines that come out will be higher priced those those with 7. Some of that would be explained away with the Metro and touchscreen while the actual prices are yet to be seen this early.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    1st W10 Professional x64/W7 Ultimate x64 - 2nd Remote system: W10 Insider Builds/W7 Professional
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Builds
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz -2nd case AMD Atholon II 3.2ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1600mhz 16gb - 2nd case Kingston Hyper-X "Fury" DDR3 1600mhz 8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Radeon HD 5750 1gb - 2nd AMD Radeon 6450
    Sound Card
    Creative Xtreme Gamer - 2nd case Realtek Onboard audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 19" dual monitor setup - 2nd case HP 20" lcd
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 same on both builds
    Hard Drives
    1st build
    WD Caviar Black Edition Sata II 1tb two OS drives
    WD RE "Heavy Duty Sata II 2tb two Storage/Backup
    2nd build
    WD Blue Sata II 500gb
    WD Black Edition Sata III 1tb
    WD Green Power Sata II 1tb in external usb enclosure
    PSU
    Corsair TX750H 750w -Corsair 500w
    Case
    Antec 900-2 -NXZT Vulcan Mini tower/carrying handle
    Cooling
    120mm front pair, 120 rear 200cm top - 120mm Front intake 200mm side cover
    Keyboard
    Azio Blue led back lit both builds.
    Mouse
    MSI DS200 11 button programmable Gaming optical mouse - Odessa 3 button dual scroll trackball
    Internet Speed
    30mbps
    Other Info
    two MSI 22x ide dvd burners, 25 usb flash drives used for Linux Live, live data recovery 128gb, and Windows 7, 10 usb installation keys
Windows Media Center and Player are bottom rung solutions at best, many free and better solutions are out there, one just needs to look.

If one has to ask about pricing than you probably shouldn't be buying it, people are funny, they are on their multi hundred dollar computers, in their homes that cost in the $1,000's of month for mortgage, have their car on the drive, spend hundreds a year on internet service and then complain that windows 8 is going to cost $129 instead of $79, really?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro ($39.99 upgrade)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel I5 3570K overclocked to 4.2ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V LX
    Memory
    Cosrair DDR3-1600 (4 x 4gb)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT 610 2GB
    Sound Card
    None
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC 27" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x0180
    Hard Drives
    Seagate HDD 500gb (windows)
    Seagate HDD 1.5tb (media)
    Seagate HDD 1tb (media)
    Seagate HDD 1tb (media)
    PSU
    CoolMax 700watt
    Case
    Cosiar R400 Carbide series
    Cooling
    Cool Master H212
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    PowerUp 3 button mouse
    Internet Speed
    12mb down, 1mb up
    Other Info
    qty. (5) 120mm fans, four are monitored by motherboard.
    Logitech T650 Touchpad for touch screen gestures
This report explains that while licensing fees are only 83 cents per computer, MS and the computer manufacturers are paying hundreds of millions of dollars every year for royalties. Yet about half of all laptops don't even include a DVD player! It is not known how much they have to pay for MP3 rights, either.

How much do DVD and digital media playback features really cost? | ZDNet
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
WMC is far from bottom rung.

If there are so many better options why is an entire section of the Windows 7 forum used for WMC extenders? I've tried others and they just plain suck in comparison.

Msoft's refusal to include a PC mode was bad enough but removing the ability to play a simple DVD is ridiculous and short sighted.

It probably won't cost much extra anyway.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
Windows Media Center and Player are bottom rung solutions at best, many free and better solutions are out there, one just needs to look.

If one has to ask about pricing than you probably shouldn't be buying it, people are funny, they are on their multi hundred dollar computers, in their homes that cost in the $1,000's of month for mortgage, have their car on the drive, spend hundreds a year on internet service and then complain that windows 8 is going to cost $129 instead of $79, really?

How are you sure that the ones with "multi hundred dollar computers" are the ones complaining about Windows pricing? Especially when you can run Windows 7 (and most likely 8) on a really old IBM THinkpad T42?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Tansformer Book Flip TP500LN
    CPU
    Intel i5-4210U
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 SDRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 840M
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" Touchscreen
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    1TB Hybrid
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000
One report I just spotted points to the increased and dominant Tablet PC market by 2016 suggesting Tablet will rule the world over the standard desktop. Completely changing the OS to meet only portable and mobile markets will leave MS high and dry once people finally reach a point where they still need a desktop OS but have to start looking elsewhere for it?! :(

Another one indicated running 7 apps on one of those fruit company I(can't think straight) Pads. The other guy will take advantage of the MS downslide for sure! While portables are certainly the "in thing" as far as advances in technology the loss of the desktop OS would be catastrophic in the long run!

C'mon guys
Who really believes this total load of "Horse S---E'.

Most of the people who push out these types of reports have LONG SINCE PASSED THEIR SELL BY DATE. In particular that totally absurd company which probably has LESS credibility than my late Grandma's Cat - namely GARTNERS.

Their predictions are about what you would get right with RANDOM guessing.

How in the world do you enter data on a spread sheet and probably in a lot of other places too on a touch screen type tablet.

Get real guys -- spreadsheets and presentations aren't going away any time soon.

The tablet market isn't going to kill demand for "Classical type" laptops -- although newer tablets might have docking stations with them that have keyboards and external peripherals which essentially makes them into a PC anyway.

I suppose most of the younger generation who can't even leave their home without staring into smart phone screens probably won't get the point here -- but just try and enter data on a spread sheet with a Touch screen. !!!

Incidentally to all those complaining about lack of DVD playback on Windows -- didn't people actually PAY for apps like WINDVD and POWERDVD.

These aren't necessary any more -- VLC media player (free) will play most DVD's straight out of the box anyway and I'm sure there are other freebies out there too.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
The guy who built my computer told me today that my DVD player already has a program installed that will play DVDs, and I don't need Windows Media Center. He suggested that I download the free version to either my XP or 7 OSes, both of which are running fine without it, just to play with it. I might do that while they're still free, but I see me need to.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
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