[mythtv] Is it possible to install mythtv to a PC without a TV card and use as a "client"

[Colin Panisset]

On Friday 13 December 2002 17:57, Randy Page spake thus:
> On Friday 13 December 2002 06:39 pm, Christopher Mind wrote:
> > In the mythtv settings.txt there is the directory setting for
> > recording. Can this be a \\SMB_Machine\Directory. ( I have a 100 mbit
> > connection between these two machines and use xine to playback mpeg
> > from the other pc via the network connection with no lag)  The mysql
> > database can be recreated on this TV Tunerless machine using mysqldump.
> >  Its main purpose is to access the recordings and play back.  It would
> > even be better if the MythTV database can be accessed and modified from
> > this "client" machine so that you can do pretty much everything except
> > record movies.  I know that MythTV is headed in this general direction
> > but if there is a way to do this now, then it can tide us over until
> > the mythtv release with the server-client capability.  Thanks
>
> I don't think that this would work too well.  To my mind, the fact that
> myth is encoding and then decoding even when watching live tv, and that
> hdd performance is such a large determining factor wrt performance leads
> me to believe that this wouldn't work very well.

You may have to drop the capture resolution. I'm using NFS over switched 
100Mbps, and at 480x240 RTJpeg, it's not a problem in the slightest. A 
teeny lag in display after changing channels, but otherwise fine. I'll 
report on higher resolutions when I've got the hardware encoder installed 
:)

>
> The client/server model (I'm assuming here) would be done in such a way
> that the encode/decode would be done on the server and then the output
> stream would be dumped out the socket to the client, with no hdd activity
> at all taking place on the client end, thus reducing the load on the
> client machine (all it's doing is displaying the video stream right?).

Gaah! Why would you want to pipe decoded video across the network? That's 
horribly wasteful of bandwidth! Have the client decode the video.

>
> Course I could be right out to lunch though...... ;-).

Well, I'm just about right out to beer, so take my $0.02 with a grain of 
salt :)

  -- C.