Hi, I am setting up a backend server for a client and I would like to be able to use multiple pcHDTV tuner cards to run MythTV, however, I cannot find a motherboard that supports Core 2 processors and has more than 2 or 3 PCI (standard) slots.

I wanted to put 5 or 6 tuner cards into the server so that this system can match my client's current TiVo setup (each box can record two live streams and watch something taped at any given time), but I forsee an inevitable hardware limitation.

Some questions come up that might be better directed at the MythTV mailing list, but I don't like mailing lists as a support medium to begin with, and the MythTV mailing list is overactive and swamps my inbox, even as a daily digest.

So, ultimately my questions are, is there a motherboard that will support 6 tuner cards?

Am I correct in thinking that the system will be easier to configure and run more smoothly if all 6 tuner cards are the same kind of card (rather than various Hauppage cards and as many pcHDTV cards I can fit in)?

And, in the event that 6 tuner cards in one box isn't a possibility, is it possible to set up a dual-box backend server?

Not sure what you mean by "dual-box backend server", but I think you are looking for an SBE - Slave Backend (a frontend with a tuner that uses the backend's database). See http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... ckendHowTo

Aha, that would be one way to solve the problem. Kindof.

The thing is, each front end needs to get digital cable as well as standard, so we were going to put all of the STB's in the server room and run them into the tuner cards of the backend.

I suppose we could configure each of the systems at the TVs (we're using mac mini's) to be front end linked to a system in the server room that has the proper tuner cards, and then have an SBE for serving to each tv?

But that's a lot more hardware to purchase/assemble. Feasible, but messy.