[mythtv-users] Home Media Network Advice. Help! :-)

[Jay Jarvinen]

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 05:40:44 -0700 (PDT)
chicken bigger <chickenbig76 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> What I'd like to do is have a central media server in
> the basement, and client media adapters (players) in
> other rooms. What would be great is if the clients
> could schedule recordings independently but share each
> other's streams, along with DVD backups hosted on the
> central server.

Since you mentioned sharing streams .. part of my story:

We just re-purposed our garage and added a pool table. In order to
watch Myth out there without the expense of a new frontend, I
decided to use a modulator. I chose the Channel Vision E1200,
although 'fancier' models w/IR passing & stereo audio do exist. To
get a good signal throughout the house, I needed an extra 15dB
cable amp.

The MP3 server in the garage (a lowly P1-233) forwards IR requests
to control a 'shared' frontend, I'm happy with it (for the price).

If you should decide you want simulcast like this, consider the
coax run from the modulator:

Since I first installed the modulator, I've moved it to a basement
closet. As a result, I had to re-run the coax from the modulator
to the back of the house where it meets up with the incoming cable
signal. (TMTOWTDI)

I also wish I'd run an extra CAT5 throughout the house, for the
time being I'd use it for adding serial receivers, but could be
used for more advanced all-in-one CAT5 based wall units.

It's not exactly as elegant as structured wiring solutions, but
upfront cost combined with the unknown of whether it'll actually*
be used, has been a big issue for me.

--

As long as I'm here: The idea of a "Mega" MythTV server where each
frontend is simply an IR receiver or repeater, is appealing to me.
The idea has been kicked around here before, see archive under
"mythtv broadcast".

However, by my calculations, the cost of additional modulators (or
multiple-output model) and TV-out capable cards .. ends up being
just as expensive as building multiple PC frontends. :-/

So! While I like having one modulated channel, that's probably as
far as I'll go for now.

-Jay