[mythtv-users] live tv over network?

[David Huseby]

I've read the documentation extensively but nowhere is it explicit about
the roles of the front end and back end software.  From what I gather,
the back-end coordinates recording of shows and streaming of recorded
shows and the front-end handles displaying streams as well as
interacting with the services the back-end offers (i.e. MythGames,
MythMusic, etc...)  One thing I'd like to know...Is it possible to have
a capture card in the back-end and watch live TV using a front-end
connected to my TV with some network between the two?  

I also noticed that I can have many back-end capture cards, all hooked
up to different sources.  Here's my planned layout and I'd like comments
and recommendations from the rest of you:

- I will have a single large capacity (1+TB RAID) disk server running
the master back-end server.
- I will have two slave back-end servers, each with two MPEG2 hardware
capture cards.  One will be connected to two DirecTV receivers with
channel control via serial.  The other will be connected to a Sony
HD-100 terrestrial HD receiver (channel control via serial) and CCTV
from my security system (2 different cameras multiplexed into a single
picture.)
- I will have a Hush mini-ITX box for each of my TVs.  One will be
connected to my Mitsu 55" HDTV running (540p interleave to drive the
1080i picture), the other will be connected to a regular TV elsewhere in
the house.
- My house is wired with a switched gigabit ethernet network so
bandwidth isn't the problem.  All computers have gigabit cards in them,
except the mini-ITX boxes which have built-in 100baseT.

I was hoping to be able to watch live TV from any of the four sources
assuming that nothing is being recorded from the one I want to watch
(unless of course I'm watching what is being recorded.)  If this is
possible how does myth front-end handle displaying the channel listing
for the 2 different sources of TV (normal DirecTV and terrestrial HDTV
broadcasts)?  Has anybody tried a similar setup with multiple sources on
the back-end and front-end display via network?

Thanks for any feedback and/or helpful suggestions.

Dave