Who is running Windows 8 on their HTPC?
#16
I had to revert back to Windows 7, its idiotic that you have to have a mouse connected to see the mouse cursor!!!! It disappears when you unplugg and yoy cant see the mouse when using a remote app !!
Seriously!!?!
Reply
#17
@tcman47:
Check this thread: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=143775
Especially my post (currently the latest), it describes how you can get rid of the password-authentication.
Need help? Check out my XBMC Frodo Guide. It contains full featured guides to Sickbeard and CouchPotato as well.

Image
Reply
#18
I was sharing media between my computers via "workgroup" method, as soon i as upgraded the so-called server to windows 8 then the so-called clients couldnt see the media.

I change my networking sharing method from "wokgroup" style to "homegroup" style and now it all works ok, very strange.
Loft - Intel I5-3570K, Asus P8Z77-LX, Corsair 16GB DDR3, AMD HD 7700, AOC 27" LCD
Bedroom - Intel I3-530, Intel DH55HC, Corsair 4GB DDR3, Nvidia G610, Samsung 37" HDTV
Living Room - Intel E8400, Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H, 4GB DDR2, Nvidia G610, Samsung 52" HDTV
Reply
#19
I'm running Windows 8 on my HTPC, I've had no problem with sound but I'm running my sound via my mobo's spdif socket to my amp.
I did have a problem with the graphics on XBMC but that appears to be a problem with the latest ATI/AMD Radeon drivers (call me stupid but the first thing I did after the upgrade to 8 was install all the latest drivers),
and I'm now having to run XBMC in Windows XP sp3 compatability mode..
Can't say I've noticed any speed differences between 7 and 8 and I've also installed classic shell so I don't have to deal with the awful (for a non touch device) Metro interface if I don't want to.
The only reason I updated really was to have an official OS at the reasonable price of £14.99, I don't mind MS having my money when they charge reasonable prices but I definitely wouldn't pay their normal 100 quid plus for an OS.
Reply
#20
(2012-10-29, 12:38)daninino Wrote: Problem No. 1: Because XBMC isn't a Modern UI app the Modern UI Gui minimizes and display the desktop and then starts XBMC. When I exit XBMC Windows displays the Desktop and not Modern UI and I have no means of getting back to the Modern GUI without grabbing my Keyboard or mouse.

I followed the instructions here Remap MCE Remote Green Button to Start. Works great.
I'm still struggling with navigation within the Metro Apps - especially Netflix. Sounds like mapping tab to a key on my Logitech remote will solve some of the Netflix menu navigation problems. Still need to work out the playback controls, though.
Reply
#21
I'm planning on installing Windows 8 Pro tonight, those who had problems with HDMI audio: Are you running Nvidia cards? Were you able to solve the issues?

Update: HDMI Audio is working fine here on Windows 8: XBMC 11 Dsplayer build, Reclock, LAV Filters, Nvidia GTX 480, Denon AVR 1911.
DTS/DD/FLAC 5.1, everything works great! In fact Windows 8 even solved the issue I was having with losing audio after turning off the receiver/tv and turning it back on which previously Win 7 required a reboot or audio device disable/enable toggle in Nvidia CP.

Excellent!

Here's a treat for those looking to make the jump
http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/
Reply
#22
(2012-10-29, 21:38)zodduska Wrote: I'm planning on installing Windows 8 Pro tonight, those who had problems with HDMI audio: Are you running Nvidia cards? Were you able to solve the issues?

Update: HDMI Audio is working fine here on Windows 8: XBMC 11 Dsplayer build, Reclock, LAV Filters, Nvidia GTX 480, Denon AVR 1911.
DTS/DD/FLAC 5.1, everything works great! In fact Windows 8 even solved the issue I was having with losing audio after turning off the receiver/tv and turning it back on which previously Win 7 required a reboot or audio device disable/enable toggle in Nvidia CP.

Excellent!

