tigrao 18 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Just a heads up, as of 7/7/15 WMC no longer uses Zap2It/Schedules Direct. They have switched to a provider call Rovi. If you Google Microsoft EPG Cutover you can find several sites including HDHomerun's that discuss this switch over (and many of the associated issues people are running into as their systems roll through the switch) Yeah, if Microsoft just switched to a new EPG provider then I think that means they aren't forcing everyone to walk off the plank right away. This makes me believe that the EPG in WMC will continue to work at least until the Windows 8.1 end of support date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deihmos 147 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Epg collector does not work with cablecard and encrypted services. We would need subscriptions to schedules direct which is a paid service which is currently provided free with wmc.You can grab guide data from wmc using mc2xml but then what's the point of setting up wmc to grab the guide data to use in something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangelz 13 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 You can grab guide data from wmc using mc2xml but then what's the point of setting up wmc to grab the guide data to use in something else. Exactly... You could use mc2xml to download microsoft EPG data to dump into NextPVR, but why go through the extra trouble of running into another point of failure when ServerWMC already works. Issues will pop up once Microsoft discontinues WMC or the upgrade to Windows 10 happens. Personally I think it'll be the windows 10 upgrade that forces me to migrate over to some other backend.... I'm still waiting for the upgrade on my primary computers first to see how that goes before pulling the trigger on the rest. Do not want another windows 8 fiasco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pir8radio 1292 Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 Yeah, if Microsoft just switched to a new EPG provider then I think that means they aren't forcing everyone to walk off the plank right away. This makes me believe that the EPG in WMC will continue to work at least until the Windows 8.1 end of support date. Or they are already looking to cut out the fees associated with WMC... i bet this new EPG provider is cheaper... I also bet Microsoft doesn't try real hard to fix any issues with this new provider. I'm just saying from a business stand point step one is trim (slowly), step two is to cut... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14930 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 In 2003 MS envisioned a world where people had a PC as the center piece of their living room experience and Media Center was the manifestation of this vision. In 2009 they realized that wasn't going to happen. Joe blow was just never going to hook an actual PC running Windows to his TV and use it as his media hub. So, they decided they could come in the back door instead. Joe blow would buy a box that he just plugged in and it worked and that he didn't even realize was running Windows. And, Joe might actually already have one of these boxes in the guise of a gaming console. The XB One is the new vision for MS owning your living room media experience. They have every intention of making it the center of everything you do with your TV. It is the new manifestation of what they originally envisioned with Media Center. So, the fact that they have moved the existing WMC installs over to the guide provider being used by the XB is a very good sign that existing WMC users will be able to continue to use their systems for some time to come (without upgrading the OS). However, the ultimate goal is to make the XB be a better solution and I would expect that, within a few years, you will get everything (and much more) from it that you now get from WMC. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deihmos 147 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 (edited) Microsoft vision was 10 years too early. Low cost and small factor computers were not available and cable tuners took really long to come around. The same thing occurred when Microsoft unveiled the tablet pc which was a complete failure because the tech wasn't ready as yet. I have no interest in a game console so I wouldn't buy one. Edited July 16, 2015 by Deihmos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangelz 13 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Or they are already looking to cut out the fees associated with WMC... i bet this new EPG provider is cheaper... I also bet Microsoft doesn't try real hard to fix any issues with this new provider. I'm just saying from a business stand point step one is trim (slowly), step two is to cut... I'm not sure this was a cost cutting measure necessarily more that it was something to provide the metadata/media necessary for the Xbox TV services. The new provider also puts out poster art and a lot of channel icons that the older legacy service did not. Why goto the effort to switch services from the old one and provide more media when you have no intention of keeping said services around for future use? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14930 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I have no interest in a game console so I wouldn't buy one. If they are successful this time it won't really be a game console any more than any of these android devices are (even though they all have games). It will be a central "Media Hub". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deihmos 147 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 That is true but there is a big price difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14930 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Yes, the "all in one" solution will cost more. But it would not surprise me a bit to see a $99 option from them in the future that had most everything except the high-end game parts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techywarrior 688 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Yes, the "all in one" solution will cost more. But it would not surprise me a bit to see a $99 option from them in the future that had most everything except the high-end game parts... With the recent trend of trying to separate the Xbox brand from non-gaming things (Xbox Music -> Groove Music, Xbox Video -> Video, etc.) if they do something like you suggest it would be called something completely different. Also, there would be a LOT of confusion if you bought a Xbox TV and saw Xbox games all over the place in stores. I personally don't think they will do a stand alone set top box. More likely that as the cost of the Xbox goes down you may see a something like Xbox One Core model that has a new slim design (eventually it's going to come as CPU/GPU heat reduces due to process shrinks), no Kinect, and a small HD (250gb or less) for $199. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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