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BIF
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Anybody Know of a Decent Win 8 Alternative for Media Center?

Fri Jun 21, 2013 4:47 am

Upgrading my laptop. It has Media Center under Win 7. I don't use Media Center, but would like to source a replacement that will at least let me watch Blueray movies. I don't listen to music on this machine.

Thoughts, ideas?
 
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Re: Anybody Know of a Decent Win 8 Alternative for Media Cen

Fri Jun 21, 2013 4:52 am

VLC plays (almost) anything.
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Re: Anybody Know of a Decent Win 8 Alternative for Media Cen

Fri Jun 21, 2013 5:08 am

What are you looking for it to do? Do you just want to play media files from the desktop or do you want a ten foot interface a la Media Centre?
 
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Re: Anybody Know of a Decent Win 8 Alternative for Media Cen

Fri Jun 21, 2013 5:37 am

Not sure if this is what you're looking for or whether or not it runs well under Windows 8, but have you considered XBMC?
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Re: Anybody Know of a Decent Win 8 Alternative for Media Cen

Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:37 am

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... ture-packs

Looking for free, I guess? I was just thinkin', if you're used the Media Center as a UI and all that, maybe stick with it?

Too bad you don't have some OEM copy of WinDVD or PowerDVD or something that you can install for Bluray stuff.
 
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Re: Anybody Know of a Decent Win 8 Alternative for Media Cen

Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:26 am

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BIF
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Re: Anybody Know of a Decent Win 8 Alternative for Media Cen

Sat Jun 22, 2013 8:55 pm

Hi guys. I owe you all an apology for being so obtuse in my original question. I was in a hurry and I did a poor job of asking my question. :oops:

I will go through your responses and will check out the link(s) provided, but first; a bit more:

This laptop, an Asus G73, has a big 17" screen and decent audio even through the speakers. It has Windows Media Center that came with Windows 7 from Asus. As I prepare to upgrade to Windows 8, I'm going through my mental checklist to try my best to not loose too much functionality, and it just came to mind that Windows 8 could remove my ability to play DVD and Blueray movies. I don't know for certain if the Windows 8 upgrade will end up disabling/deinstalling Media Center; I'm just trying to be prepared in case it does.

Background:

I use this laptop mostly as a mobile DAW when I'm travelling, and as an emergency diagnostics/download machine in case something happens to my desktop system at home.

If Windows 8 does end up disabling or deinstalling Media Center, then I'll want to at least be able to play movies on this laptop. Again, it's mostly only for when I am travelling and might want to watch a movie. I think that's all I really need at this time; the ability to play any DVD movie in the US zone/region, and because I haven't even had need to use Media Center in 2.5 years, I'd rather not spend a significant sum just to have the ability to watch movies. No need for ripping, copying, or backing up DVD movies; just watching is all I think I need.


EDIT: I have checked out the links for VLC and XBMC, and I think either one of them could very well serve my needs. I'm downloading XBMC at the moment to check it out this weekend.

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