[mythtv-users] Been Gone a While: What happened to the Mac Back-end?

[Craig Treleaven]

At 8:12 PM -0400 9/9/09, Ivan Kowalenko wrote:
>...
>
>Current Issues:
>... an old PowerMac G3. It sounds like it'll do the job for me, since all I want is a back-end.
>
>I've read that since (I don't know when) the Mac OS X back-end only supports two different capture methods, and I happen to own neither of them. Is there an older version I can run which would work with the HVR-950Q? Or would it be possible to throw Linux on that thing and install a copy of MythTV on it (in PowerPC) that can capture from the HVR-950Q?
>
>Or am I just generally screwed on this, and should start looking at cheap PCs? I really don't care about power on the back-end: it's all about economy. I'm trying to make do with what I've got now. My MBP can handle all the playback needs I have (I am the only user of the system), and I'm willing to settle for just using MythPretty on the files and playing them back over the network in VLC if I have to.
>
>Also, just out of curiosity, why was support for pretty much every capture card dropped in MythTV OS X?

Hmmm, just getting OSX running on an old G3 takes some work.  (XPostfacto, I think.)  What would you use for the mySQL server?  The same G3?  Donno if that works.  I'd be interested if you can find a recent Linux distribution that runs on this hardware.  The beige G3s only had 10 mbit ethernet, as well.  You'll need a network interface card with at least 100 mbit.

BTW, capture card support wasn't dropped on OS X--most of the support comes from Video for Linux and it has never been ported to OS X.  That said, the HDHomerun is a very good solution.  Tunes both ATSC and QAM, sits anywhere on the network, low power, just works.  OS X support is good, too.  My OS X backend has been running for more than 2 years with outstanding reliability. 

Craig