[mythtv-users] Building a MythTV Box

[Andrew Close]

On 5/21/07, Douglas Wagner <douglasw0 at gmail.com> wrote:
<snip />

> Hate to "OT" This for a second but i'm going to anyway..:)
>
> Which device needs the horsepower?  Is it the backend to record or the
> frontend to play back?  I thought it was the frontend that needed the high
> CPU for HD playback..can you really get away with putting a big backend
> somewhere and then small frontends for playback?  Or is this only in the Low
> Def world?
>
> I've considered splitting my frontend / backend for quite a while (don't
> have the money to do it yet) but this intrigues me.

if you have capture cards that do the processing for you (DVB,
Hauppauge, HDHR) you can get away with minimal processor power on your
backend, assuming that's where your cards reside.  if you want to do
transcoding and/or commercial flagging you may 'want' more power, but
don't really need it as long as you're willing to wait for those jobs.
the frontend needs the more power to actually play the HD content...