Windows 7 64 bit or 32 bit?

[rosemary]

I'm looking at upgrading my Vista Home Premium 32bit media PC to Windows 7 Pro 64bit. Should I stick with 32bit, or go 64bit? My HP slimline can run either. Are their any actual advantages? Since I'm going from home premium to pro, I'm going to have to basically do a reinstall anyway, so it's not like I'm going to save time with an upgrade.

Are there any notable issues with Sage with 64bit Windows? Or with Sage with Windows 7, for that matter?


Thanks!

Edit: Ok, looks like I could actually upgrade from home premium to 32bit without a full reinstall. But I'll probably reinstall anyway since I'm having this annoying tv shut-off problem.

Edit2: I should note that I have a very uncomplicated setup. Just the ViXS tuner that came with the PC that has always worked great with Sage. Watch all video on a TV hooked up to that computer, though at some point I may by some client licenses to expand to different rooms. Don't have cable or a satellite, just OTA HD and videos I throw in the imported directories.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by rosemary

Are there any notable issues with Sage with 64bit Windows? Or with Sage with Windows 7, for that matter?

I am thinking about building a new SageTV server using Windows 7, 64-bit. What I understand so far is SageTV runs on Java that has a memory limitation of 2 gigs. Firewire will not work, since there aren't drivers available for 64-bits, which isn't an issue for me. The Hauppauge 2250 and HD-PVR both work with 64-bit Windows 7. The HDHomerun also works with 64-bit Windows 7. My old Hauppauge PVR-350 won't work with 64-bit Windows 7, but it can be retired to an older computer. My Symantec Ghost imaging program won't work with 64-bit Windows 7, but Acronis True Image Home 2010 will work. VNC won't work with 64-bit Windows 7, but UltraVNC will work.

I haven't researched other applications I use, such as Comskip, ShowAnalyzer, DirMon2, AnyDVD, DVDfab, and Total Recorder.

I would rather use 64-bit Windows 7 than 32-bit Windows 7 since it is probably more 'future proof', unless there are any major deal breakers.


Dave

[xxLJLxx]

Originally Posted by rosemary

Are there any notable issues with Sage with 64bit Windows? Or with Sage with Windows 7, for that matter?

I have a very basic setup and just recently installed Windows7 64bit and it is working great! I also just do basic OTA and my Hauppauge card works fine. AnyDVDHD works great and really that's all that I use. I would just research your tuner and see if you can make sure it works in 64 bit and then go for it.

[evilpenguin]

I'm firmly in the "64-bit is pointless for consumers" camp.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm firmly in the "64-bit is pointless for consumers" camp.

masochistic would be a better term.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by xxLJLxx

I have a very basic setup and just recently installed Windows7 64bit and it is working great! I also just do basic OTA and my Hauppauge card works fine. AnyDVDHD works great and really that's all that I use. I would just research your tuner and see if you can make sure it works in 64 bit and then go for it.

Thanks for the response. Do you also use Comskip, ShowAnalyzer, and DirMon2?

Unless there's a downside to 64-bits, I down see any reason to build up a new system with older technology.

Dave

[xxLJLxx]

Originally Posted by davephan

Thanks for the response. Do you also use Comskip, ShowAnalyzer, and DirMon2?

Unless there's a downside to 64-bits, I down see any reason to build up a new system with older technology.

Dave

I do use Comskip and Comskip Monitor. I had read earlier about some not being able to get Comskip monitor going in Windows7 but I haven't bothered to even run the setup.bat. It just works for me. Maybe I'm a lucky one....

[mayamaniac]

I had to go with Windows 7 32bit because firewire channel changing doesn't work in 64bit. There are no 64 bit driver available for firewireSTB.

My server is dedicated so 2GB of memory is all I need as I never seen the server use more than 1.5GB, so 64bit is not really necessary at this point.

[rosemary]

THANKS! Many responses and all of them good. Please keep the opinions coming.

Just a clarification - it's only the firewire channel changing that doesn't work in 64 bit, not firewire in general? I'm pretty sure that must be true since the alternative would be a bit of a showstopper.

evilpenguin - As a programmer, I know what you mean. But in actual use, have you run into any actual reasons not to use it? It's the same price for me for either, so I get twice the bits AT NO EXTRA CHARGE.

Also, thank god I'm getting Pro. Don't have to mess around with UltraVNC anymore.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by rosemary

Don't have to mess around with UltraVNC anymore.

I've never used firewire for channel changing, so I don't know the upside to using it verses a USB-UIRT, maybe speed, since the USB-UIRT has reliable channel changing.

I'm currently using RealVNC and sometimes Remote Desktop for remote controlling my XP Pro 32-bit SageTV computer. Some other forum posts claim that RealVNC works with Windows 7 64-bit, some say to use UltraVNC. What's the downside to using UltraVNC, and can you post a link to VNC Pro?


