[mythtv-users] Frontend Only Question

[Nick Rout]

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 1:30 PM, jkeller <jkeller8 at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> Does a computer running Frontend only, also need a TV card to watch
> recordings?

No

>
> My backend/frontend computer running MythBuntu works fine, and I am able to
> record tv & watch recordings.
> I booted up another computer on MythBuntu Live from cd.  The frontend comes
> up, and the db connection is working because I see the recording list
> displayed (complete with animated thumbnail view), but when I select a
> recording to watch, the screen goes blank for about 3 seconds then comes
> back to the recording list.  See error message from log below.
>
> I am able to watch TV on the remote Frontend only computer (which does not
> have a TV card), so this leads me to believe that the backend computer is
> feeding the frontend computer with a video stream.  This further led me to
> believe that to watch a recording would also stream from the backend.
>
> Am I way off here, or does the frontend need to share a common  NFS mount
> point to the directory holding the recordings on the backend server?
>

If you are connecting from a remote frontend the backend should stream
the recording over the network. You shouldn't need an nfs mount
(although the story is different for videos, as distinct from
recordings).

Is that log from the frontend or the backend?

> 2009-02-03 00:17:20.411 GetRecordBasename found no entry
> 2009-02-03 00:17:20.439 TV: Attempting to change from None to
> WatchingPreRecorded
> 2009-02-03 00:17:20.440 GetRecordBasename found no entry
> 2009-02-03 00:17:26.941 RingBuf(/var/lib/mythtv/recordings/): Invalid file
> (fd -1) when opening '/var/lib/mythtv/recordings/'.
> 2009-02-03 00:17:27.970 RingBuf(/var/lib/mythtv/recordings/): Invalid file
> (fd -1) when opening '/var/lib/mythtv/recordings/'.
> 2009-02-03 00:17:27.971 PlaybackBox Error: Could not open file for preview
> video