Win 8.1 EOL, I'm still here (watching golf)

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Kenneth Burns

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Win 8.1 EOL, I'm still here (watching golf)

#1

Post by Kenneth Burns » Sun Jan 08, 2023 11:31 pm

Windows 8.1 support ends this week, but I turned off updates a little while back after one broke WMC. So I can't see much changing. Still using and enjoying WMC after eight years. My Win 8.1 PC is in the bedroom closet, and my husband and I mainly watch in the den with an Xbox 360.

That said, for me at this point WMC is almost entirely a platform for watching golf -- PGA Tour on Golf Channel, CBS and NBC, and also DP World Tour events on Golf Channel. I think there are app possibilities for streaming some PGA Tour events, but I haven't researched options for international events and I probably won't. This is working fine. Paying for cable to do this one thing feels like overkill, but I really love golf on TV. No other sports.

Not counting the Olympics. We have used WMC to obsessively watch Olympics coverage -- record everything on broadcast and cable and savor it over months and months. But summer 2024 seems like a long way off, and the 2021 games and especially the 2022 games left me feeling unsettled, frankly. I think maybe the Olympics as they currently function aren't good for anyone. I may be done.

Still, I can't say my viewing habits have shifted to streaming along with the mainstream. Mainly I watch a lot less TV than I did a few years ago. I think the Covid lockdown marked the big shift, when the broadcast networks suspended new programming and suddenly there just wasn't much on, then and later. I had continued to seek out and enjoy new network shows till that time. "Evil" and "All Rise" were the last ones I followed.

But I look at the streaming options and I'm just like, meh. My husband watches tons of stuff on Netflix and HBO Max, so we have those and a few niche-y services, along with Prime. But nothing grabs me except old Cary Grant movies on HBO Max. I'm 51 and part of me doesn't feel like starting over with a new TV paradigm. I read a lot more books these days. Is it possible to age out of TV? It seems weird to say. When I was a kid in the '70s my grandparents knew nothing about new music or new movies but man did they watch a lot of TV.

In conclusion, I have no idea. Sorry, rambling. :D

dab2kab

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#2

Post by dab2kab » Wed Jan 11, 2023 8:35 am

I'm still running 8.1 and 360 extenders, I stopped updating it years ago for wmc stabilities sake. I honestly don't use wmc much anymore, just the rare over the air recording I make, other than that I've shifted everything to tv everywhere recording with channels dvr plus all the streaming services out there. But I do still keep wmc around for over the air (my tuners aren't compatible with channels dvr) and part nostalgia. I like the idea of being able to boot into WMC for old times sake and will keep running 8.1 until the wheels fall off. The most likely deal breaker will be when chrome becomes so out of date it causes problems with channels dvr..but we'll see how it goes.

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spanner

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#3

Post by spanner » Wed Jan 11, 2023 4:34 pm

I am still here also, running win7, ceton 6 tuner, 2 ceton echos and two xboxes, turned of updates quite awhile back. I also stream a lot these days, but for sports and some news programs its just easier for me to find them on cable. Also my wife is a game show nut. So this thing will run till it dies

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IT Troll

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#4

Post by IT Troll » Fri Jan 20, 2023 3:21 pm

I'm still here and hope to continue running as is until I no longer have need to record UK terrestrial broadcasts. The streaming catchup versions of these channel can be low resolution, low bit rate and have forced ads. With Media Center recordings I get 1080i, skippable ads and no expiry.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

proddick

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#5

Post by proddick » Sun Jan 22, 2023 7:51 pm

We have three homes (UK, US and Spain) and being able to easily copy recorded TV from one to the other or to a laptop, tablet, etc (for travel) is a big benefit. The OH is into soaps and we do still record quite a bit of terrestrial stuff.

