Top 5 HTPC Media Center Software Packages 1. Media Portal. JRiver Media Center. Windows Media Center. 5 Alternatives to Windows Media Center on Windows 8 or 10 Modern Apps. Modern apps deserve an honorable mention. Kodi (Formerly XBMC) Kodi is probably the most popular alternative to Windows media Center out. Plex, based off XBMC, is another fairly popular media player.

1. Media Center Software Comparison
2. Media Center Software Windows 7
3. Home Media Center Software
4. Best Media Center Software 2018
5. Media Center Software With Tv Tuner

Windows 8 (and now 10) no longer comes with Windows Media Center by default. To get it, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro and purchase the Media Center Pack. And Windows 10 doesn’t have it at all.

If you’re using Windows 8 or 10 and don’t want to buy two separate upgrades just to use a program that once came standard with Windows, you can try one of these alternative media center applications for your HTPC.

Modern Apps

Media Center Software Comparison

Modern apps deserve an honorable mention. Apps for Netflix, Hulu, and other media services look awfully similar to media center interfaces. If you want an interface to play back streaming video from your couch, these modern apps may be a convenient alternative to a new media center application.

Kodi (Formerly XBMC)

Kodi is probably the most popular alternative to Windows media Center out there. Kodi was formerly known as XBMC, and was was originally created for modded Xboxes. Today, Kodi runs on a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux–even Android and iOS. In addition to interfacing with a TV capture card for live TV and recording, it supports every type of media format you’d want. It can also stream YouTube, Pandora, and more via add-ons. We’ve covered installing Kodi add-ons in the past.

Plex

Plex, based off XBMC, is another fairly popular media player. It contains two components – the Plex Media Server, which is the backend, and the Plex Media Center, which is the frontend. With Plex, you could make one computer in your house a media server and access it using the Plex Media Center on your home theater PC. You could also use the apps for iOS and Android devices to stream media to all of your devices from the central server.

Unlike XBMC and MediaPortal, Plex doesn’t support watching or recording live TV.

Read more about setting up Plex: How To Stream Video to Both iOS and Android Devices With Plex

MediaPortal

MediaPortal was originally a derivative of XBMC, but it’s been completely rewritten. If you’re not happy with XBMC’s interface, you might want to give MediaPortal a try. Delta force game windows 10. Like XBMC, it contains the standard PVR features for playing, recording, and pausing live TV, laying DVDs, and watching online video services.

Moovida

Update: This software appears to be unsupported now.

Moovida is the least well known option on this list. The Windows installer is packed with spyware and other junk that you’re opted into by default. If you do try this one, be sure to uncheck it all. We honestly wouldn’t recommend this option – there’s no reason to use spyware-packed installers when there are so many other good options higher on this list. It also doesn’t provide any integrated TV recording, unlike XBMC and MediaPortal.

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However, if you’re not happy with the above options, you may want to give Moovida a go. It has two different interfaces – one optimized for file management on a PC and one optimized for finding and playing content on a TV. Moovida bills its TV-optimized interface as a “3D interface,” so it can provide some additional eye candy.

Many of these programs will play DVDs, too. We’ve also covered some other ways to play DVDs on Windows 8. You don’t need the Media Center Pack for that, either.

Which media center solution do you prefer for your home theater PC? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Microsoft removed Windows Media Center from Windows 10, and there’s no official way to get it back. While there are great alternatives like Kodi, which can play and record live TV, the community has made Windows Media Center functional on Windows 10.

This isn’t an official trick. As far as Microsoft is concerned, you can just keep using Windows 7 or 8.1 if you want Windows Media Center, although that’s becoming more and more difficult. Microsoft isn’t interested in supporting Windows Media Center any longer.

Step One: Download the Unofficial Windows Media Center Installer

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We feel it’s important to reiterate this warning: this isn’t officially supported by Microsoft. This process involves downloading a modified Windows Media Center application from an unofficial source, so if you’re uncomfortable with that, this may not be for you. We tried it ourselves and ran into no problems, the file shows up as clean on multiple malware scanners, and other big sites have reported on this application. But that’s all we can say.

If you’re ready to give it a try, head to this thread on the My Digital Life forums. You normally need to register to see the latest download links, but here are the latest ones as of June 2016:

Download the appropriate installer, depending on whether you’re using a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 10. Just click the “Download through your browser” link on the download page.

Step Two: Install Windows Media Center

The downloaded archive is a .7z file, so you’ll also need to download and install 7-Zip to open it.

Once you have, you can right-click the downloaded .7z file in File Explorer and select 7-Zip > Extract Here.

You’ll get a WMC folder. The included readme file recommends copying this folder to a short path with no spaces to avoid problems. For example, you could place it directly inside your C: drive.

Open the folder, right-click the “_TestRights.cmd” file, and select “Run as Administrator”. A Command Prompt window will open, and you can close it.

You can then right-click the “Installer.cmd” file and select “Run as Administrator.”

You’ll see the progress of the installation in a Command Prompt window. Don’t close the window until you see the “Press any key to exit” message.

If there’s a problem, you may need to try running the _TestRights.cmd file again and rebooting before running the Installer.cmd file once again.

If you’ve previously installed this pack–or if you upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1 and previously had Windows Media Center installed–you may need to right-click the “Uninstaller.cmd” file and select “Run as Administrator” to remove any leftover bits of Windows Media Center before it will install normally. This is also the file you need to run if you ever want to completely uninstall Windows Media Center.

Step Three: Run Windows Media Center

After you successfully install Windows Media Center, it will appear in your Start menu as a normal application you can launch. It should run normally, just as it did on Windows 7 and 8.1.

Media Center Software Windows 7

Help, I Have Another Problem!

If you encounter another problem, open the Workarounds.txt file for more information. This file contains a list of problems people have encountered and fixes known to work.

For example, it recommends installing the Shark007 codec pack if you encounter a “Decoder Error” while playing some types of media. It also provides instructions for issues with Windows Media Center finding TV tuner cards and setting up live TV.

Home Media Center Software

While Windows Media Center currently works, it’s possible that future changes to Windows 10 might break it.

For example, we saw reports that Windows 10’s November update–build 1511–automatically uninstalled the Windows 7 version of Solitaire and other old Windows desktop games if people went out of their way to install them. We wouldn’t be surprised if a future Windows 10 update uninstalled Windows Media Center. If this happens, the community will hopefully find a workaround once again.

Best Media Center Software 2018

Media Center Software With Tv Tuner

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