If we're careful, WMC will last forever

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adam1991

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If we're careful, WMC will last forever

#1

Post by adam1991 » Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:21 pm

Apparently ReplayTV is. I had no idea the community has kept the guide service going so long:

http://www.percdata.com/faq/replaytv

Space

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#2

Post by Space » Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:58 pm

The good old days. I remember when they set this service up, even had a dial-up option for a while.

I remember working with Henry Donzis (R.I.P.) to add features to WiRNS as well as working to "unlock" the ReplayTV boxes once the signature key to do so was made known after DNNA ceased service and authorized all devices.

jec6613

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#3

Post by jec6613 » Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:47 am

I'm going to go with: just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Unlike a box running VxWorks, a MCE PC is, at its core, a PC.

Assuming you're running Windows 8.1 whose support still has another 3 years on it, and you can then get ahold of another few years of security updates after that, at some point the security updates will cease, and then you have a system with known vulnerabilities on your network. Sure, you could isolate it to its own VLAN and poke just enough firewall holes to feed it guide data from a network share, but not only will you have a vulnerable system on your network at the end of the day, you'll also have one that is actively being exploited. VxWorks is pretty much dead, and was designed for single function devices: not so for MCE, at all.

I will point out, however, that the most recent version of MCE is from 2014, and that we're talking nearly a decade after release, and Windows 7 has already had an 11 year run before support was cut.

And there are alternatives: TiVO, and someday soon hopefully the Silicondust DVR service (which can then bolt into Kodi), but the days of a dedicated full PC in the living room are waning fast.

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