[mythtv-users] Number of virtual tuners
Simon Hobson
linux at thehobsons.co.uk
Mon Apr 30 07:08:44 UTC 2012
Pieter De Wit wrote:
>During the channel scanning phase a scan is done to see how many
>channels a card can tune to. This can be done to /dev/null to drop
>out disk/display and other bottle necks.
>
>Once this number is known, Virtual tuners can be used to record from
>the real tuners. Virtual tuners is something that "we" control so we
>can limit them based on other factors. I am sure we can safely say,
>that you only need to display 2 channels at once (watch, someone
>will give us a screenshot with 4 PnP's :) )
That won't help in the general case - there is more to recording
multiple streams than just getting them from the tuners and stuffing
them on disk, not to mention that if you have multiple tuners then
the system may not be able to handle the max no of recordings the
tuners are collectively capable of doing while it can handle the max
for any one tuner on it's own. It's been suggested earlier in the
thread that some other factors come into play - for example, what
does it do to the system when several recordings start at once and
the <something> kicks in to update the database ? Then you've got an
arbitrary number and type of user jobs, and an arbitrary number of
frontends - in theory there's no limit to the number of frontends/TVs
someone could have hanging off the backend.
But the biggest problem with any automated system like you describe
is that they always end up getting in the way sooner or later. It's
like using MS Office - you know exactly how you want to format your
document, but the darn software keeps getting in the way and doing
different things "to be helpful" because the vendors have the same
mindset of "making it easy".
Personally I'm inclined to say it's a documentation problem to be
solved. You cannot set a limit that satisfies the requirement to be
"safe" for all users (you've found that a limit of just 3 wouldn't be
"safe" for your hardware) while not artificially restricting other
users. The problem as I see it is that MythTV is a complex project
for a new user (it's still complex for me and I've been using it for
years !), and the documentation in some areas can be difficult to
navigate.
So how can it be made easier for a novice to find the right bit of
information when they arrive at each setting of the many they need to
know about ? It's probably a whole wiki page to cover just how to
setup multirec AND determine how many tuners is "safe" for your
hardware.
--
Simon Hobson
Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
Christmas stocking fillers. Some available as e-books.
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