[mythtv-users] HDTV recording and multiple tvs

[Ryan Steffes]

On 10/3/07, Jeff Meeks <jmeeks at permacrete.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>             I am curious about the MythTV setup. I have an interested client
> that currently has 4 direct tv / tivo HD receivers that are beginning to
> fail and asked about "something different".
>
> He currently has his whole house wired with ir receivers that connect to ir
> blasters. He can watch any of the receivers from any of the televisions in
> the house by choosing which receiver from the remote that is programmed for
> that TV. (Oh, he is using a sony lcd remote).
>
>             He is installing a new HDTV in his media room and would like to
> record HD programming as well as SD for his other TVs.
>
>             My questions are:
>
>
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> Can MythTV record as many as 4 shows one of which may be HD.?
>
> What about playback or recording and watching the same show?
>
> Do I need a frontend for each TV, or could we have one big backend with
> multiple tuners that could be controlled with remotes?
>
>

You need a frontend for each television that you want to display content on.

You can record as many shows as you have tuners in backends, although
there are some practical limits.

The real answer, I suspect though, is that a consumer who doesn't want
to tinker with it themselves will not be happy with the limitations
that are inherent to open source implementations of HD and digital
content.  Due to the nature of encrypted digital content, the user is
likely to not enjoy the experience and fiddling that MythTV will
likely require compared to the experience of a professionally provided
DVR from DirectTV or Tivo.

I'd suggest reading more here:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Configuring_HDTV  before you go
too far down this path.

Ryan