[mythtv-users] Frontend requirements

[gonzalo diethelm]

Please forgive me for touching upon a subject that must be very
recurrent.

I plan to have a backend with all my recordings / videos / music / etc.
and a separate frontend next to the TV, probably connected to the
backend via wired Ethernet (at least 100 Mbps). From what I am able to
gather, the frontend has almost no special hardware requirements,
needing no hard drive (other than a means for booting up), some memory,
a CPU capable of reading data off the network and pushing it to the
video card, and a video card capable of connecting to my TV (RCA or
whatever I require). So I believe it should be possible to build / buy a
frontend as a very basic piece of hardware. Is this correct? Can anybody
point me to any web page with suggestions of where to buy / how to build
such a frontend?

One possible minor variation for my frontend is this: I have digital SD
cable that requires a decoder (for which I pay), so I have that decoder
next to my TV (where the frontend will also be located). So I foresee
that I might be forced to use the frontend as the piece of hardware that
connects to the decoder, catches the decoded TV signal and either
encodes it itself or sends it to the backend for encoding; the frontend
would also have to control the decoder (probably via IR) to turn it on /
off, switch channels, etc. Is this a common setup? Does this impose new
hardware requirements on the frontend? Should I be planning on
implementing TV recording in some other way?

Thanks and best regards.

-- 
Gonzalo Diethelm
DCV - Chile