[mythtv-users] Mult-system design

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Oct 26, 2006, at 11:15 AM, Rich West wrote:

> Because we have digital satellite (DirectTV), I'm limited by the
> requirement of having a set-top-box per tv tuner card.  The means I
> would need a myth box with a "slave" backend at each TV.  It sounds  
> like
> what you've described is exactly what I was thinking.  It's actually a
> pretty easy setup (after tackling the first system)..  Glad to know  
> that
> MythTV is that extendable!
>
> -Rich

your other option is to move all your set-top boxes to close  
proximity to your master backend and put all the tuner cards in  
there. Then you don't have to worry about latency when recording  
multiple programs all over your house. Also, you only need those  
machines on when you're using the frontend. If you're recording with  
them, they will be powered on a whole lot more (maybe always on).

I do it this way and I have a couple of backends without tuner cards  
that help offload comm flagging and transcoding. My frontends are  
powered on only when I'm using them.