Windows 8.1 is out!

[Benoni]

Today, Windows 8.1 was released. As far as I know it is not officially approved by Avid, so I am not suggesting anyone upgrade to it - however, I don't mind being unsupported.

Windows 8.1 brings many asked for improvements to Windows 8. Most I am happy about, one in particular, not so much.

I am still in the update process and have only had one "problem" but it was not Windows fault, it was the Sentinel drivers that get installed with Media Composer. Luckily, I figured out how to get rid of them so the update could complete.

If you have Windows 8, then 8.1 is a free update for you. Again, keep in mind that Avid has not officially qualified this version.

If you want to update, instead of going to Control Panel>Windows Update, you will do the update from the Windows Store, as you can see in this short video I put together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9jB9WHjXok

[Benoni]

Wow, what an amazing response - I can really tell everyone is excited about Windows 8.1!!

In any case, if you happen to have Media Composer you may have a problem updating to Windows 8.1 until you uninstall the Sentinel Runtime Drivers.

It's not a straight forward uninstall (at least it was not for me) so if you are looking for a solution to Windows Updater telling you "Uninstall Sentinel Runtime Drivers" - I've put together a little video that gives you the basics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTh8MQ0YJmk

In the end, I now have Windows 8.1 installed and everything is running fine, though keep in mind, 8.1 is still not officially approved by Avid.

[edit to add video showing PT 10, PT11, and MC7 working with W8.1]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiV7eNJcLcw

[tonepad]

Thanks for the video update Benoni. I don't run PT on W8...still rocking a solid W7 install that took me years to nail down PC wise. However I do run a machine for W8 gaming and generally for observing the painful MS migration to this OS. I have an Office PC that is next on the update to W8 list. Other than this i make my living with Macs and PT...while still being agnostic in my Office and personal music space (the W7 DIY rig is all about that) I haven't been on the DUC for awhile what with the demands of NCISLA Sound Supervision, but could you give me a compelling reason to go to W8 vs W7 for PT usage...knowing that my W7 PT rig is as solid as my Macs? BTW we also still roll with PT 10 (native and HD) in all depts....it's the plugin issue along with the fact that PT10 is so damn solid.

Always appreciate your contributions.

[tonepad]

I'm upgrading the W8 game rig as I write this thanks to your tutorial.

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by tonepad

Thanks for the video update Benoni. I don't run PT on W8...still rocking a solid W7 install that took me years to nail down PC wise. However I do run a machine for W8 gaming and generally for observing the painful MS migration to this OS. I have an Office PC that is next on the update to W8 list. Other than this i make my living with Macs and PT...while still being agnostic in my Office and personal music space (the W7 DIY rig is all about that) I haven't been on the DUC for awhile what with the demands of NCISLA Sound Supervision, but could you give me a compelling reason to go to W8 vs W7 for PT usage...knowing that my W7 PT rig is as solid as my Macs? BTW we also still roll with PT 10 (native and HD) in all depts....it's the plugin issue along with the fact that PT10 is so damn solid.

Always appreciate your contributions.

No.

The difference in PT would probably not be noticeable.

Overall I feel Windows 8 is a bit snappier overall than Windows 7, not in app really, but in the overall system. I like the Windows 8 UI and I use my PC for more than just PT or MC, so I like some of the thing in Windows 8 (8.1)

I don't use any Metro/Modern Apps, but I still really like the new Start Page and once in the desktop, everything works just like Win 7 basically - oh I also like the ribbon menus we have.

For me, Windows 8 has been just as stable as Windows 7, maybe a bit more, but I can't offer any actual proof. You could always make a system image of your HDD then update your rig to Windows 8.1 and if you can't make it stable, just restore the image.

If you are concerned about Avid tech support or you want to keep your rig 100% Avid approved, then you would wan't to wait until 8.1 is officially approved.

Right now PT11 is officially approved for Windows 8, but the co-install is not officially supported, I don't know the reasoning for this, it all works on my system, but it's not officially supported.

[Benoni]

Windows 8.1 features the ability to boot directly to desktop. So if you just hate the START screen - you could pin all your most used apps to the desktop and/or taskbar, then set Boot to Desktop. After that, you will hardly ever need to go to the START screen.

Personally, I like the Start Screen, but if you don't, here is how you can set up Boot to Desktop in Windows 8.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx9KWUznqv4

[Benoni]

One last video showing some of the new stuff in Windows 8.1

Bing In The Fun, With Windows 8.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g27sZz3jQg

And yes, it is a purposefully awful title

[M-ManLA]

I'm going to upgrade to PT11 real soon! I'll let you know how it rolls!

[derFunkenstein]

Windows 8.1 and PT 11.0.2 here. No Media Composer, and no HD hardware - I'm just plain vanilla PT on my system. Works great from a week's use. No PT crashes or unusual behavior. I don't mind being unsupported, though rolling back to Windows 8 will be a huge pain if I have to.

Originally Posted by Benoni

Windows 8.1 features the ability to boot directly to desktop. So if you just hate the START screen - you could pin all your most used apps to the desktop and/or taskbar, then set Boot to Desktop. After that, you will hardly ever need to go to the START screen.

Personally, I like the Start Screen, but if you don't, here is how you can set up Boot to Desktop in Windows 8.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx9KWUznqv4

I'm booting to the desktop as well, but not everything is pinned to my task bar The start screen with pinned favorites is great. Take 5 minutes and configure the start screen and it's extremely useful. I never use the all apps view, either - just windows key, type the name of the program I want ot use and there it is. Mousing is for chumps - the best way to be productive with a computer, whether it's PC or Mac, is to learn the keyboard shortcuts. Been doing the same thing on a Mac with Cmd+space and type since OS X 10.4 Tiger, when they created Spotlight. It's just faster.

[rechtien]

I am running 8.1 and PT 11.0.2, but I have output issues with the Digi 003 rack. The sound/playback is just horrible. Like a 2 bit fuzzy mess. Any thoughts on what might cause that. Everything opens and runs fine. I tried different drivers, etc. It sounds like a sample rate mismatch problem, but I really have no idea what the issue is. I am going to try a new firewire cable tonight just in case it somehow went bad during the transition, but that would be pretty odd.