<p><br>
On Nov 29, 2011 7:50 AM, "Alex Feldman" <<a href="mailto:grizdog@gmail.com">grizdog@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On 11/28/2011 10:25 PM, Nick Rout wrote:<br>
> > On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 1:54 PM, Alex Feldman <<a href="mailto:grizdog@gmail.com">grizdog@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> >> I live in the US and will be watching both OTA and cable - if this works<br>
> >> reasonably well I want to make several of them for friends<br>
> > Please don't top post.<br>
> ><br>
> > I am not qualified to advise on North American tuners, but I am sure<br>
> > there will be some USB ones available.<br>
> ><br>
> > As I say, your laptop will be OK for testing and getting used to<br>
> > mythtv, but you really want something bigger as a real solution. A<br>
> > separate backend and frontend is ideal. It means you can put your<br>
> > grunty large ugly noisy backend server in the basement, and a quiet<br>
> > frontend next to the TV.<br>
> ><br>
> > Beware of setting up systems for friends, that are not that easy to<br>
> > maintain remotely, and you WILL be expected to maintain them! (Been<br>
> > there, done that).<br>
> > _______________________________________________<br>
> ><br>
> Sorry about the top posting. It won't happen again.<br>
><br>
> The friends I would be doing this for understand the deal - as a group,<br>
> we've been here before. But I know what you mean.<br>
><br>
> Indeed, the laptop may wind up just being the front end, once we get a<br>
> look at everything. Everyone involved has a big desktop machine with<br>
> plenty of spare capacity. So I guess that modifies the question:<br>
><br>
> Given I will be starting everything out on the laptop, but then moving<br>
> the backend to a desktop machine, and everything will be in the USA and<br>
> either OTA or cable, does it matter what kind of tuner card I get, and<br>
> if so, what should I look for? I am particularly concerned about the<br>
> lirc - I have no experience at all with that technology.<br>
><br>
> Thanks for any help.<br>
></p>
<p>I've run FEs on several laptops without issue, including a dell latitude E6550 and xps 15, and am now running one on my new macbook air (sandy bridge I5 and Intel hd3000). It's pretty trivial to set up once you've done it a few times. For the ubuntu machines I just install the latest ubuntu and then add mythbuntu-control-center (I think that's what its called). There's a section in there for remote controls and it does the heavy lifting for you as far as LIRC is concerned.</p>
<p>I can't speak for usb tuners, but laptops are so powerful these days that you could probably run an FE/BE combo without issue. Not sure about your IBM though.<br>
</p>