A Rant About My PC And WMC

I woke up at 7am this morning. Did the same yesterday. All for WWE.

As I've written numerous times in the past, I record the shows using Windows Media Center. I have a cable box in my computer room that's hooked up to the PC and it does what I need. I cannot stay up late watching WWE TV anymore. There are far too many commercials, so I like the convenience of watching the episodes of Raw and Smackdown the following morning with my finger on the fast forward button.

After nearly ten years of doing this, the plan is starting to come to a halt.

In more ways than one.

My PC is on its last legs and I have had some serious issues with it since late last year. It keeps freezing up on me. I've tried everything I could possibly do to fix it but nothing has worked.

It takes a handful of goes to start up properly and then, after a few minutes of activity, it freezes. I then have to restart and try again.

I worked around the recording of Raw and Smackdown issues. All I do is leave it on to record, ensure that I don't move the mouse then - when I wake up the next morning - I launch Windows Media Center on the XBox and stream the episodes from the TV. It's a pin in the ass, but it works.

Thank god I bought that XBox ONLY to watch the NFL live on Sunday nights, eh?

This week was the start of WrestleMania season, so it's important for me to catch the two shows. Monday's Raw didn't record because the computer froze and last night's Smackdown didn't record because - and I'm scratching my head at this one - it wasn't planned to!

I bet if you've read this far you're probably thinking to yourself 'why not buy a new PC?' That is the plan. The only problem is there is no Media Center on the latest versions of Windows after it was discontinued following Windows 7. Therefore, I have to make do with the terrible set up until the end of Mania season and then buy the new PC. 

This isn't to say I haven't a back up a plan. I have the series' to record on the other cable boxes at home, so I'm not missing out on anything. The only thing I'm missing out on is the convenience of being able to watch from my own PC.

Windows Media Center was (I dislike using the past tense here!) great. I cannot figure out why Microsoft stopped it. 

I'll find a new way to watch these shows. It might even be better. I hope.