Are you planning to upgrade to Microsoft Vista?

[hokieinidaho]

I'd have to say "NO", especially given how MS has structured their licensing against system builders.

[pal1957]

Nope not a chance.

If I need new features and Vista is the only way to get them with M$ I'll switch to MythTV and Linux.

I've tried Myth and it seems to do everything I need but the family is used to BeyondTV and they like it, so if it isn't broke......

[lger]

I am working very hard to learn Linux right now. Actually there are quite a few distros out there now that are as easy to use as Windows AND they are very high quality! I HOPE that the BeyondTv team reads these responses and considers porting their product to Linux. There are only two reasons left for me to stay with Microsoft. 1. They own DirectX and as a result pretty much have the gaming market cornered. This is becoming less of a reason because high quality solutuions have emerged - Cedega is one example. 2. Commercial software is still very much lagging. What Linux needs is some high quality commercial apps. I really believe that this is just around the corner. I noticed that SageTv has ported their product to Linux. When they offer a free trial I WILL give it a try but as of now no free trial is offered. When they do and if it works well out of the box they are going to make quite a splash in the home entertainment market.

Leon

[Joe The Dude]

I'm going to avoid getting Vista for as long as I can.

When it comes to Linux, though, it would be nice if Snapstream developed their own version of it.
(My idea for a really cool BTV Server is going to be a little hard to explain, but I'm going to give it a go.)

I'm thinking that it would be nice if I could buy a single CD Disk (or a larger capacity DVD Disk, if nessasarry) and use it to install BTV onto a computer Without Windows.
Basicly, if the BTV Installer Disk came already intergrated with a Linux Kernel in such a way that it appeared as though the operating system WAS BTV, I think that would rock.
It would be even better once intergration with Beyond Media was added to BTV.

What I'm really after is a unified BTV Installation that doesn't rely on Windows, has a nice GUI, and won't require me or the family to fuss with a bunch of command line (DOS Era) stuff.

Am i making any sense?

[Mistergq]

Originally Posted by Joe The Dude

I'm thinking that it would be nice if I could buy a single CD Disk (or a larger capacity DVD Disk, if nessasarry) and use it to install BTV onto a computer Without Windows.
Basicly, if the BTV Installer Disk came already intergrated with a Linux Kernel in such a way that it appeared as though the operating system WAS BTV, I think that would rock.
It would be even better once intergration with Beyond Media was added to BTV.

My VOIP server at my office new installation disc has the linux os integrated in the install. There are people that complain that they can't choose the distro, but i think from a development stand point, it helps the developers to keep things consistent. So I understand what you are saying.

I agree about linux install. for the users who use the btv machines as dedicated machines, it makes sense. also with linux, there is no worry about needing an antivirus software. (on my link box, i have no antivirus software running).

i also agree that BTV should develop a linux build. I think there are more people out there who would buy it in the linux community than people realize. Yes, the die hard linux users will never buy it. They do not see linux as pepsi to coke alternative. They see it something different and we should just accept it and shut up. I had a laptop running with a linux build last year and eventually went back to Windows because I needed software that could not run on Linux and could not find an alternative that was satisfactory.

overall though, linux is viable platform that should be exploited by snapstream. I know myth tv users who would use it. They get tired of messing around with myth tv, but there set ups are in place and they have no desire to change to xp.

[mlomker]

I installed Vista last night and so far I like it. Snapstream doesn't officially support BTV on Vista but does anyone know what doesn't work? I had to re-run the setup wizard but now it looks like most features are working. I set the main executables for XP SP2 compatibility mode and ran it as Administrator just to be safe, but it looks okay to me.

[Maximo]

I will prolly end up upgrading only because I know Halo 3 will require it.

[jnaranjo]

I have decided to test it out first. I know there are some issues but I want to try it out.

[ZetaVu]

Interesting, initially the "No" response rate was greater than 80%, over time it has gotten to 30% saying yes, 60% no and the rest undecided. Since then it seems to have stayed constant.

I think a better survey would have been: Do you plan to upgrade to Vista
1. immediately
2. within a year
3. after sp1 (or after bugs are worked out)
4. only if I get a new computer preinstalled
5. Only if I have no choice (software or hardware requirements force me to)
6. Never, I'll stay with XP/2000 or go to Linux/Mac rather than cave into these selfish manipulative bastards.

I'd actually have a tough time choosing between the last 3 choices.

Oh, and another possible choice
7. Once Vista has been reliably cracked (which it sounds like has already happened)

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Rich A

I look at it this way. How often have you had to change the OS in your TIVO, or ReplayTV or your toaster for that matter?

Sorry to respond to a post four months later, but TiVo upgrades their OS quite a bit more often than MS which has an upgrade of once every five years. I belive that the current TiVo OS is 7.2 or later - I have an S1 Tivo that is running 3.0.

