I am in the process of upgrading my HTPC system. Currently using an AMD A-8 and switching to the new Intel Haswell i3-4130T. Is anything going to break if i switch to Windows 8?
Yep, you're right - a light went on and I just realized I've not been a Unix & Linux network/middleware dev and sysadmin at a BigCorp for 25 years now, so I don't know anything about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slowbiscuit /t/1492282/are-you-using-windows-8-as-a-htpc/30#post_23895839
Yep, you're right - a light went on and I just realized I've not been a Unix & Linux network/middleware dev and sysadmin at a BigCorp for 25 years now, so I don't know anything about it.
Then you should know that recompiling software using a new compiler is something done by the software developers. If you do not, I call shens on what you claim about yourself. What you are saying is akin to someone claiming they work as a Nuclear Reactor Control Operator and then claiming the nuclear plant does not use fissile material...
You have become very boring and it is pointless to converse with you, so you can have the last word in this there, go ahead and use it to explain that it is the janitor who compiles software using a new compiler and not developers.
I agree that the remote support, especially in the Netflix Win 8 app, is terrible. However, I like the Super HD capability, plus the "full screen all the time" mentality of Windows 8 Metro-style apps in general, at least on the TV.
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Originally Posted by cybrsage /t/1492282/are-you-using-windows-8-as-a-htpc/30#post_23896067
Then you should know that recompiling software using a new compiler is something done by the software developers. If you do not, I call shens on what you claim about yourself. What you are saying is akin to someone claiming they work as a Nuclear Reactor Control Operator and then claiming the nuclear plant does not use fissile material...
You have become very boring and it is pointless to converse with you, so you can have the last word in this there, go ahead and use it to explain that it is the janitor who compiles software using a new compiler and not developers.
cybrsage, in large software shops, the compiling and regression testing is all automated. Keeping the WMC team active to keep up with .Net development is like reuniting the Beatles every time a new audio format comes along. It doesn't happen.
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Originally Posted by EricN /t/1492282/are-you-using-windows-8-as-a-htpc/0_100#post_23896267
cybrsage, in large software shops, the compiling and regression testing is all automated. Keeping the WMC team active to keep up with .Net development is like reuniting the Beatles every time a new audio format comes along. It doesn't happen.
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Originally Posted by rc05 /t/1492282/are-you-using-windows-8-as-a-htpc/30#post_23896127
Sorry I re-ignited this debate
I agree that the remote support, especially in the Netflix Win 8 app, is terrible. However, I like the Super HD capability, plus the "full screen all the time" mentality of Windows 8 Metro-style apps in general, at least on the TV.
Does anyone use remotes that can operate as a mouse? I believe some of the Harmonys have a mode where you can use the keypad to move the mouse. If one can do that without having to constantly switch modes or something, that's probably the best Windows 8 solution for now. Or use a programmable remote app on a smartphone, but the issue there is often the battery life, which is bad enough for most smartphones when they're not used as remotes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EricN /t/1492282/are-you-using-windows-8-as-a-htpc/30#post_23896267
cybrsage, in large software shops, the compiling and regression testing is all automated. Keeping the WMC team active to keep up with .Net development is like reuniting the Beatles every time a new audio format comes along. It doesn't happen.
SOME team is active to kick off the compiling and testing...computers are not smart enough yet to know that someone wants it recompiled and then go and do it for them (yet).
Does not have to be the WMC dev team, but it is some dev team. Recompiling code using a new compiler does fall into development work so they would not have used the marketing department or the sales department, to do it...they would have used the software development department.
The analogy is a little off - you should have said we do not need to get the original mixing and authoring group back together each time there is a new audio format - and you would be right. You DO need to have SOME mixing and authoring group kick off the process to move to the new audio format, though. In the case of software moving to a new version of .net, you need developers to do development work. In the case of music, you need mixers and authors to do the mixing and authoring work. In both cases it does not have to be the original group, but it still needs someone to at least start the automated processes.
CI is great, but if there are no changes it does nothing. Someone has to feed it something new for anything to happen (other than the check to see if there is anything new to integrate). If there is no development, CI does nothing.
As long as the thread got bumped, I answered no, but it's based on "if it ain't broke. . . ." I've got nothing against Win8, but with everything working on my HTPC I saw no need to upgrade, particularly where faster boot time is not at all important.
