[mythtv-users] Output to h.264

[mike at grounded.net]

> AFAIK none of the remote desktop protocols allow for viewing video in real
> time, they are just not fast enough, especially
> for HD. You could use VNC if you just want to access the machine's desktop,
> but video playback is not VNC's (or anything
> similar's) forte.

I would not need HD over PC's. HD would only be to an HD TV so probably via a set top box.
 
> It sounds like you want to use UPnP, with a client on the PCs, using the
> built-in server on the Myth backend.

Is UPnP a local only protocol? In order words, UPnP isn't an Internet protocol, it cannot be viewed by a client over the Internet?
Every now and then, I have a need to show someone a piece of video. I either encode it and put it on a server and they use a browser or I set up an encoder which allows the remote to connect and view the video. Just another thing that would add flexibility in my life. Not a requirement however.
 
> But you would be far better off running a Myth frontend on the PCs, you get
> features like commercial skipping which a basic
> UPnP client can't do, recording scheduling and a lot more.

Yes, definitely am interested in live video pausing, forward/rewind and record. Can't live without the Tivo's for very long :).

> Obviously the S-Video port will not do HD of any sort.

Nope, it's just S-Video. 
 
> Have you tried a standard Ubuntu install? Have you tried any of the live
> CDs?

Not sure if they were considered live or not but installable, I tried mythbuntu, mythdora, and only knoppmyth installs.

> Are you building a combo backend/frontend? The 5200 card would require
> software decoding, which might be a problem for
> h264 HD with that CPU, if you want to use that machine as a frontend, I'd
> consider a VDPAU-capable video card.

So far, a combo is what I've tried building, so I could get some hands on with mythtv.
I like your idea of building separate front and back end to learn from if you don't think that would add to my confusion. 
 
> Depending on the age of your mobo, you may have problems with the PCI bus,
> early VIA chipsets were notorious for that.

Everything seems to run at least, it's just the S-Video that I can't seem to get working. I am able to hear the audio of the stream as I listen to NASA for example. There is a 1/4 screen sized box which shows up on the mythtv main display when I play video streams, I wondered if that was supposed to be displaying the video as well.

I can try another mobo I suppose but believe it's to do with nvidia drivers or along those lines.