Xbox One to record TV shows as Media Center bites the dust
Microsoft to turn its Xbox One games console into a PVR
An update to the Xbox One will allow the games console to record television shows, according to a renowned Windows watcher. The Xbox One already offers the option to watch live television via an external digital TV tuner, which costs around £25 here in the UK. However, a software upgrade will allow users to store recorded shows on the console’s hard disk, replacing one of the key features of the now defunct Windows Media Center for PCs.
Confirmation of the TV recording facility comes via Paul Thurrott, a journalist who’s spent so long writing about Microsoft that the W, I, N, D, O and S keys on his keyboard are completely shot. Sources within Microsoft told Thurrott that the new feature will likely arrive before the end of the year.
The TV recording facility is partly designed to compensate for the demise of Windows Media Center, which is finally being put out of its misery. “We can confirm that due to decreased usage, Windows Media Center will not be part of Windows 10,” Windows engineering chief Gabriel Aul tweeted earlier this week.
Windows 8 users already had to upgrade to the “Pro Pack” (at a cost of £100) to add Windows Media Center to their operating system, having previously been bundled with all but the most rudimentary versions of Windows 7. Windows Media Center started life as a separate edition of Windows XP, designed to give rise to a new generation of under-the-television home entertainment PCs, but the concept never really gained any momentum, largely because the Sky+ box and equivalents offered many of the same features in a much cheaper and more user-friendly package.
Aul tweeted that the majority of Windows Media Center users only use the software for DVD playback. He says Microsoft will have a “DVD option” for those users later in the year, presumably in the form of a DVD player app for Windows 10. Microsoft removed DVD playback from Windows 8 as part of a cost-saving measure, although it’s still possible to play discs using free software such as VLC player.