# Is there any way to keep using Windows Media Center as my DVR the way I used to?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-keep-using-windows-media-center-as-my-dvr-the-way-i-used-to/737023>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 8, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-keep-using-windows-media-center-as-my-dvr-the-way-i-used-to/737023 "2015-11-08T17:17:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-keep-using-windows-media-center-as-my-dvr-the-way-i-used-to/737023/1 "2015-11-08T17:17:26Z")

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My research on the net has uncovered the reason my DVR (Windows Media Center running on Vista Home Premium SP2) quit working suddenly last summer: short version: Microsoft will longer supports WMC as a DVR and the guide function that lets me tell it “record Doctor Who”\* was turned off.

What my research has been unable to uncover is whether there has been any way to replace that guide functionality with something else. I’ve seen ways to set it up to work, but they all seem to depend upon recording OTA signals. I use a cable box.

Has anyone got any suggestions?

- instead of “record channel 110 starting at 8:58 pm and ending at 10:05 pm every Saturday night,” which is how I’ve been limping along.

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**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-keep-using-windows-media-center-as-my-dvr-the-way-i-used-to/737023/2 "2015-11-08T19:07:37Z")

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The guides for my WMC DVRs work just fine, but I only use them for OTA signals. Did they stop supporting cable companies?

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-keep-using-windows-media-center-as-my-dvr-the-way-i-used-to/737023/3 "2015-11-08T21:15:16Z")

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Can’t say. My guide (zap2it) just has no data available and nothing I’ve found online to troubleshoot it helps.

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**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-keep-using-windows-media-center-as-my-dvr-the-way-i-used-to/737023/4 "2015-11-08T23:07:42Z")

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WMC recently switched EPG providers from zap2it to Rovi. So, if yours is still trying to fetch from zap2it, it will be empty. There’s info on a fix [here](http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/cfuller/archive/2015/07/22/workaround-for-no-television-guide-available-in-windows-media-center-after-july-20th-2015/). I haven’t tried this, as I switched to an open source solution, and am using [SchedulesDirect](http://www.schedulesdirect.org/) as my EPG source.