I think I know the answer but if anyone has an answer that can save me £7 I'd really appreciate it. I took delivery of a new laptop today - a 13" Sony hybrid with the flippy lid that allows it to work as a tablet. It's got Windows 8 Pro installed. My HTPC runs Windows 7 and recordings are saved locally. I can stream them over my network by simply mapping the folder as a network drive, which worked perfectly on my old netbook, also running Windows 7. However, it also works on my gaming rig, which is on Windows 8 Pro, like my laptop. It still works having upgraded to 8.1. The difference is that I got the free MCE pack back in January, so my gaming rig has MCE installed. I assumed that MCE wasn't required for simply playing the recordings but the laptop will only play the audio for the files, no video. I'm assuming that Windows 8 without MCE does not have the correct video codecs to play the files with the video stream and that the MCE upgrade is required. Microsoft want £7 for MCE - if it sorts the problem out I don't mind paying but would appreciate any suggestions that can save me the money, as I don't particularly want the app installed since it won't get used (I use windows Media Player on both netbook and gaming rig for playback). Any suggestions?
