What Windows OS?

[Beams]

I have Win98SE. Should I upgrade to Windows XP? What would be the advantages?

[Craig Tucker]

The main one IMHO is the NTFS filesystem, supports filesizes over 4GB. Also XP supports much larger drives than 98.

[Karate Media]

Depends, but probably yes.

First -- will you be upgrading your OS from Win98 or are you getting a new system? Basically, is your Win98 system running on an older computer, or is it a more recent machine? If you have an older system, I'd recommend upgrading your system when switching to XP.

But that's probably a whole other topic unto itself....

As for advantages of XP: I have one system running ME and one runnning XP and the biggest advantage comes from the ability to capture more than 4GB of video at a time. WinXP's NT File System allows for much, much larger file sizes than 9x's FAT32 file system -- if you plan on capturing more than 20 minutes of DV/.avi footage, then XP is a huge help.

Some others things are harder for me to compare based on hands-on experience -- My WinXP system is at least twice as powerful as my ME system (in terms of processor, memory, etc), but I can say that I was very reluctant to move on to XP, but now that I have, I am very happy with it. It's much more stable than 9x OS's, for one thing -- I can leave my computer running for days w/out a worry (maybe w/ the occassional reboot just to be safe).

XP is a resource hog -- the OS takes up a good bit of hard drive space, and prefers a higher-RAM environment, but I've been happy with it, especially w/ video work -- but, as I said, my XP system is faster all around, so I can't give truly reliable benchmarks...

[txpharoah]

Windows XP is a hog as stated (stealing resources from video usage), and the XP Home edition is VERY UNFRIENDLY towards multimedia devices (mainly its drivers and codecs). Stick with XP Pro if insisting on an XP flavor, but the most stable OS is Win2K, especially for video (NTFS, never crashes, and has several NT/2K-only programs for video production). Coming off of Win98, I doubt you'd even like XP, as every is different, hidden, and a general pain to cooperate. Win2K is only slightly different than Win98 in terms of the interface, and will operate as you always wished Win98 would have done.

[indolikaa]

I've been using WinME (probably out of ignorance) for the two years since I started playing with video on the PC. The key seems to be using the computer only for video editing, and keeping the hardware and software overhead to a minimum. RAID 0 array and no virtual memory sure doesn't hurt, either. And running defrag before each and every video capture is a must, regardless.

I'll bet you won't see many other WinME success stories on this site.

I would like to bounce a question. I run WinME for DOS compatibility with some older games I won't give up. Does XP or 2K offer dual-boot or a DOS emulator capability?

[mats.hogberg]

Agree with txpharoah - W2k is by far the best incarnation of an OS Microsoft has produced. Unfortunately I upgraded my home computer to XP Pro - a thing I wouldn't have done, if I knew then what I know now. However, XP is not bad - it's just that it keeps getting in your way, and is a resource hog.

/Mats

[mmmbeer]

I agree about XP as a hog if you don't tweak the OS to curtail the misc. running in the background. If you lower the priority of the garbage and only let load what you really need, you'll find it not too bad of an OS. I had the techs at HP guide me through it now it loads completely in 30 seconds or less.

[txpharoah]

I'll bet you won't see many other WinME success stories on this site.

Nope. I love my WinME system. We're rare though.

Only thing "wrong" is no NTFS. However, I have another system in Win2K and another on WinXP Pro, so I'll live.

[Solarjetman]

Only thing "wrong" is no NTFS. However, I have another system in Win2K and another on WinXP Pro, so I'll live.

I think (and the key word here is think) that if you have a Win2k/XP machine on the same network as a WinME, you can map folders on the NTFS file system from the 2k machine to a drive on the ME machine, and get over that 2GB limit. But like I said I only think so, I never actually have done it.

Of course you would have to log into the 2k machine through ME first to access it.

[Gazorgan]

You can't upgrade. Despite what M$ says, upgrades just never work. Format and install from scratch. Legacy software is the primary culprit.

I vote for W2K over XP.

[rkr1958]

I upgraded from W98SE to W2k and have never looked back. Besides breaking the 4GB filesize barrier I also understand that W2k will take advantage of all RAM installed and not just up to 256-MB in W98SE. I have 512-MB installed and it does seem that there is a difference is terms of speed when I'm running multiple applications. Also, W2k seems much more stable.

