Building New HTPC -- Vista or WinXP

[Kimper]

Like the title says. My old box has died. I was running Meedio, SageTV, Girder. I would prefer XP, but at some point I assume microsoft will stop supporting it. How is Sage running in Vista? I have 2 Media extenders and I read that there were issues with those. I am considering letting meedio finally die and trying to use Vista's new Media Center... How does that get along with Sage?

I would appreciate any thoughts you guys might have!
Thanks!

[Djc208]

I'd have to vote for XP. Windows has stated they will be supporting it for quite a few years yet. The system requirements are lower, fewer bugs, better program compatability.
Vista is pretty, it integrates with WHS a little better if you plan on using that product. It supports HDCP/cable card setups and has better pre-fetching/cashing. It will also eventually supplant XP.

If you're buying I'd probably go with Vista, seems pointless to spend the money on the last generation software. If you've already got XP I'd stay, by the time XP is no longer supported Vista will be much more mature (or possibly even replaced).

[TechBill]

It is said that XP EOL (End of Life) is 2014.

Vista is supposely to be a more secured OS than XP but still lack lots of drivers and still a quite of few number reported of hardware issues/conflicts/complaints on it.

So if it was me, I would stick with XP for at least another couple more years since it got 6 more year of support life on it and wait on Service Pack 1 or 2 for Vista depending how the public reponses to it before diving into Vista OS unless MS come out with something must have only for Vista that they will not release on XP.


Bill

[Kimper]

Ok two votes for XP. Is anyone running Sage out of Vista Media Center? Does that work smoothly?

[GTwannabe]

I have to disagree with the XP recommendations. Vista is the way you want to go for a HTPC:

1. Much better Standby/Hibernate support
2. Built-in MCE remote support
3. Vastly superior Sage video playback that doesn't require FSE, thanks to Aero 3D desktop
4. HDCP support

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by GTwannabe

I have to disagree with the XP recommendations. Vista is the way you want to go for a HTPC:

1. Much better Standby/Hibernate support
2. Built-in MCE remote support
3. Vastly superior Sage video playback that doesn't require FSE, thanks to Aero 3D desktop
4. HDCP support

XP don't have HDCP support?

Bill

[Ender]

I have run both XP, and Vista Ultimate on my Sage box. From my experience so far, I prefer XP over Vista, only because my 2600Pro AGP would crash every few minutes with an atikmdag error.

It is probably drivers, AMD needs to get on the ball.

Other than that all cable card tuners that I am aware of will only work in Vista, so vista would be the best bet for future proofing.

So basically I would say at this moment, XP is the best choice, Vista is just not ready for prime time with all hardware.

[Polypro]

I guess this could be a poll. My vote is for Vista for the same reasons as GT. Video quality blew me away. It would also depend on your hardware...everything in my sig ran from the first boot...I don't even remember having to install any drivers (including the Intel ICH7R that needed a floppy on XP ). Trying Vista shouldn't take more than a day to set up and tweak...if you don't like it, you could always install XP the next day

P

[bcjenkins]

Cable card tuners require a special bios on MB. I have to agree with the Vista camp though. I run two clients in Vista and HD playback is flawless for me.

B

[Protoman]

I am running Vista Ultimate on my front-end, and Windows XP Pro on my back-end. I do not have any complaints on this setup.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did not need a DVD Decoder (like nVidia Purevideo, or Intervideo) to be able to play DVDs on my Vista front-end. Even though I do not play DVDs through it but rather through my Home Theater in a Box.

Another thing I was pleasantly surprised by is that if/when I buy the HD-DVD drive for my Xbox 360, I can hook it up to my front-end and using Intervideo or Cyberlink's software can play HD-DVDs.

There have been only two issues I have had with Vista. The first is that my Streamzap Remote did not work with (aka no drivers for Vista). The second is that when the computer goes into standby when I wake it I lose some functionality in my remote (Gyration Universal MCE Remote), and I have to reboot the computer to get the functionality back.

Thanks,
Protoman

[Fluffdaddy]

Originally Posted by Protoman

I am running Vista Ultimate on my front-end, and Windows XP Pro on my back-end. I do not have any complaints on this setup.
Thanks,
Protoman

New terminology for me. What is "front-end" and "back-end" referring too?

thx

[kevine]

Front-end is where he plays the content/watches the recordings etc.

