Windows 7 and Beyond TV Compatability

[drsmort]

As several of our SnapStream Forum members have indicated the current 4.92 version of Beyond TV does work with Windows 7 - RC. True, there are some Beyond TV "gotchas" still to address prior to the 10/22/09 Windows 7 production release in the U.S and I believe concurrently in Europe and the Orient. Generally, I have been quite satisfied with Beyond TV 4.92 on Windows 7 RC, having set up to record off my Dish Network VIP122 dual tuner receiver and Time Warner Clear QAM or ATSC OTA. My current configuration includes a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 installed in a mid-range tower system and WinTV-PVR-USB2 attached via USB. I had some early difficulties initially finding the correct version of WinTV drivers and setting up my IR blaster. Past those issues now and recordings run smoothly. Haven't had much success setting up my WinTV devices to record from the Windows 7 Media Center and don't need to for the way I use Beyond TV.

I would like to hear the "corporate" response from Snapstream about what and when we will have a fully supported version of Beyond TV running under Windows 7. I realize Snapstream will realistically target a release date for a 5.0 (?) version of Beyond TV to be for the same 10/22/09 Windows 7 release.

I or one of our other forum users can start a similar thread in the Beyond TV user to user forum for their current experiences with Windows 7 RC and Beyond TV. That should happen soon to be in sync with a quickly arriving Windows 7 release.

Thanks for listening and would appreciate any helpful responses and feedback. - Craig K

[doncorneo]

Actually, I'm using W7 RC 64, and BTV is having loads of trouble, so it is NOT totally compatable with W7.
The picture color is off and the video is jumpy. The audio is bad also. BTV causes W7 to change it's color scheme when you launch the player, it is not compatable with Aero.

Since BTV is useless in a 64 system and still does not support Closed Captioning, it is not worth more than $19.95 for users who are not setting up a dedicated system for multi-room viewing.
The Advance Settings page does not work. It opens a window, but it hangs there until it times out.
If, like me, you are just interested in a DVR program to record your favorite shows, then you would be better off buying a betamax, which is superior technology. The sad thing is that the TV Guide is actually pretty good. It works at least 98% of the time.


I do find it amazing that SnapStream is still in the 80's as far as technology. We have had 64 bit computing since the turn of the Centry, yet SnapStream is not able to make BTV display Closed Captioning let alone work on a 64 bit system. Time for SnapStream to wake up and join the rest of us in the new world.

[HomeyFour]

Originally Posted by doncorneo

Since BTV is useless in a 64 system

I beg to differ... I have been running BTV on Windows Vista Ultimate x64 bit for quite some time now with no ill effects.

[drsmort]

Yes, it is to bad that Beyond TV performs so bad for you with W7 RC 64. I have none of your issues on W7 RC 32, with the exception that Aero switches out and then back in when you bring up the Beyond TV and then minimize. I haven't investigated to much the Aero option on the Advanced Settings web screen but otherwise the web interface works great for me. Admittedly, I dual boot between W7 RC 32 and Win XP professional, 32 bit so I still spend a great deal of time in that latter environment. As far as turning back to the antiquated "betamax", now there was a superior technology that never really took off for reasons many of us know but that isn't pertinent here. I push the envelope for my video enjoyment as much as anyone and Beyond TV is not my only solution to our family's enjoyment of video offerings. This goes off on a tangent but for my video arsenal in our family situation, I employ a Hava Titanium WiFi attached to my DISH VIP722 DVR. Additionally, I added an additional 500 GIG external HD to my VIP722, doubling my video file storage. And, I'm not even going to detail the Internet TV options I am considering. But lets get back to your problems. Yes, Snapstream needs to address a variety of issues with their products for the "consumer" versus there "enterprise" products. With Windows 7 being released soon as the new flagship OS from MS, this is NOT an opportunity they should overlook. I sure hope the Snapstream technical and marketing folks are listening in on our conversations and would be willing to make some public statements about their product directions. - Craig K

[drsmort]

Any chance you might consider testing Windows 7 RC 64 bit to see if you would have the same success as you are having with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 bit? I 'm not ready myself to uninstall my Windows 7 RC 32 bit and install the 64 bit version I did download for later testing. sorry.

