>>51802872
I used to have a tvtuner in my main pc. I always wanted to convert a spare pc into a nas/htpc/tvtuner box so I could record and stream tv to all of my devices. But then I stopped paying for cable and I haven't been happier. I still have all the hardware but with no cable, there's no point in even using it. I'm retiring the box as soon as I can replace it with a lower power equivalent and I still have the pci tv tuner in a drawer. I also have a usb tuner that I have absolutely no idea what I'll use for. I should probably sell it.
>>51802885
Exactly, it's a licensing thing. Vista and 7 (xp had it too but it was strangely implemented and mostly only oem) are the only ones to come with it on the disk. This is why (natively) 8, 8.1, and 10 can not play a dvd without third party software or the windows 8 only media center add on and why if you upgrade from 8.1 w/ media center or 7 you can download and app from the store, that is normally $10, for free that will play dvds.
I loved media centers ability to schedule recordings and share them over a network. It was also great because I would watch a new show live but on a delay. If a show started at 8, I would pause it until like 8:20 or so and then resume from there so I could fast forward through the commercials. It was a dvr but on crack.
But then I just started torrenting hdrips of the same things and cutting out the middleman. Better quality, commercials already cut, lower file size, didn't saturate my network if I decided to stream, etc.