testing windows 7, 32 or 64 bit?

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/25/2009, 8:39 AM

Hi Sean,

Everything you get here will be personal opinion but I'll give you mine. ;-)

32-bit is dead. Forget about it. 64-bit is the only way to go. I say this because 32-bit Vista offers nothing over XP (in fact it's worse) and since Windows 7 is just Vista with a new name and a little less "bloat" I assume the same is true. 64-bit is the future and I would not move from XP unless moving to a 64-bit OS. What 64-bit gives you is access to greater than 4GB of memory. More memory means bigger projects, 64-bit also has some speed advantages depending on the application. So I would not move to a new OS without it being 64-bit. (again, personal opinion)

I have not tried running Vegas on Windows 7 because I don't want to use up one of my licenses. In fact, I don't understand how anyone can do serious testing on Windows 7 will all of the copy protection on software these days since Microsoft has clearly said that the Windows 7 beta will expire and you will have to wipe your hard drive clean and start over when the product gets released. Having said that, I don't see why Vegas wouldn't run on Windows 7 since it's just Vista with a new name because everyone hates Vista.

~jr

seanfl wrote on 4/25/2009, 9:11 AM

thank you JR. To make sure I understood, I should be able to run 32 bit vegas on 64 bit windows 7?

Sean

CorTed wrote on 4/25/2009, 9:18 AM

You can run 32 bit on Vista today ( I do ) on 64 bit Vista.
Should work the same for Windows 7.

Ted

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/25/2009, 10:14 AM

As Ted pointed out, yes you can and will want to run 32-bit apps including the 32-bit version of Vegas Pro 9.0 until all of your 32-bit plug-ins and codecs have 64-bit versions.

~jr

rmack350 wrote on 4/25/2009, 10:21 AM

And Vegas 9 will include both versions in the license so you could download and install either one. This is the same situation as with the last 64-bit version of Vegas.

seanfl wrote on 4/25/2009, 10:45 AM

thank you all for helping me understand. I'll try 64 bit and see how it goes.

Sean

dibbkd wrote on 4/25/2009, 11:04 AM

I'm currently running Vegas 8 on Windows 7 32-bit. Vegas 8.1 runs on the 64-bit OS's, but from what I hear it's not very stable. (never tried it myself)

So when the 64-bit Windows 7 RC1 is released next week, I plan on installing that, and by 5/11 I'll have Vegas 9 64-bit to test out.

Besides the additional memory that 64-bit OS's can handle, it should also be faster rendering.

I'm sure if you check back here in about 2 weeks you'll have some good info on W7 64 with V9 64.

ushere wrote on 4/30/2009, 11:44 PM

very interested to hear any comments regarding win 7 64bit with both v8 and (in time) v9.

am just about to order a i7 920 with 6gb ram (will be using it as a second computer for editing only - so am not too worried about reinstall win 7 rtm when it comes out).

have found xp pro 32 with v8 very reliable, but could do with better preview and rendering speed.

also, i read that v9 will output to secondary display AND firewire simultaneously. will someone confirm that (shortly).

leslie

blink3times wrote on 5/1/2009, 4:44 AM

I agree with JonnyRoy... 32bit is dead. There's really no reason to continue with it. The advantages of a 64 bit platform simply out weigh that of 32 bit, and even if you're still running nothing but 32 bit programs it all pretty much works on a 64 bit platform. I can't think of one reason to hang on to a 32 bit platform (unless of course you're dealing with older hardware)

As for Win7 (64bit)... it's almost all Vista64 with some nice little additions. I've been running it for some time now with Vegas and have only hit some very minor speed bumps.... all of which have to do with the fact that win7 is a beta and therefore not quite complete.

pmooney wrote on 5/1/2009, 7:54 AM

32 bit is not going anywhere soon. A large percentage of businesses have their computer networks heavily saturated with 32 bit computers and will not make the jump to 64 bit unless there is a clear and obvious advantage to doing so. Abother reason the switch to 64 bit will not happen rapidly is this economy, which is on the verge of crashing.

I've run Vegas on both 64 and 32 bit platforms and the difference in performance right now is negligible. You'll see more performance gains out of processor speed, multiple cores and memory than you will by going to 64 bit.

I, too, have been waiting for years for 64 bit to gain momentum and was perplexed for many years why we all weren't running to that platform, with its touted obvious benefits. The fact that we are not there already should tell you something.

Perhaps when a new software program is designed that really takes advanatge of 64 bit, showing its full potential, then the move will begin in earnest. but that program will have to be really popular, something everyone wants.

That's my two cents.

CClub wrote on 5/1/2009, 8:01 AM

My biggest concern is accessing all of the Vegas plugins that are currently 32bit. Are you finding that most of the Vegas plugins are 64bit?