Here's a treat for those looking to make the jump
http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/

Glad to hear you had no problems.
Im thinking of giving it another try.
Reply
#23
(2012-10-29, 21:38)zodduska Wrote: Here's a treat for those looking to make the jump
http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/

And if you didn't buy a new computer with Windows7 (to be eligible for the offer above), MS is offering until January for $40, with a free license to the WMC pack. I picked up a license, but haven't installed...
Quick Links: debug log (wiki) | userdata (wiki) | advancedsettings (wiki) | adding videos to the library (wiki)
Reply
#24
I decided to give Win 8 a spin on my main HTPC this weekend. It had Win 7 32 bit installed previously. This was my biggest hurdle. I chose clean install in order to get the option of 64 bit, but the install process never provides this option. After hours of fighting this and researching I just installed the 64 bit flavor of Win 7 and I could do a clean install to Win 8 64 bit. Odd the Win 8 install process NEVER provides an option.

After getting past that, everything has gone pretty smooth. This Remote seems to help me overcome some issues others here are having. I love the start screen (while I see many do not) and how you can simply use the remote to navigate to the tile you want to launch and hit OK. Much much easier than Win 7. And to exit any app I am in, I just click the "close" button at the bottom of the remote and I am back to the start screen. XBMC however dumps me to the desktop. Looking for a way around this, but again the remote I linked has a mouse like control on it so I can scroll down to the bottom left corner to get back to start easily. I haven't had as much time to use it as I would like, but I think I found that the close button may take me back to the start screen, will confirm that tonight. If that doesn't work, I will use the reg hack for the start button.

Boot time is faster, but Win 7 was fast too, so not that much of a difference. Love the copy files dialog and the ability to pause the process. Really great for copying multiple files onto a USB connected device. You can queue up all the files you want, pause all but one of them so you aren't crushing the limited USB 2 bandwidth.

One of the coolest things we did though was hook up splashtop on my girlfriends iPad. I am not a fan of apple products, but the iPad with splashtop is very cool. I am going to try it on my HP Touchpad running Android next. But this works very well and for the most part has resolved all control issues. It has keyboard and mouse, but it also turns your HTPC into a big tablet. Gestures and all the default tablet style control is there. You see your desktop/start screen on the tablet and on the TV just like a remote desktop session. She can be in the bedroom and work with Windows 8 and not see the HTPC monitor/TV at all.

The last thing I have as a snag is the Mysql install and my synching. I did something wrong there and my XBMC installs are not synched any longer. But overall I am really loving some Win 8. While I know many find the tiles and start screen ugly, I find it very usable and with the right interfaces (tablet using splashtop and remote) it's a great upgrade. There is certainly a learning curve, but as you learn how to do things you find it's much easier to navigate.

I won't be doing a Win 8 upgrade on my main PC anytime soon, but all my HTPCs will be running Win 8 in the near future.

Reply
#25
I installed Windows 8 Pro this weekend and it's working really well with XBMC and my Logitech remote. I did have an issue with the OS crashing but I fixed that with a little reading up on the error message -- I just needed to disable Intel 'C' state in my system BIOS.

Only ongoing issue is, as previously mentioned, Eventghost refusing to autolaunch. I have to manually launch it when the machine first boots and from there I can navigate the Modern (Metro) UI and XBMC without difficulty.
Image
Reply
#26
Hi, I had the same problem with eventghost refusing to autolaunch. I just used the windows task scheduler function and set it to launch eventghost.exe at start, with highest privileges and to try again 3 times if it failes, every minute. (the last one is probably not essential). This allowed me to autolaunch Xpadder and Eventghost.
Reply
#27
(2012-10-29, 21:38)zodduska Wrote: I'm planning on installing Windows 8 Pro tonight, those who had problems with HDMI audio: Are you running Nvidia cards? Were you able to solve the issues?

