Hi all - I'm one of those luddites who is still running MM on WHS11 and am praying (okay, waving a rubber chicken over the server rack) that the server doesn't die any day...

My primary use case is DVD ripping and transcoding to .mp4 files that I drop on a Synology NAS for use by Roku media players and a Plex server running on the Synology. I'm doing less ripping in the last couple of years, and am wondering if there's a decent migration path (I'm fine adding another modern server to the rack). After reading this thread I'm, well, more uncertain about the optimum path ahead.

Thoughts and recommendations?

Thanks,
Kent (a relic from MM's glorious past)

[quote=binnerup]
Question 1

The first question we have to you are in relation to disc based titles. Some users of disc based titles prefer these not only due to the quality, but also due to the extra material on the discs.

Is extra material important to you, or would a lossless main movie MKV file or individual TV Serie episode MKVs be enough for you, if you can be sure that the quality is the exact same as the original disc, including audio tracks, and forced subtitles appear as they should and similar?

Question 2

The second question is weather you use My Movies for Windows Media Center with the purpose of movies alone, or if you use My Movies in Windows Media Center as it is part of the bigger picture with live tv, dvr, music and more.

In other words - would a separate My Movies application for Windows even be interesting for you, if focused entirely on what My Movies brings to Windows Media Center today?

Question 3

The third question is if we are correct when saying that full quality playback is a requirement for our users?

Lossless, as in no loss of quality in both picture and audio means that copying content to MP4/M4V (H.264) files, which are supported by almost all environments is a no-go - no matter the quality settings, there are going to be a degrade of quality.

High quality video can be accomplished in converted video, either pre-converted like we do with our video converter, or on-the-fly converted which several other applications do, and question is if this is enough for you?

Is playback of non-lossless video, in as high quality as it gets an option for you, also in your primary playback zone?


Ending Topic

Answer 1: Not critical and will become less critical as media content moves to on-0line systems due to the pandemic.

Answer 2: Definitely a whole Media Centre environment: Movies, ipTV, Music, Photos, Home videos. Main reason why I still have 3 Windows 7 HTPCs running, is that none of the other ones do a good job at all of them.

Answer 3: 100% - Hi-quality 4k HDR playback is critical. BTW: There is no such thing as "loss-less video" since all commercial releases including Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray is compressed.

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Rob

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Server: Windows Server 2008 - Client 1: Windows 7 64 - Home Premium - Client 2: Windows 7 64 - Professional - Client 3: Windows 7 64 - Home Premium

Hi Carl,

We can at this time only recommend moving away from Windows Media Center.

The Windows Media Center parts will be removed from future versions of the Windows software, as we are forced to compile shared code with a very, very old .NET Framework version.

Therefore next step from our side is complete removal of this part.

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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.

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Searching the Forum, I don't find any mention of Zidoo boxes.
I just acquired one a few weeks ago, and for me this is the perfect element missing in my set-up since Media Center disappeared from Windows.
Those boxes are pretty quick and nice interface, and allow full discs playback, including menus (test DVD, BD and BD3D).
Just note that if you have BD 3D, latest boxes do not support this format (latest chipsets from manufacturers dropped this support). I acquired the previous version of those boxes (I have a Z9XPro) which works perfectly with my files on my NAS.
@Brian, I feel that very little updates on MM would make it a perfect fit:
- Zidoo boxes either match files with TMDB database or use local NFO files. MM already creates NFO file for Kodi, and this is picked up fully by the Zidoo box. A few data points are missing, such as rating, but this is minor I think and could be easily implemented.
- Zidoo can use covers and backdrop local files, which MM already stores. A few tweaks are needed to work with no manual support: Zidoo boxes need those files to have specific naming convention and require those files to be stored on same folder (Video_TS) as video file, while MM sores those on the parent directory. So far I did copy-paste-rename manually for some of those files, and it works well, both on MM and on Zidoo.
Al this to suggest that some minimal changes are implemented on MM to make it fully seamless. Then I am sure the Zidoo + MM combined would become the great system MM used to be in the past with integrated media playre.

Thanks Brian for answering quickly.
My thoughts that updating the supported players features with very limited work would have given a bit of refresh on the MM software. Looking at the website today looks like a graveyard of disappeared technologies. I know Media Center was removed recently, but XBMC... ;-)

However, that small percentage is VERY passionate about it.
I'd be easily willing to purchase 5,000+ or more points to keep this functionality.
I'd literally pay $100's of USD to keep it going.
We use it nearly every single day of the week.
All my family and kids know how to use the system etc...

It VERY valuable to people like me...
~Steve~