Windows 8 Media Center Upgrade

[bcjenkins]

http://m.engadget.com/2012/10/26/mic...eng_latest_art

[stanger89]

Well they better make it free, they didn't change anything (from everything I've read).

It seems MS knows not many people are enthused about Windows 8 given the "great deals"/low upgrade prices they've got on it this time around.

[214b1]

I got in on one of those 8 hour blockbuster deals and bought Windows 8 64-bit Professional Retail for $99. It didn't take me long to become "un" enthused and go back to Windows 7 64-bit. What a waste of $99 bucks. The Metro sucks and the traditional desktop knockoff is worthless. This thing is meant for wiggling fingers touching a screen, not mice moving around on a pad.

[markds]

You can download the pro for $39 on the upgrade. It will install like the retail disk from the iso.

I like it. Been using it since the ConPreview. Learning curve was steep. I find it much snappier, both as an OS and with apps like sageTV. On a dual monitor setup it easy to have both the desktop and metro. Keyboard shortcuts are easy.

[phareous]

Install Windows 8. Get Start8 or Classic Shell. Make it boot into desktop and add start menu back... now you have a better Windows 7, for $40. I have to actually go out of my way to get into Metro now

[SWKerr]

Like it or not you will probably have Window8 at some point. You can get it now for $40 and get the Media Center plugin for free.

With the Classic Shell program (download for free) it works much like Win7 and boots to the Desktop not the Modern UI. Still some things you have to get used to but overall not a big deal.

I have seen the new Blue Screen of death on multiple occasions so it is still a new OS. Still pretty stable. Running the SageTV server and My primary Desktop on Windows 8 now and have no regrets.

The new UI is not that bad on a touch screen . I actually got the Windows8 SplashTop app and can use my Transformer to navigate it like a native tablet. the new UI works well with touch once you get used to it. I have a Logitech touchpad as well and that works ok but not like a real touch interface. Without a touch screen I refuse to use the modern UI. I like a few of the native Windows Apps but not much in the store yet seems exciting.

I would not touch a Windows RT machine. Not worth it without the older application support.

[RedR]

Call me greedy, or selfish, or whatnot but I just cant get over being charged for something I was getting for free. I suppose a key reason it was free when WMC came out was the masses didnt care about those solutions at the time. Reminds me of when tower cases became king over the old mini and full desktop cases. The old desktop cases dropped in price like mad resellers hard a hard time giving them away. Then comes the HTPC, and the desire for the desktop case to simulate our stereo rack. New life and high prices found its way back to the refined desktop case. Even the old school ones just massively in price.

Got Windows 8 , installed it in a VM, still comparing, cant stand it. IMO Windows 7 is not without its faults, yet Windows 8 is clearly performance enhancements we should of gotten in 7 (but never will), rolled into a half baked and unfinished touch screen feature. Peal back the top, and we're back to the ol Windows 7 UI. I for one miss the simplicity from an OS like NT or XP. Far from without their own faults in their day, at least their footprint didn't SCREAM for resources, hard drive space, and ram. This coupled with some recent rumors of Microsoft shifting their OS release schedule to yearly, I for one am gearing up for Linux solutions.

I am very happy find and hear from the community that SageTV runs w/o issue on Windows 8. As well other common Windows 7 products. Along with the performance enhancements over Windows 7 I suppose they are its saving grace. When it comes to my SageTV server for now I plan on sticking to Windows 7 and only changes I need or feel I cant live without, like Gemstone

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Like it or not you will probably have Window8 at some point...

That's what I was told about Vista. I purchased Vista OEM once, regretted it, and simply slipped back into XP until Windows 7 was available. I believe the only way I'll see Windows 8 at this point is on a tablet, or possibly some form of the GUI, if successful, in Windows 9. At this point, I believe I'll be skipping Windows 8.

[markds]

I'm loving win 8. Installed on all 5 boxes in the house now. And with open source Classic Shell it's a breeze for everyone to acclimate.

Much snappier and alive. Bunch of great apps on the Metro side. No blue screens here with the RTM. Had a few in the beta and Consumer Pre.

My only schtick is the bedroom HTPC, where I can't use the Metro becuase I need the resolution set low enough to read the ski reports and the morning news and go through the market positions while hitting up the morning news shows on Sage and drinking the coffee.

Kitchen pc/tv is great with all the recipe apps. As soon as they show a decent touch monitor in the 27" range it will be the stovetop resource.