Is there any easy way to find out which plugins are now 64bit without going to each website? I regularly use Ultimate S (and the VASST Reelpaks), Excalibur, Veggie Toolkit, Neat Video, Mercalli, Magic Bullet, Pixelan and SpiceMaster, and the NewBlue fx. And Cineform is a given, although it looks like that'll pull through soon. I don't think I could switch if they all didn't have 64bit versions.

Former user wrote on 5/1/2009, 9:44 AM

32 bit is not going anywhere soon

No so fast on that one - Windows 7 will be the last MS OS to offer a 32 bit version...so say by 2011 (Windows 8) there will be no 32 bit option at all - except to stay with whatever you have until whenever you can stand to be running it.

Running 32 bit apps on a 64bit OS is where it's at anyway. This option will only get larger and larger until everything is native 64 bit.

VP

dibbkd wrote on 5/1/2009, 10:14 AM

"No so fast on that one - Windows 7 will be the last MS OS to offer a 32 bit version...so say by 2011 (Windows 8) there will be no 32 bit option at all - except to stay with whatever you have until whenever you can stand to be running it."

If you all didn't know, Windows 7 Business and Ultimate versions will come WITH a Virtual Machine that comes WITH an XP license.

So what that means is you can go ahead and buy Windows 7 64, and still have access to a full XP 32 bit machine.

You can't lose.

Former user wrote on 5/1/2009, 10:27 AM

So what that means is you can go ahead and buy Windows 7 64, and still have access to a full XP 32 bit machine

In my testing - this works really really well. Best "virtual" machine I have ever tried...the integration and "invisibility" of the VM is very well done.

VP

ddm wrote on 5/1/2009, 1:40 PM

I've got a dual boot setup with Vista 64 and Win 7 64 and at the moment, Win 7 actually previews slightly faster than my Vista 64 machine with a Standard Def project that I'm working on. The Win 7 install is a little cleaner than my Vista 64 as it's new, but I've tried to install everything I have on my Vista system onto the Win 7 system. W7 seems more responsive, much like XP. Pretty impressive for a beta, although this is probably very close to what will be released. Everything I've thrown at it works, so far. Vegas works very well, with Excallibur and Ultimate S and Waves 5 plugins installed. I also have Adobe Creative Suite 4 and Lightroom 2.3 installed. photoshop and lightroom both have 64 bit versions so they can take advvantage of my 8 gigs of ram. The Adobe apps seem to work at least as well as on Vista 64, can't tell much difference there. All my photoshop plugins work as well. Color me impressed.

Jonathan Neal wrote on 5/1/2009, 2:07 PM

I've been using Windows 7 64-bit for a few months now and I've had zero problems running Vegas Pro 8 (32-bit) and 8.1 (64-bit). I've even saved a project in the 64-bit edition, opened and changed it in the 32-bit edition, and then gone back to the 64-bit edition. I'm putting a video on YouTube soon that was my first made in 8.1, so kudos to the Vegas 64 development team for such a great debut.

Windows 7 is the first 64-bit operating system that I've been able to run on every machine (desktops and laptops) in my home without any serious or even lesser consequences. I had to wait one week to get new drivers for my Tascam 1884. Actually, come to think of it, Windows 7 is the first first-edition (and let's not forget, it's beta) Windows operating system that feels more like an SP2. I installed 64-bit for the fun of it, but now I've no reason to leave. Plus, I felt like I got free upgrades on Vegas and Photoshop, since they freely offer their 64-bit counterparts.

That's my two cents.

DSCalef wrote on 5/1/2009, 10:00 PM

Windows 7 Ultimate RC1 64bit is great. I have had no hickups with Vegas 8.0c at all.

I disagree that Windows 7 is just Vista renamed. It has lots of new code. And, I disagree that "bloatware" was removed. Everything that was available in Vista is available in 7 and more. Vista 64 is a great OS that really has been unfairly attacked. The problems are more myth and urban legend than fact. While I still run a couple of XP machines, I don't need too. I have been involved with the beta of every version of windows since 98 in some way. The dog was ME. Vista, with an all new code base and new driver model was not as ready for release as we all wanted. Once SP1 was released, I have never looked back..

Also, I disagree there will be no 32 bit after 7, as a path has already been made for virtual 32 bit OS in 7. What is more likely to start being unavailable is 32-bit drivers from hardware manufacturers.

As long as you have Microsoft's successes, you will have haters who kick dirt at Microsoft.

As we all know, in that last sentence you can change Microsoft to Vegas. Or American-made car, etc., etc. In order for some people to demonstrate how much smarter they are than the rest of us, they have to put down companies, products, ideas and people. And I admire each and every one so much!

Soap box off

David

www.NewsVideoTeam.com