But I am still on Toast OS 1.0, I am waiting for a Bluetooth compatible toaster to communicate with my coffee maker and alarm clock!

[wayner]

Don't forget that the version of Vista that most folks will be getting when they buy a PC in a month will come with MCE preinstalled. This could encourage more folks to use their PC as a media center. You could argue that this will drive users to BTV since they may want a DRM-free Media Center or you could argue that it will kill the market for PVR software since "why buy something that you got for free".

Remember Delrina WinFax Pro? It was fax software for your PC. Then MS included this with your OS. It wasn't nearly as good as WinFax pro but that didn't matter, it was good enough to kill off that company.

[risen]

I'm sticking with Win 2000 until it kills me. And then I'll move to Linux.

Vista is just the next step in corporate lockdown. Forget it. My computer doing what corporations want instead of what I want? Heh.. Only if I get it for free!

And XP is just too slow.. My 2000 setup will run circles around an equal hardware with XP on it. And XP still gets blue screens so dont give me that "stability" garbage ;-)

[wayner]

Originally Posted by risen

And XP still gets blue screens so dont give me that "stability" garbage ;-)

I have two work PCs plus four PCs at home that are all on 24x7 plus a laptop that I use a lot and a laptop for my wife all runing XP - a combo of Home, Pro and MCE. I don't know if I get more then 1 blue screen per year per PC.

I will get other application crashes, particularly MC on my MCE machine right now but the BSOD is very rare on win XP - your mileage may vary

[ZetaVu]

I agree, no problems with XP once the service packs came in and hardware was sorted out. Another reason why I waited well over a year to go to XP and even then it took me almost a year to sort out all the bugs. What will motivate me to go to Vista, same thing that motivated me to go to XP, there has to be some program or function I want that I cannot possibly do with XP (preferably with software form someone I trust, aka not m$)

Oh, and why do you think new computers will come with mce preinstalled? I think they will come with home basic, with a trial version of mce (much like they now come with trial versions of office) and the option to upgrade to full versions for some amount of money. Premium computers with capture hardware will come with the ultimate (MCE) version, but all others I think will not have it activated, do you have info otherwise because I could easily be wrong?

Now, BTV is already bundled with capture cards, what they should do is work with the computer manufacturers to get preinstalled on MCE machines (assuming m$ doesn't have illegal monopoly clauses) and offer a subscription service that can be upgraded to the full version for a discounted price (like a tivo lifetime activation). Then the playing field would be level. Likewise, Firefox and Open Office etc should also come preinstalled in my opinion, give the consumers choices.

Oh, and if you compare tivo to m$, tivo upgrades are like m$ service packs, they get upgraded but you don't get charged. In that case m$ upgrades once a month.

I see the future as moving away from m$, simple as that. Vista will cause a rift, more consumers will go to Mac and desktop Linux. My new years resolution is to setup one of my computers as a full Linux box to interoperate with my other computers, and eventually replace all windows functionality. I see the future home networks to be a mix of m$, maybe a mac device, and linux devices, be they tivo like boxes or computers. As more apps get networked, then eventually the only people who need real computers are those who do video editing etc. gaming will be back to consoles, all business and personal apps will be online, music and videos will be off a media device with hard drive storage. At that point, OS becomes meaningless, apps will work with any compliant browser.

That is further reason for SS to consider an OS independent language for btv. Give you the option of installing it on mac, windows, linux etc. Focus on installing it on tivo like boxes and then get into the hardware business as well.

Anyway, that's a mouthful fo rthe morning.

[wayner]

It remains to be seen what version of Vista comes preinstalled on PCs - obviously for the "value priced" PCs that are less than $500 it is likely to be Vista Home Basic. But anyone who does there homework will see that all of the "experts" recommend that you get Vista Home Premium so that is why I made that comment.

I am not an MS fanboy - I have had one PC running RedHat Linux for years but I haven't upgraded it in a while. When I get the chance I will install the latest version of Fedora. Maybe things have improved, gut my impression is that this wasn't for everyone. Installing software wasn't as easy and even stuff like connecting network drives took a bit of work and configuring in text files to mount drives.

I have had a TiVo for several years which has been hacked from day one since I live in Canada and, until recently, TiVo did not support Canadian TV channels. People kept hacking their TiVos to do more elaborate things but I now feel that what's the point - you can buy a PC that does the same thing for a good price and have a lot more functionality, particularly for playing other video files, music, etc.

There will be more "dumbed down" PCs coming to our living rooms in the near future. Presumably Cisco had some type of idea in mind when they bought SA so I wouldn't be surprised to see a new generation of cable set top boxes that can play content from your LAN and perhaps also play content such as music and video over the internet.