[mythtv-users] Record on Backend, Watch LiveTV on Frontend?

[Chris Palmer]

Good comments from all on this.  Yes, I'm working from a limited
subset of Myth applications, so I have a narrow view of things.
That's the whole point of asking questions and getting answers. :)

I was thinking solely about a simple client-server relationship
and not looking at the bigger picture of what all the other Myth 
applications need.

I think I still like the "idea" of a simple client-server setup,
though.  As far as "what problem am I trying to solve", it was
simply an architectural "preference" and not so much a "problem".
My primary thoughts though are about security with more complex
network layouts.

Maybe in the future, I'll be hired to install MythTV in a hotel,
where each room has a frontend and their is a nice farm of tuners
down in the basement.  The frontends would be on a seperate network
to prevent hacking, and would only have access thru the (or "a") 
backend.

How about MythTV used in an educational environment, where schools 
don't have to use crappy A-V equipment with films that break.  They 
can just watch recordings stored in the school's library of videos 
and not worry so much about scheduling issues.  Heck, instructors
could even schedule recordings (news, whatever) and show them in 
class the next day, or next year.  Kids are smart, but that's a 
problem, since they like to try to get into things they shouldn't
and I always think about improving security by reducing opportunity.

Hmmmm... now that I've just gone exploring with my imagination,
I'm curious if a frontend can operate (minimally) with ReadOnly 
access on the database.  I may have to test this out, because
I'm wondering if the playback of shows requires any updates.
Then, I could maybe put a frontend in little Johnny's room and 
not be worried that he'll be able to hack into the adult channels
(when the parental controls are added to Myth).  ;-)

-Chris
(no, I don't have kids now, but who knows what the future brings...)

:)


Joseph A. Caputo wrote
> This argument only holds for the monolithic mythfrontend app; what about
> other 'frontend' modules like mythweather and mythmusic?  They require
> database access & don't have any backend.  I think it might be overkill to
> suggest that mythweather have a backend solely for database access.
> 
> -Joe C.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net
> > [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net]On Behalf Of Chris Palmer
> > Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 11:34 PM
> > To: Discussion about mythtv
> > Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Record on Backend, Watch LiveTV on Frontend?
> >
> >
> >
> > would I be out-of-line to bring up the idea that the backends
> > (and maybe the master-backend) be the only machines that talk
> > to the database directly?  I can guess that there would be a
> > bit of work involved in making changes, so I'm not going to
> > push hard on this, unless I make time to help, but I'd like
> > the idea out there at any rate.
> >
> > I suppose one could argue about scaling issues with having all
> > that data flow thru a single host, but the database is also a
> > bottleneck for data flow, until multi-master cross-replication
> > is released at some future point for MySQL (someday, I think).
> >
> > I think it would simplify frontend setup, so that it doesn't
> > directly have multiple dependencies, nor require database
> > libraries.  It might be nicer for security, too, especially
> > if Myth recognizes the concept of a "user" at some point,
> > which from the database structure, appears like it might
> > have been planned.
> >
> > -Chris