Are those of you who have upgraded to Windows 7 and Sage 7 happy?

[tvmaster2]

I'm running 6.6 on Windows XP SP3, and it's mostly fine. A few HD-PVR / Media Theater 200 headaches.
Did anyone make the leap and regret it?
Love it?
no big difference one way or the other?

cheers

[Ericft]

don't wait...win7/Sagetv 7 a great combo...all my PCs are now win7...seamless

[keepersg]

Originally Posted by Ericft

don't wait...win7/Sagetv 7 a great combo...all my PCs are now win7...seamless

Agree--WHS and Sage 7 with extenders and a Win7 client. Sage 7 is solid and has a much higher WAF and FAF.

[robk]

BIG difference in stability, functionality, customization and speed. The combination of Win7 and SageTV7.0.xx is far better than XP and older versions of SageTV. There is a little tweaking involved, but once you get it right, there is a world of difference - SageTV works beautifully with Win7 and is well worth the effort and investment. Using an HD PVR with Win7 and SageTV, I believe is the ultimate TV/Video/Music experience. I've used SageTV since 2004, this is the best it has ever been and judging from the past, the future will get even better - I have absolutely no regrets on taking the upgrade path.
You will not be disappointed, believe me. And, the support from the members on this forum is beyond excellent if you have any questions or problems.
Rob

[Ericft]

And, the support from the members on this forum is beyond excellent if you have any questions or problems

I think this has been the best part of sagetv...making problem solving very easy as there is an entire community of experts...even I have been able to contribute to the community..i hope...
anyhow, the new plugin manager is unbelievable user friendly, making all those hours of tweaking of downloaded files into various random directories a thing of the horrid past...also, the versions have all been extremely stable despite being beta. and for some reason( maybe a testament to the microsoft folks) sagetv works very very well with win7...as the prevous poster mentioned, once you tweak and setup as you want, you no longer have to worry about working on win7 install..all the work gets done (mostly) in teh sagetv user interface as it should be. and with Sage My movies, the new diamond theme ( and phoenix coming), you really get a sense for the HTPC movie theater experience with previews, Hulu, pandora,playon, commercial detecting....all with easy installation.

[pgman]

I've used SageTV since 2004...

I started a year later, and have run Sage TV (I think I originally bought version 4) on WinXP, Vista, and now 7. XP and Vista were 32-bit and my 7 is 64-bit. Pretty much all my issues (stuttering playback, slow response and some instability) went away when I started using Win Vista and version 6 (not sure which version of 6 it was). Also, my picture quality improved significantly when I started using Win Vista, I am not sure why - the hardware was the same.

With Win7 and STV 7, my system is definitely VERY responsive and the picture quality is the best it's ever been. Of course, I DID build a whole new system (starting with the motherboard) right before I loaded SageTV 7, so I can't be certain that SageTV 7 is really all that different than the version before it (other than the look).

I am with the others, even if you have to buy / upgrade some hardware, Windows 7 is the best OS Microsoft has done since DOS 6.22.

[tvmaster2]

well, that about takes care of that - it sounds like a unanimous plus.
I had one Windows 7 license left from a "family pack", and was debating which machine would get it. Sounds like the Sage machine is about to be upgraded.
Oh, any advice on Win 7 32 bit or 64 bit stability, aka if there's one reason for one or the other in conjunction with Sage, PVR-150 and an HD-PVR?

once I figure that out then I can install

thanks

[robk]

One reason I went with 32bit was I now use a Cisco Cable STB as one HD source and the old drivers for FireWire channel changing (Tim Moore?) don't work on 64bit. I don't like using the USB-UIRT to blast channel changes - too slow. Firewire is fast and no mistakes, but doesn't work with WIN7 64bit yet.
Actually, I don't see the benefit of 64bit - I only use 2 Gig Ram and 32bit suits me fine.

Rob

[pgman]

I went 64-bit only because I figured it would be more future proof, and because I wanted 8g of ram. I was also told that 64-bit would run faster.

If you're using older hardware, check to be sure they offer stable drivers before you decide. The only issue I had was with one of my tuner cards, and I think that may be related to the 64-bit driver. I haven't really done any troubleshooting on that, because I haven't needed the third tuner. I think I saw that they (AverMedia) released a newer 64-bit driver since then, but just haven't tried it.

