[mythtv-users] Questions from a prospective MythTV user

[J. Donavan Stanley]

Let me preface this with:  You should really try searching the mailing 
list...most of your questions are easily answered by looking for the 
answers yourself...

John Goerzen wrote:

> 1. Is it possible to set up a MythTV "client" machine?  This machine
>    would be a regular Linux PC -- no special video input device, etc --
>    and would be able to play back recorded programs from the main
>    MythTV unit.  Even better, it could drive the main unit, and could
>    let me watch live TV over the Ethernet LAN.  Can MythTV do this?
>    Would it just run in a window on my X desktop in this case?
>  
>
As is covered in the docs, yes.

MythTV has a frontend and a backend.  Multiple frontends can connect to 
the same backend.  Multiple backends can work together.


> 2. I'd get certain channels off-air and others via Dish Network.  I
>    have read that MythTV supports this setup, but I have not seen
>    details of exactly how it manages this support, especially when the
>    user is selecting channels from the guide or tuning to a specific
>    channel.  Does it just "know" that, say, channel 12 comes from the
>    TV antenna and 200 comes from Dish Network?
>  
>
The simplest answer is "yes".  It's slightly more complicated than that 
but not much more.


> 3. Does MythTV support the hardware MPEG *decoder* on the PVR-350?
>  
>
Yes, but personally I'd advise against it.  You get far more use out of 
a general purpose video card such as the Geforce 4 line.  Using the 
PVR350 for output locks you into standard def output, and requires a 
larger CPU for non-MPEG2 content.

> 4. The PVR-350 can generate an encoded MPEG-2 stream in the specific
>    format used on DVDs.  MythTV, of course, can record that stream to a
>    hard disk.  I would like to be able to burn recorded programs to a
>    DVD that can be played in a standard player, and I want to do it
>    without having to recode the data.  How can I do that with MythTV?
>    I can't seem to find any info on getting DVD-recordable data out of
>    it.  There are several places that talk about encoding MythTV data
>    to MPEG-2 DVD format, or even re-encoding MPEG-2 data, but I want to
>    do this without having to re-encode anything.  Suggestions?
>  
>
It's been covered a LOT on this list there are several ways to do it.  
The wiki folks have it in a howto at http://mythtv.info

> 5. Does MythTV support the FM tuner on the PVR-350?
>  
>
No.

> 6. Does MythTV support playing audio CDs in a DVD drive?  What module
>    would I use to accomplish this?
>  
>
yes,  and MythMusic

> 7. Regarding the NES/SNES/whatever emulation (which sounds *very
>    cool*!)...  what input device would one use?  A standard IR remote
>    would probably not be very suitable for gaming.
>  
>
Use gamepad, trackball, keyboard or some combination of those.