[mythtv-users] Some questions (hardware & features)

[Marc]

> Hi,
> 
> I have some questions for the MCE i'm planning to setup.
> 
> Features related:
> 
> 1.- When i play a video on a client the cpu usage for the decode, is in
the client, right?
Yes, CPU usage for the decode is on the frontend (client side). However,
there will be some CPU usage on the backend (server side) for disk access
and network activity.

> 2.- What about when i see the TV? 
This would depend on your hardware. To properly answer this we need more
information.
If you have a hauppauge pvr then encoding is done on the card. This is then
written to the disk on your backend.
Your backend then reads the disk, as it is being written to, and sends the
data across to the frontend where it is then decoded and output to your tv.

If you have a card the does not do the encoding itself then the CPU on your
backend has to perform the encoding at the same time as accessing the disk
and sending to your frontend.

> 3.- How can i make an automatic rescan of all videos in the backend?
Again we need more information. But, I'm guessing you mean you have
recordings that are not showing in myth.
myth.rebuilddatabase.pl from the contrib. folder will scan your recordings,
identify what is not already in your database and then add them. This can
take some time depending on the number of programs you have an the
processing power of your backend. Essentially it detects the files checks
the database and if not there runs mythcommflag to generate a seek table for
each file adding it to the database.

> 4.- Can i setup a "cluster" of mythtv backends?
Yes, there would be one master backend that would house your database and
any cards in it. You could then have any number of additional slave backends
that connect to the master, these would also have their own capture cards.
One thing to note is that unless you have NFS or SAMBA setup each backend
will store its own recordings on itself instead of to a central storage
location.

> 5.- (Spain/latin users related) any one knows a imdb similar to get the
posters and info with the spanish titles? 
> 
> 
> Hardware related:
> 
> What hardware i need for 5 clients (simultaneously)?
Depends on what you want.

At minimum 5 computers, one of which needs to be powerful enough to be a
backend and a frontend system at the same time with sufficient power and
network speed to be able to feed itself and 4 other machines at the same
time. You could have all the tuners in that one machine.

Another setup would be 5 computers again, each with a PVR-500 in them, you
could record 5 shows at the same time as watching 5 shows or if no one is
home record up to 10 shows at a time.

Another configuration would be a single, or multiple, backend(s) housing all
your capture cards. With 5 low-end systems for playback.

If you wanted to record and playback in High Def then you would need more
powerful frontend systems.

> Where can i find a list of multituner cards? (to see 2 or more channels
with the same card)
The Hauppauge PVR-500 is what I recommend. It has 2 tuners and dual hardware
encoders to reduce the CPU power needed in your backend.

> 
> Thanks in advance, and excuse me for my english, and for be a "n00b" :) 
> 
> Regards