[mythtv-users] Multiplexing vs multiple cards

[Steven Adeff]

On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 9:51 PM, Paul Buchanan <paul.buchanan at gmail.com> wrote:
> which would put more demands on a htpc pvr?  recording 3 simultaneous
> streams from a single tuner which is multiplexing (eg ABC1, ABC2 and ABC
> News 24) OR recording 3 simultaneous streams from 3 separate tuner cards?

Demand on the PCI bus: multiple cards. a single card sends one
"stream" through the system to be separated by the CPU and written to
the cards.
Demand on the disk I/O: same

As others have said, the demand on your hard drives goes up with every
additional stream being recorded. Ideally you would have one drive per
possible stream in storage groups. For instance, I have two DVB cards
and I have them set to multiplex up to three channels since where I'm
at I have a few frequencies with 3 channels. I also have two cable
boxes. I have six 500GB SATA drives set up using storage groups. I
have yet to have any issues with my hard drives not being able to keep
up with the simultaneous recordings, viewings and commflagging.

-- 
Steve
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User:Steveadeff
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