My copy of Vista finally arrived. Not as late as mid-April, but still later than I would have liked. The HP “Express Upgrade” kit came with two discs: an HP prep/config CD and the Vista DVD.
Prior to upgrading last night, HP had me disconnect a variety of peripherals (I declined), update my BIOS (was already current), and then their CD removed incompatible software that had been preloaded with my machine (most of which I had already blown away). The actual Vista upgrade took several hours, followed by running that HP CD again… to reinstall Vista-compatible software I don’t need (blown away a second time). I did have some trouble finding a NVIDIA driver that supported my LCD’s native resolution (1400×900) — Neither the default Vista driver nor HP’s driver update would go that high, but a direct NVIDIA download took care of it.
I’ve got MCE working with my digital tuner, though the video is stuttering… CPU usage is normal and my signal is good, so I’m wondering what the issue might be. I could probably use some additional memory in this system, but I should have something more watchable as it is. In addition to solving that prob, I want to get my Xbox 360 hooked up as a media extender, edit DVR-MS files, and check out Photo Gallery. I also plan to get my hands on our pre-release Slingplayer gadgets – job perk! ;) (I work for Sling Media.)
Anyone know how to expand that RSS Gadget to display more headlines?
I uninstalled TiVo Desktop, as it’s not yet compatible with Vista. Guess this is a good excuse to check out TiVo.Net.
So with Vista you’ve added editing to previously recordable content, and added new recordable content that can’t be editing.
That’s win-win.
I’m interested in more of your saga with Vista and TiVo.net
Why did you go through all that trouble? Why didn’t you just press the Easy button? It is sitting right there!
Awww Dave, you’re so brave but I wish you read my blog as often as I read yours.
If you did, you definitely wouldn’t have installed Vista yet.
;)
Do continue to share your experiences.
Bill
Mega: I kept hitting that Easy button, so imagine how bad the upgrade would have been without.
Bill: Melissa got a new laptop a couple of weeks ago with Vista and I’ve enjoyed playing with it. I didn’t worry too much about taking the plunge… especially since my “main” computer is an XP virtual machine on my Macbook Pro. ;)
I don’t think my ATSC video card is fully supported under Vista. The vendor (DVICO) says the chipset is not supported by Conexant on Vista. I’m messing with an analog tuner (Hauppauge) now just to get things working.
I really want to spend some time in Photo Gallery and compare it to iPhoto. I’m not sure where I should drop all my unorganized pics. (And there’s always Picasa.)
What is it with all these MacBooks?
I was on a cruise last month with a bunch of geeks and not only did David Pogue demonstrate Vista on his MacBook, even Harry McCracken VP of PC World was showing of his MacBook.
I’m feeling like I need to get me one. :)
Bill
2.3a seems to work with Vista (transferring a show now though I haven’t tried watching it yet). 2.4 doesn’t seem to want to install.
Hey Dave – I’m a little late to the party, but thought I would pop up.
Check out http://www.miguelcarrasco.net/softwaredevelopment/2007/03/the_best_window.html for your MCE problems. There is a registry tweak that may help clear things up. Hopefully that will make things more bearable.