Windows Media Center Electronic Program Guide Alternatives

Anonymous
2019-10-02T00:29:35+00:00

I've recently received a popup on my Windows Media Center home screen stating that the Electronic Program Guide will not be available after January 2020.  I've long expected this day.  The popup gives you a click option for alternatives to the EPG, but the link it takes you to is a nothing link for generic guide troubleshooting (I got the same popup on my Windows Media Center Extender.  Clicking on it rebooted the extender).

Are any 3rd party EPG alternatives even in the works?  I am trying to figure what my next DVR setup will be and need to get on it.  Am thinking of getting an Amazon Recast box, but kind of want to see if they have a second generation (with larger HDDs) in the works.  Thinking about SiliconDust's HDHomeRun stuff, or perhaps rolling my own with Plex or something.  Again, having an EPG is paramount.  

For what it's worth - I've bought into WMC since the beginning - I was the lead factory escalation engineer for a vendor's line of Media Center products - it will be like saying goodbye to an old friend, and even though it was pretty much abandoned in place for the past ten plus years, there was someone there to make sure it still was working.  Just a thank you to the Windows Home team...

-Dale

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2019-10-28T00:53:58+00:00

Hi,

For what its worth I am also a long time WMC user and hate to see it go. However, in anticipation I've set up a Plex server and have been running it in parallel with WMC the last couple of months just to see how it would work as a DVR. You had to buy a one time DVR license from Plex which I think was around $80 (it's normally more than that but they were running a special over the summer). The one time fee was another reason that I decided to try Plex versus some of the other options that had recurring fees.  Anyway, I've been using Plex with my OTA antenna and an amazon firestick and it seems to be working fine without any EPG issues like the ones that always seemed to be popping up with WMC. As an added plus I can also stream from my server to my phone which comes in handy at the gym. 

Regards.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-03-03T14:28:16+00:00

    my modile is conected with computer but not play any videos and photos

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-03-23T12:49:26+00:00

    I have been using one of my monitors for watching TV using a tuner card for years. As I typed before, the latest Windows update killed the WMC installation on my Windows 10 drive. I installed NPRV, and it works ok.

    On a whim (because my husband was complaining about NPRV, not really hoping for much, I went searching for another version of WMC that would work on Windows 10. I did manage to find one, installed it (had to follow some precise instructions, but it works) and the EPG is fully functional. Seeing as I had had the WMC popup regarding MS EPG on my Windows 7 boot drive, I was very surprised to see it was working on Win 10 installation. Labels, times, stations, all correct. Records without any problem.  

    I do have AverMediaCenter 3D (a very clumsy clunky version of WMC) on stand-by just in case.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-03-23T16:01:30+00:00

    Sounds like you and I are about on the same page, Sandra.  From what I can see, the MS EPG is back - for the moment.  I have a cousin using Win7 WMC, she says its stopped updating a time or two, but came back.  Nice to have something in reserve though.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-04-23T18:25:52+00:00

    FREE GUIDE AND OTA TV VIEWER!! If you are reading this then you are probably like me and have been having problems with WMC for the last several years. I was considering installing an old copy of Windows 8.1 with The WMC add on just to avoid all of the flakiness of running it on Win 10 (if you can even get it to work). Now that there is no guide, there is no point in that. I don't use my tuners enough to make it worth a subscription fee. I found an old copy of ArcSoft TotalMedia http://arcsoft-totalmedia.freedownloadscenter.com/windows/ that had originally come with my cheap mygica PC tuners. In the past WMC was far superior but now that they no longer have a guide this is a great alternative because it pulls down the FREE Over The Air EPG menu. It typically only goes out for 6-8 hours in the future but it does have the ability to set up a recurring recording for recording a series. I have to program it to copy on the day of the show. Not ideal but not the worst. The big thing is that it works on WINDOWS 10! You will need to make sure your video card is installed with the correct drivers.

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