One of my HP machines I did upgrade had never woke up from sleep well, even when stock. Win8 changed that. My concern would be Win8 might have the opposite effect on my HTPC, and that would be disaster. I want my HTPC to sleep!
Sort of OT, but I've had Win8 since it first came out, and I finally found a useful Metro app. Their built in Mail app!
I use Outlook for my main email, but I have a couple of other email accounts I like to monitor. I've been using Thunderbird, but didn't really like it, and then it started acting up. I tried downloading MSFT Live Essentials, but it wouldn't open (which a Google search of the error code indicates is a common problem, apparently). Then using the Win8 Search function I noticed the Metro Mail app.
Very light weight and very fast. You can even customize it a surprising amount, to add signatures and such.
Maybe this isn't so OT though. It would actually be a rather good Mail client for an HTPC that you didn't do much emailing with.
Looks like an oldish thread, but active again so I'll say this. I'm actually surprised no one else has said it...
I use Windows 7 for my HTPC. I would have switched/upgraded to 8 on it a long time ago but there's exactly one reason I haven't done this. Despite all the complains and belly-aching over 8, it does have a lot of useful computing features (ultra fast startup, being able to schedule TRIMs on SSDs with the disk optimiser (and the optimiser actually supporting SSDs at all), having better Netflix functionality, as a few examples) that make it better than 7.
However the one and only reason I won't switch to 8 on my HTPC is the horrible/lack of font smoothing in Windows 8 (and 8.1). I just don't get it but the "font smoothing" it does is not smoothing at all, it's nothing like in versions of Windows since XP. Instead it just looks like I'm using Windows 9x (actually I don't know what that would look like on a modern display but I'm imagining it looks like what 8 does, lol).
Seriously I adjusted the ClearType twenty different ways, tried looking up all sorts of tips/tricks on intarwebs and nothing. The fonts just look atrocious in things like IE and elsewhere. I understand (from all the research/reading I did) that MS changed the font rendering in 8 because it's "better". But that doesn't explain why it looks like crap. All the fonts are blocky and jagged on the displays (all LCDs) that I've tried it on. It's definitely not something I want on my TV screen when using my HTPC. To me it's like they just went backwards 20 years in the way it looks on the display. Have no idea how to fix it (and I tried a lot of things). I don't even understand how they get away with this/how not that many people complain about it? But yeah that's the main reason I won't use it on my HTPC.
I'm finally changing my mind regarding use of Windows 8 as an HTPC OS...
As mentioned earlier, the main reason I refused to use Windows 8 for HTPC use was the font smoothing bit. In the past, I'd tried a 19" (1440x900) and two different 24" (1920x1080) monitors on my one computer I've had 8/8.1 on and I never could get around the font smoothing issue where regardless of setting up ClearType, the fonts just looked all jagged compared to Windows 7 (and Vista and XP). This was particularly true in Internet Explorer. Because of this I'd never bothered to try it with a larger TV thinking it would just look awful.
Well, putting my usual HTPC out of business for a short while, I've connected up the same Win 8.1 machine temporarily as an HTPC... Strangely/magically I don't really have any issues with the fonts on the TV?! Looks fine, even close up, zoomed in (using IE right now at 150%), so now I'm thinking maybe I can actually start using Win8 as an HTPC OS
Plus with 8 there's the Netflix app which is better than using my TVs laggy/slow built-in Netflix interface. Netflix app is way better for things with multiple episodes (like TV shows) as well, from the looks of it.
The only things I still hate about 8, are the damn restrictions on things--like not being able to open certain files, lacking permissions to do things, etc., even with UAC off and logged in as an admin, not being able to use the hidden admin account without it bellyaching about it not being an MS account, etc.
Of course with 10 around the corner I'm wondering if it's even worth bothering switching my HTPC from 7. Hmmm.
I don't think many here will be going from 7 to 10 is there's no Media Center option anymore, and as time goes on, that certainly looks to be the case. No MC, no Windows 10. Simple, at least for as long as I'm using it for live TV.
I used to use Windows 7 with MCE but I'm now using Windows 8.1 with the latest MediaPortal. There's nothing that Windows 7 does that Windows 8 doesn't do better. Some people miss the start menu but that's only because they're so used to it. Clumsy, nested menus belong in the 90s and besides, it's a non-issue on a true HTPC where you're only using a remote.
It's personal taste at the end of the day. In your opinion, the Start Menu was out of date, and very '90s'. Not to me though. I use it all the time, and find it far easier and more logical. Microsoft took away the choice - that was their biggest problem.
