[mythtv-users] How does MythTV Networking work?

[Scott Nicholson]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using an Xbox as a frontend?
(Obviously price is/will be an advantage if they do indeed drop to $100.)

I'd like the frontends to be able to function as DVD players, game consoles
(MythGame/XMame, possibly SNES, NES and Gameboy emulation -- can MythGame
work as a frontend to those as well?) MP3 Players (MythMusic) and web
browsers. Does an Xbox have enough power to do all of that?

Can an Xbox modded to run Linux still run Xbox games as well?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
> bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Dodd
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 9:10 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] How does MythTV Networking work?
> 
> Quoting Scott Nicholson <mythtv at scottnic.com>:
> 
> > I'm interested in building a MythTV box or boxes. I want to be able to
> view
> > both live TV and recorded shows (as well as use MythMusic, etc.) on at
> > least
> > two TVs in separate rooms. I want all recorded shows to be available to
> > both
> > TVs. I want to be able to easily add additional TVs in the future.
> >
> >
> >
> > Without knowing a lot about MythTVs network capabilities (there isn't a
> lot
> > of info on the site -- not that I've been able to find, anyway), it
> seems
> > like there are at least a couple of ways of doing this:
> >
> >
> >
> > Option 1:
> >
> > High-powered multiple tuner "server" in the basement (at least two,
> > possibly
> > three or more tuners, lots of storage) and a couple of lightweight
> frontend
> > boxes at the TVs. The frontends would need to be able to schedule
> > recordings, etc.
> >
> >
> >
> > Option 2:
> >
> > Forget the server. Just build a couple of boxes to put at the TVs that
> can
> > talk to each other. One (possibly two if I decide one isn't enough)
> tuner
> > in
> > each box, with some sort of negotiation and conflict management (i.e.
> box1
> > is scheduled to record show "A" and I schedule a recording for show "B"
> on
> > the same box -- the box detects the conflict and tells box2 to record
> show
> > "B" instead.). The boxes share their lists of recorded shows, so it's
> easy
> > to watch show "B" on box1 (even though it's box2 that recorded it).
> >
> >
> >
> > I guess there's a hybrid of these two, as well, with the individual
> boxes
> > recording to a server that's really nothing but a fileserver.
> All three options work.
> 
> Although I've noticed that with 0.14, remote frontends can sometimes be a
> little
> laggy when navigating menus.
> 
> I'm personally heading towards option 1.  I just need a motherboard, CPU,
> and
> RAM to move my recording backend to a seperate machine, then I need to run
> 100
> Mbit drops to every point in the house that has a coax running to it.
> 
> Once I do that, I'll be ready for $100 frontends when the Xbox drops its
> price
> in May.  (Well, the sources I've seen say that it's a rumored drop, but
> someone
> that posted earlier today seemed relatively sure of it.)
> 
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