So this summer I'm going to be setting up an HTPC for use in my appartment in the Fall. I'm still not quite sure how the whole MythTV thing works though.
1/ If I were to have both a frontend and a backend system, which one would need to have the horsepower to do the TV encoding/decoding? Would there be a difference in Live vs. recording?
2/ I assume that I could just have it setup on a single system that would serve both purposes. Could I still connect an additional FE to it?
3/ The plan was to use my laptop as a spare FE. Is this possible? Preferably I'd like to get it working with a Windows client, but if need be, I'll just live boot off of KnoppMyth.
4/ What about HD content. Does that change the answer to #1?
5/ I have a cheap-o Kworld tuner that I've been using on my computer. Would this be usable with MythTV? I'd like to buy as little hardware as I need, so if I can use this one, then that would be helpful.
6/ If I get a HD tuner, I still need another one for SD, right? (Looking at the HD3000 as of now).

Thanks for the help, guys

1. On a single system, the back/frontend live on the same system. Now, if you have seperate system, then the answer to your question depends on your tuner. If you want to have a single system that is HD capture, the recommendation is a 3 gig PIV. You can get away with less if you have a video card that support XvMC. I've personally experienced success w/ a Athlon XP 2800+ and a Geforce 5200.

2. Yes.

3. Yes. I've no experience with Windows "clients". I'd suggest taking a look at the MythTV wiki.

4. Yes. See answer #1

5. It depends is the card is support with bttv. I know some are... I'd suggest a google of the model and linux.

6. Technically, you don't. However currently MythTV (0.19) will only address the NTSC or ATSC portion of the card at one time. My recomendation would be to get a seperate card for NTSC.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

I have an AXP 2400+ w/ 512mb RAM and onboard video. I was planning on picking up a cheap nVidia card for TV-output anyway. I also have a Dell 400 w/ 128mb that is available. Would that be enough for FE if the athlon were the BE? (I'm not sure where the XvMC-supported card would be. I'd presume in the FE since it handles the decoding? Would something like the PVR-150 handle the encoding on the BE?

Cool, thanks

Ok, that'll be phase #2, but it's good to know that it's possible.

How much more demanding are we talking about for system resources, and would that demand be on the FE or the BE (or both)

It's a phillips 878, which some indications lead me to believe that it will work. I'll find out next week when I have some time to throw MythTV on my box.
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Ok, thanks.

A few more questions.
7. What about quality. What can I expect from going through a card like the 878 compared to like the PVR-150 as compared to just going coax straight from the wall into the TV?

8. Also, are there any remotes that I can buy that are made specifically for mythTV and/or ones that work well w/o much configuration (I know that's more of a hardware question, but can't hurt to ask).

9. For HD, I'd be planning on transcoding everything to 720p (OTA is 1080i right?). What kind of performance hit would that put in recording. The reason would be so that I can play it on my laptop (1280x800) w/o having to tax my integrated video, but also in the rare possibility that we might be getting a projector, we're looking at an infocus one that does 1280x720, so that would be perfect. Any ideas?

10. What about scaling? I assume there are various scaling methods supported (I guess I'll just find out about that when I install it, so you don't have to answer).

11. I currently have the Logitech MX Duo that I plan on using with the system. What are the odds I could use the media keys for controlling MythTV?

I have no idea what a Dell 400 is nor do I intend to look it up (ahh link or hardware details). In terms of recording HD, it doesn't take much of a system as the stream is simply written to disk. If you intend to watch LiveTV or a recording (frontend) then you need horsepower. Again, for most people the frontend and the backend while seperate processes, exist on the same hardware.

7. The quality of a hardware MPEG tuner is better than that of a software tuner.

8. As far as I'm aware, there are no remotes specifically made for MythTV. however thru LIRC , one can use various remotes (search).

9. 1080i or 720p is dependant on the network broadcasting. So, no OTA isn't 1080i. Depending you your laptop, you best bet maybe to transcode to Xvid or Divx.

10.

11. 50/50... You maybe able to use a program (name escapes me at the moment) to assign programs to the multimedia keys.

I'd suggest you read the MythTV docs, the MythTV wiki and the KnoppMyth wiki.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Whoops, yeah I meant to put "Celeron" in front of 400, b/c that's what it is.

And I'll do some more research. Thanks so much for answering my questions.