June 25, 2008

Holy Hell, I May Buy Windows Vista

I know. Crazy, right? Before everyone collectively tells me at once “No!!!” Hear me out.

Lifehacker has a great how-to guide today for using a Windows Vista PC to stream Netflix Watch Now films to your Xbox 360. This is exactly something I want.

Regular readers may know my hatred of the multiple set top boxes I have in my living room. I want one, not a half dozen, but with me close to adding an Apple TV (or a Mac Mini) and a Netflix Roku box, I could be tangling myself in way more cables than I want.

This solution would replace the need for the Roku box because I already have the Xbox 360 and a computer capable of running Windows Vista (which supposedly is required for the task).

I currently have my Intel iMac dual booting Windows XP, but I haven’t loaded it up in months. I scared to death that upgrading it to Vista will brick my system in someway (I’m not sure my copy of XP is exactly…legal), but it may be worth it to get this functionality.

I’m pretty sure I can get Windows Vista Home Premium (one of the 17 versions of Vista) for less than the price of the Roku box too.

Okay post your horror stories in the comments or on FriendFeed. Tell me why I should do it. It looks like even Intel won’t upgrade to Vista. I’m scared, but this new idea intrigues me.

UPDATE: Some good info in the FriendFeed thread on this post here.

Posted at 7:22 pm by MG Siegler
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  • Anonymous
    Good idea. As far as Vista "bricking" your system, the OS is only as good as the user. I have used Vista since it came out, the only problem I encountered was from installing iTunes 64 bit (because Apple isn't too savvy with 64 bit).
  • Basti
    Remember that you need an OSX install disk from this year to get the Vista-Bootcamp drivers. Every model since the current MacBook Pro should have them.
    Older disks will only contain XP drivers. Without those drivers, there is no going back to OSX once Vista is started.



    Additionally, you might want to try VMWare or Parallels.
  • MG Siegler
    @basti - good call on that disk. i have the right ones. still kinda worried...
  • Basti
    I did this earlier this year and it works pretty good. However, I would recommend to install rEFIt, too.
    rEFIt gives you a nice menu to choose your preferred OS before the OS starts as opposed to changing it only when the OS is running.



    However, I rarely use my physical Vista installation any more since the VMWare partition is just less painful. With VMWare (or Parallels), you won't have to shut down OSX to start Vista.
  • i'm blackout
    Dual booting is a pain in the ass. It might reduce the amount of boxes around your television... but it's going to take 5 minutes to switch from your Mac OS to Windows OS and it will have to be up and running and streaming perfectly to give you a jitter free picture. I think you'll be able to do it, but the user experience may be quite annoying for everytime you want to watch a movie.


    p.s. Let me know if you want to get a legit version of Vista Ultimate.
  • MG Siegler
    @basti - thanks for the tips


    @blackout - yeah that is true, i have an extra computer i can use though to i supposed just run vista all the time (gasp).



    still debating it, but I will definitely let you know if I need a copy of vista.
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