[mythtv-users] Help in Design of Mythtv Setup

[Christopher Riordan]

Doug Young wrote:
> On 9/23/07, Christopher Riordan <cpr at hal-9000.net> wrote:
>   
>> I currently run Mythtv with 1 Backend (closet) , and 3 Frontends(living
>> Room, Bed Rooms), with NO Tv capture. I am rebuilding a new Backend
>> (Ubuntu 2TB storage)) to support more drive space.
>>
>> I am looking to purchase Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-MCE Kit (includes remote
>> and USB IR Blaster))
>>
>> Question I have is this:
>> I want to expand the TV to 2-3 Tuners, Do they all go in the Backend? or
>> do I have to put them in each of the Front Ends? To use the Remote? I
>> currently have Directv. If I can would love to move the STBs to the
>> Closet and out of the way of everything else. I tried reading the Wiki,
>> but get lost kinda easily. Is there a way to assign potential Tuners to
>> certain Frontends? So 2 Bedrooms share a tuner, Livingroom get's it own?
>>
>>
>> FrontEnd: Intel P3 1ghz 384 RAM, DVD Drive,, Nvidia Fx5200
>> Backend: Inel P4 1.8ghz 1gb RAM, 2+TB drivespace.
>>
>>     
>
> To take your questions one at a time:
>
>   
>> Do they all go in the Backend? or do I have to put them in each of the
>> Front Ends?
>>     
>
> They each have to go on -a- backend, but they can go on separate machines
> if that works better for you.  You could, for instance, make one of your
> current frontends into a frontend/slave-backend combo and put it in that
> machine.
>
>   
>> To use the Remote?
>>     
>
> The remote is attached to the card, so wherever the card goes, it goes.
> However, it is a relatively inexpensive thing ($30-$50 or so) to pick up
> a usb/serial IR reciever and remote control for your front ends.
>
>   
The remote that comes with the Card is a USB interface. not the kind 
that plug into the Card.
>> I currently have Directv. If I can would love to move the STBs to the
>> Closet and out of the way of everything else.
>>     
>
> Absolutely.  There are various issues surrounding this, mainly surrounding
> how to control the different STB's.  You could have one IR blaster, and
> send two different sets of codes (assuming you can set your boxes to
> recieve different codes), you could have multiple IR blasters, and
> separate the boxes so the blasters don't interfere with each other (ie,
> tape the blasters to the eye on the box, and put a piece of cardboard or
> somesuch between them so the ir signal going to box A doesn't interfere
> with box B).  Best yet would be to control via serial if you can.
>
> Remember, however, that in this setup you lose the remote functionality
> built into the 150 cards.  I still think this is the best choice, but YMMV.
>
>   

For this I found a link (can't find it now) that can control up to 4 
different devices IR wise.

>> Is there a way to assign potential Tuners to certain Frontends? So 2
>> Bedrooms share a tuner, Livingroom get's it own?
>>     
>
> Not as such.  Tuners are picked up round robin style, and AFAIK, can't be
> -assigned- to a front end.  In my experience, if a FE is running on a
> combined machine, it will give preference to the local backend (tuner), but
> if that backend is unavailable, it will simply use one over the network.
>
> Hope this helped.
>   

Thank you for the info. I just wanted to be sure. Plan is to keep one 
master Backend. my frontends are not strong enough to do much other than 
just play the videos.

Chris

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