[mythtv-users] Two-backends with two-frontends on one machine?

[Steven Adeff]

On 7/11/07, Jay Mallar <surfing at jaymallar.com> wrote:
> On 10/07/07, Brad DerManouelian <myth at dermanouelian.com> wrote:
> > Of course, the best option is to use master and slave backends so you get
> > the best use of all your tuner cards, then put each of your recordings into
> > their own group and only display the group you want to see. Sharing is good.
> >
> > If you use recording groups to solve the recording schedule seperation, then
> > why the need for master and slave backends? Put all your tuner cards in one
> > machine to save on hardware costs and power usage etc.
>  I have several reasons....
>
>  * Redundancy.  I don't want to ever lose all my shows again due to hardware
> failure (once is enough!)  , and yes, I'm using RAID 1 too.  If I had one
> machine and it lost a motherboard, I'd lose all functionality.  If I have
> two machines and only one goes out, at least I'm not dead in the water.
>  * I prefer the PVR-250 instead of the PVR-500 (better quality video from
> what I've seen).  Also, since I want a four tuner setup, getting a
> motherboard these days that can support a decent processor AND provide four
> PCI slots has proven difficult, if not impossible.
>  * Since I want to eventually upgrade to HDTV, I want to have some wiggle
> room in the machines to add new components, like new drives.
>  * Since I plan to do commercial skipping (and transcoding here and there),
> I want to make sure I'm not affecting my four tuner cards when I do.
>  * It's easier to keep two less-full machines cooler than it is one
> mega-machine.
>  * Cost isn't really an issue for me, I'd prefer to have the two machines
> that I can grow with rather than one machine that is full from the get go.

1) RAID 1 seems like overkill, why not go with RAID5? I've got a 6
drive RAID 5 device that keeps up with my 4 HD tuner backend with two
HD capable frontends no problem.
2) Newegg shows 13 LGA 775 with 4 PCI slots, some of which support the
Core 2 Duo. They also have 6 Socket AM2 with 4 PCI slots. A few even
have on board firewire.
3) PCIe SATA cards, HDHomerun, Firewire connected cableboxen.
4) ?
5) Not really since your also producing a lot more heat. What you need
is a good case with proper fans and proper attention to cables. Not
that hard.
6) I wish I had that money problem.

I can see your point about hardware failure (motherboard, CPU, RAM,
etc) with a single machine though. I think its a rare enough
occurrence though that perhaps having spare parts on hand may make
more sense if your that worried.




>  I like the idea of recording groups.  I wasn't able to glean from the
> MythTV docs exactly how recording groups work, so I guess I'll have to try
> them and see if that handles it for me.  From what I can tell from the docs,
> you can pull up lists of recordings by group, but I can't find anything that
> says how to assign groups.  When I schedule recurring recordings, can I
> assign each one to a group?  Can you assign things to more than one group?
> Can you view things in other groups if necessary?  Just not sure how groups
> work at all...

You assign when setting up the recording, though I believe you can
also change the group after recording if necessary. I believe you can
either view all groups or just one group. So shows both of you watch
could go into a third group. I believe only one group can be assigned.
I use it more to separate sports from news from series from specials,
etc. Though I rarely go into group view in the frontend, I do find it
useful in MythWeb.

-- 
Steve
Before you ask, read the FAQ!
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions
then search the Wiki, and this list,
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/
Mailinglist etiquette -
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List_etiquette