[mythtv-users] Proof of Concept a success!

David Frascone dave at frascone.com
Mon Apr 16 13:36:54 UTC 2007


One last question:

I have two boxes -- one for FE one for BE -- both 2.4Ghz P4's -- one has 
512Mb, other has a Gig -- which box needs the memory?  Diskless FE, or BE?

-Dave

David Frascone wrote:
> So, this weekend I installed Ubuntu 6.10 on a spare box (P4-2.4Ghz, 1mb 
> Ram, 100Gb disk), and installed mythtv.  I found an old Geforce 4 card, 
> patched the kernel to make it work (card has wrong pci-id -- long 
> story), installed the nvidia drivers, and got things working.
>
> I tried Firewire to my STB (Dual Tuner Motorola Thingie), and it worked 
> -- *all* channels.  Even premium highdef.
>
> I eventually even managed to configure the music archive to see my 
> tunes, and mythvideo to see my movies -- all good.
>
> Highdef was taxing on the system -- there was some stuttering.  Also, 
> the firewire seemed flaky at times.  Sometimes I would have to press 
> watch TV a couple of times to get things to work.  But -- overall -- 
> twas awesome!
>
> Given what I've now learned, I've modified my next approach.  My 
> first-cut system will have a backend.  I have two spare computers with 
> around 100Gb each.  (I think one has 80Gb).  So, I'm going to combine 
> both drives into one system and make it a dedicated back-end.  This 
> leaves some backend questions:
>
> 1) mythtv-setup seems like a FE program -- is there a lighter weight 
> version for dedicated backends?
> 2) Firewire is a bit flaky when it comes to getting a channel tuned.
>    a) I bought a new 10' cable -- too long?  It was rated to 400mbit
>    b) Configuration:  What speed should I choose?
>    c) I'm choosing a DCT Set Top Box in the configuration -- but my 
> number is different.  Does it matter?
> 3) Soon I'll be receiving my dual tuner card, and a STB dedicated to my 
> myth setup.  Is there a way to have myth default to a tuner for most 
> recordings, and only use the STB for digital channels?
> 4) This will be an initial setup, moving to a nicer rack mounted backend 
> in the future -- is there an easy way to move recordings / setup when I 
> do that?  Would it make it easier if I put the database on another 
> machine (my normal file-server -- always up)?
>
> And a couple of diskless frontend questions:
>
> 1) Geforce4 card
>    a) I'm using the VGA input to my TV -- is that my best choice? 
>    b) My TV has a resolution of 1366x768, but currently I'm set at 
> 1024x768 -- should I just find a compatible modeline?
> 2) NFS -vs- initramfs -vs- whatever . . . PXE Boot?  I'd rather save my 
> DVD to just play movies, and boot off of the network -- any HOWTO's?
>
> And, finally -- does anyone sell any pre-built diskless mythtv 
> frontends?  Might be cheaper / better than building my own.
>
> -Dave
>
>
>   

-- 

David Frascone

            The brain you have reached is out of order at this time.



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