[mythtv-users] distributed video system?

Doug Young goofdad at gmail.com
Fri Nov 9 19:28:22 UTC 2007


On Nov 9, 2007 10:53 AM, Kevin Nelson <kevin at soundcyst.com> wrote:
> Hi all, I'm new here and I have a couple of questions.
>
> I'm setting up a household distributed video system (one server for
> the house, each TV as a client). Basically, I was wondering if this
> has been done before.
>
> I have yet to build the computers, so any hardware suggestions would
> be appreciated. Also, it will be running through Comcast, and I need
> it to be able to access both digital and onDemand content (ok, so
> MythTV doesn't really neeeed to be able to record onDemand, but it
> would be nice. The main requirement is that onDemand works at any of
> the TVs)
>
> I'm assuming we will need one set top box / tuner card in the server
> per TV. Is there anything else that I need to worry about? I'm pretty
> technically inclined, but I've never set up a system like this
> before, so it will be a new and exciting process. Hardware
> recommendations?
>
> Many thanks!
> -Kevin // soundcyst

Actually, what you need is one STB/Tuner card for each live broadcast
you want to watch/record at once.  This is not necessarily equal to
each TV.  My current system distributes TV and Movie content to 4 TV's
and 6 Windows PC's (through Nero Showtime for the Movies, and MythTV
Player for the TV) with only two STB's and Tuners.  What I've found is
that after the initial novelty wears off, my family has stopped caring
about watching a TV show live, and is quite content to watch it an
hour, a day, or even a week later.  That being the case, I've found
two tuners to be quite adequate.

In any case, yes, Myth will fill your needs.  You need multiple tuners
and STB's for the backend, and smaller machines for the frontend.  Be
sure and consider HD, which if you're in the US is coming your way.
You might want to check
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Configuring_HDTV and read up on
it.  You probably want a frontend capable of playback of any HD
content you manage to capture.

Good Luck!
-- 
Doug

I'm no On Demand expert


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