Which Windows Version?

[etk29321]

One of my clients died and I replaced it with an intel NUC, not noticing that the new NUC's do not support windows XP. I tried anyways, but the XP install blue screens before it even asks for drivers. I tried just using placeshifter under ubuntu, but it is also not working well. (fwiw, placeshifter does not work at all with 64-bit ubuntu. It works marginally with 32-bit, but com skip playback does not work at all).

This places me with having to buy a new windows license. I know that windows 7 works since my server is running 7, but I cannot find any specific info on if 8.1 or 10 will work. I hate to buy win7 a month before win10 comes out -- windows costs as much as the NUC did!.

How new a version of windows do people know SageTV Client will work well with?

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by etk29321

I hate to buy win7 a month before win10 comes out -- windows costs as much as the NUC did!.

Considering Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for practically every Windows 7 and 8 user, I don't think that's should have any impact on your decision. Personally, if I were going to purchase a license, under no circumstances would I consider Windows 8; it's the latest Vista.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by etk29321

I hate to buy win7 a month before win10 comes out -- windows costs as much as the NUC did!.

Really? I seem to recall seeing Windows 7 Home Premium licenses being sold for around $80 lately...

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Personally, if I were going to purchase a license, under no circumstances would I consider Windows 8; it's the latest Vista.

I don't know about Vista... I haven't had buggy issues with Win8.1 like Vista... but nonetheless, the point is valid, no reason to buy 8 now if 7 is cheaper, since you can get 10 free soon from either of them.

I will say that I wish someone had told me not to buy 8.1 a year+ ago when I upgraded my server. It's just kinda.... stupid. That said, I don't know whether I will feel any better about 10.

[nyplayer]

Upgrading just to run SageTVClient is not always good. I have the Mini PC below and I upgraded to windows 8.1 and SageTV stuttered all day the TSSPLITER in SageTV is not the best. I found the best performance was Windows 7 64 Bit no stuttering perfect playback. Just make sure if you choose to upgrade to windows 10 you have an easy way to go back to windows 7.


Q180
Intel Atom D2700 2.13GHz
64 bit Dual Core Processor
4GB DDR3 1066
AMD Radeon HD 6450A 512MB VRAM
10/100/1000Mbps

[jchiso]

I have servers and clients that run beautifully on Windows 8; which were pretty painless installs, where applicable. I've not experienced any of the issues others have with "8" ...

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

I don't know about Vista... I haven't had buggy issues with Win8.1 like Vista... but nonetheless, the point is valid, no reason to buy 8 now if 7 is cheaper, since you can get 10 free soon from either of them.

True... the problems between Vista and 8 are drastically different, but have led to the same result: users hating the OS.

I will say that I wish someone had told me not to buy 8.1 a year+ ago when I upgraded my server. It's just kinda.... stupid. That said, I don't know whether I will feel any better about 10.

When it takes me hours to get the OS to an acceptably usable state once it's installed, I'd call that a failure. I still haven't quite figured out where everything is in W8. As far as reliability, I have to give 8 credit. But, the user experience is just plain terrible.

And now back to our regularly scheduled topic...

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by jchiso

I have servers and clients that run beautifully on Windows 8; which were pretty painless installs, where applicable. I've not experienced any of the issues others have with "8" ...

Originally Posted by Skirge01

... I still haven't quite figured out where everything is in W8. As far as reliability, I have to give 8 credit. But, the user experience is just plain terrible ...

To be fair, I've never run Metro for more than about five minutes on any of my Win 8 systems. I only run the familiar Win7 / Win XP desktop ...

[Taddeusz]

I will probably be upgrading my systems to Windows 10. I tested it in a vm for a while and it is much improved compared to 8/8.1. Despite the horrible Metro interface there was enough reason for me to upgrade from 7. Plus I got free or nearly free licenses while I was in school. I have spend scant time within Metro. It is a dismal failure on the desktop.

I've also used Windows 8 on a Surface tablet and I have to say that things are confusing there as well. To close a Metro app is not what you would call self evident. I actually had to Google it to figure it out. Probably one of the more confused touch interfaces I've used.

I have a "friend" who is a notorious Microsoft fanboy, Microsoft MVP... I've argued with him at length about the mistakes Microsoft has made and he defends them to the teeth. I'll admit I'm a bit of an Apple fan myself but I recognize when they make mistakes rather than trying to rationalize my love of their products.

[Skirge01]

I've spent a combined total of about 2 hours in Metro on various computers (laptops, tablets, desktops) and it takes too long to do anything. Nothing is where I expect it to be and I can't easily get to the specific things I'm trying to. If you don't have a touch screen (which all but the tablets in our house are lacking), the Metro interface only gets in the way. I'm constantly swiping the right (bar? widget? tab?) open when I use the touch pad on a laptop and there's no way to turn that "feature" off. The pop up which takes over the computer to tell you there are Windows updates is extremely annoying, as well. That's going to get old real fast with the forced updates of W10, assuming that continues in the new version. I've also had to constantly search for how to accomplish basic things in W8.

[emveepee]

My Vista backend (for NextPVR) has been rock solid and 10x more stable than XPSP3, I don't see much if any improvement on things that count with Win 7. Maybe UAC was hard for Windows users, but with a *nix background running as root never made sense to me.

When I buy another backend it would be a refurb with Win7 or 8 and I'd upgrade to 10. If I was American I'd probably stick with Win 7 just to get free WMC for CableCard DRM. I can't see any reason to stick with Win7 on a client for non-Enterprise use.

Martin