Update: HDMI Audio is working fine here on Windows 8: XBMC 11 Dsplayer build, Reclock, LAV Filters, Nvidia GTX 480, Denon AVR 1911.
DTS/DD/FLAC 5.1, everything works great! In fact Windows 8 even solved the issue I was having with losing audio after turning off the receiver/tv and turning it back on which previously Win 7 required a reboot or audio device disable/enable toggle in Nvidia CP.

Excellent!

Here's a treat for those looking to make the jump
http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/

Glad to hear you got it fixed, for anyone else with this issue, I found that when you 'upgrade' to win 8, you typically have to do a PC refresh, at that point you have to reinstall alot of programs that go missing including the Nvidia drivers..
Reply
#28
(2012-10-29, 12:38)daninino Wrote: I have to chime in with Marchan:

I tried it yesterday since Netflix have released a app which actually can use the GFX cards Video Decoding feature. So I wanted to boot into the gui formerly known as "Metro" (Modern UI) and create only the tiles for Netflix XBMC and a few others I might Need. It is actually a nice interface IF it was optimized for use with a remote.

Problem No. 1: Because XBMC isn't a Modern UI app the Modern UI Gui minimizes and display the desktop and then starts XBMC. When I exit XBMC Windows displays the Desktop and not Modern UI and I have no means of getting back to the Modern GUI without grabbing my Keyboard or mouse.

Problem No. 2: The Tiles on the Modern UI is not made for use on a Big TV since I only have 3 or 4 tiles it is a very little area of the screen being used. The Store has a nice layout with a lot bigger Tiles but the option to use these on the main Screen is not present. Shortcuts created for a program like XBMC is only able to be a square. Only Modern UI specific Apps can have the wide tile which sucks because I want the biggest possible tiles when using my Big screen TV

Problem No. 3: Not a Windows problem but a Netflix App problem, You have to tab to go between the sections of the App. If I have highlighted a movie but want to go to the genre I have to use the Tab key on my Keyboard or my mouse to choose it... This isn't possible with a regular Windows Mediacenter Remote, not as far as I know.

All of this means that I have to get my Keyboard or my mouse if I want to use the Mediacenter and this is why I opt. for a dedicated box instead of using my Laptop and just hooking that up to the TV, I just want to be able to navigate using the Remote.

I might as well just install Openelec again and buy an AppleTV to handle Netflix which isn't practical but it works a lot easier than the Modern UI Gui.


Maruchan: you should be able to get auto startup using the path here: "C:\Users\<User Profile folder name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"

I got some answers for you
Problem 1 & 3 can be taken care of at the same time, run XBMC as admin, then install the MCE remote program addon, then configure remote control,, I don't think I would program the green button to be just the windows key as I prefer it to be the 'windows key + 1' so it activates the 1st docked item (which is XBMC), if it ever loses focus, I just have to hit the green button again. I would put one of my unused buttons on the remote to windows and another button to tab.

---In addition to Problem 3, do you have a list of the netflix keyboard controls? I am going to program my remote & xbmc keyboard.xml to match as close as possible - this is how I stumbled across this thread

Problem 2: There are several free programs out that let you create your own tile, basically you grab 2 pictures (1 large, 1 small) and then it will let you put in description and file target and it creates the tile for you that is sizeable to both large & small.
Reply
#29
(2012-10-26, 22:18)Dougie Fresh Wrote: Since the option to run WMC on boot is gone, I won't be able to use Win8 for my cable TV HTPCs. I was going to try it on my office PC but the upgrade advisor told me a bunch of the apps I use everyday aren't compatible. It looks like it's Win7 for the time being.

Why do you boot your PC? I just installed WIn 8 on MY HTPC and like it. The metro interface is nice for an HDTV.
Reply
#30
How is everyone installing Win8 on their HTPC? I am trying to via USB and have tried with 2 different thumb drives and it just hangs at the blue windows logo.

EDIT: I had to update my bios.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
Who is running Windows 8 on their HTPC?0