[mythtv-users] Frontend and backend confusion
owen.townend at gmail.com
Sun Sep 28 06:22:32 UTC 2008
2008/9/28 daryl helwig <sofasurferlinux at charter.net>:
> In trying to learn about Mythtv, in preperation for attempting to
> install it, I notice that it is stated over and over that the frontend
> and backend can be on multiple computers or combined onto a single PC.
> If I understand correctly, the backend is like data storage software
> and the frontend is the software that actually interacts with the user,
> such as controling remote, changing channels and sending tyhe signal to
> the tv. Please verify this or correct it.
> Why would people choose to have the front and back on seperate computers?
That sums it up well. One reasoning behind the frontend/backend split
is the ability to team multiple backends together and/or have multiple
frontends. This enables you to have more tuner cards or disks than
you can fit in a single computer, and/or a frontend for every room in
One situation that seems common is to have a big case (e.g. CM
stacker, rackmount etc) with multiple disks (raid array) and multiple
tuner cards and a powerful processor. It would schedule, record,
transcode & store media. This would typically sit in the garage,
under the stairs, in the spare room etc. There would then be a small,
low power, quiet frontend for each tv.
Perhaps a case like this for a backend:
vs. something like this for a frontend:
It is definately possible to have a combined frontend/backend and as I
only have a single TV and not a whole lot of spare cash this is the
route I've gone.
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