[mats.hogberg]

Also, W2k seems much more stable

That must be the understatement of the year... 8)

/Mats

[rkr1958]

Also, W2k seems much more stable

That must be the understatement of the year... 8)

/Mats

Wow ... Do I win some award?

[Doggiedaddy]

I'll bet you won't see many other WinME success stories on this site.

Nope. I love my WinME system. We're rare though.

Only thing "wrong" is no NTFS. However, I have another system in Win2K and another on WinXP Pro, so I'll live.

Only thing "wrong"??????????????????WinMe is the worst O/S EVER written, even Mr Gates knew this and started upgrade code before release. XP PRO/WIN2000 or Linux if you want to run longer than the blue screen of death.
(;-{>Dd

[courtrrb]

For any video editing I use Win2000pro (Everything else I use Linux including DVD burning) I did have XP but it just loves to eat disk space. Win2000 is about as stable as Xp better I think and just dosn't require as muck disk space as XP

[indolikaa]

Only thing "wrong"??????????????????WinMe is the worst O/S EVER written,

Naw, the worst OS ever written was DOS 4.0. Oh, no! Four-oh!

indolikaa's rule for optimal system health: defrag daily, format quarterly, zero-format annually.

[poopyhead]

I think (and the key word here is think) that if you have a Win2k/XP machine on the same network as a WinME, you can map folders on the NTFS file system from the 2k machine to a drive on the ME machine, and get over that 2GB limit. But like I said I only think so, I never actually have done it.

FAT32 has a 4 gig limit, whereby files are truncated at 3.99 gigs.

[Solarjetman]

FAT32 has a 4 gig limit, whereby files are truncated at 3.99 gigs.

Well, you could still get short movies on that

[snowmoon]

I use XP Pro and would not go back now. Initially there were driver issues because XP prefers WDM drivers ( 98 tended to use the simpler VFW drivers ). Now that My WinTV is WDM compatible and running as expected it's beautiful because I can do timed captures without worry about crashes and even be encoding in the background while I capture without dropping frames.

A year ago I may have said 98/2k, but I would say XP pro now.

The only thing to watch under XP is that only the bare number of services are running and be carefule with remote desktop since that breaks some video apps.

[vance43211]

if u seriously upgrade your ram xp is the best

xp is w2k with extra 's

make sure u go start run type msconfig and get all that extra stuff from running in the background

[thayne]

if it's a p3 or older use Win 2000 otherwise use XP. Forget win 98 unless you want to go gray and bald years before you should...

I would even say use win 2000 on a new system unless you plan on playing games on it. Some of the newer games either don't work or play like shit on 2000, but for video capture and editing you don't need all the extra overhead that XP has.

[version20]

XP is as solid as an MS OS gets. If its interface is too confusing for you:

1. Go to System Properties>Advanced>Performance>Visual Effects and click "adjust for best performance"

2. Right click on your task bar, go to Properties>Start Menu and select "classic start menu"

- You now have the look/feel of Win2k but with all the benefits of XP.

XP was built upon the Win2k foundation then improved. It is an inarguably superior OS. The only caveat being if you have some ancient software that requires better DOS compatibility.

Of course, if you want a rock solid OS you could go with Linux, but that stability comes at the price of actual software to do stuff with. You can edit the hell out of some text and never crash though.

-v20

**yes I realize there are some other apps for linux, its called being facetious.

[txpharoah]

XP was built upon the Win2k foundation then improved.

Only PRO, not HOME.

HOME is a bastardization of NT and 32 tech, still hindered by 32 shortcomings.

Even then, PRO has some downsides related to being a glutton of resources and burying the controls over the OS.

[version20]

I agree, go with PRO and ideally you would want a minimum of 512MB/RAM (but whats that nowadays, $60?).

-v20

[hoyboy]

I am using WinME at the moment, It is limited by the FAT32, but the main reason I feel I need to upgrade on my next computer is stability. ME is ok when used lightly/medium, but when pushed does not like to close things quickly etc. I have not seen many BSOD with it but a lot of people have.