[mythtv-users] mythtv: diskless frontends/home networking

[Jesse Guardiani]

Hello,

The LCD backlight on my 1.2ghz thinkpad died a few days ago,
so I'm going to make it into a lightweight frontend. It has an ATI
chipset and I'm pretty sure the video out works under linux, so
the only frontend hardware I really need to buy is an IR or RF
remote.

I'm trying to decide between diskless CF or keeping the laptop
disk. I like the CF for heat/reliability/cost benefits, but doesn't
LiveTV require a local spool of disk space? Or is that done
on the backend?

The other issue is networking. I doubt wifi is a good idea as I
already have one machine hogging wifi bandwidth and I'd like
to be able to add 2 or 3 more diskless frontends in the future
if necessary. I can't run Ethernet cable as it's an apartment and
I can't go drilling holes in things. What does that leave me?

Powerline networking? Does anyone have any experience with
that sort of thing? Could it support more than 1 remote frontend?
What's a good brand available in the USA?

I only have SD right now, but I just bought an HD card and I'll
be upgrading the backend this week, so I need to think about
HD too. So... in general, how much bandwidth does SD/HD
consume per frontend?

Thanks!

-- 
Jesse Guardiani
Programmer/Sys Admin
jesse at wingnet.net