[mythtv-users] Number of virtual tuners

[Simon Hobson]

Tapani Tarvainen wrote:

>  > So how can it be made easier for a novice to find the right bit of
>>  information when they arrive at each setting of the many they need
>>  to know about ? It's probably a whole wiki page to cover just how to
>>  setup multirec AND determine how many tuners is "safe" for your
>>  hardware.
>
>Right.
>
>But, I think it wouldn't make things worse if the limit was removed
>(or increased to something like highest value of channels in
>single MUX anywhere, i.e., at least 10)

That isn't a sufficient qualification - if you pad recordings (as I 
do) then you can need two tuners for one channel to allow for the 
overlap. Besides, I've just had a look and I make it 21 channels on 
our Mux A (BBC), about 1/2 of which are radio, and one or two are 
interactive (text) services, and some of the TV channels are part 
time to share a bandwidth allocation.
So by a simplistic interpretation, you'd need a limit of 20 or more - 
by which point, why have a limit at all ?

>  and the help text in setup
>changed to include a warning like
>"VALUES HIGHER THAN 5 REQUIRE A VERY POWERFUL SYSTEM".
>It should be enough to keep newcomers from breaking things
>accidentally - indeed possibly better than the current
>hard limit, which many (?) may read indicating 5 is always safe -
>while allowing those who actually have overpowered systems to use
>higher values easier than by recompiling.

That text might also suggest that "5 is OK". I think a link to a wiki 
page would be a good idea - then the wiki page can explain the issues 
and how to choose a "good" number.
-- 
Simon Hobson

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