With an urge of continuing evolution since from the time when Microsoft launched Windows 3.1, the company announced that Windows Media Center is going to get the heavy-ho from Windows 8 and if you intended to have it back you have to pay for it. The company has clearly stated that DVDs are not a part of the picture although it promises either that Windows 8 will “deliver a world-class video and audio entertainment experience.” There is no information regarding what would be the price of Windows Media Center will be as an add-on.
As Ed Bott notes, Windows 8 will hardly be toothless:
There will, of course, be plenty of decoders included with Windows 8. The goal is to “cover all key playback scenarios for mainstream content such as YouTube video, Netflix video, Amazon audio/video, H.264 web browsing/streaming, Hulu video, MP4 video, AVCHD video from camcorders, Ultraviolet video, and the HTML5 video tag.”
Decoders for H.264, VC-1 (WMV), and MP4 video are included, as are audio codecs for MP3, WMA, AAC, PCM (Wave), and DD+. Metro style apps are free to add their own decoders, the post says, using FLAC, MKV, and OGG as examples.
