Whats the general concensus for best GBPVR OS?

[siliconaudio]

I think this thread has convinced me that it's about time I converted my PVR PC to Windows 7. XP has been OK for me, but doesn't handle some things very well. My biggest problem is that if my PVR wakes from standby without the TV on, it disables the HDMI port. This means needing to go into display properties and re-enable it - something totally confusing to the wife & kids. If Win 7 gets around this (I've been told it does), fixing that issue alone will be worth the price of admission.

Thanks guys.

[sgilani]

no dice; Windows 7 doesn't provide DXVA acceleration for H264 on VMR9 either. same problem as Vista.

Sure enough, DXVAChecker shows only DXVA2 for H264 (MPEG2 has DXVA1 as well).

Seems like Microsoft doesn't care about providing translation for DXVA1 on H264.. oh well.
My dual-core E2140 running Windows 7 x64 can play 720p from my HD-PVR (~8 mbps) at around 80% CPU load, but bringing up OSD or live guide makes it crawl.

since I need VMR9 for alot of my international channels (to stretch the 4:3 picture on my plasma), I don't have much of a choice.

[whurlston]

Why are you even using VMR9 with Win7 and a 4670? Use Catalyst 10.3 drivers, EVR and get the Flash 10.1 beta to fix the Hulu tearing issue.

[collin]

No video inset with EVR - major dealbreaker for me

[sgilani]

Why are you even using VMR9 with Win7 and a 4670? Use Catalyst 10.3 drivers, EVR and get the Flash 10.1 beta to fix the Hulu tearing issue.

I'm stuck with VMR9 because I need custom aspect ratios to remove pillarboxing (a lot of ATSC broadcasts are pillarboxed around here), and also I subscribe to some international channels that are 4:3.

If we could do the custom aspect ratios with negative values with EVR, then I'd use it without hesitation.

I am using Catalyst 10.3, and haven't experienced any tearing with Hulu Desktop.

[whurlston]

Ah, yeah. Those would be good reasons. I don't need the inset for my viewing and I compensate for the negative aspect ratios using my TV's built in zoom function.