Getting Started with WMC/HTPC?

[dkrom]

no "managing multiple menus to get to the other streaming options,"

Just curious, do you use them for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc? I think that is what he meant by "other streaming options".

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant since the person who suggested the 360 said you can stream Netflix and others. You can't just play Netflix from the WMC interface, you have to go through the Xbox menus.

I don’t think it’s worth it to pay extra for a 360 and then just having it go into WMC essentially making into a DMA 2100. I have both and prefer the silent dma’s that I have over the 360 slim.

[adam1991]

heavens no. Those I get from modern platforms. Why would I give up 4K video, for example? Not to mention the ability easily to move from service to service on a UI that's intended for that, as opposed to a UI that was designed for gaming?

Do people really think they have to have everything on one piece of hardware like that? That you should never have to switch to a different piece of hardware for different functionality?

I turn on XBox 360 Slim, switch the TV to that input, and voila--there's the WMC screen. I watch whatever I've recorded, and when I'm finished I turn it off and switch the TV back to the input for my Fire TV. I've been doing this on multiple TVs for 9 years now. I had no other reason to have XBox. They're just extenders. They were never meant to solve world hunger.

Occasionally my daughter comes in and switches the TV to the input for her Switch. She never puts it back when she's finished. Such is life.

[jachin99]

If your curious about alternatives I switched from wmc to kodi. If your looking for a unified interface then it also has Netflix and Amazon within the Kodi interface along with quite few other things. The only thing I don't like about it is that it can be more work than wmc with extenders.

[Kimifelipe]

I made a separate post about sticking with WMC so I wont repeat myself here. these things are easy but time consuming to get up and running. if your tuner card is reliable then you should expect your system to be reliable. I am not a fan of running any other software excepting xbmc / kodi on my WMC boxes. I have had about 10 years or so of reliable service from them. I have two sandy bridge pcs using Intel mbs that are same as when I built them except for the hard drives and the fact that I had to add pcie video cards when I switched service from FIOS to xfinity. strangely I like xfinity better, I guess because I get TCM HD, but also when I have to pair a cablecard, I can do it on a browser and there's no dealing with someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. lol

for your "streaming options" question - I would suggest looking at kodi (only because that's the only other thing i'm familiar with). there are options for streaming through kodi, might be worth checking out. one of these days I will check out JamesRiver and MedaiPortal but not yet....

[adam1991]

I guess I just have a different perspective than many others on this topic. Yes, this can be a set it and forget it setup. I rarely touch my setup, in the last two years I’ve really only had to mess with the epg123 task because it didn’t update a few times. I’ve installed new cable boxes more often for a friend than I’ve had to mess with my WMC system. I NEVER have any missed recordings. Yes, if you want to you can add more to your system (hard drive, fans, etc), but you don’t have to. Typically what you “have” to tinker with is really what you “want” to tinker with (and it’s fun).

Agreed 100%. No need to tinker at all. Set it and forget it.

[adam1991]

no "managing multiple menus to get to the other streaming options,"

Just curious, do you use them for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc? I think that is what he meant by "other streaming options".

The XBoxen? No. The turn on into WMC; when I'm finished, I turn them off and switch to the Fire TV for everything else.