Windows 7 over Vista for HTPC - why?

[honai]

I've seen countless forum posts where users claim that for HTPC use, typically playback of movie backups (MKV/FLAC), Windows 7 had an advantage over Vista. These claims are usually backed up in the form of "many have reported that ...", "everything feeks better", "plays more smoothly", "uses less resources", and so on.

However, so far I haven't encountered any technical explanations why that would be the case.

So I'm asking: Can someone please provide pointers to technical documentation where such improvements are detailed? I'm specifically not asking for anecdotal evidence, but hard facts.

For example, has the audio or video renderer path been improved? Is scheduling better than in Vista? Does Windows 7 support additional color-spaces? Improved EVR, WASAPI, disk read-ahead for multi-media files, etc.

Again, I'm not interested in opinion in the form of "in my experience, it feels snappier". Only facts, please. Thank you.

[tetsuo55]

They fixed all the performance issues in vista by using a new microkernel and finished(did they really?) the mediafoundation framework(which improves what they started in vista)

Sorry no links, but a lot of it is on msdn as changed pages.

[twist3d]

net is full of benchmarks of windows 7 being "snappier" and faster than vista sp2 and using less memory, ie. google search "vista vs windows 7 benchmarks". I don't think few percent differences make much of a noticeable difference in HTPC use though. Tried win7 rc1 on my HTPC and went back to XP :)

[honai]

They fixed all the performance issues in vista by using a new microkernel and finished(did they really?) the mediafoundation framework(which improves what they started in vista)

Sorry no links, but a lot of it is on msdn as changed pages.

Any pages in particular?

[tetsuo55]

I spoke to some developers that had MS training, and the MS staff pointed to important new stuff.

But its mostly little tweaks here and there that add up to a noticable better experience.
Unfortunately Micrsoft isnt advertising with that part of the update.

i mostly read DXVA pages, they changed some stuff on those pages and on the audio bitstreaming pages (which is why albain now has the basic info required for updating ffdshow)

[honai]

That's precisely why I was wondering. A lot of folks talk about improvements in that area, but strangely, Microsoft is not advertising any of this. So if it's really improved/fixed, why wouldn't they shout it from the rooftops? That puzzles me.

I just hope that after the street-day, we will see hard facts from AnandTech and the like.

[tetsuo55]

Well it might not be wise to advertise it.
Mediafoundation supposedly works on vista (but its only half finished), now they have it fully working on windows7 but if they advertise that they admit vista is crippled.

[Ryokurin]

At least in my travels, most people who say that are saying it because of the mediafoundation codecs. Not because they are good, but because it eliminates the need for 'codec packs', at least if you plan on using Windows Media Center as your front end.

[Dr.Khron]

At least in my travels, most people who say that are saying it because of the mediafoundation codecs. Not because they are good, but because it eliminates the need for 'codec packs', at least if you plan on using Windows Media Center as your front end.

This is sort of meaningless for CODEC junkies like us, but I think that this is huge for the acceptance of multimedia in general... how many times have we discussed in this page the best codec to use for mass distribution to the general public? Sadly, WMV was pretty much always the best choice.

I for one, will not miss this call from friends and relatives:
"Well, I can hear the sound, but the picture is black. Help!"