Windows Embedded

[235301]

Clearly setting up a computer based PVR/TV application isn't the easiest thing to do. Any of us that have had to set up our own GBPVR box know what a headache it is to get running and running well. It includes tweaking codecs, gbpvr and even the operating system itself.

Could we make life easier by packaging Windows Embedded as gbpvr version that strips all but the necessary functionality of Windows out and provide a much more stable, faster platform for GBPVR? It's $90 per license. Yes, it would be tricky from a licensing standpoint since this is meant for hardware mftrs. Perhaps this is a way for sub to make some $$$ off of gbpvr by providing a Windows Embedded version that the end user could install quickly on their hardware.

Probably far fetched but I thought I would throw that out there to see if it might trigger some innovative thinking.

[pBS]

unfortunately i don't think that will solve the problem, you'd stll have the same old windows codec todeal with, and hardware support can't be solved for all systems with one install..

usually win Embedded is custom made for each custom,non-upgradeable hardware platform..
driver installation can be done but it's even trickier than regular windows...

it's easy to mimic this setup tho, just keep a minimal windows install, setup gbpvr on a separate drive letter to isolate it from os for backups, and get it all working to your liking..
then back up the windows drive, and restore it whenever anything in windows messes up..
to make changes permanent, just overwrite backup after making changes...
your gbpvr drive won't be touched so it'll all be just as you left it,even after a windows restore, recordings and all...[obviously recordings should be on a separate drive also]
there are utils like windows steady state that can lock down changes for a drive also, and
Returnil virtual system that does same thing...steady state requiring a ntfs drive, the other not..
it really helps keep the windows lite and uncluttered...
[i have a 14 gig windows partition c:, a 2 gig gbpvr only partition, and several drives for recordings..]

[systemshark]

I did start making a Embedded Image for GBPVR. I decided that the hassle of inlcuding three different hardware drivers and including .NET frameworks, codec, EPG Software, IR Blasters, etc was getting too complex....

The quicker way is to build a imaging server with everything based on Windows Embedded and image to.... which seamed a little pointless as I'm now running yet another machine...

Lastly booting from compact flash was fine but I was thinking about to migrate to a solid state drive for performance...

Very Lastly, the getting hold of the licenses is more complex than standard windows as embedded licenses come from a Microsoft appointed hardware reseller like IBM, Fujitsu, Dell.... I know the embedded price can be much cheaper than standard but we'd need to buy several thousand to make it worth while...

Other than those reasons I though it was cool idea too.