The biggest problem with XP,, (although granted not a severe issue), is the error it blows up that, "another program is using this file so it cannot be moved". Which leaves you with the files moved, and an empty folder that can't be moved until you reboot. God forbid you forget about it, and try to move the file later, since it will delete the files in the destination folder.
To be fair, that is a programmer's issue. Many programs used to open files with a flag that forbid another program opening the same file at the same time - exclusive access. If the programmer changed that flag to the equivalent of "open non-exclusively", that error would not occur.
Other than that, IMO Vista got a bad rap, due to the fact the aftermarket suppliers didn't catch up with drivers for it soon enough. It's big breakthrough was native AHCI drivers, which completely eliminated the floppy disc bullsh!t with XP.
With all that said, Windows 7 is a much more pleasant experience than XP or Vista, especially for HTPC use. With WMC, you just slap in a $50.00 tuner, and you've got yourself a spare TV.. In fact, Hauppage offers a special dedicated driver for WMC.
Can't say I am experienced with your configuration, but Windohs 10 with
MediaPortal and
HD HomeRun tuners - which are IP based, works great for a HTPC. I've got two, dual HD HomeRun tuners on my network, and my HTPC setup can record from as many as 4 different RF channels at a time. If each of those has 4 subchannels, it could simultaneously record those 16 channels.
I also have an old Samsung Blu-ray player that sees those HD HomeRun tuners and, thus, I can watch OTA TV Channels on my Blu-ray player.
HD Home Run even now has ATSC 3.0 tuners - which is an upcoming 4K and beyond (picture Buzz Lightyear saying that

) OTA TV Standard. Philly might have one or two ATSC 3.0 stations on the air already.
Then there's the Aero slide show experience, sublime.
In M$' desperation to get rid of we stubborn Win 7 holdouts, they've stopped offering the XP emulator, and even the Vudu app for Windows is only available for Win 10.
I really wish the fed would revoke this a**hole Nadella's H1-B Visa, and bring Bill Gates back.
You want Gates back?

Sorry, Captain, I think Bill is an over-rated Jack a$$ from whom Elon Musk was cloned.
I will say one thing about XP. I have XP-64 installed on a dual-core Opteron 1220 and it boots faster than any of the modern Windohs PCs that I have - which include a 6-core 12 thread Ivy Bridge-X Zeon system. The XP system is currently gathering dust as I have not turned it on in at least a year now.
After Windows 7, IMO, M$ specialized in Bloatware masquerading as an OS.
