XP x64 requirement clarification? (1 Viewer)

[PCPete]

Hi all,

I'd like to understand why MP isn't currently supported on XP x64.

I know other folks have asked similar questions, but I can't seem to find any specific information in the answers - "No M$ updates" doesn't really explain what updates Microsloth haven't released on the x64 platform that prevent MP from installing...

I can't find any reference to XP x64 in the wiki, so there's a disconnect here somewhere. If I'm missing the bleeding obvious, please be gentle.

Is it an installer issue? I know many older install packages don't work properly on XP x64, so a different install mechanism would seem to be a too-simple answer (so I guess it must not be that simple!) Or a .NET problem? Since I have all releases of the .NET framework, and they're all up to date, I'm not sure if that could be a problem or not. Or maybe a service pack release? Or maybe because of the Adobe x64 "head-in-the-sand" flash issue? Any clarification would be great to hear...

I'd be very happy to help out and see if there's anything I can do to help get MP running on XP x64 systems (I have moderate coding and a couple decades' hardware/software/driver/app/protocol design & development background), but I can't seem to find what bits aren't allowing MP to work on XP x64 and why, and it's a bit intimidating to step into such a large project without understanding how MP works in the first place... which I'm not going to do, since I only have 64 bit XP. Catch-22. Nice screenshots, but not on my system. Oh well.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or pointers.

Cheers,
PCPete

 

[milhouse]

Note that "not supported" is not the same as "doesn't run" on x64. There are quite a few posts around the boards regarding installing MP on XP64, Vista 64, Server 2003 x64 (what I use for Tv Server), Server 2008 x64.

In general, going with the unsupported platforms is more difficult in a couple of areas.
1) Driver support is not the best. Most tuner cards have 64 bit drivers. The biggest trouble I've seen is get the MCE blaster to run on x64 (aka eHome transceiver). I eventually gave up on getting this to work on server 2003 x64.
2) The A/V related updates from Microsoft are not always as frequent, and sometimes not at all, especially with the server platforms. Good luck ever getting the DVB fix for Windows Server, or Direct X updates, etc.

From most of the x64 posts I've read, MP actually installs and runs fine on x64 systems. You might have to deal with a message every time you open config saying "not supported". But generally not a problem. You'll just be somewhat on your own from dev support, but will find plenty of support on the forums.

 

[PCPete]

Hi Milhouse,
That's actually good news to hear - if people have got MP working on Server 200x x64, then maybe it's just the installer broke...
I'll have a good look at the build pages and see if I can bypass that part and still get any component registration, etc, running.
I was only going to evaluate MP as a simple music/video file manager for my NAS RAID store. TV cards and tuners are a luxury I can't afford to chase with x64 development being so far behind the rest. I've had both Hauppage and WinFast TV tuners in this system, and it wasn't pretty.
So my requirements are actually fairly simple at the moment...
Thanks again for the ideas and suggestions. I appreciate it.
Cheers,
PCP

 

[tourettes]

Hi Milhouse,
That's actually good news to hear - if people have got MP working on Server 200x x64, then maybe it's just the installer broke...
I'll have a good look at the build pages and see if I can bypass that part and still get any component registration, etc, running.
I was only going to evaluate MP as a simple music/video file manager for my NAS RAID store. TV cards and tuners are a luxury I can't afford to chase with x64 development being so far behind the rest. I've had both Hauppage and WinFast TV tuners in this system, and it wasn't pretty.
So my requirements are actually fairly simple at the moment...
Thanks again for the ideas and suggestions. I appreciate it.
Cheers,
PCP

btw. may I ask why you are planning to use x64? Are you needing something special that it offers? If not I would propose (in general even, no need to be HTPC specific) that you would use 32bit OS.

 

[milhouse]

That's actually good news to hear - if people have got MP working on Server 200x x64, then maybe it's just the installer broke...
I'll have a good look at the build pages and see if I can bypass that part and still get any component registration, etc, running.

PCPete - what version are you installing? Some of the MP1 builds checked for supported platforms, and refused to install. Most will install with just a warning message you click through.

If it won't install, try a different build. I believe this check was removed for RC2. Way easier than trying to "fix" the installer, I would think.


And I am not sure what you mean about the tuner card x64 development. Hauppauge cards have shipped with 64 bit drivers for a long time. In my TV Server box I've got an internal PCI Hauppauge 150 tuner, and an external Hauppauge USB2 PVR tuner, and both run great. Just a matter of installing the drivers, but not the misc software Hauppauge gives you. Then they're detected by MP fine.