Windows Media Center not in Windows 10? So now what?

Initially, we would like to raise the question if Microsoft is the right company to purchase products from in the future. But more on those thoughts later.

ZDNet's Ed Bott over the weekend wrote an article confirming that Windows Media Center will not be available in Windows 10 which is expected to be released this summer, with a Microsoft executive as source. This is not an official announcement, but it is as close as it gets, and we have no reason to doubt this information.

This has naturally lead to questions on our forums and on our support e-mail, which we would like to address with this message, and,

To sum it up, the facts we have are:

- Windows 7 included Windows Media Center without additional costs.
- Windows 8.1 included Windows Media Center as a paid-for option, but technically untouched from Windows 7.
- Windows 10 will not include Windows Media Center at all.
- Windows Media Center has always had its best usage on machines dedicated to being just a Media Center.
- Windows 7 will have extended support (security updates) until January 2020.
- Windows 8.1 will have extended support (security updates) until January 2023.
- Windows 7 is no longer available for purchase.
- Windows 8.1 is still available for purchase, and it is not announced when it will no longer be.

Overall, we find it unfortunate that Windows Media Center is unavailable in Windows 10, but Windows Media Center have not been touched by Microsoft for several years anyways, and one perspective of Windows 8 is that all it brought to the table in relation to Windows Media Center was additional costs.

Where does it leave our users of Windows Media Center? Our take is that it does not affect our users much - given the facts above, Windows 7 is likely to be the best choice for Windows Media Center devices anyways, and we have never recommended to use a Windows Media Center device for other things than Windows Media Center, as it is in high risk of adding instability - the main problem here will be that you can no longer purchase Windows 7, and at some unknown date in the future, you can no longer purchase Windows 8.1 either, but no one takes away the licenses you already owe, and, they will continue to receive security updates until 2020 and 2023.

The users this affects are those that use Windows Media Center on a PC that are also used for other things, and would like one or more of the features that Windows 10 will bring. We do believe that the majority of our Windows Media Center users will have no problem at all to stay on Windows 7 or 8.1, and this is what we recommend.

If you use Windows Media Center, what you need to ensure is that you do not accept Microsofts offer to upgrade to Windows 10, even though it will be a free update - if you do, you will lose Windows Media Center. The next thing you need to make sure is that you have the amount of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 licenses available that you expect to have a need for in the future, and be sure that your licenses are full licenses, and not OEM versions, as, with the full licenses, you can ensure that you can always install the license on another machine if you have hardware that needs to be replaced in full. If you need additional licenses, perhaps now is a good time to purchase second hand non-OEM software packages of Windows 7 or purchase new licenses of 8.1, and purchase the Windows Media Center update for those - as many sellers do not know that Windows 10 will be a free update, the second hand Windows 7 licenses may be a good deal - but be sure to get genuine software.

Where does it leave My Movies? Here also, it does not leave things much different from us - we have gotten used to have to earn money for our operations elsewhere, as while Windows Media Center was available in Windows 8 and 8.1, the amount of new customers coming to Windows Media Center have been very few - we naturally still have users choosing to purchase points for the software, but many of these users purchase it with purposes other than Windows Media Center in mind. It will continue to be a priority for us to bring software to other areas than Windows Media Center, which we have done for several years, and we will continue to look for the ideal platform to continue to bring what My Movies brings on Windows Media Center, but the ideal platform is not available, and no matter where we look, we will not be able to provide what we see as an ideal solution.

It is not in our current plans to attempt to provide a replacement for My Movies for Windows Media Center as a standalone application on Windows, as we believe the benefit of My Movies on Windows Media Center was to be part of a full media solution - it is also not in our current plans to attempt to build a replacement on Windows 10 and Xbox One, as we still believe that the best unattended solution that does not require a high amount of weekly hours involvement is one that includes disc based media, and that is something that does not go well with a modern Windows app or an Xbox One app, or even an add-in to Kodi (previously XBMC). The closest we can come to My Movies for Windows Media Center will be a standalone Windows application, but it will then be focused on just movies, and it would only be something that made sense for some of our users.

To sum it up - we recommend staying on Windows 7 or 8.1, and continue to use Windows Media Center as you always have. We will continue to do what we can to support our users who would like to use other platforms, by storing meta-data for Kodi, for media players and other softwares, but it will never become the full My Movies for Windows Media Center experience.

Last, we would like to raise the question if Microsoft is the right company to support with your technology purchases in the future?

Windows Media Center have had a reasonably long life, but development wise, it was abandoned by Microsoft just when the market around it was starting to get interesting - when Microsoft ended the eHome team behind Windows Media Center, PC's were hot and noisy, and not really ideal in a livingroom environment - that situation is so much different today. Had Windows Media Center kept support from Microsoft, imagine what it could have been today? The early adopters were here, and still today, many of these early adopters are still sticking to Windows Media Center today.

