Just want to add my experience with this Media Center patch (perfect!): Short version: * Installed Windows 8.1 Pro on a ASRock Z170 ITX motherboard - i5-6500T CPU with Intel HD 530 graphic. * Installed the Intel video driver and the HDHomerun program version 20161119 (I use a HDHomerun HDHR4-2DT in Spain). * Ran the Media Center setup as the instructions (from the command prompt as administrator). All perfect, not a single error! * Found the Media Center icon and ran the setup just like the original program, found the two TV tuners and added all the channels from the HDHomerun box. * Ran the rest of the setup, added the music, pictures, TV shows and movies as I had it in my previous HTPC. * Recording TV programs works as it should, and I'm very very happy (though I had to use some of the other programs I have tested). Long version: I was setting up a new HTPC with a new Windows 8.1 Pro (to be able to add Media Center). I didn't know that Microsoft stopped selling this in October 2015 (as I read here in this thread). Tried an old 2012 free version of the Media Center product key, and to my surprise, it installed perfect! But then the Windows activation mess started, and I had to realize I was lost and couldn't use this version. Have tried other media programs, but haven't been totally happy with them. As somebody mentioned in this thread: "the silky smooth operation" of the Windows Media Center is just something I love to use. Found this thread, registered, downloaded the program and installed it as described above (after a fresh reinstall of Windows 8.1 Pro). Just perfect, and a very good job preparing this setup! Windows 10 was out of the question when I was setting up the new HTPC because of the lack of Windows Media Center (the new one has a HDMI 2.0 to run UHD at 60fps on my TV). So with the successful installation on the new HTPC on Windows 8.1, I thought I should try it on a "Test-PC" I have with Windows 10 (version 1511 Build 10586.494). This was a free upgrade from Windows 7 when that was available. i7-3770K cpu - AMD Sapphire R7 250 video card and a Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V motherboard (don't know if the hardware is too important for this, but just for your information of the setup). Internet not connected, ran the setup but had an error message. Connected to Internet, restarted and ran the setup again. Perfect! Installed the HDHomerun software and went to the TV signal in Media Center. Everything was Ok and the channels added as expected. One thing I observed while adding the TV channels was that the "Ready Play" software was downloaded Ok. This has always been a problem when adding the TV channels in Media Center using a TV card in the computer (before I had the excellent HDHomerun box). Also, the TV channels loads a lot faster using Media Center than connecting directly to the HDHomerun with the TV, a tablet or a computer. So the HDHomerun box is definitely the way to go if you are using Windows Media Center. The Windows 10 Test-PC just finished adding the TV channels, so a quick test to see if everything was Ok. And it was! All the channels from the HDHomerun were added. Looked at one of the channels, pressed the record button, double checked the recorded program, and I have to say it again: Just perfect! Please not that all the TV channels in my setup are free. I hope some of this information can help others to install this excellent modified software package. Probably not, but if anybody have any questions, I'm ready to help. Omnius
Yes, they really did a fine job of transplanting WMC into Win10. What version # of WMC did you use? You might want to make an image of what you have right now. Also I disabled the update service so I can stay on 10586.0 Yours likely will work on 14393, but you never know what curve balls MS will throw next.
The WMC version is 6.3.9600.16384 - 2013 on Windows 8.1 and the same was installed on the Windows 10 test PC. My main computer runs on Win10 version 1607 Build 14393.0, so I might just try to install the WMC on the test PC with that version. Just for fun! Yes, I have disabled the Windows update in Services and checked that Defender gets the updates, so hopefully it will run for years. Also, I'm fine with Windows 8.1 for the HTPC. I don't use it for anything else, so it wouldn't really change anything if I used Windows 10 I guess.
I'm currently running Windows 10 Anniversary Update version. I installed the latest WMC Patch (DISM version). I installed it per the directions and all seemed to work, but WMC will not launch. Any ideas on how to resolve this? Thank you
Backup the settings on the one that is working, then import the settings into the one that is broken.
crash2009, Thanks for your response. Sorry for the naive question, but I ran the BackupRestore.cmd on the HTPC where WMC patch is working. How do I import it into the other HTPC? Thank you.
