Advice needed from those of you wiser than I........

I have an XPS desktop which I'm about to install Win 7 64-bit, my
current OS is Win Vista 32 bit.

The XPS has a video capture card which drives the CCTV installation
here. The card drivers are 32 bit only and the manufacturer, as yet,
has no drivers for 64-bit OS's.

So, my choices seem to be:

(i) buy a cheap Dell desktop with no monitor and a 32-bit OS (£200),
install the card in that, hook it up to my existing Dell 2709 monitor
via a VGA cable and that will work or

(ii) buy a dedicated DVR, route everything through that and sell the
capture card

or (iii) install the 64 bit OS and then use Sun VM to install
everything related to the capture card under a 32-bit environment?

WRT (iii) that's as far as my knowledge of virtual machines
goes..........is (iii) (the preferential and easiest option) actually
do-able. Bear in mind there are dedicated drivers for the card, my
limited reading up of this seems to indicate the setup "sees" a
virtual graphics card.

All input gratefully received.

32-bit drivers might work.
Running in a VM likely will not work.
New machine would work.

All that said, if it works with Vista 32, why change? 64-bit doesn't
sound like an improvement in this scenario.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Baldi ]
Posted At: Sunday, December 13, 2009 1:51 PM
Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Conversation: Advice needed from those of you wiser than I........
Subject: Advice needed from those of you wiser than I........

I have an XPS desktop which I'm about to install Win 7 64-bit, my
current OS is
Win Vista 32 bit.

The XPS has a video capture card which drives the CCTV installation
here.
The card drivers are 32 bit only and the manufacturer, as yet, has no
drivers
for 64-bit OS's.

So, my choices seem to be:

(i) buy a cheap Dell desktop with no monitor and a 32-bit OS (£200),
install the
card in that, hook it up to my existing Dell 2709 monitor via a VGA
cable and
that will work or

(ii) buy a dedicated DVR, route everything through that and sell the
capture
card

or (iii) install the 64 bit OS and then use Sun VM to install
everything related
to the capture card under a 32-bit environment?

WRT (iii) that's as far as my knowledge of virtual machines
goes..........is (iii)
(the preferential and easiest option) actually do-able. Bear in mind
there are
dedicated drivers for the card, my limited reading up of this seems to
indicate
the setup "sees" a virtual graphics card.

All input gratefully received.

On Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:50:42 -0800 (PST), Gary Baldi
wrote:

I have an XPS desktop which I'm about to install Win 7 64-bit, my
current OS is Win Vista 32 bit.

The XPS has a video capture card which drives the CCTV installation
here. The card drivers are 32 bit only and the manufacturer, as yet,
has no drivers for 64-bit OS's.

So, my choices seem to be:

(i) buy a cheap Dell desktop with no monitor and a 32-bit OS (£200),
install the card in that, hook it up to my existing Dell 2709 monitor
via a VGA cable and that will work or

(ii) buy a dedicated DVR, route everything through that and sell the
capture card

or (iii) install the 64 bit OS and then use Sun VM to install
everything related to the capture card under a 32-bit environment?

WRT (iii) that's as far as my knowledge of virtual machines
goes..........is (iii) (the preferential and easiest option) actually
do-able. Bear in mind there are dedicated drivers for the card, my
limited reading up of this seems to indicate the setup "sees" a
virtual graphics card.

All input gratefully received.


I agree with Tom's post but alternatively, dual boot???

On Dec 13, 9:21*pm, "RnR" wrote:
On Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:50:42 -0800 (PST), Gary Baldi





wrote:
I have an XPS desktop which I'm about to install Win 7 64-bit, my
current OS is Win Vista 32 bit.

The XPS has a video capture card which drives the CCTV installation
here. *The card drivers are 32 bit only and the manufacturer, as yet,
has no drivers for 64-bit OS's.

