[mythtv-users] DisplaySize = Full ?

[mike at grounded.net]

> So what you're trying to do (or already have done) is create a CATV
> headend in your house.  Which is fine if that's what you want.  MythTV
> is a PVR, not something that can be used to create a CATV headend.  If
> you really want to use MythTV, then it will be a fundamental paradigm
> shift.  I'll see if I can address each of your needs:

First of all, let's make it clear that I know what a PVR is :).

You and a couple others have the full picture of what I'm trying to achieve. The only part is that again, I do know that myth isn't my end result but yes, I want myth on some of those video feeds in order to gain PVR functions.

My hope is to build something which consolidates all of the individual things into a single setup of some sort. 
When I started asking if myth puts out certain types of stream, I'm thinking in terms of final output to what ever it is I'll use at that stage.
 
When I first started trying out myth, I didn't know yet if there might be add on ways of doing the full setup I'm looking for but it doesn't have to. I can build a fully separate something to handle the end result. Like you say, a head end is the best description. It takes various types of inputs, does what ever it needs to process that various feeds and dumps it all into one aggregated plant which in turn puts it out in what ever format you need, RF, IP, etc.

> 1. Lots of video sources
> No problem. For cable, OTA, FTA satellite, etc. MythTV will use various
> tuner or capture cards for each source.  You will schedule recordings,

Right, so for example, using an ATSC card for local OTA, PVR-500 for FTA receivers, and what ever else I need PVR function with that myth would pre-process.

> From a frontend you can also choose to watch "live TV", which will allow
> you to tune directly to any channel on any of those sources mentioned.

As the end result, correct, I want to 'tune' into what ever channel, but that channel will come from what ever I end up using as the last stage, after the myth PVR functions, simply, the broadcast method, which I want to be IP. Basically, I want to move off of RF and make it all 100% IP.
 
> For video surveillance, you have two choices on ways to integrate with
> MythTV.  The best method is to use ZoneMinder.
**SNIP**
> But this doesn't let you see past clips from when motion was
> detected.  So for that I would recommend ZoneMinder.

Actually, I have most of my cameras on a dedicated security PVR. However, I would love to try the zoneminder project because it gets me away from proprietary hardware which is my main objective here. Someone had mentioned that before also and thanks for the input, definitely something I'm looking at.
 
> 2. Sharing with the world
> Streaming a recording from MythWeb should work.  For ZoneMinder, there
> is no MythWeb integration, but ZoneMinder comes with its own web app, so
> you can view the video surveillance feeds and archived clips from anywhere.

This I'll have to figure out. I prefer not giving access directly into myth which is on a totally separated lan segment.
I will probably want another project which allows me to set up a web server or something which someone can connect to, and sending the stream to that.
 
> 3. Lots of TVs
> You mentioned before that you would like one frontend machine to drive
> all of your TVs.  You ran into problems when trying to deal with
> multiple resolutions.

The problem were related to the cards I was trying to use if I recall. Changing out to the GT220 I think it's called would give me HDMI but I just used a scan converter on the VGA port to get SD out of it. What I was interested in was having SD resolution on VGA and HD resolution on teh HDMI port. 

> frontend machine for your HDTV in your home theater room (or living
> room).  And another frontend machine with the video and audio output
> split to all the other SDTV's.  

I think the idea of using FE on each TV works fine. In fact, we have a PC in most rooms that have SD TV's so maybe even a card in each PC or a USB device that could output it's stream from the BE?

I'm not sure I need a separate machine for HD though? We don't need all of the outputs on at the same time, switching is fine. So long as the connections are on the myth box, I would prefer connecting to the outputs and just switching between them.

My only question which I'm still not clear on is making sure I've got the various resolutions switchable on the HDMI port, which was once of my questions, in this thread I believe?
Being able to switch the HDMI port to different resolutions is important in case we need to switch to a better mode depending on what ever we're watching on the HD projector. For example, if we want to watch SD, I want to switch down to SD. 

> You can use RF remote control(s) instead
> of infrared to control the frontend from anywhere in the house.

That's a good point, I'd forgotten about RF remotes and have only been playing with IR with myth.

The bottom line for me is that I've got way too many remotes in every room, way too much hardware, way too much complexity and I'm trying to figure out how to consolidate this stuff, including all the way down to one remote some day :).

Thanks very much for the input, way cool.

Mike