Windows 7

[Skip Talbot]

I have not tested the firewire port on my 7 64 desktop (or when the box had Vista 64) as I don't have a firewire camcorder. I have, however, noticed a significant gain in stability in 7. I've overclocked this desktop's quad core from 2.4 GHz to 3.2 GHz, which is a significant overclock. The extra voltage required to run at this speed creates a lot of added heat and compromises the stability of the machine. I'd suffer an occasional lockup or BSOD in Vista, but it was worth it to me for the extra frames per second I'd pick up in the games I built the machine for. If I let the machine render AVCHD video for more than 6 hours, it would almost always lockup. I'd have to turn it back down to stock speeds to complete the render. In 7, however, I've only locked the machine up once since I've installed it, and its never locked up during an all night AVCHD rendering job. So 7 made a huge difference for me.

I usually recommend to other not to upgrade to a newer version of Windows unless the machine is like new, as hardware compatibility issues like David is describing are quite common. Plus many times people don't have the extra resources needed to run the newer version, so they'd take a performance hit upgrading. As far as I've seen, however, the jump to 7 from Vista has less snags with hardware than the jump from XP to Vista.

 

[Gene Moore]

I just upgraded my Toshiba notebook from Vista Home Premium 64 to the comparable Windows 7, 64bit version. Everything worked great with the exception of the built in microphone I use for Skype and that was fixed with a Toshiba provided driver. Toshiba's directions stressed that I should use the original factory upgrade drivers, or the Toshiba provided drivers instead of the built in Windows 7 drivers. That approach worked the best for me. It boots a little faster and does not use as much RAM. Many of the simple operations have steps reduced from them and they are not so hidden. As far as multi-tasking going down the highway, that may not get fully tested until spring. I did notice one of my issues has improved, Delorme. Running Street Atlas with other programs was glitchy in the past, now Delorme works much smoother/ faster since the upgrade.

I have yet to tackle my biggest issue from last season, getting GPS Gate to properly split the GPS signal on a 64 bit system. It was so easy with Windows XP, but I've never got it right with Vista..... another winter project.

 

[Joe Dorn]

I just upgraded my Toshiba notebook from Vista Home Premium 64 to the comparable Windows 7, 64bit version. ***snip***

I have yet to tackle my biggest issue from last season, getting GPS Gate to properly split the GPS signal on a 64 bit system. It was so easy with Windows XP, but I've never got it right with Vista..... another winter project.

There was a ten dollar upgrade to GPS Gate about a year or so ago that was to address some type of Vista issue if I recall correctly. I bought the upgrade but do not have Vista so can not address what it does or does not do... Windows 7 is probably a spring time chore...

 

[Dan Cook]

I'm still having issues with my firewire problem. I've figured out that's it's most likely the laptop; I tried 2 different Win7 64 bit laptops at Best Buy with the vid camera and they all worked.

 

[swilson]

I have found that when the W7 drivers wont work, the Vista ones will.

Your firewire issues however you may be right, might be hardware related.

 

[Mark Blue]

I have yet to tackle my biggest issue from last season, getting GPS Gate to properly split the GPS signal on a 64 bit system. It was so easy with Windows XP, but I've never got it right with Vista..... another winter project.

Gene:

Try this idea out direct from the Franson Support Forum:

http://www.franson.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8252

I know this solved a major issue another forum member had last year with his 64 bit system. The other issue I noticed with Vista is when you run the GPSGate installer you have to select the radio button for "install for all users" versus just yourself otherwise it doesn't function correctly afterwards. I hope this helps.

Mark

 

[Dan Cook]

I have found that when the W7 drivers wont work, the Vista ones will.

Your firewire issues however you may be right, might be hardware related.

I think it might be corrupt drivers as other firewire devices work on it.

 

[swilson]

ah hah!

try uninstalling them, and maybe try the W7 drivers again, or try the vista drivers.