Windows 7 or wondows 8 on my new HTPC? (2 Viewers)

[svortevik]

Just wondering what will work best with MP and DVB-C cards.

Is there any reason to not install windows 8?

 

[4Fred]

I have all mine on Win 7, and they all run great. There might be some compatibility issues with some stuff if you go for Win 8, drivers and stuff might not work... MePo seem to work fine on Win 8 and I see many users running it.
But, what more do you plan to use if for? If only MePo I'd say go with the one you like

 

[kiwijunglist]

I had some issues with W8, but if you can run W8 without issues then do it, as it is a faster OS.

 

[svortevik]

Only problem I have with windows 8 is during restart. Dont help me that MP autostarts when Modern UI is on top.

 

[HomeY]

Only problem I have with windows 8 is during restart. Dont help me that MP autostarts when Modern UI is on top.

That problems fixes itself in about 2 weeks, when 8.1 RTM is released (free update). That has the option to boot directly to the desktop, which should make autostart work (but haven't tested that yet).

 

[SiLenTYL]

I use win 8 on both my PC's (mp tv server) and htpc (client pc). All good here..id suggest getting "win 8 classic start"(free) or "startisback" (a few bucks).

Change the keyboard layout to "English (India)" and ur set!

 

[sunfire7]

I use windows 8 because it's optimized for SSD out of the box, and I use "classic shell" to boot to desktop

 

[hafblade]

I use Win8 and think it's some really great system for htpcs (and not only for them).
I also solved the autostart problem with eventghost. On windows start it waits 5 seconds, emulates win-button-press and starts mediaportal. thats all.

But at the moment I don't use autostart because mediaportal is not the only program I use on the htpc.
I also like that you can navigate with the harmony remote / or some mce remote in the modern ui and there are some apps on the market which work great with remote (all apps that work with the cursor keys). So you can watch the weather or read the news on your tv.

Together with steam big picture mode you also have some really cool method to use your htpc as some gaming console.

The only thing I miss is to use a gamepad in the modern ui. I really don't know why microsoft doesn't support this. At the moment I emulate keyboard presses with the gamepad but that's no real solution.

With Win8.1 the autostart problem is solved and than Win8 is the best operating system for htpc, imho.

 

[svortevik]

If I can navigate in ModernUI with the remote there is no need for EventGhost or boot to desktop. Cant I just put a shortcut to Mediaportal in one of the tiles in ModernUI and start it using the remote?

 

[HomeY]

If I can navigate in ModernUI with the remote there is no need for EventGhost or boot to desktop. Cant I just put a shortcut to Mediaportal in one of the tiles in ModernUI and start it using the remote?

I can navigate the Modern UI with my harmony one. I've put the desktop tile top left, and directly below that the shortcut to MP. So you can either go to desktop, and start MP from there, or (even simpler)) select the MP tile and start it.