Win7 vs. Vista vs. XP

[wayner]

Now that the Win7 RC is available - what OS should one now use for Sage Client playback - W7, Vista or XP? I am sticking with WHS for my server but I am considering repurposing my old MCE box to use as a Sage client so that I can free up one of my HD-200s to use in a different location. Any reason not to use Win7?

[Brent]

I don't think it matters much. I prefer XP and WHS just because I don't need all the extra stuff Vista and W7 packs in, but in my experience SageTV has worked pretty well with W7 so far although I've only used it on my test rig so much less experience with the SageTV/W7 combo.

[stanger89]

I'll answer the question this way:

I wouldn't buy an XP or Vista license anymore. But if you've got spare licenses, use them, it's not going to make much difference.

[ryttingm]

One thing to keep in mind Vista/W7 has more support for codecs out of the box. With W7 you won't need any extra software (i.e. powerdvd) to play back anything short of mkv wrappers.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I wouldn't buy an XP or Vista license anymore. But if you've got spare licenses, use them, it's not going to make much difference.

I agree with the first point. But I'd argue that Vista/7 have a better media experience v. XP if you have modern HW. Most notably the EVR and a much better audio stack.

There are still issues with the A/V pipelines in 7 RC (esp if you want to use the built in decoders), so unless you have a high tolerance for pain I wouldn't use it for a production system.

[Taddeusz]

Windows 7 now allows you to "uninstall" Media Center via "Turn Windows features on or off".

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by babgvant

I agree with the first point. But I'd argue that Vista/7 have a better media experience v. XP if you have modern HW. Most notably the EVR and a much better audio stack.

No argument, but that's not exactly the point I was intending to make. Basically at this point, XP and Vista are EOL, MS is trying to kill both. Windows 7 is the future, so if I were needing a license, I couldn't recommend you get either of those knowing they'll be obsoleted so soon, especially not when Win 7 is "right around the corner". I've got the Win 7 RC on my desktop right now and so far so good, I'm probably not taking it off. Vista is a bit of a trickier question, since it will be supported "officially" for a while, but I just have a hard time dropping cash on an OS that will be replaced in a couple months and for which MS has apparently already announced the end date of support.

Now, on the XP vs Vista, mainly I was getting at if you've got a spare license for either there's really nothing in either one that's compelling enough to justify buying a new license of the other.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by stanger89

No argument, but that's not exactly the point I was intending to make. Basically at this point, XP and Vista are EOL, MS is trying to kill both. Windows 7 is the future, so if I were needing a license, I couldn't recommend you get either of those knowing they'll be obsoleted so soon, especially not when Win 7 is "right around the corner". I've got the Win 7 RC on my desktop right now and so far so good, I'm probably not taking it off. Vista is a bit of a trickier question, since it will be supported "officially" for a while, but I just have a hard time dropping cash on an OS that will be replaced in a couple months and for which MS has apparently already announced the end date of support.

I completely agree; there is no point in buying either xp or vista at this point. If you don't have a spare license either "demo" vista or run the 7 RC.

Originally Posted by stanger89

Now, on the XP vs Vista, mainly I was getting at if you've got a spare license for either there's really nothing in either one that's compelling enough to justify buying a new license of the other.

I misunderstood the "no difference" comment, sorry.

[PLUCKYHD]

I will second or third that windows 7 is looking good wouldn't spend any money on vista or xp right now

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by babgvant

I misunderstood the "no difference" comment, sorry.

That's what you get for reading my comments literally

[Ryokurin]

Originally Posted by ryttingm

One thing to keep in mind Vista/W7 has more support for codecs out of the box. With W7 you won't need any extra software (i.e. powerdvd) to play back anything short of mkv wrappers.

Only if you use windows media player. If there's any other player out that currently supports media foundation, which are what the built in codecs are meant to use I'm not aware of it. Also FWIW, the codecs only come in Home premium and up.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by Ryokurin

Only if you use windows media player. If there's any other player out that currently supports media foundation, which are what the built in codecs are meant to use I'm not aware of it. Also FWIW, the codecs only come in Home premium and up.

there's directshow support for mpeg2, h.264, and vc-1 (from haali); w/ the exception of xvid, that hits all the ones I need.

media center uses MF for videos playback (tv playback is dshow based)/

[briands]

Actually I have been using the beta for a while. Over time I got it working pretty well, so i decided to update to the RC...
Unfortunately now I can't get playback to work for most file types...
Other than Sage, I have installed the software from the HDPVR, but am having both aidui and video problems with DVD and TV files.

[sic0048]

I believe anyone running the beta or RC of Windows 7 will be required to load the real version of Windows 7 from scratch. That might be more problems that it is worth IMHO. (I believe there is one hack currently, but it isn't very reliable). Just something to consider before you rush out to use the RC.

[Brent]

I wouldn't hesitate to use Windows 7 once it's available for sale, but I would not go through the trouble of installing the beta on my main HTPC until then.

[briands]

My prime motive was to be able to use EVR... and I did not want to buy Vista. I plan to buy Win 7 when it comes out for my client machine. Reloading it is not too much effort pretty much OS and Sage. Of course getting the video working is not proving to be so straight forward.

[SomeWhatLost]

just curious, but what benefits do those extra codecs/etc get me with sage?
as far as I know, I haven't used any of the codecs in XP... the HD200's seem to be doing all the decoding locally, I don't think they care what version of Windows is running on the sage server? or am I missing something obvious here?

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

just curious, but what benefits do those extra codecs/etc get me with sage?
as far as I know, I haven't used any of the codecs in XP... the HD200's seem to be doing all the decoding locally, I don't think they care what version of Windows is running on the sage server? or am I missing something obvious here?

If you're running the Sage server headless, they don't do anything for you.

[Wheemer]

I was able to update my beta 7 to rc 7 with a simple edit of one file on the rc image.

[mikesm]

W7 is a lot better for a sage client than vista or XP at this point. For good hardware acceleration and use of hardware de-interlacing and processing, I would still go with the cyberlink or other codecs though, as the built in ones have a lot to be desired on these fronts.

Power management seems much better out of the box - faster standby times, and restart times, quicker connectivity re-establishment after wake up, and a bunch of other nice things.

Stable and fast. Driver support is pretty good and getting better too.