[mythtv-users] Encoding Machine...

[John P. Mitchell]

All,

   I asked a couple of times on the list as to how to encode/transcode
video that lives in a master backend without doing the encoding work on
the master backend. I did not get an answer, so maybe I just asked the
question wrong, or maybe I am just a bone head and did not understand
something. I have found a simple solution though. I did the following
to setup a machine that pulls myth native video off of a master backend
and transcodes it into VCD and drops it on my fileserver:

Built a machine (XBox, tee hee) as a frontend pointing at my master backend.
Verified I could watch previously recorded video from the master backend
on the frontend.
Mounted the video storage mount point via NFS from the master backend to
the same mount point on my frontend so that the paths to the video are the
same on the master backend and the frontend.
Installed nuvexport and associated encoding tools on the frontend.
Mounted my video storage mount from my fileserver via SMB on my frontend.
Executed nuvexport and transcoded my video from the master backend and
saved the resulting file on the fileserver.

This works great and puts about a 2% CPU/IO load on my master backend.
This provides me with a solution that allows me to record to the master
backend, playback video on the frontend installed on the master backend,
and transcode video out of the master backend to my fileserver without a
hiccup in any of the operations. I will be trying the new nuvexport soon,
which will make my solution even better since I will be able to setup a
bunch or transcodes and let it run for a long time instead of coming back
every hour and checking on the transcode. If I get really crazy about all
this I might need another switch in the house to keep my video traffic
from getting whacked by my other traffic.

Regards,
    John P. Mitchell <john at cepros.com>
    Email Sticker: My Boss is a Jewish carpenter
    http://www.GoboLinux.org | User #00010110