When you run backuprestore it makes two things, a folder of files named "SettingsBackup" and a registry file named "Settings.reg" in whatever folder you run it from. All you should need to do is copy those two items to the same version of WMC install folder on the other system and run backuprestore again to import them (I suggest you run resetsettings before you import just to be safe). The only catch to this is you may need to re-run the TV setup, sometimes the tuners and such don't quite match up if you try to restore it on an alternate hardware/windows install... YMMV
Hi all, I have been running win 10 and MCE well for a while, I have come across the issue that if you do a disk cleanup, cleanup system files including updates and then try to launch win mce and navigate to the videos folder, navigate around a bit it freezes and the circle of death comes up. Has anyone experienced this at all? I have had it happen on 2 machines the only fix is a complete reinstall but I was curious as to why it happens in the first place
So I have been running WMC on my Win10 systems for a while (thank you for all of the work to date!) After Anniversary came out I reverted my systems back and disabled updates, reinstalled my HDHomeRun tuners and WMC using v12. Everything was running great, so I felt it was time to bring pain into my life. I rarely use the tuner capability in WMC, I really only want WMC because of the integration with MyMovies. From what I've been reading, WMC does run in Anniversary edition, but there are the issues with the tuner cards. Last night I upgraded to Anniversary edition and then tried installing the v12 installer. _testrights launched with no issues, then I launched installer, it got to around 99%, then errored out. Rebooted, and went through the process again with success...so I thought. I can search for Media Center and it shows in the start menu, but when I try and launch as Administrator, nothing happens. Any thoughts/ideas on what I can do to get WMC installed and launched from my Anniversary edition install? I know I can revert and get things to work, but I would like to try and make things work with this build.
Even if...you manage to get WMC running correctly in AU 14393, when you run tuner setup, .... WMC will not detect a CableCard Tuner. If you must have AU 14393, WMC will need the assistance of DVBLink Server to detect the HDHR. Even with...this workaround, DRM channels will not work. The first "Wave" of AU 14393 started about August 2, 2016. Review our various attempts. The DVB connection was discovered about 2 weeks later. OTA or Satellite detect fine in WMC/14393, however, DRM will not work in Satellite. In response to your original question.....Use WMC v8.8.1 to completely uninstall v12, then install v12 or v8.8.1 check the readme in v8.8.1 for instructions.
Update: Does not work on build 14393.726. WMC services refuse to stay on. Group policy setting(s) may be the issue. Haven't checked this. FYI, My PC is running Windows 10 Pro x64.
so far so good, as I use dvblink I have no problem running it on 15048 insider preview. I am using the 8.8.1 version as I could never get the v12 version to work on my setup. Thanks for the work on this project. As I side note, every new insider build I update, I always unistall wmc from the bat file, reboot and reinstall, reboot and it all works fine again.
Did you have WMC installed prior to getting AU? if so WMC needs to be uninstalled and windows needs to be cleaned up before you install the latest WMC. You should be using the most advanced version...go get WMC v8.8.1it has a better uninstaller, plus a couple add ons that you might want in the future. Read Readme.txt for uninstall instructions
WMC vs. Hauppauge decoder software? We have been using WMC for over-the-air broadcasts. With the recent bad weather our reception of SF Bay Area ABC station (KGO, channel 7, 174 MHz (VHF)) has been marginal and unwatchable. The signal, however, is ok directly on the TV. Before buying a new antenna, we used the Hauppauge signal monitor to optimize our antenna direction. The Hauppauge monitor indicated that channel 7 was about 20% weaker than the best UHF channels, but that it was acceptable. In fact the picture and recordings for ABC on Hauppauge tv application are OK even though the same channel on WMC is unwatchable with the same Hauppauge tuner hardware. Somehow the decoder software? Hauppauge uses is superior to the WMC code since the hardware is the same. Is there a way to modify WMC to improve the behavior for weaker stations? Our workaround is to record ABC programs on the Hauppauge tv application and everything else on WMC. This is acceptable as long as we are careful about conflicts for the tuner hardware. Thanks for your comments!
Installed v12 on a clean Windows 10 v1607 build 14393.693 computer with hdhomerun dual (OTA only). Running well except for right-click convert to dvr-ms format, as others have mentioned in the thread. Getting error message: "WTV Converter cannot convert the file from .wtv to .dvr-ms format because the content is not compatible with the .dvr-ms format." The wtv file is/should be mpeg-2 unencrypted, but MediaInfo doesn't return video and audio info, only filename, format, and file size. edit: MC-TVConverter can convert the wtv file (311MB) to ts format (998MB), but it is not the most ideal solution. edit2: installed v12 on Windows 8.1 Enterprise and 'Convert to dvr-ms format' works fine--just not in Windows 10 AU.