Dolby: Our technologies are not built into Windows 8

cw-kid · #1

Hi

What do you make of this article? Sounds pretty serious to me if MS are dropping Dolby out of the OS?

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/dol ... ws-8/10287

#2

That is pretty significant... Why take away technologies that are already working fine? I suspect we will get more news like this as windows 8 development continues. I remember how enthusiastically the htpc community accepted windows 7, but I have a feeling many many fewer are going to see reasons to upgrade to windows 8.

StumpyBloke · #3

Surely to God(c) this won't be the case in the final version of W8? If it is, it's another monumental cock-up of gargantuan proportions!!!

As mak says MS garnered a huge amount of goodwill with Windows 7 and what they cannot afford to do is release another Vista!!!

cw-kid · #4

I have a horrible feeling we are all going to be sticking with Windows 7 and 7MC and won't want to upgrade to Windows 8. Just a gut feeling as its far to soon to really know but news like this quite frankly scares me with regards to going forward with Windows 8 and Media Center. Time will tell !

Wolfshadw · #5

My guess is that they're no longer supporting it natively (just like Blu-Ray). If you want Dolby sound, pay for it yourselves. Anyone know if the new console from MS is going to support it (and blu-ray)?

-Wolf sends

barnabas1969 · #6

I was thinking the same thing as Wolfshadw... they'll probably say that this will allow them to sell each copy of Win8 for a few dollars less and that most folks aren't using Dolby decoding anyway. Of course, the reality is that they will be able to put a few dollars more in their pockets.

It will probably be similar to installing Sun Java (except that Dolby will want you to pay for it). Remember when that was included in Windows by default?

newfiend · #7

Hopefully this will change by RTM.. If not then I guess I will by using TMT5 for my Movie and Blu-Ray Dolby/DTS decoding. Maybe it will be like an add in "app" that you have to purchase to support Dolby TV playback.. Guess we have to wait and see what happens. Lots of stuff changes from now to RTM.
newfiend~

cw-kid · #8

Yeah looks like we will be using Arcsoft TMT for all movie playback if this is the case. I think Windows 7 Media Center will remain in Windows 8 but won't be updated at all. There may be a new 2 foot UI Media Player to replace WMP12 something like Zune. All 10 Foot UI development is happening on the XBOX dashboard. I think Media Center has seen its best days and won't be updated or improved going forward. If that does happen I am swapping to XBMC and won't be using Microsoft products so much.

#9

Isn't there a difference between being able to decode it inside the O/S via codecs or being able to pass the audio bitstream to an AVR?
Surely the latter is what means something to HTPC users.

milli260876 · #10

tried posting this earlier but it disappeared?? on my phone.. anyway I reckon this is a sign of things to come. one of many "plugins " available in the new "app store" they've seen apples format work and are replicating it.....
can't say I blame them tbh with all the snide windows software over the years. if the prices are fair I'll buy it if not maybe its time to try Linux....

newfiend · #11

Yeah, I think STC is right.. As long as I can bitstream the audio to my AVR and let it decode Dolby I won't be too upset. I still hope they do include it in the end though..its a wait and see..

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

cw-kid · #12

stonethecrows wrote:Isn't there a difference between being able to decode it inside the O/S via codecs or being able to pass the audio bitstream to an AVR?
Surely the latter is what means something to HTPC users.

Yes I think your right its the AVR that does the audio decoding when bit streaming. However I still think if MS are dropping native support for Dolby in the Windows OS, this could be significant, its like Windows XP with no video decoder for DVD that only came in Vista. It would mean a requirement for 3rd party support to bridge the gap that MS haven't filled in Windows 8, If you are needing the PC to do the audio decoding and send to the AVR or TV as PCM audio.

Obviously it costs MS to licence the Dolby technology and have it in the OS, so if its not in there they don't have to pay and save $$$. So the question is why? To save a little money and not pay Dolby? Or because Windows 8 is going in a direction away from the playback of locally stored media content being so important? Away from optical drives and physical media? And away from Windows Media Center.

You can see how little Microsoft think about playback of local media content in the current XBOX 360 dashboard, DLNA served folders and text lists of files! That's a really attractive UI NOT. They want you to pay over priced fees for on-demand online content from the Zune Market place, they don't want you to have pretty UI's for your locally stored content. If the XBOX dashboard is the new Media Center, which it is as that's where all the dev time is going you can keep it..

trooper11 · #13

At first, I see the title and I think it could be something serious, but as I read through this thread and some of the responses, I realize that I dont even make use of the decoding within windows anyways since Im bitstreaming to my AVR.

