[mythtv-users] Myth TV on server
Robert Johnston
anaerin at gmail.com
Sat Nov 6 04:11:59 UTC 2010
On 05/11/2010 7:34 PM, Gavin Hurlbut wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 5:24 PM, Robert Johnston<anaerin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Additional computer specs:
>>> MOBO: Tyan Thunder K8SR
>>> CPUS: 2 AMD Opteron 270 Dual core 2.0Ghz.
>>> memory: 4 gig
>>> Hard Drive: 1TB drive, 3 empty SATA ports.
>>
>> Okay, first of all, that is MASSIVE overkill for a backend server! It
>> doesn't need anywhere near that amount of processing power.
>
> I totally disagree with that evaluation. If you end up doing HD
> captures, especially with HD-PVR (over USB), you will want a nice
> powerful server as the commercial detection will require plenty.
> Other than being PCI-X instead of PCI-E, this server is fairly
> comparable-ish to the i7-860 (quad core) box I built for my backend
> recently. And you will almost assuredly run out of disk space :)
Disk space is a given. :)
As for processing power, wasn't there a patch submitted recently that
used 1/4 the size for HD commercial detection (De-ressing the video to a
quarter of it's size). Given that commflagging doesn't need to be
HD-accurate, this is a good step, and would reduce the needs for
commflagging to less than that quad core monster. Unless, of course, he
was commflagging 4 channels at one. :)
>> IIRC, PCI-X is backwards-compatible with PCI, so you could use a PVR
>> 150/250/500 to capture from your cable box just fine.
>
> PCI-X is 66MHz 64bit PCI, IIRC. So yes, you should be able to use
> PVR-x50. However if you intend to do HD captures, you are down to
> using either the HD Homerun (connects via ethernet) or the HD-PVR
> (USB). Almost all current capture cards are PCI-E.
>
>> This will give you Standard Definition recording. If you want High-Def (And
>> if your cable box supports it) you could get a PCI Firewire card and hook it
>> up to the cable box. Then, in thoery, you would get a HD capable feed, and
>> the channel change commands could (if it's a supported unit) be sent over
>> firewire as well, making it a self-contained solution.
>
> There are a *lot* of "ifs" in that scenario.
Yes, there are. But there's no real way around it. If cable standards
were more open (CAM/CableCARD on QAM for any platform being
allowed/enabled) it wouldn't be an issue, but as the Cable TV industry
is (quite deliberately) obfuscating and encrypting everything they can
to prevent their customers from using the services they have paid for in
a manner they are legally entitled to, recording HD cable TV on Myth (Or
on anything else, for that matter) is going to be a massive decision
tree of Ifs, buts and maybes.
"Best case" scenario:
Cable company provides TV in unencumbered form (Clear QAM, IPTV).
Second best scenario:
Cable company enables Firewire port on boxes.
Worst case scenario:
Cable stream and box are encrypted, firewire is disabled, Component is
down-scaled (480p), HDCP is enabled.
In the worst case scenario, I'd suggest dropping the TV portion of your
"Cable TV" altogether, and using Hulu or setting up a torrent box.
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