[mythtv-users] DisplaySize = Full ?

[mike at grounded.net]

> As Nick said VLC can multicast, so you can multicast a recording from
> mythweb if you want, but then you need lots of Multicast capable
> receivers all over the place....something not yet described in your
> house, as well as a multicast LAN setup which is more than the average
> home LAN.

There isn't much value in spending hours putting together a map of what I have. It'll get posted and forgotten since it'll only be used to explain something now and then. 

The bottom line is that when I built the house, I decided to build a full server room environment for the development work I do, backup battery power, generator, etc etc. I also have a number of T1, Coax and optical line coming into the place. 
When I built, I wanted to make sure I could keep an eye on things if I wasn't around so installed cameras at every angle inside and out that would allow me to see anything, anywhere, cept washrooms and personal areas of course.

So if that helps you to understand why I've mentioned I have many feeds, that's one reason.
The other is that recently, I've become somewhat interested in FTA and have also changed from DTV to W5 services so have three satellite receivers in the place along with the usual things like media players of various types. 

The end result is a bunch of video that I'd love to consolidate onto IP. Another reason I'd like to have it IP is because every now and then, I need to stream something to someone, it might be a camera feed or an FTA news feed, something temporary to show a remote person something. That part is why I think it would be way cool if I could have at least one or two outputs which I could stream.

The rest is pure interest since media is something I've always played with, including encoding in the past but nothing in terms of building something like this, as a home system, including consolidating all of the mess I have.

> I expect one can output H.264 over RF using a card, they are about, but
> I do not recall anyone doing it here.  To make sense it would require
> multiple H.264 capable clients, which SD TV's are not....   One is
> better (cheaper) to use mthtv FE's.

Doesn't have to be over RF, over Ethernet is good too.
 
> I think what Mike is trying to (say and) do is to broadcast SD using a
> RF modulator, with a VGA converter intermediary.  I also agree with the
> comments about loss of visual quality, (which will likely become < SD
> this way) but it seems Mike may accept that.

When I built the house, I bought around 10 Pico Macom RF modulators so that I could just tune into a channel to watch what ever video I wanted. Could be a camera in front or back or side of the house, could be a media player, could be one of the two DTV receivers I was using. SD over the coax has always been just fine, we're simply not that picky when it comes to watching TV. We're only picky when we want to watch HD, as anyone else would be. Putting everything onto RF in SD and even mono has always been fine. 
I just figure it's time to modernize now and I don't really want to use RF anymore since IP everything can be done on IP now. I want to retire the modulators and thought it would be nice to be able to 'tune' into different channels over IP, just as I've doing using RF right now. 

> The second issue is the screen ratio, HD is generally widescreen and SD
> is ...SD, so you'll end up displaying wide format in a SD screen,
> depending how you want to scale it / crop it.

Don't care. I've said this countless times, that's not an issue :).
 
> Also as has been stated one can have two cards in one box, but that
> seems more tricky to setup and control, for me anyway.

A while back, I asked about using 850MHz/512MB blades and was told yes if the card has onboard encoding.
I run these old blades for task specific purposes where I don't want them virtualized for example, DNS servers, load balancers, etc, where it's good to use individual server blades. So I keep some older CUBIX chassis around and have spare blades in them which I'll use for the PVR-500's that were suggested. 
 
> Assuming you have a RF modulator I would recommend a mythtv FE that just
> feeds the modulator direct, ie presumably composite out of the myth box
> direct into the modulator (No VGA converter = significant loss of
> quality step) and on to your SD tv's.

Actually, I'm using a good high end scan converter and the output is much better than putting composite into SD modulators.
It's how I've set up myth in building it and works very nicely.

> Remote control could be wifi
> mythdroid or similar.  (Get a vdpau analogue out card, PCI is fine
> presuming compatible motherboard chipset.)

I just use IR distributors so that works fine. I like the idea of trying wifi for remote though, that would eliminate all of the weirdness I get with IR. My IR signals get messed up sometimes depending on what certain servers are doing in the server room believe it or not. For example, when I format a big array which goes on for a day or two, my remotes barely work even though they aren't even in the server room. I believe it's because everything is in the basement though.
 
> The 2nd FE would feed HDMI into your projector with your GT220.

I see another motherboard in my future I guess because the one I've been using is going to another task now so I'm losing the PCI-E slot for a while. 

Good input, sure appreciate it.