[rmiles7721]

I haven't set up the full version on my Win 7 (64) system but am currently running Link with no problems at all. If I get the chance when I get home from vacation I'll set up BTV on it and see.

[richt]

I am currently running BTV on Win7 64bit and also on Win7 32bit with none of the problems mentioned above. The 64bit instance has been promoted to my main HTPC.

[tscales]

To the poster saying it won't run on Aero. It concerns me that you're unfamiliar with setup, as that is a configuration option. It works for others.

[doncorneo]

Don't know which setup your refering to, but as noted by another poster, when BTV is opened to an active window , Aero turns off because BTV is not compatible with it. A warning box pops up informing you that Aero is switching to basic because of BTV, it has nothing to do with a user's setup.
I have removed BTV and reloaded it and still have the same problems. I am running dual boot and BTV runs fine (excepting the huge amount of resources it wastes) in Windows XP 32bit. When looking for a version of BTV for 64bit machines, there is the note 3 from SnapStream outright stating that BTV is not meant for 64bit machines.
My problem has been solved by MS (well, at least made much less of a problem). W7 includes Windows Media Center that works with most tuner cards, supports Closed Captioning and uses about 1/3 of the resources needed by BTV. And I don't have to pay a penny for WMC (at least it's that way for the RC).
BTV's intereface is a good bit better than WMC's, but it works and it's not a resource hog.

If SnapStream comes out with a free update to make BTV compatible with W7 64bit and fully supports Closed Captioning, I'll definately check it out. But if it is a paid upgrade, I think I'll be staying with WMC.
I just need to be able to watch TV when I want and record the few shows I like to see. I don't need to send video to other machines or have more then a dual tuner (which will be an upgrade at some point) in my PC, so those features are totally worthless to me.

[drsmort]

Thanks for bringing up the Aero issue, "Don't know which setup your refering to, but as noted by another poster, when BTV is opened to an active window , Aero turns off because BTV is not compatible with it. A warning box pops up informing you that Aero is switching to basic because of BTV, it has nothing to do with a user's setup." I get that same "error" but BTV still works correctly and when you exit the BTV screen interface, Aero reloads with no error conditions. You say you have had good success with W7's Window Media Center (WMC). I am using the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600, non-MCE version along with the Hauppauge IR Blaster and have never been able to get it to switch channels on my DISH Network VIP122 with WMC. What is your capture card brand/configuration and what steps did you go to to make it work? - Craig

[LORENJOHNS]

you guys might want to check your settings in settings/advanced/viewscape/disable aero

[myktek]

the aero issue isn't actually an incompatibility, we just thought when your system ran in basic desktop, the experience was better with BTV without aero grabbing the resources from your video card, therefore we made it default to turn off aero when the ViewScape opens and then it turns it back on when the ViewScape is exited.

[drsmort]

I would assume the Aero changes were done initially in support of Vista but due to the similarity to Windows 7, were carried forward. Are there other changes you could allude to for an upcoming Beyond TV version specific to Windows 7? For now, many of us have had good luck with Beyond TV 4.92 and Windows 7 RC, 32bit version. Still seems to be issues for either Vista and Windows 7, 64bit versions, running Beyond TV consistently. Haven't been able to do any further testing in my case due to being up at our Maine cottage for the last 2 weeks. Thanks - Craig

[josephz2va]

I had to format my hard drive on the 64-bit PC when it had a few hiccups and it works fine with BTV. I haven't gotten the full Windows 7 version yet since that's October.

You can toggle Vista Aero by going to Advanced Settings and then Settings>Advanced>Viewscape Settings

[TomXP411]

Windows XP is officially dead, according to Microsoft. With Windows 7 avaiable, even Netbook PC's will no longer have a reason to run XP. (And my netbook doesn't run Link worth a darn... I can open a file directly with WMP, but Link stutters like there's no tomorrow. THAT I don't understand.)

The good news is that Windows 7 RTM (the same bits as will go on the DVD) will be available to developers on Thursday. That means that Snapstream will be able to get their hands on Windows 7 and start testing it this week.

I'm really hoping we get official support for Windows 7 64-bit by the end of this year... it would be nice to finally wipe the last vestiges of XP off of all 3 of my computers.