Win 2003 Server or Win XP

[hakbar]

which option would be better, to run PMS on Win 2003 Server 64bit or Win XP 64bit ?
or it wouldn't make a diff at all?!

I am running it on a Win2003 server, and having some issues. So, i am thinking of formating the entire system to start with a clean install as this machine is dedicated just for PMS.

anyone recommends Linux? which distro do you suggest?

any thoughts ?

thanks,

[Kit64]

One vote for WHS (Server 2003 32 bit). As this is my general server it is always on, holds all the media files, runs PS3 Media Server, Media Portal Server etc.

When Installing as a service, just remember to tweak the service properties as follows:
->Services->PS3 Media Server->Properties->Startup type = Automatic (from Manual)
->Services->PS3 Media Server->Properties->Log On->Allow service to interact with desktop = Unchecked (from Checked)
This allows the service to start on reboot and doesn't require anyone to be logged in.

Note: I can not comment on 32 vs 64 bit, I guess you know how the 'PS3 Media Server' run under 64bit.

[hakbar]

Yeah, this the way i have PMS configured in the Services.

As for the 32bit vs 64bit, I personally think that it doesn't really matter. Because Java is running under 32bit, as well as the codecs. This is a pure self logic and i could be wrong.

Another pure logic; Win Xp is ligher on the system than Win 2003 Server. if XP is used just for PMS, i would assume PMS could perform better than when it is on Win 2003 Server.

I am wondering if i should go through the hassile of formating my system with a fresh WinXp, logic is just not enough for me to go through the process!!

System: 2Ghz Xeon with 2GB Ram

[Konceptz]

In all honesty with the media server it doesn't matter. just make sure your running the latest version of java.

Also about the 32 vs 64bit thing, If you have 4gb of ram or more 32bit shouldn't even be an option for you. In my testing even with 2gb of ram, the 64bit OS handled memory much better then the 32bit. However make sure all you hardware has 64bit driver support before migrating.

[gastric]

The only disadvantage of running as a service is you lose the GUI to watch traces and make instant settings changes. But functionally it should not be any different.

If you were really set on installing XP consider installing Virtual Server 2005, it's free, and you could run XP as a virtual machine right on top of Server 2003 or Windows Home Server (which is a flavor of Server 2003).Then you can have server and XP both running on the same box. I'm currently doing this, but am using the virtual XP machine purely for torrent downloading. PMS runs as a service on WHS.

[hakbar]

i need to try MS Virtual Server. I didnt know it was free!!
I use the same setup as you mentioned but with VMware. The only drawback i noticed about VMware is that you can only allocate two processors (cores).

Let me try MS Virtual Server, i hope it will let me allocate more then 2 cores. (not that i need that for anything, but it is nice to know that i could )

thanks,