Now Im wondering why everyone would be so upset. I would assume that most, if not all, users of media center in a htpc setup would also be bitstreaming to their AVR, in which case your bypassing whatever MS is using anyway. Besides, it seems like everyone prefers to use other codecs to manage thier audio and video anyway (shark007 pack or just installing the few you need like ffdshow, etc), so again, Im not sure there is a big reason to panic if this comes to be.

It stands to reason that MS is well aware of the common usage patterns for those of us heavily using media center/wmp and that they could save a chunk of change by dropping a liscense that few are making use of anyway.

It just seems like many in the community are on edge, ready to jump ship every time something like this comes up. First it was becuase media center wasnt in the earliest windows 8 previews, then it was becuase it wasnt shown in the xbox dashboard updates at first, now its becuase of this. The first two issues turned out to not be true, and this wouldnt be a deal killer for those of us using it as an htpc connected to an AVR.

All I know is that right now, my setup works great to manage and view all of my local media inside a nice looking UI (i.e. 7mc). If media center is destined to change in windows 8, than Im cool with it as long as they keep a slick/reliable/responsive UI for viewing and managing my media.

I think before we start moving to linux and xbmc, we might want to at least wait for the BUILD event this year where MS is supposedly going to lay out alot more about windows 8. Hopefully they can answer our questions then and maybe calm some fear. I still am not convinced that MS is gearing up to drop media center development completely or move away from local media support. It looks more like they want to rebrand media center and roll it in with all of MS' other media services. If they can do that while keeping a good UI (i agree that the current 360 dashboard UI would need alot of work to be a good replacement for 7mc), then I look forward to giving it a try. If they can finally bring in serious streaming support to media center while keeping local media support (i would be happy with only minor improvements to that such as bug fixes and expanded media support)

richard1980 · #14

trooper11 wrote:It just seems like many in the community are on edge, ready to jump ship every time something like this comes up. First it was becuase media center wasnt in the earliest windows 8 previews, then it was becuase it wasnt shown in the xbox dashboard updates at first, now its becuase of this.

It seems like a number of people like making a mountain out of a molehill. Every time some bit of news comes out, there's always someone out there trying to stir up the negativity within the community. And it's not limited to just Microsoft either...we saw the same thing last summer with Ceton and this year with SiliconDust.

dduk · #15

richard1980 wrote:
trooper11 wrote:It just seems like many in the community are on edge, ready to jump ship every time something like this comes up. First it was becuase media center wasnt in the earliest windows 8 previews, then it was becuase it wasnt shown in the xbox dashboard updates at first, now its becuase of this.
It seems like a number of people like making a mountain out of a molehill. Every time some bit of news comes out, there's always someone out there trying to stir up the negativity within the community. And it's not limited to just Microsoft either...we saw the same thing last summer with Ceton and this year with SiliconDust.

I'd say we're on edge because of Microsoft's recent attidute towards anything that isn't cloud-based.

My personal belief following conversations with MS employees and the current state of the product is that Media Centre isn't going to be killed - it died a long time ago; we're just enjoying what little meat is left on its corpse.

#16

-The rather chewy, sinewey bits

StumpyBloke · #17

Yeah with a few maggots in the rotting bits!

richard1980 · #18

Well regardless of what others may think, I will hold off with the speculation. A lot can and will happen between now and RTM. Nobody here is "in the know" and knows anything about what Microsoft will do.

newfiend · #19

richard1980 wrote:Well regardless of what others may think, I will hold off with the speculation. A lot can and will happen between now and RTM. Nobody here is "in the know" and knows anything about what Microsoft will do.

I agree,.. There is a lot of time until RTM, We can specualte until the cows come home but no one really knows what will happen in the end. And even if MC 8 is missing Dolby support.. We still have MC 7.. Its not like it will magically stop working so really what are we loosing? nada..

newfiend~

BuellPilot · #20

This does suck... but it just puts us back to where we started with no built in DVD codec support.
The fix will be straightforward, just install a DVD codec, and then we can look forward to lots of threads
about which DVD software is the best.

While it sucks, I can see the logic, afterall Microsoft do have to pay a license fee on every version of Windows7 that supports DVD playback, and if that type usage is declining then it is a cost they can do without.

When was the last time you watched a DVD on your laptop while travelling, compared to when you played a downloaded or streamed movie in MPEG4?

When Microsoft did finally include DVD codecs many in the community complained that they where not as good as other commercially available options, and installed their own anyway!

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