[mythtv-users] New install - Backend, multiple frontends - reccomendations

[list at onnow.net]

That server should be plenty.  A terabyte of space should be good too.  
  It depends on how much you record.  Though if you have 6 tuner  
cards, you must be planing on alot.  The Hauppauge PVR500 ( Two tuners  
in one card so you would only need 3 ) are very good.  Quite stable in  
my experience anyway.

I would carry gig to all desktops.  Not much extra expense these days if any.

Also, deiskless is alot of extra effort.  Again, small harddrives are  
cheap and you can install many and use with just  a frontend with  
minimal effort.
Diskless takes some effort and will cause problems/confusion on setup.

Mark

Quoting Jim Moseby <JMoseby at nrbindustries.com>:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm new to the group, and to MythTV.  I am excited about the possibilities,
> but have some basic questions.
>
> I am in the process of building a house, and I am almost at the point where
> I am installing media and network systems.  My plan is to install a single
> backend server with, say, 6 TV cards in it, and put little diskless/fanless
> frontend boxes at each TV location (4 bedrooms, Family room, kitchen, and
> office).
>
> Having never done this, or even seen MythTV in action, I have a TON of
> questions.  I have read the documentation, and still several questions have
> arisen.
>
> First, hardware for the backend.  My plan is to use cards that do hardware
> encoding, because the docs say that will relieve the CPU from a large
> portion of the work.  I have access to a Compaq quad zeon 1Ghz server with a
> terabyte of SCSI RAID storage in pluggable drives that I hope to use.  I
> would like this to serve as a single backend system, running the database,
> storage and HDTV cards.  Sufficient?  Would you split out the backend duties
> to multiple servers? (Recommendations as to which HDTV cards are most stable
> and supported would be great.)
>
> I'm thinking the hardware for frontend systems will be based around the tiny
> VIA EPIA motherboard.  With those, I can build little netboot systems with
> no moving parts.  There will be 7 of those total.  Sufficient?
>
> The network to support it all will be Gigabit at the backend, and 100M to
> the frontends, switched with a Dell PowerConnect 2124 switch.  I could find
> no documentation about the network requirements for a backend/frontend
> setup.  Will this be sufficient?
>
> My hope is that we can have all 7 stations either watching live TV, playing
> MAME games, listening to music or whatever simultaneously with no
> degradation of performance or quality.  Any input from the group towards
> this end will be much appreciated.
>
> I do plan to document this entire project and publish the results.
>
> Jim
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