- Nov 14, 2011
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I'm looking to build a gaming and TV watching HTPC (thread here). I'm a bit stumped on what software to use to record and watch live TV, though.
I was just going to use WMC, as that always got good reviews and comes as part of Windows. But now I find out that I need to pay an extra £85 on top of Windows 8.1 just to get the damn thing! That's doubling the total price of my OS! And apparently it doesn't even support Blu-Rays...
Is there a better, more affordable media center software for Windows out there? I'm looking for something which does the following:
I know that watching Blu-Rays on PCs is obnoxiously difficult, so I might be willing to drop that requirement- I don't even own any Blu-Rays yet, so I could probably get by with DVDs And if there's no better alternative, I guess I could shell out the £85 for Windows Media Center. I just want to make sure that I'm not missing out on some superior bit of software.
EDIT: And it has to be usable by the girlfriend... So nothing too complex!
I was just going to use WMC, as that always got good reviews and comes as part of Windows. But now I find out that I need to pay an extra £85 on top of Windows 8.1 just to get the damn thing! That's doubling the total price of my OS! And apparently it doesn't even support Blu-Rays...
Is there a better, more affordable media center software for Windows out there? I'm looking for something which does the following:
- Watches and records Freeview HD television (with full EPG support)
- Supports Windows Media remote controls
- Plays DVDs and Blu Rays (physical discs, not rips!)
- Supports a wide range of video file formats (MP4, AVI, h264, WMV...)
- Has a usable interface - I want to kick back on the sofa with a remote control and channel surf, not keep breaking out the keyboard and mouse to fiddle with tiny menus and enter terminal commands
I know that watching Blu-Rays on PCs is obnoxiously difficult, so I might be willing to drop that requirement- I don't even own any Blu-Rays yet, so I could probably get by with DVDs And if there's no better alternative, I guess I could shell out the £85 for Windows Media Center. I just want to make sure that I'm not missing out on some superior bit of software.
EDIT: And it has to be usable by the girlfriend... So nothing too complex!
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