[mythtv-users] Master and Slave with capture cards

[Bruce Markey]

Ken VanDine wrote:
> OK, before I get flamed I just RTFM.  I just noticed for the first time the 
> last section named "Advanced Backend Configurations".  This is close to what 
> I want.  But, I would like the option to be able to "reserve" the local 
> capture device for the frontend.  So the local card is always available for 
> the local frontend when someone wants to watch live-tv on that frontend.  I 
> plan to have three frontends in total.  I want the master backend to have 
> two WinTV cards doing software encoding for recordings and three slave 
> backends/frontends with hardware MPEG cards for watching live-tv.  Does 
> anyone else think this is a desirable setup?

I sure don't. Once you get used to having a DVR the way you
watch TV ought to change drastically. If there are any shows
you might want to watch, record them. If you don't get around
to watching them, delete them. No harm, no foul. I usually
have 30-100 hours of shows that I know I'm interested in. If
the list of recorded shows doesn't look more tempting than
whatever happens to be broadcast at the time, then I know I'm
not using the DVR properly. I *never* watch LiveTV other than
debugging MythTV issues. If I discover that something I might
want to see is on, I first start recording then watch the
recording in progress and delete when I'm done. If I'm distracted
or there is a part that I might want to see again, I can always
watch the recording again. Once you change the channel in LiveTV
the buffer is gone forever.

So two bttv cards ($60) to record hundreds of hours of your
very favorite shows then three PVR-250 cards ($450) to channel
surf hoping that there might be something 'good' on doesn't
sound desirable to me ;-).

That said, add your cards in setup in the following order:

Master      1 = bttv
             2 = bttv

Least Used
Frontend    3 = PVR-250

Other
Frontend    4 = PVR-250

Most Used
Frontend    5 = PVR-250

The first two overlapping recordings will always happen on
the master. The third would use a tuner for a frontend but
the good news is that the show would get recorded. The most
used frontend will always be free unless you've scheduled
five things at once.

Now, I could suggest ways to never record more than two shows
at once but I think you'll soon find that what you are thinking
right now really isn't what you'll want in the long term.

Hope this helps,

--  bjm