Finally bought Windows 7 (note: on sale for college students)

[mian]

http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/w...fault.aspx

$30 for 7 Pro Upgrade (was $65 -- it drops to $30 periodically, but I waited for a pretty long time for the drop), XP is included in the upgrade path. You need an .edu email address to qualify, they could ask for more proof of enrollment down the line, but I don't think they usually do, FWIW. Hope that helps someone.

Still haven't decided what to do with it. I hate to install the x86 version while I wait for my plextor tv402u to die or for analog cable to die and then have to start with a clean slate upgrading to x64. If I really had cash to burn, I'd grab another hard drive (to make up for losing hardware divx encoding), another 2250 and ditch the card, problem solved, but I don't really have cash to burn. Might not have money I can put towards upgrades for a few years. I'll at least start dual booting sometime, play with it so that when I'm no longer anchored down it'll be ready and waiting for me.

[mian]

http://superuser.com/questions/78660/doe...-so-how-we

I think I've asked about getting my tv402u to work in win 7 64 here before, one piece of information I might should have included is that the tv402u is an external, usb tuner. So at the link above, it says you can use usb hardware that only has 32 bit drivers within xp mode. Am I crazy to think maybe I could run an old version of GBPVR in xp mode with that tuner and then run NPVR with my 2250 within win 7 itself? I don't have time to test it until this weekend, if then, but I thought I'd ask if anyone thought it was possible or had advice.

[Reddwarf]

http://superuser.com/questions/78660/doe...-so-how-we

I think I've asked about getting my tv402u to work in win 7 64 here before, one piece of information I might should have included is that the tv402u is an external, usb tuner. So at the link above, it says you can use usb hardware that only has 32 bit drivers within xp mode. Am I crazy to think maybe I could run an old version of GBPVR in xp mode with that tuner and then run NPVR with my 2250 within win 7 itself? I don't have time to test it until this weekend, if then, but I thought I'd ask if anyone thought it was possible or had advice.

I don't know if that would work, but I know that some XP 32-bit drivers works in W7x86 if you force W7 to use them, I'v done that myself with old graphic cards. Are you sure that Windows 7 won't recognuze the device and install a driver for it?

[mian]

I imagine they would, I'm just not sure I want to install win 7 32 at all only to start over down the road and have to reinstall everything when I go 64 for good. Since my only remaining hardware w/o a 64 bit driver is usb with an unknown remaining lifespan (it's been in use daily for 7ish years), this seems ideal. It may well be, that as with XP, fresh installs are warranted now and again anyway, but I'd like to have the option of not doing one down the road.

[stustunz]

In your sig you only have 2gig of ram unless you are going to increase that over 4 gig W7 64bit
Unless you are over the 4gig memory you wont really be taking advantage of 64bit ie waste of time and effort

[mian]

Even without 4GB, I'd avoid reinstalling down the line a couple of years when 4GB is the smallest possible denomination of RAM you can buy. But yeah, Amazon is selling the same model as my current RAM, and I've got a little trade-in credit to cover it. If my weekend test confirms that the hardware works, I'll need the extra RAM just to run XP mode all the time.

[Reddwarf]

Even without 4GB, I'd avoid reinstalling down the line a couple of years when 4GB is the smallest possible denomination of RAM you can buy. But yeah, Amazon is selling the same model as my current RAM, and I've got a little trade-in credit to cover it. If my weekend test confirms that the hardware works, I'll need the extra RAM just to run XP mode all the time.

I think you should forget about the XP-mode, it just adds extra overhead.

[mvallevand]

If you do get the Win7 64 bit you currently won't be able to use a firewire tuner, and this is the best way to control STB's should you ever upgrade to a h264 video capture device like the Hauppauge Colossus or HD-PVR. These are better then divx for compression and can also do HD.

Martin

[mian]

Thanks. I'm pretty opposed to STBs. Every time I talk to my cable company they try to get me off analog cable and every time I tell them to jump in a lake. Maybe someday I'll relent, but if they want me to use one now, they'll have to pry it INTO my cold dead hands.

I'm not super enamored of h264 either, though clearly XviD's heyday has passed. I suppose it wouldn't make much of a difference as a replacement for my plextor since I only use the hardware divx encoding for shows I plan to watch once (at most) and then delete. It's not like I'd be holding onto any h264 permanently.

I'm also sort of in a holding pattern on what to do on new tuners while I see what happens with cable, or at least until my plextor dies. 100% QAM would be nice, in case anyone out there is looking for a good idea.

[stustunz]

Is the machine used for anything else other than nextpvr