Media Center Fans: The Conversation Approacheth
Another day, another post from Steven Sinofsky on the Building Windows 8 blog. For the second day in a row Sinofsky has touched on a subject that I think Media Center enthusiasts might want to be paying attention to as the steady march toward Windows 8 continues.
For today’s blog post Sinofsky has kicked off the first of four major “conversations” that he wants to explore in more detail in the blog.
In this, and a subsequent post, I want to talk about four topics in particular: Feedback (which I’ll cover today), the Ribbon, Metro, and Media Center. I hope to add a bit of additional “focus, light, and magnification” without distorting the bigger picture here. Based on the comments and the dialogue, I do feel that each of these deserves some further discussion.
Obviously, there is not a lot to be accomplished with speculation. The way Sinofsky and his team have been pumping out blog entries, we will learn more soon enough, but I have a feeling this is going to be an extremely enlightening glimpse into the future of Media Center. Much of the work that went into the development of the Metro UI began with Windows Media Center, but there can be little question that Media Center has not garnered the attention, in the market or from developers, that Microsoft would have liked and many feel that Microsoft has left Media Center to languish.
I guess I am left wondering if Sinofsky’s discussion of Media Center is going to feel like a shot in the arm or a punch in the gut.
What’s your bet?
The idea has been mentioned
The idea has been mentioned that Windows 8 won’t have a dedicated “Windows Media Center” application like we have had in the past, but will simply include tiles in the new UI that go straight to the WMC functions like Live TV, Recorded TV, Movies, etc. I think that’s a real possibility. I absolutely do not think Microsoft will completely remove DVR functionality, though WMC as we know it may be removed.
Then again, WMC may end up being a stand-alone application. Who knows?
I will be shocked if the Live
I will be shocked if the Live TV and Recorded TV functionality disappear completely. After all, as long as it works, it is essentially a free feature. Then again, the recent news that Dolby tech would not ship with Windows 8 means that maybe TV functionality will not work anymore…
Just for clarification, there
Just for clarification, there has not been any confirmation from MS that Windows 8 will not license Dolby. The only news we have seen thus far is that Dolby are preparing for the case that Windows 8 will not license Dolby.
Even if Dolby is not licensed, that does not mean that TV functionality will not work in Windows 8.
I hope these “Tiles” have the
I hope these “Tiles” have the same IR remote codes.
In today’s Post:
Media
In today’s Post:
Media Center
While not a central topic of feedback, I received about 50 emails about Media Center. I want to reassure customers that Media Center will definitely be part of Windows 8. No doubt about it. Knowing how strong the support for Media Center is among pre-release testers, we still have work to do to make sure the quality and compatibility with add-ins is what you would expect even in pre-release (as with any release of Windows, compatibility is a major effort and when we work on the underlying video engine, as one example, we have to make sure features that push these areas receive adequate coverage).
About what I expected, I am
About what I expected, I am trying to be optimistic that we will see some new features in Windows 8, but my gut says no.