Windows 7 64bit and BTV

[sundance]

I see a bit of talk here about problems with BTV and Windows 7 but most are referring to the RC versions.

What is the verdict on the final version that is now out, is BTV working Ok with either the 64 bit or 32 bit version?


Thanks

[SnakeDoctor]

From another thread...

Originally Posted by SiliconJoe

I upgraded my Windows XP computer this weekend to Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. I first backed up all my important data including the shows recorded in the SnapStream directory. I also backed up the BeyondTV configuration, which is oddly placed in the about dialog box. You won't find it in the ViewScape or administrator window.

The upgrade to Windows 7 went well. Re-installed BeyondTV, it automatically pulled in several updates for other components needed. Pasting in the serial number key hit a snag, for some reason when pasted in, the 1st character was dropped from every field. That was fixed and the installation moved along smoothly.

Once the installer completed I restored the configuration from the backup file made earlier and everything was back the way it was. I copied my shows back into the SnapStream directory and they appeared in the ViewScape. The program works perfectly in Windows 7, records and plays back fine, just the way it did in XP.

Another feature that seems to work better now is sleep and wakeup. Windows 7 by default will put the computer to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. In the past my XP configuration would come out of sleep and something wasn't quite right. Either the video display was messed up or the wireless USB mouse and keyboard were dead to the world. I bascially gave up on having the computer go to sleep in XP, I just left the system on all the time.

With Windows 7 the system will wakeup to record a show scheduled in BeyondTV and then go back to sleep if there's no activity. So far the system works as it should, the computer is in the same state on wakeup, no problems with the video or keyboard/mouse. They all work fine and everything recorded also.

[DancesWithLysol]

I can confirm that BTV 4.9.2 has issues on Windows 7 x64. If you are going to use Windows 7, I've seen reports of success with the 32-bit version, so I'd stick with that.

If you want to run the 64-bit version of Windows 7 for other reasons, then I'd recommend you check out Media Center and see if that meets your needs. If not, Sage TV is another alternative.

I started running Beyond TV back when it was called Personal Video Station, and it was great for a long time (2003 - 2009). Last month I moved to Media Center because the BTV product is no longer Snapstream's focus. I selected Media Center over Sage TV because it was already installed on Windows, and the front end software is absolutely beautiful!

[sundance]

Originally Posted by DancesWithLysol

I started running Beyond TV back when it was called Personal Video Station, and it was great for a long time (2003 - 2009). Last month I moved to Media Center because the BTV product is no longer Snapstream's focus. I selected Media Center over Sage TV because it was already installed on Windows, and the front end software is absolutely beautiful!

Have you found any down side to MC over BTV? BTV seems to work Ok for me so far but they as stagnate it seems in development, I would like to move on if there is something better or as good with no downside. How does MC do recording HD, that is all I watch. What is the file format MC records in, can the files be moved and viewed outside MC?

[sundance]

Originally Posted by DancesWithLysol

I can confirm that BTV 4.9.2 has issues on Windows 7 x64. If you are going to use Windows 7, I've seen reports of success with the 32-bit version, so I'd stick with that.

At this point in time I see no reason to go 64 if there are problems at all, was just thinking 64 is the future but if it is not 100%, i'll go with 32.

I have never had to back up my BTV config. file. How do I do that or if it's just a matter of copying a file to a safe location where is the config. file found?

Thanks

[DancesWithLysol]

Originally Posted by sundance

At this point in time I see no reason to go 64 if there are problems at all, was just thinking 64 is the future but if it is not 100%, i'll go with 32.

I have never had to back up my BTV config. file. How do I do that or if it's just a matter of copying a file to a safe location where is the config. file found?

Thanks

From the system tray icon, right-click and select "About Beyond TV", and from the about form you will find a settings backup option (this is from memory, but I'm pretty sure the menu item is "About Beyond TV").

Keep that file and when you install Windows 7 the first thing you do is restore your settings from that file you saved.