We are running 8.1 in two homes (UK & Spain) and record UK TV in both (we get it on DTV via fibre in Spain!) and it is copied to the US via Resilio Sync. In US we have a few W10 MCE boxes to play the UK recordings. Yes, we have a VPN and can do iPlayer etc, but we hate adverts on other UK streaming and quality can be iffy :-)

In US we no longer use MCE to record TV. It got too hard and difficult with cablecard so I sold the HDHomeRun there a few years ago. We just use a Tivo with extenders and I sometimes export shows on a PC. I refuse to pay the huge fees Xfinity want for their DVR and multi-room solution, so hopefully Tivo will keep going for a bit longer.

The 8.1 PCs are dedicated so the risks of no security patches going forward are low. In UK it is a VM with a HDHomeRun so it can be easily be moved to a different host. Spain is a concern as is an old PC with a Hauppauge dual DVB-T tuner and an XBOX as extender. I guess I will change that soon and probably build a small W10 to replace the XBOX and disable updates ;-)

Green Lantern

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#6

Post by Green Lantern » Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:12 pm

If anyone has applied the final January 8.1 update can you please confirm if it went smoothly and nothing adverse happened? Thanks!

Burger23

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#7

Post by Burger23 » Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:56 pm

Windows 8.1- I am running Windows 8.1 on 2 machines. Both machines failed to complete download and to install 2023-01 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB5022352).

But, WMC on both machines continue to run perfectly. So I am not going to worry about failed install

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IT Troll

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#8

Post by IT Troll » Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:46 pm

Green Lantern wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:12 pm If anyone has applied the final January 8.1 update can you please confirm if it went smoothly and nothing adverse happened? Thanks!
Yep, installed fine, no issues. Still getting regular Windows Defender updates at the moment.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

mustpushbuttons

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#9

Post by mustpushbuttons » Sun Jan 29, 2023 4:04 pm

yea dude time to upgrade to win7. 2 more years.

besides 8.1 was a baby with the face of a goblin. c'mon!

https://0patch.com/index.html

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2023/01 ... 008-r.aspx

mercalia

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#10

Post by mercalia » Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:00 pm

Green Lantern wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:12 pm If anyone has applied the final January 8.1 update can you please confirm if it went smoothly and nothing adverse happened? Thanks!

I installed it as a standalone package from MS as it kept on refusing to finish downloading the normal way

Burger23

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#11

Post by Burger23 » Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:16 pm

Mercalia- see my post below

NOYB

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#12

Post by NOYB » Sat Feb 04, 2023 8:50 am

Green Lantern wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:12 pm If anyone has applied the final January 8.1 update can you please confirm if it went smoothly and nothing adverse happened? Thanks!
WMC:
Did a fresh Windows 8.1 install a couple weeks ago (Jan. 19, '23; upgraded SSD to 1TB). All updates applied.
The "Get Latest Guide Listings", initially broken in Sep. '19 monthly rollup, is still broken.
Jan. '23 monthly roll up contains a Windows 8.1 no longer supported nag message. Can disable for 90 days. Don't know how or if that will affect WMC when it reappears every 90 days.

Other than that, so far WMC seems to be same as before.

Win 8.1:
Account picture doesn't show on login/lock screen. This issue had been reported as early as Sep. '21 monthly rollup.
In a nutshell the image 200 string is removed from the registry when the account picture is changed.

I've developed this registry workaround though.
  1. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AccountPicture\Users\
  2. Added "Administrators" group with full permissions to the users key.
    ex: S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx]
    (Right clicked the users key and selected permissions from the popup menu)
  3. Added new key "Image200", copied value from one of the other keys and changed the value of "Image*.jpg" to "Image200.jpg"
  4. Removed "Administrators" group from permissions.
Caveat:
Changing the user account picture removes "Image200" key from the registry.
If someone could figure out how to prevent the "Image200" registry key from being removed, that could turn this workaround into a fix.

Reeks of intentional product sabotage for this issue with such a simple solution to go on for so long and never be fixed.

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