...well I thought I knew but now I'm not sure. Is there any documentation somewhere discussing the virtues of Secondary Backends?

I figured that a Secondary Backend was there to take some load off the Master but other that additional recordings I wasn't sure what they were for. I have found since that it is possible to run the database on a Secondary Backend but other than that...?

I was interested to know if a Secondary Backend could run independently from the Master. EG, can you switch on the Secondary to watch something it recorded without having to have the Master on?
I think I have found that you can't do that, it needs to see the database to be able to run, is that correct?

OFF TOPIC
If so, that is a shame because I was hoping I could create a portable PC that I could lug around to other peoples places or functions to watch recorded TV (sporting events, movies, etc). If it was easier to export recorded TV to AVI then I'd probably just do that but HDTV is just so pretty ;-)