One word of advice from somebody who learned the hard way. Hard drives are CHEAP. Get a new one to put your new system on. That way, you can just pop the old HDD back in if you run into serious trouble, and your system won't be completely dead - you can limp along on the old installation for a while.

Good luck. I don't think you'll regret it.

[Smiley]

I wouldn't recommend using Windows 7 64 bit as a SageTV Server - I'm looking into downgrading to Windows XP in order to get the server running for more than a couple of days.

I haven't tried using it as a client though - and perhaps my problems are caused by my inability to set up Windows 7 correctly - but this post was just to let you know that not all users are happy about Windows 7.

# Smiley

[Diego Garcia]

Count me as a big proponent of Sage 7 on Windows 7. I run 32 bit, mostly because I want to have as few issues with drivers and driver reliability as I can, and because I don't need the power and reach of a 64 bit system.

The Sage 7 UI is a huge improvement over Sage 6. It does take a little getting used to, but the learning curve is fast.

The new plugin management features (at least I think they're new ) are also a big improvement. I don't tend to use many plugins, but it's much easier to install and manage the ones I do use now.

HDPVR reliability is much, much improved. Although in my case a lot of that was due to replacing a flaky mobo.

And, while I'm not sure why, the playback -- both audio and video -- seems much improved, too. Not that it was bad before, mind you. But now it's even better.

[valnar]

I just built a brand new i5 server and put WinXP on it and Sage 7. Works great, especially my old Hauppauge PVR-250 boards (XP drivers). I was not happy with Win7, at least not yet. When I do though, it will be 32-bit.

[macsupergeek]

I started with 5 and moved up through 6.6 and I have to say that now being on ver 7 with windows 7 and my extenders, I and my family are much happier now then ever. Who is to say what upgrade (hardware or software) really did it, as the system that powers everything is faster, but everything seems more responsive. And the environment is amazing compared to years ago, I mean with FanArt and all the other fun functionality, like Playon, SageTV has really come a long way.

[darcilicious]

I'm biting at the bit to upgrade my Vista x86 / SageTV v7.0.x server to Windows -- though Vista has been rock solid, I really want the W7/MS video decoders as the server is also the HTPC. I've been putting it off because you know the ol' adage, don't make more than one change at a time and keeping up with SageTV v7 updates and all the plugins I'm using is plenty

I'll be sticking with 32-bit as the server only has 3GB of RAM and the NEXT change after the OS upgrade will be to try firewire channel changing (there's always SOMETHING, right? )

[paulbeers]

I'm running Windows 7 32-bit with Sage 7. I don't use my server for video playback so I'm not really sure how much it really mattered switching to Windows 7 (I simply did it because I felt it was time to move away from a 7+ year old operating system). I'm on Sage 7.0.22 (just haven't upgraded to .23 yet) and am extremely happy with the stability.

[Brent]

I upgraded from XP to Windows 7. Windows 7 is pretty good & I have no regrets there. I also went with 32-bit because firewire channel changing is essential to my Hauppuage HD-PVR happiness.

SageTV 7 is a very nice improvement. I'm 60% happier with the UI and 100% happier with the overall end-user experience. Much of that happiness comes from the plugin manager actually.

[paulie]

Windows 7 Sage7 combo has been very reliable fpr me so far.
I love the new UI. It's simple and straight forward.

[tvmaster2]

great info from all - thanks for all the advice. I'm looking forward to one day having a stable HD PVR system . . . lol

[rrhorer]

Maybe a little late with the same answer, but - yes. The Win 7 Sage 7 combo is great. I went from XP (not too bad, but not even close to Win 7) to Vista (a headache) to Win 7 32 bit. Like Brent and others, I wanted firewire channel changing which isn't available for 64 bit. The last few Sage 7betas have had a few hiccups with the HVR 2250; so, I'm still at 7.17, but intend to do the 7.23 upgrade this weekend along with a few Plugin updates. Do the upgrade -you want regret it.

[wayner]

I am running Sage7 on older hardware using XP pro. I will likely upgrade the hardware soon but I am not sure whether to go Win7 or XP pro. This is just a server machine - it won't be used for playback. The advantage of XP pro is that it has remote desktop server which doesn't come on Win7 HP. I also need firewire channel change so I have to stay wi 32 bit.

One of these days we are going to need someone to write 64 bit firewire drivers.