[mythtv-users] Mooting architecture for a DataDirect replacement

[David Brodbeck]

On Jun 25, 2007, at 10:21 AM, Rod Smith wrote:
> An alternative, of course, would be to run a news server ourselves.
> Even a home box with Leafnode would probably be adequate if the  
> need for a
> backup was light, although if it got too much traffic something  
> bigger would
> be required.

I see pain down that route.  While you might bill it as a "backup,"  
it will quickly become a "primary" as people realize it's less work  
to throw 'nntp.mythtv.org' (or whatever) into the configuration file  
instead of trying to figure out what their ISP's news server is and  
configure authentication.  I know I'd be tempted, especially since  
I've had ISPs whose Usenet servers broke on a regular basis,  
sometimes for weeks at a time.

One thing that isn't clear to me with this setup is how the client  
can ever be sure it has a complete schedule.  This is inherent in the  
DataDirect model; you download the XML file, if the download is  
complete then you have everything the server is giving you.  With the  
NNTP model you can never be sure you have all the necessary posts.

But I think we're putting the cart before the horse.  I see little  
reason to believe we can get the scheduling *data*, so figuring out  
how we're going to distribute it, while an interesting mental  
exercise, is probably moot.