[adzan]

Folks,


Has Windows XP "certified" as HTPC already? This means that :


1. PowerStrip run in WinXP

2. DD and DTS pass through for WinDVD and PowerDVD (DD for ATI Player).

3. dScaller run in WinXP


I've read many WinXP review, and keen to upgrade my reliable Win 98 based HTPC to XP, is it wirth it?


Thanks for the input.


Adzan

 

[xcel]

Hi Adzan:


___Well, yes and no. All the above work as you would expect but under the hood, key features that you may not have known were enabled under Millennium are currently disabled under XP given the drivers available at this point in time. With a little bit of time, you will have all that you need out of this great OS but in its present form, its just not quite ready for all of our HTPC uses yet. Cliff will have some good news in regards to the M-Audio cards and full driver capability hopefully soon so stay tuned.


___Good Luck


___Wayne R. Gerdes

___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.

___ [email protected]

 

[Cliff Watson]

â€Has Windows XP "certified" as HTPC already?â€


For my use I have certified it.


I’m currently using;


1.5 GHz P4 CPU

512 MB PC800 RDRAM

ATI Radeon 64 VIVO (XP certified drivers)

AccessDTV HDTV card w/XP RC1 software/drivers

Delta Theater (410) soundcard w/XP WDM drivers

TheaterTek DVD player (AC-3 & DTS pass-thru)

PowerDVD 3.0, build 0905 for AC-3 multichannel analog decoding.

PowerStrip for custom T&R


As I type this post “The Agencyâ€, in HD, is being recorded to harddrive and the HTPC never skips a beat.

 

[Paul_Seng]

Cliff, the theatertek player is stated on your list. Can you tell me what the difference is between this one and the others (PQ, sound quality, built in DTS and DD decoding)? What is the selling point of this compared to the others?

 

[Cliff Watson]

Paul,


A good starting point is this thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...4&pagenumber=1

 

[wezar]

Cliff, locally at Staples we have some great incentive's a free palm m100 or a digital camera and 30mg card and photoshop (lite) if I buy the XPhome upgrade. Should I buy it or wait? I have most of the common sw in use now, Powerstrip 3 beta,windvd,powerdvd and the Audiophile 24/96. I take it the Audiophile 24/96 drivers are not ready? Given the deal would you say buy and a wait a week or two until the drivers are here before I install?


Thanks for all of your support.



Rick

 

[Cliff Watson]

Rick,


That is a hard question to answer. I did not use an upgrade to XP Home (used a full OEM version) and I’m not sure that the upgrade version will allow you to install XP as a dual boot system. What I did was setup a second partition for XP with the idea that I could always boot to WinME if the XP drivers were not ready yet. So far I’ve had good luck with drivers/software and use XP mostly unless I need to test drivers/software in WinME. FWIW, XP is faster than ME on the same HTPC.


For the Audiophile 2496 you can use the XP WDM drivers posted at M Audio/Midiman website. The WDM drivers support all the Delta series cards. PowerDVD currently does not support AC-3 pass-thru under XP and I don’t know about WinDVD. CyberLink (PowerDVD) has been notified about the AC-3 problem and they should have a fix shortly or lose M Audio as an OEM customer. The new TheaterTek DVD player works perfectly in XP and does support AC-3/DTS pass-thru with the Delta cards.


So to answer your question you could buy now at a good deal and install for dual boot (if possible) or buy now and wait to install until after you have proven drivers.

 

[Msinc]

I have been able to successfully operate my HTPC under WinXP. Here are the specifics though I haven't had much time to test all functions out thoroughly. Everything appears to operate very well (and stable!).


WinXP RTM, build 2600


Digital Connection HTPC

-1.0 GHz PIII

-256 MB RAM

-80 GB HD

-HiPix

-M Audio 2466

-ATI Radeon LE


NEC LT150 FP (what else?)

Airboard remote keyboard

ChannelMaster Multibay UHF antenna

ChannelMaster Titan2 amplifier (great)


Drivers & Software:

-Radeon - 6.13.3276 (XP) though the XP deflault worked also

-HiPix - 2.31 (Win2K)* doesn't hard-reset any more!!

-M-Audio2496 - 5.12.1.25 (wdm), 1.02.05 Panel. No more chattering or stuttering!

-WinDVD - 3.0.57.8

-LT150 - XP thinks its a Microsoft PnP monitor (1024x768, 60Hz)

-PowerStrip - don't think I need it now as I'm exactly corner pixel to corner pixel filled with the Radeon settings adjustments.



Problems (small)

-S/PDIF out on everything OK except local cable on HiPix. Need to switch M-Audio to MonitorMixer for this as HiPix doesn't convert cable audio to S/PDIF.

-Probably not an XP problem but HiPix still records two video/audio channels (the HDTV PLUS the DTV) for an HDTV recording - waste of disk if the DTV data can be eliminated.


I'm happy........


-Mike-

 

[Hugh Magoo]

hmm. So is it a better idea to buy an OEM full install of XP Home. Or buy an upgrade retail version.


Is there anything missing from the OEM version that we might need? If upgrading from ME can I do a clean install right off the bat, or do I need to do an upgrade and then wipe and do a clean install?


Could anyone comment as to gaming support in XP? Is this something that you would definitely need a dual boot for? This would be concerning recently developed games like Max Payne, Serious Sam, Hitman, etc.


From Cliff's statement it would appear that most everything we use regarding HT is in compliance, and with XP or suitable WDM drivers will work.


Last question. Does anybody know if Power DVD XP with 6.1 decoding will be available any time soon?

 

[arikevin]

I am using WinXP now. I have no problem or whatsoever running DVD from my system.


Regards



Kevin

 

[Neil Jenkins]

From a non-USA perspective I'm also using XP as my HTPC (upgraded from ME).


I'm using WinDVD 2.64, Powerstrip 3, Dscaler 3.09 (for both Composite and S-Video into the Falcon Card).


Very stable, hasn't failed yet.


Athlon 1ghz, [email protected]


DVD Genie runs fine with my usual R1, R2 and R4 discs.


Regards Neil.

 

[FaithInMe]

I'm using the XP Pro version and its really solid. I thought the picture jittered a bit, so I upped the refresh rate to 75 (from 60) and its definitely better. I'm not sure if it really jittered before, but upping the refresh does make a difference.


Also, I have SCSI devices, and Win98 and ME would not let me go into Standby Mode, saying the SCSI controller keeps it awake. With XP, its lights out!


I havent loaded my AccessDtv software in yet, but dScaler and PowerDvd work perfectly.

 

[adzan]

Hi Neil,


What is your sound card? I assume its work well, yes?


Also, how the upgrade process? Smooth?


Regards,

adzam