[mythtv] seperating backend/frontend

[Henk Poley]

> Van: Stephan Wentz <wentz at gmx.de>
> 
> hi all...
> 
> i'm going to split my backend/frontend on two different machines, now i
> have some questions regarding the frontend-machine...
> 
> 1.) how fast has the frontend-machine got to be? it's only decoding, and
> it will be a dedicated server, it will do nothing else... will a 400 mhz
> pentium 2 be enough? or even smaller? will it help to put for example a
> matrox g200 tv with mjpg-support? or will this only help the encoding
> machine, the backend? i'd like to keep the machine as small (and quiet)
> as possible...

400MHz "anything" is advocated as 'enough' for DivX playback. But there a
great chance of 'worse' codecs in the future (talk about 2-4y). I wouldn't
go lower if I was you. For C3 systems, double/half ..point of view.. the
number of MHz, it has a slow FPU.

> 2.) about bandwith... how fast has the connection between backend and
> frontend gotta be? can someone estimate this? i will have some problems
> getting a 100mbit-cable between those, but i have a wlan operating here,
> with 11mbit... would this suffice?

The 11 megabits/s is on the data-layer (stupid PR trick). With all the
noise in the ether you will get about half that, 5.5 mbit/s. AFAIK, DivX
can be recorded with fairly nice quality at 5mbit/s, that means that with
any extra pop or hisses (microwave oven) you'll get dropped frames.

btw, MJPEG needs way more speed. And nay, current 54 mbit WiFi only bridges
gaps up to 2 meters or so :-(

Plus current 802.11g (54mbit) AP/cards are working with a preleminary
version of the specs. It's at least advisable to wait untill 802.11a (also
54mbit), since that one will (probably) be compatible again with 802.11b
(current 11mbit), they'll use same band.

	Henk Poley <><