So, my choices seem to be:

(i) buy a cheap Dell desktop with no monitor and a 32-bit OS ( 200),
install the card in that, hook it up to my existing Dell 2709 monitor
via a VGA cable and that will work or

(ii) buy a dedicated DVR, route everything through that and sell the
capture card

or (iii) install the 64 bit OS and then use Sun VM to install
everything related to the capture card under a 32-bit environment?

WRT (iii) that's as far as my knowledge of virtual machines
goes..........is (iii) (the preferential and easiest option) actually
do-able. *Bear in mind there are dedicated drivers for the card, my
limited reading up of this seems to indicate the setup "sees" a
virtual graphics card.

All input gratefully received.

I agree with Tom's post but alternatively, dual boot???- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks both; the dual-boot option is a non-runner if only because the
CCTV needs to be running 24/7.

Moving upto Win 7 64 bit just seemed to be the ideal opportunity to
get away from Vista........I have tried your suggestion Tom (32 bit
drivers) but regrettably that fell over spectacularly, the CCTV
software fires up but then protests loudly.

Hi!

(i) buy a cheap Dell desktop with no monitor and a 32-bit OS
(£200), install the card in that, hook it up to my existing
Dell 2709 monitor via a VGA cable and that will work

If you must go to a 64-bit OS on the other system, I think this is
your best bet. I wouldn't bet that the maker of the DVR card will ever
release a 64-bit driver.

A used computer would also be likely to work fine, as would something
constructed from any sufficiently capable spare computer parts.

(ii) buy a dedicated DVR

The ones I've seen sold for surveillance use are pretty miserable.

use Sun VM to install everything related to the capture card
under a 32-bit environment?

That won't work because the VM won't see the card at all. In fact,
only a few types of hardware can be "connected" to a virtual machine
and nearly all of them are USB devices.

All input gratefully received.

William

Hi!

32-bit drivers might work.

You can't load a 32-bit driver on a 64-bit OS.

However, it is usually possible to load a 64-bit driver on a 64-bit OS
and use 32-bit programs to take advantage of the hardware. I was able
to do this with an ATI Theater 650 TV tuner card and WinXP x64
edition.

William

On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:04:40 -0800 (PST), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

Hi!

32-bit drivers might work.

You can't load a 32-bit driver on a 64-bit OS.

Not 100% accurate... see below.


However, it is usually possible to load a 64-bit driver on a 64-bit OS
and use 32-bit programs to take advantage of the hardware. I was able
to do this with an ATI Theater 650 TV tuner card and WinXP x64
edition.

William


William, per MS website, "some" 32 bit hardware drivers will load on a
64 bit OS.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...sked-questions

In other words, most do not but you can't say none.

RnR wrote:
On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:04:40 -0800 (PST), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

Hi!

32-bit drivers might work.
You can't load a 32-bit driver on a 64-bit OS.

Not 100% accurate... see below.

However, it is usually possible to load a 64-bit driver on a 64-bit OS
and use 32-bit programs to take advantage of the hardware. I was able
to do this with an ATI Theater 650 TV tuner card and WinXP x64
edition.

William


William, per MS website, "some" 32 bit hardware drivers will load on a
64 bit OS.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...sked-questions

In other words, most do not but you can't say none.

In still other words, if you are a betting man, do not bet on it... Ben
Myers

On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:50:39 -0500, Ben Myers
wrote:

RnR wrote:
On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:04:40 -0800 (PST), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

Hi!

32-bit drivers might work.
You can't load a 32-bit driver on a 64-bit OS.

Not 100% accurate... see below.

However, it is usually possible to load a 64-bit driver on a 64-bit OS
and use 32-bit programs to take advantage of the hardware. I was able
to do this with an ATI Theater 650 TV tuner card and WinXP x64
edition.

William


William, per MS website, "some" 32 bit hardware drivers will load on a
64 bit OS.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...sked-questions

In other words, most do not but you can't say none.

In still other words, if you are a betting man, do not bet on it... Ben
Myers


LOL .... I'll go along with that :-)