<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>Questions:<br><br>- A P4 3.0 GHz machine (with XvMC) on a 6600 or an 8400 GS should work
<br>for HD playback, right?</blockquote><div><br>No problem.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>- Does the 8400GS HD playback assistance only work in Windows?
</blockquote><div><br>XvMC is the hardware assist. yes this card will work. Many use a 5200 or a 6200 but a higher end card will work fine.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>- Do I really need 2 GB of RAM in a front-end? Will 1 GB be fine?</blockquote><div><br>No, heck i use 512mb in my BE/FE w/2 hd tuners<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>- Is 2.8 GHz fast enough to simultaneously record 3 or more HD streams?<br>I remember reading that you could record with very little CPU power, and<br>that playback was the big issue.</blockquote><div><br>Thats fine. Its hdd bandwidth that is a issue in recording, but you wont hit it with this.
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>- Does my backend need lots of RAM (more than 1 GB) to record from<br>multiple tuners?
</blockquote><div><br>na, see above. <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>- Does separating the frontend from the backend only help playback?
<br>Would I benefit from having the Tuner in a frontend machine as opposed<br>to the backend? It'd be nice to just have one antenna split into 5 cards<br>at one location, rather than wiring up the whole house.</blockquote>
<div>doesnt help much of anything besides convience and only having to have one box powered on 24/7<br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>- I read mythtv hates VIA chipsets. Should I just quit while I'm ahead<br>with the front-end machines and get new motherboards?</blockquote><div><br>VIA is bad with PVR cards you should be fine.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>- I assume HD needs lots of bandwidth. Do I need to upgrade from a 100<br>megabit switch to gigabit to pull this off? I'm hoping if I have 5<br>tuners in the machine, but I'm only pulling two tuners worth of live
<br>content, or two prerecorded shows at once, I can manage.</blockquote><div><br> 100mb will be good for 3 streams 4 would push it.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>- A180 vs PCHDTV 5500. The A180 is cheaper, but the PCHDTV 5500 is<br>supposedly made for Linux. I want easy, and I'll pay for it, but if the<br>A180 isn't any easier to use/install than the 5500, I'll take the 50 %
<br>savings x 5. Is that broadcast flag thing still an issue?</blockquote><div><br>I would looking the HDHomeRun. Great value and works great.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>- Is MythDora being based on F6 really a problem? I mean, these are<br>going to be appliances... I'm not planning on mucking about with them,<br>but I would like to be able to upgrade them as necessary.</blockquote>
<div><br>Na, its supported. When upgrades are needed they will provide the tools to do so.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br><br>Sorry for the long post, but thanks in advance for any insights.</blockquote><div><br>np <br><br><br>Mitchell</div></div><br>