[eriksmith200]

I'm planning to replace my xbox with an htpc, as my crt tv is falling apart and will be replaced with a 720p lcd tv soon.

I haven't decided yet which operating system I will use: osx (hackintosh), linux or windows. Right now I'm leaning towards windows, mainly for ease of installation and configuration, but there are other things which are important to me as well, to sum up:

1. performance
2. quality of ffmpeg builds (I understand there can be some differences)
3. ease of configuration (e.g. remote)
4. how well suspend or hibernate works
5. OS boot time
6. various platform specific bugs or "annoyances" (e.g. windows version losing focus)
7. platform specific advantages/tricks (e.g. booting directly into XBMC)
8. ... others?

What are people's views/opinions?

[Geeba]

I think with the introduction of XBMC Live, the choice of underlying OS is completely up to you personal preference.... I tend to go with windows purely for the reasons you have already stated....

[Hitcher]

I use Tiny XP.

[xbs08]

I use Tiny XP.

What's your average boot time? and machine specs?

[Hitcher]

What's your average boot time? and machine specs?

About 30 seconds.

Dell Vostro 200
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.33GHz
2.00 GB RAM
Radeon HD 2400 graphics card

[phistyle]

About 30 seconds.

Dell Vostro 200
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.33GHz
2.00 GB RAM
Radeon HD 2400 graphics card

I've never used tiny xp but I've read up about it and it looks like you can't use a capture card so you won't be able to use a tv tuner....

[ShortySco]

I have been running all versions for some time, barring mac and apple TV, and my personal preference is the linux version, and thus also the live version.

Why?......
I like being able to resize with the mouse and switching full screen to window mode and back works better for me here, i believe there is a trac report being looked into about that issue in windows , It also seems a little more responsive and it boots a bit faster too.

Installation/setup wise, linux was great, main reason windows is the better choice here is because it's what most people already know, infact if i knew nothing at all (which is nearly the case ), maybe linux would be easier to get used to (all IMHO of course), i've learned alot since i began using it (but i like to learn, so this is a plus for me).

Also, it's all just feels much more "wholesome" having an open source app on an open source OS

But saying all that my real preference is the good old xbox, but i have to discount that due to the HD thing.

Rob

(P.S: and the windows version is pretty much as good, there really is very little to choose between them)

[sinarquia]

+1 for the Linux version, because:

1- You don't need to defragment your HD.
2- No need to run AntiVirus software on your HTPC
3- Easier to debug

[phistyle]

what would the best one to use if I want to use a tv tuner card to record tv shows?

[SneakerElph]

If your tuner is supported by MythTV, use that. It's by far the best (and most free) solution for home TV recording. Plus when the PVR API in XBMC comes to fruitation, Myth will be one of, if not the first PVR suite supported. Otherwise, I like EyeTV on OS X (if your card is supported), and Vista Media Center (should support everything since it's windows and that's what manufacturers write drivers for) isn't too bad either.

[onesojourner]

Here is another vote for linux/live. Its fast stable and no virus risk. Plus its way more intuitive to rename a jpg to a tbn. How the junk are you supposed to do that in windows?

[DMAddict]

Avatar says it all.

[dhrandy]

Vista Ultimate here.

[eriksmith200]

Vista Ultimate here.

Any specific reasons why you chose Vista? Anything working better/worse than on other platforms?

[rwparris2]

Here is another vote for linux/live. Its fast stable and no virus risk. Plus its way more intuitive to rename a jpg to a tbn. How the junk are you supposed to do that in windows?

Right click>rename

Man my brain hurts now, I'm gonna go take a nap.