Windows Home Server is from our perspective another great product in Microsofts portfolio, and another product we as a company spend a lot of resources on, and the story is nearly the same as Windows Media Center, a lot of early adopters jumped on Windows Home Server and Windows Home Server 2011, and we know for fact that many of our users are still using Windows Home Server as a corner stone in their homes - this product Microsoft also decided to dump.

Then, there is the example of Windows Phone - many early adopters supported Microsoft in their attempt to enter the mobile platform, and purchased Windows Phone 7 / 7.5 devices, only to learn that Microsoft decided that they did not get it right the first time, so they needed to abandon all of these devices purchased by early adopters, and introduce Windows Phone 8, which earlier devices could not be upgraded to.

Then we could add the story of Microsoft Surface and Windows RT...

Many of our users are technology enthusiasts and therefore early adopters for new technology - from our perspective it seems to us that Microsoft is shooting away in various directions, hoping that something hits the target - but let down each time is the early adopters. Many people laugh at "Apple fanboys", but perhaps it is time for Microsoft to wonder why the term "Microsoft fanboy" is not a figure of speech?

From the early years, My Movies have been dedicated on Microsoft products - we still are, but each time, we have to ask ourselves; "Do we believe in this in the long run"? We do not recommend staying away from Microsoft products, but we recommend that our users consider each time purchasing a Microsoft product, if they can live with it having a very short lifetime.

In our forums, we would love your inputs on which direction you personally would like to see My Movies go in the future?

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Having trouble installing or upgrading to My Movies 5? Click here for troubleshooting.

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Media Center feature is great. But to be honest over the past few years I have stopped using it and simply just used MyMovies for the database features to keep track of My Movies. Mainly because of the natural disaster that happen in Thailand a couple years ago that forced HDD prices to go up. After that I just didnt get back into it. The db features due help out alot when buying new movies though.

Any thoughts into developing your own "Media Center" capabilities. I am sure that would be a great under taking that would probably cost money and time. However this sounds like a great candidate to start a kickstarter campaign.

I have been setting up my system to use Kodi for several months now. I find it much faster and much better the WMC. WMC time has come and gone and I think it is time to move on with a MM interface or work with Kodi and Plex.

IMHO.

In my case my WHS Mediasmartserver has dropped 2 drives in the last year and probably won't last much longer . I cannot even get MM to run reliably with it and my Dune and am constantly rebuilding . Newer compatible hardware seems the only hope .But If I was to start over , what should I buy ? I don't feel like hanging my hat on Windows 7-8 is cash worthy . I would not baulk at Apple's premium provided I get the very best metadata combined with multi-format and codec playback . I know this seems like a dream but is it really too much to ask for in the 21st Century ? MS think so apparently but I do not .

I like the possibilities of Kodi . Combined MM it could provide a great solution and is available on many different platforms .

~M~

The software already stores meta-data for Kodi, and Plex is closed in that relation.

We are not sure that creating an add-in for Kodi will be ideal, as many users use different UI's and such.

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Having trouble installing or upgrading to My Movies 5? Click here for troubleshooting.

Having a problem? Searching our Knowledge Base is always the first step.

How can I produce a log file in My Movies for Windows?

How can I fully uninstall My Movies for Windows

The hits the nail on the head - the problem with these alternatives is that it does not allow for the premium quality and full disc based playback that we know many of our users are using.

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Having trouble installing or upgrading to My Movies 5? Click here for troubleshooting.

Having a problem? Searching our Knowledge Base is always the first step.

How can I produce a log file in My Movies for Windows?

How can I fully uninstall My Movies for Windows

Staying with outdated operating systems is not an option!

I too would be willing to donate towards a kickstarter campaign to develop a My Movies media center.

Although I also (now) recognise that a Kodi add-in would also be an option; which is definitely worth exploring. An add-in allows the flexibility to the My Movies developers to completely customise the Kodi experience to how My Movies wants it (for example playing local trailers in Kodi is currently not possible, however in an add-in this feature could be added). However, I do accept that the down side of this is that changing the Kodi skin would not effect the look of the My Movies add-in. However, I feel that it would be necessary to make an add-in in order to customise Kodi in the manner My Movies wants. Question: Would a Kodi add-in be able to communicate with the SQL?? If not then periodic dumps of the SQL would have to be made and then read in by the Kodi add-in.

But if you don't create an add-in then you can't fully control the Kodi interface/features, such as SQL; which gives the advantage of setting the server up once, then when a change occurs on the server it is instantly updated on all clients.

Agreed with everyone here on the thread...staying on an aging Windows 7 operating system is not an option, or even a healthy one given the scorching viruses you can catch. I would support a Kickstarter to Kodi...though keep the MyMovies Collection Management tool on Windows 7/8.1/10 for easy management and disc copying. If you build it, we will donate and come!

I too would prefer a Kodi solution, primarily as I can also use Kodi with Android tablets and Chromecast to non HTPC TVs, and is compatible with my HD HomeRun over the air TV tuners. Windows 7 is no longer viable, 2020 is only 5 years away; staying on Windows 7 is just kicking the can down the road.