[mythtv] Conversion in the background, can it reduce system requirements?

[Pyroman[FO]]

Ive read on this list about adding a feature to convert files in the
background when there are no recordings or live TV watching going on. 
What I want to know is, could it be used to let low-powered machines
record TV?  I know with WebVCR+, I could record VCD quality divx5/mp3 avi
files just fine with the conversion feature, by recording to a huge MJPEG
with uncompressed audio file on the fly, then converting later.  This was
an Athlon 600, an hour worth of video would be about 3GB, then get
converted down to about 300-500MB.  My lowly little machine couldnt handle
realtime divx5, but conversion allowed it to keep up.

A store file could be kept, similar to the LiveTV buffer, and once it
filled (i.e. too many shows have been recorded in a row), it would stop
recording and start recording like it does now, or stop recording and just
convert the files it has.  The user could control all of this through the
setup.  I dont really have time to work on this, but does anyone else
think this is a good idea?

Pyroman[FO]