Dave

[rosemary]

So currently I have Vista Home Premium. Microsoft so kindly removes the ability to connect to a Home Premium machine using Remote Desktop. And, unfortunately, the RealVNC folks have abandoned the reason their program became popular and won't release a free version that works with Vista. That's up to them, but I know I never would have suggested our office switch to them if they had been pulling this crap at the time.

As such, I have to use UltraVNC to connect to my Vista machine. The user interface is a little funky and it just doesn't seem as stable. It does annoying things like if you click to connect to a machine and then hit cancel, it leaves the vncviewer.exe process running still. Dumb stuff like that. I was able to hack RealVNC free version to work on Vista, but that has its own kludginess and I found it wasn't worth it.

That's why I'm looking forward to installing Pro on there. You can even set up Remote Desktop so that the desktop isn't the same one as what's running as the main one. That has pros and cons, though. In general, I've always found Remote Desktop to be a lot snappier and to not have problems with not realizing it should be refreshing various parts of the screen. Not surprising, since VNC is more of a generic product that treats the screen as a big graphic rather than a collection of windows, text boxes, icons, etc.

Here's a link to the various version of RealVNC and a feature matrix. None of them officially work with Windows 7 according that this.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by rosemary

Just a clarification - it's only the firewire channel changing that doesn't work in 64 bit, not firewire in general?

Yes, firewire in general for cameras and hard drives does work in Windows 7 64-bit. Firewire capture and channel changing does not work because the drivers needed for the set-top boxes are not available in 64-bit, only 32-bit.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm firmly in the "64-bit is pointless for consumers" camp.

++

Ask yourself what you can do on x64 that you can't on x86 (that is relevant to your usage), then do the reverse. Every time I do this personally 64 < 86.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by babgvant

++

Ask yourself what you can do on x64 that you can't on x86 (that is relevant to your usage), then do the reverse. Every time I do this personally 64 < 86.

I'm running Windows 7 Pro x64 on my daily usage computer. Does exactly what I need and uses all 4GB of my RAM without any hacks. On my server I'm still running XP Pro until SageTV becomes stable on Windows 7. At which time I will upgrade it. Probably to 32-bit because I use FireWire channel changing. Although, if I switched back to my USB-UIRT I could use 64-bit just fine.

The "no 64-bit drivers" issue has become a red herring. 64-bit drivers are a now a requirement for Windows 7 certification. Old devices may not be supported but any current and future hardware should be completely compatible. This has actually been true for quite some time.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I'm running Windows 7 Pro x64 on my daily usage computer. Does exactly what I need and uses all 4GB of my RAM without any hacks. On my server I'm still running XP Pro until SageTV becomes stable on Windows 7. At which time I will upgrade it. Probably to 32-bit because I use FireWire channel changing. Although, if I switched back to my USB-UIRT I could use 64-bit just fine.

The pool of sw that "just works" on x86 is much larger than x64. While most x86 applications will run fine in the WOW there are some that don't. Without a good justification, I don't see the point in artificially narrowing the scope of what I can do.

I'm not saying there aren't use cases that tilt towards x64, just that there aren't many for a dedicated HTPC. I have an x64 box at home; running W2K8/Hyper-V/SQL server/IIS/etc because it makes sense. All the PCs that people use directly are x86 because that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

The "no 64-bit drivers" issue has become a red herring. 64-bit drivers are a now a requirement for Windows 7 certification. Old devices may not be supported but any current and future hardware should be completely compatible. This has actually been true for quite some time.

Weighing FW channel changing against addressing 700MB of RAM I wouldn't use isn't a red herring.

[rosemary]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

On my server I'm still running XP Pro until SageTV becomes stable on Windows 7.

Wait, wait, are you saying SageTV isn't stable on Windows 7? That's somewhat germaine to my original questions!

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by rosemary

Wait, wait, are you saying SageTV isn't stable on Windows 7? That's somewhat germaine to my original questions!

There still seem to be some issues with recording on Windows 7. Playback seems to be fine though.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by rosemary

Wait, wait, are you saying SageTV isn't stable on Windows 7? That's somewhat germaine to my original questions!

It works for the most part, but isn't supported yet so if there are any issues Sage won't help you.

[rmiller]

I currently use the 64 bit version of Windows 7 and the only issue that I have found is Comskip Monitor isn't working properly. It sounds like some have had issues using it Windows 7 and I am unsure if that has anything to do with 32 bit vs 64 bit. At the same time however, I haven't troubleshooted or researched it in the forums myself, so there quite possibly could be a work around for it.

Meanwhile everything else seems to work great... recording, watching, blu ray vids, etc.

I opted for the 64 bit version since my Sage TV server is also my workstation. I do have some non SageTV apps that I use that take advantage of a 64 bit OS. If it wasn't for that argument, I don't know if there is any real need to go with a 64 bit OS if it will be purely a Sage TV dedicated server.

[mayamaniac]

Has any one tried installing XP Mode for Win7 and running some of the problematic applications under XP Mode?

I'm wondering if this solves some of the compatibility issues.