[mythtv-users] Some Quick Questions about MythTV

[Steve Adeff]

On Tuesday 25 October 2005 15:42, Scot L. Harris wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 15:18, Joshua Lewis wrote:
> > I am seriously considering the MythTV as an alternative to having 5
> > satellite receivers and DVD players and computers and stuff in my house.
> > I want desperately to consolidate my house.
> >
> > I questions is three fold.
> >
> > One is the MythTV documentation on PDF somewhere or available to download
> > so I can read it on my way home on the train?
> >
> > Two: Can I even do what I am trying to do? The Windows XP Media Center
> > allows you to hook up an X-Box or media extender to TV's so you can watch
> > your Prerecorded information from a TV not directly hooked to the Media
> > Center PC. That is what I want to do with MythTV. Although it looks like
> > MythTV can record my DVD's to disk drive where I can't get a confirmed
> > yes on that ability for Windows MCPC.
>
> Have read that many people utilize X-Box systems as frontend systems.
> These connect to the backend system to pull recordings.  Not sure if
> there are any limitations on such an X-Box frontend.
>
> I've been looking at putting together a diskless frontend system using
> small form factor motherboard but have not spent enough time to pick out
> the right mother board yet.

the Xbox can not handle raw HD MPEG-TS streams. But for standard definition TV 
I've found it to be perfect. It is also able to handle what are termed 
"hr.hdtv" XviD encodes. Which is a 1/2 res full AC3 audio encode of HDTV 
shows. They're popular in "the scene" and a great way to archive HDTV shows 
in a small file size with near equal quality.

as for other options, there is a device called Roku, which can handle HDTV 
MPEG2 streams and standard def. TV. The MythTV build for it is still in 
inafancy though, but it promises to be a great, cheap frontend ($300).

> > I would like to load all my families DVD's (If they are all loaded the
> > way I want then I don't have to keep baying new DVD's when my kids
> > scratch them. I got to get a new Harry Potter this weekend), MP3's and
> > hook up like 5 TV tuners to the system so everyone can watch and record
> > TV from there own room. Then I can watch Sci-Fi and Westwing until I am
> > blue in the face in my bedroom while my wife watches Desperate House
> > Wives and America's Next top Model downstairs (ok those two shows have
> > enough hotties that I don't mind so much) but you get the picture. I got
> > Barney in one room and GI Joe in another and so on and so fourth.
>
> You can do that, just build a big server with lots of disk drives and
> encoder cards and deploy diskless front ends to each TV.  Have not
> played around much with the DVD options in mythtv.  But it appears that
> it can be done.  You will want to make sure the frontends you use
> support the right protocols so xine can be used on your TVs.  I
> understand that allows you to get the full menus from the DVDs.  Others
> should have better comments on this feature.
>
> > Three: I plan to get a truly beefy system to do all of this. I am looking
> > into a SARA raid array to prevent data loss and if possible dual core
> > system (do they make duel CPU Dual Core motherboards) I want to avoid any
> > kind of Encoding in the main processors. So do I need a certain TV Tuner
> > to do everything in the tuner and such? Let's pretend money is no object
> > (unfortunately it is so this will be an ongoing project) how would you
> > design your system. I know a lot of these questions can be answered by
> > the documentation but I only have time to read it offline and have not
> > been able to find a way to print or view it offline.
>
> The big decision is going to be based around the signal input.  If you
> just want/need the analog channels off most cable services (all I use)
> it is fairly easy.  Get a big tower system with lots of drives and
> plenty of cooling, install several PVR-500's (two tuners per card),
> setup as many diskless front end systems as you need.  The PVR-500's are
> not that expensive.

I'm also going to add that there are some recent posts concerning LVM's and 
RAID that you'll want to search gossamer for. You look to be building a 
rather large file server into your backend, and at this point these are your 
best bets. I'm trying to see if the dev's will entertain the idea of having 
more than one recordings directory that would allow for all this to be much 
easier.

>
> I have found that watching live tv is not done much anymore.  I setup
> recording rules to capture all the shows I am interested in.  Then you
> can watch them when ever you want.
>
> If you are using PVR-500 tuners you won't require that much CPU.  The
> CPU will mostly be needed for commercial flagging jobs.
>
> Check out Jarod's guide for building the system.  It will help a lot.


as well, HDTV capture and using the PVR are not cpu intensive at all, where 
the cpu for the backend stuff comes in is in commercial flagging, transcoding 
(re-encoding from the original recorded mpeg to other formats), and in your 
case, probably DVD-ripping. Ask around about the dual processor support 
MythTV has before making the plunge, dual processor systems are a lot of 
money for what might end up being not a lot of gain.

Steve