Agreed though, that for a dedicated HTPC, it's not a big deal, but the other changes MS made with 8 were not HTPC friendly, even though Metro had the potential to be a great HTPC interface. Another lost opportunity.
Win 8.x is still missing a lot of things many HTPC users require, like WMC itself, auto-start WMC, legacy extender compatibility, and MCE remote friendly operation in Metro apps. If you need those capabilities, you shouldn't "upgrade".
Even the Netflix app in Win 8.x has been crippled badly due to Netflix not allowing 1080p streams on many titles, not to mention the difficulty of controlling with a remote. It's no longer a compelling reason to upgrade, IMO.
I personally find Win 8.x very difficult to navigate without a start menu. Typing in the search box is a big step backwards. I've used a mouse since the 80's to avoid typing. The unorganized wall of apps on the start screen is just as useless. An old fashioned cascading menu is much more logical, efficient and easier to navigate. If I went to a restaurant and just got a gigantic list of everything they serve rather than a "menu" with nice, easy to read groups, I would walk right back out. There is virtually nothing logical or intuitive about Win 8.x.
I personally find Win 8.x very difficult to navigate without a start menu. Typing in the search box is a big step backwards. I've used a mouse since the 80's to avoid typing. The unorganized wall of apps on the start screen is just as useless. An old fashioned cascading menu is much more logical, efficient and easier to navigate. If I went to a restaurant and just got a gigantic list of everything they serve rather than a "menu" with nice, easy to read groups, I would walk right back out. There is virtually nothing logical or intuitive about Win 8.x.
Whether it's more logical is not at all cut and dry. Efficient? That depends on how you look at it. I never really liked the start menu to begin with. Until Vista and 7 I used a lot of desktop shortcuts. Heck, one of those shortcuts was even to program files. The 7 taskbar organization was something I liked better and still use in 8.1 but the start menu still didn't get any love from me. I dislike cascading menus because you are at the mercy of the UI. Moving your mouse through it is unbearable, but navigating with a keyboard was acceptable. I'd prefer tighter grid with larger icons than what w8.1 uses, but I'll always take a grid over cascading menus. I hate when people throw a crap ton of folders on their android / ios phones as well, since you have to "click-into" them. In android I have just a single home screen where my top used choices go and everything else can be easily found in the alphabetical app drawer. W8.1 is the same with everything I really need on the taskbar and everything else in an easy to find application grid. I would give the cascade menu about 10s of my patience before just typing win+e and going to the program files directory itself. It was always such a pain, and very easy to accidentally "close" the fly-out menus that you were actually trying to navigate to
I use Win 8.1 on about a dozen other PCs of mine all the time, with or without a start menu replacement. So I understand how it works and can use it. I just don't like it. It's much easier to mouse around a table of contents rather than a huge index, so I prefer a menu structure. Not to mention how hard it is to read from 10ft away. I even ran WMC on 8 for a few months, and using the startup folder was no problem. The main reason I rolled back to Win 7 was the 3rd party extender support I'd hoped for never came.
Besides that, I don't like the way 8 looks, the hodgepodge of modern and classic dialogs and settings, the feature stripped metro versions of apps, the difficultly navigating without touch, non-existent keyboard support in metro, unintuitive interface, windows live login that you have to jump through hoops to avoid, dumbed down network management, the list goes on.
And I don't understand why all these very valid complaints are usually met with disdain, condescension and ridicule. Can't anyone admit that Win 8 has a lot of things wrong with it? New and different is not always better. In this case, they took a lot of things that have worked just fine for many years and threw them all out the window just so they could make PCs work like phones.
I use it a lot. I despise metro apps and settings. I don't like dragging it from the top to close
I don't use anything metro with the exception of settings
That's basically my complaint. Everything else works the way I like. I have a number of apps start with windows. I just opened explorer and copied the shortcuts into shell:startup
I use 8.1 as my headless WMC/Plex server HTPC. I like it. I had to stay on 7 due to some sleep issues with 8/8.1 for a while, but I've since overcome those. Smooth sailing ever since.
Firstly, unlike in 7 and below - in 8/8.1 - in your NIC settings under Power Management - 'only allow magic packets to wake the computer' is UNCHECKED by default. This causes any and all network traffic to wake/be allowed to wake the computer.
The rest, I gotta chalk up to either Windows and/or driver updates.
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