Back-end is where it is stored/housed/recorded.

[Kimper]

Here is the build out, parts coming from newegg today:

Motherboard ASUS P5K-VM
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
Graphics MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ
2 gigs memory and 1 TB Hard Drive
Then I am tossing in my old Haupauge card
and continuing to use the HDHomerun for HD

Vista should run great on that hardware.
I like Polypro's advice. I think I will try Vista out and if it sucks I can just start back over with XP. I will let you guys know how it goes

[kevine]

Originally Posted by Kimper

Here is the build out, parts coming from newegg today:

Motherboard ASUS P5K-VM
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
Graphics MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ
2 gigs memory and 1 TB Hard Drive
Then I am tossing in my old Haupauge card
and continuing to use the HDHomerun for HD

Vista should run great on that hardware.
I like Polypro's advice. I think I will try Vista out and if it sucks I can just start back over with XP. I will let you guys know how it goes

Sounds like a great machine to me. As you can see, very close to mine. 1 thing I wish I had done different was put the OS on a seperate physical ide drive. A thought if you have a spare ide lying around.

Also would have used Vista had it not been for the MVP problem. I rely heavily on MVPs.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Protoman

There have been only two issues I have had with Vista. The first is that my Streamzap Remote did not work with (aka no drivers for Vista). The second is that when the computer goes into standby when I wake it I lose some functionality in my remote (Gyration Universal MCE Remote), and I have to reboot the computer to get the functionality back.

Are you using Vista x64? The XP drivers work fine on Vista 32-bit. Also, in my experience, a lot of devices start working again if you just unplug them and plug them back in.

I'd have to say my experience with Vista has been mixed. I now have HD playing much better than it did under XP. But, I have to use the Purevideo decoder. WinDVD looks horrible, and for some reason the cyberlink decoder is an absolute slideshow (hardware acceleration is on, I assume, since my CPU usage is low). This wouldn't be too bad, but I can't get hardware acceleration with the purevideo decoder in WMP. I'm mostly leaning towards liking Vista, but I'm pretty disappointed I can't get the Cyberlink decoder to work.

[Protoman]

Nah, I gave it a good effort, but was not disappointed or regret that my old Streamzap didn't work. Plus, the remote I have now has a mouse built-into it, and it controls my TV just fine as well. One of my better upgrades.

Thanks,
Protoman

[Kimper]

Well, went with Vista 32 bit. It hasn't been too bad. Setup was a breeze and I am not sure if it is my new videocard or vista, but it works way better with my 4 year old Sony HDTV (no powerstrip or wake-up issues).

I only have 2 persistent problems:

1. Media extenders (MVP's) don't work well at all under Vista. They crash and freeze and lag. Disabling UAC helps some. Supposedly these issues are fixed in SP1 beta, but since Vista itself is basically like beta software I am going to wait until the "official" SP1 is out. Also hopefully some year we will get HD Sage extenders, so I am not too ramped up about the current extenders being buggy for a little while.

2. Firefly remote has issues in Sage anytime after Vista MCE has been run on the system. I guess it turns on some service that make the Firefly very laggy once back in Sage. I ordered a Microsoft MCE remote to try out, so we will see how that does.

I like the looks of Vista MCE, but hate its complete lack of customability. I found 2 beta programs to help with this over at Greenbutton.. MCE Customizer and MediaCenterFX.

I am still working on bit perfect spdif output (had to order a cable). I will update later on that front.

Overall, so far not too bad.

[adone36]

Be VERY careful with that ASUS board. I had 2 boards with VM suffix (don't remember the exact model) and I couldn't use either. The PCI express slots had capacitors between the slot and the chassis. No PCIex tuner card could fit because every card hit the capacitors. I had to use Gigabyte boards.

[frontlinegeek]

I am glad you are happy on Vista but I don't understand where these comments about HDCP support and poor video playback are coming from towards XP.

I run XP on the main Sage box and on the one client I have so far and there are no issues of ANY kind. And for the record, the client box is HDCP equipped and so is the TV it is connected to.

Personally, I like XP as it reboots faster and is less a system hog than Vista. And as for power settings, you should never be using them on an HTPC anyways.

[Shield]

Right - I ran Vista for a while and went back to XP - it's less worse. HDCP support should be part of the driver set and dependent on the hardware of your video card (i.e. 8x00 series from Nvidia).