Originally Posted by sundance

Have you found any down side to MC over BTV? BTV seems to work Ok for me so far but they as stagnate it seems in development, I would like to move on if there is something better or as good with no downside. How does MC do recording HD, that is all I watch. What is the file format MC records in, can the files be moved and viewed outside MC?

If you're only interested in TV, then I'd say that Media Center is about on par with BTV now. There are a number of 3rd party projects that I've discovered that can add back transcoding and commercial detection features. The UI is smoother than BTV, and there is an addon that supports HD-PVR integration.

Also, if you live in the USA there are "internet TV" features that are pretty slick. Not to mention all the music/pictures/video library functionality that BTV currently doesn't (and won't ever) do. All in all I'm pretty happy with the transition.

[hoglander]

I've worked out the kinks as far as I can tell. I'm all QAM. I've got over fifty digital channels picked out, everyone I want. I'm not going to bother with analog from here on out. I'm using hardware not overlay now. I've got really crisp picture quality. This is my main PC. CPU use is very low no matter what I'm doing.

Media center picked up 23 QAM channels. BTV found 118.

Bye bye analog and bye bye 32-bit.

[NickHark]

Originally Posted by hoglander

Media center picked up 23 QAM channels. BTV found 118.

Why only 23?

[hoglander]

Originally Posted by NickHark

Why only 23?

I don't know. Windows maps the channels. That's a great feature. So I'm guessing that it will only show the channels it can map. You don't get an option to map any additional channels.

[vidiot1985]

Originally Posted by hoglander

I don't know. Windows maps the channels. That's a great feature. So I'm guessing that it will only show the channels it can map. You don't get an option to map any additional channels.

Hm...when I upgraded to Win7 64-bit this past weekend, I played with WMC using my HDHR and I'm pretty sure it had a setup option to manually add QAM channels. On my scan with WMC, it missed the main Fox HD channel (among many others) so I couldn't use WMC to watch the World Series. I tried adding that channel, but didn't succeed (I probably didn't have the right raw channel number).

One interesting thing was that WMC had very jerky video playback whether it was an HD or SD channel (my Win7 computer has AMD 780G graphics and a Phenom quad core and plays back BluRay just fine, so I know it's capable). Then I found an option somewhere called "force smooth video playback" or something like that, and it was off by default. I guess there are folks out there who enjoy jerky video playback? :-)

I'll probably do some more tests with both WMC, then BTV on Win7 64-bit soon and hopefully migrate BTV over my new machine.

[sundance]

Thanks all, installing Win 7 went well (once I got rid of my ATI video card, Win 7 didn't like it at all) and since I was running Vista I just did a upgrade and everything is running great. Need to investigate WMC a little more I thing.

Steve

[155]

Windows Media Center 7 won't work with 6 tuners though right?

[DancesWithLysol]

Originally Posted by 155

Windows Media Center 7 won't work with 6 tuners though right?

It will work with 4 tuners of each type. So, for example, you could have 4 SD tuners and 4 Hauppauge HD-PVR tuners and 4 QAM tuners.

Yeah, it is a silly limitation. I wonder how they ended up with a limitation like that.

Myself, I have 4 SD tuners (PVR-500 x 2), and 1 HD-PVR tuner, and all 5 will work at the same time. I just can't add any more SD tuners.

[Grok451]

Originally Posted by vidiot1985

I'll probably do some more tests with both WMC, then BTV on Win7 64-bit soon and hopefully migrate BTV over my new machine.

I'd really be interested in hearing your experience with BTV under 64-bit Win 7. I installed BTV under 64-bit Win7 and have issues with reliably accessting the ATSC tuners on my two HVR-1600 cards. Also, the remote is flaky - but only when trying to control BTV. It works fine with WMC. I'm considering re-installing my OS to 32-bit...

[eds]

Been running BTV with Windows 7 64bit for about a week. No problems at all. I am using my Homerun HDs more then my HVR-1600s.