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Media Center Pack for Win 8 Pro Free for Limited Time

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The offer will run from October 26, 2012 through January 31, 2012 for consumers who are purchasing or upgrading to Windows 8 Pro.
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So does this deal run for 24 hours or negative 9 months? As is usual for this site, no details or useful further explanations.
 
Why in the heck would I ever pay for that Media Center Garbage? There are free alternatives that blow it out of the water.

Personally I prefer using different programs for different tasks. Pavtube to rip Blu-rays and DVDs I bought to folders, Arcsoft Totalmedia Theater to play them and iTunes for my music library. Although I do wish Apple would make a separate music only iTunes, like it used to be, that is all I use it for.

Yeah Arcsoft is paid. Apparently VLC and DAPlayer can do Blu Ray. I already own Totalmedia though.
 
I do prefer Media Center for one reason, Xbox 360 controller 100% support. XBMC for example doesn't support 360 controllers natively you have to hodge podge something together and even then the controller support is garbage.
 
Really confusing buying options from Amazon. Really, I can get Win8 Pro for $68.88 (http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-3UR-00001-Windows-8-Pro/dp/B008H3SW4I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351231294&sr=8-1&keywords=Windows+8+pro) or pay $30-$60 more for a system builders version? I don't get it. The link posted doesn't seem to be an "Upgrade" and if it is, it's misleading.
 
Would it be too hard for MS to allow users to just do a complete custom install in what they do and do not want on their system. i mean why can't i have a choice to not want IE on my system. They get rid of media center and make you pay for DVD playback yet you have no option to get rid of IE?
 
This is simply a backwards step in competing from Microsoft, and one that they will reverse.

But honestly, This could not be better for the likes of VLC, or Media Player Classic.

So I can get the necessary codecs for media file playback for free, what exactly are microsoft talking about!
 
[citation][nom]velocityg4[/nom]Why in the heck would I ever pay for that Media Center Garbage? There are free alternatives that blow it out of the water.Personally I prefer using different programs for different tasks. Pavtube to rip Blu-rays and DVDs I bought to folders, Arcsoft Totalmedia Theater to play them and iTunes for my music library. Although I do wish Apple would make a separate music only iTunes, like it used to be, that is all I use it for.Yeah Arcsoft is paid. Apparently VLC and DAPlayer can do Blu Ray. I already own Totalmedia though.[/citation]

I thought that before I setup my HTPC in the living room. It works very well, IMO, an it easy passes the "wife test". Granted, I'm just using over-the-air TV (from an antenna I built in the attic), but it's still a pretty slick system (DVR, plays DVDs I ripped, handles music just fine, etc.) that's easy to navigate using a remote control (or a wireless keyboard I use from time-to-time) from the couch. Outside of an HTPC application, though, I agree that Media Center doesn't offer much, and I've never used it on my laptop.
 
I have installed Windows 8. But when I complete registration for the above offer no product key arrives in my email. I have tried several emails and checked my spam folder. Why am I not receiving the product key to install Media Center?
 
MS can keep Media Center , I use XBMC which is 1000 times better . What a joke , having to pay for something that bad when I can get a better alternative for free . Oh wait , then what am I doing with windows when theres Linux ? Freakin game support , wine just doesnt cut it . Well , Steam for Linux is not far :)
 
[citation][nom]JOSHSKORN[/nom]Really confusing buying options from Amazon. Really, I can get Win8 Pro for $68.88 (http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-3UR-00001-Windows-8-Pro/dp/B008H3SW4I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351231294&sr=8-1&keywords=Windows+8+pro) or pay $30-$60 more for a system builders version? I don't get it. The link posted doesn't seem to be an "Upgrade" and if it is, it's misleading.[/citation]
it says in the product features that the 2nd link is for upgrade only.

$40: Win8 Pro upgrade (download, or disc at Microcenter)
$70: Win8 Pro upgrade (disc)
$100: Win8 OEM
$140: Win8 Pro OEM
-Note no retail prices yet, only 'system builder' and 'upgrade' are available... hopefully it stays this way!

$70: Win8 Pro Pack upgrades Win8 to Win8pro with WMC, this takes the place of 'any time upgrade'
$30?: Win8 WMC for win8Pro only, free until January

Personally I like XBMC and VLC, but to have native DVD support in WMP for 'free' will be a feature worth adding... if only it did blue ray as well...
 
I agree with stefanGR ... why use Windows lol, but it does have its niche. I use Linux Mint muhsef. Soo lemme get this straight... Can't play a DVD with Windows 8 straight outa the box unless I pay for an expansion pak of some crap. .... guess M$ gonna eat some crak cake..... M$ exec's sittin around fancy table in some high priced conf room saying...." dunno why they're crackng our software again....hmmmm". Forget M$! I use it ONLY for gaming or for sites like Netflix where I am forced to use it.

... Personally I think Microsoft has been infiltated by aliens!! lol
 
you do know that no other 3rd party media center can watch cable card perineum channels but drm windows media center so if you have cable and you have dish the box then you are stuck with wmc cause everyone body else sucks when it comes to pay tv shows.
 
Im really getting the feeling that M$ is going to charge for service packs too. theyre going down a really bad road just to ensure that Win8 meets profit expectations.
 
A lot of people haven't figured out yet that you can hook a computer up to a TV, and get better video and audio than you would get out of most DVD players and cable STBs. When those people want to watch movies, they put a DVD in, or choose something from Cable On Demand. I say this because most of the people who see the setup we have at our house get confused when the HTPC does something computer-ish, like show a boot screen. "Wait. Is that a computer? How did you do that? Does that cost a lot? How does that work? Where's the cable box?"

Microsoft isn't marketing Media Center, isn't throwing R&D at it, and basically left it out in the cold in Win 8. Rather than integrating the tuning, EPG, TV scheduling and recording, browsing and other useful features into Modern UI (fka Metro), they didn't even update WMC to make it a Win8 tile. It's a shame really, because they truly missed a golden opportunity to integrate WMC features seamlessly into the Metro interface and eliminate the need for a separate application for browsing.

Instead, I suspect that WMC's days are numbered. The development team has probably been told that they have to be a profit-center, which means that supporting just a single person with an annualized cost of $200k (incl. taxes, benefits, office space, etc.) requires selling 10,000 licenses at a $20 gross profit on COGS each year. I suspect that the team size for WMC is probably closer to something like 50-100 people including QA, EPG content managers, online content managers, device testers, multi-language documenters, etc. So the break-even point climbs up to 500,000 WMC pack licenses each year. If an installation lifespan is 5 years, that means there needs to be 2.5M active HTPC users.

Are there that many?
 
sent in request but no key has arrived seems like others are having the same problem of no e-mail keys
 
@jbx007 and aussie44, FYI: I was able to get a MC upgrade key for free for the Win 8 Release Preview. If you google Windows 8 Media Center, you can probably find it. I doubt that works for the official release though. But if you're using a release preview you can get it.
 
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