Zotac ION Combined FE/BE with HD-PVR and Performance

[golbez_88rule]

I've already purchased the HD-PVR and I have been researching the possible configurations for a combined FE/BE system. Given Pat's rave review about using the zotac ion as a frontend and a post over at the MythTV user forum http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/m ... BE;#388236 saying it would perform commercial flagging for SD content very well, I am interested in using this motherboard for my first ever MythTV build. I did see in another post that commercial flagging on h.264 content would be a lot more CPU intensive http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/m ... on;#392794 which has me a little concerned about having this setup do everything by itself.

I plan on waiting until version 0.22 is released to install Myth so that I can have support for the HD-PVR and playback using VDPAU out of the box.I was already thinking of having a separate machine for backups of the database and important recordings, but could a separate machine perform CPU intensive process such as commercial flagging so that it could take some of the load off the zotac ion FE/BE processor? How difficult is it to set up a slave backend with an existing master FE/BE, in particular for commercial flagging? Also, does anyone else have experience with using the Zotac ION as a combined FE/BE?

I am a huge fan of the podcast, and without it I would never have found such a great deal for the HD-PVR!

[Patrick]

I am a huge fan of the podcast, and without it I would never have found such a great deal for the HD-PVR!

Glad you're enjoying the show. We're always happy to get such positive feedback from our listeners. I think we're all looking forward to the release of MythTV 0.22. Hopefully it's not delayed. Looking at the bug tracker I only see a handful of show stoppers that should get resolved soon. The vast majority of the tickets are mostly annoyance type bugs.

[golbez_88rule]

Glad you're enjoying the show. We're always happy to get such positive feedback from our listeners. I think we're all looking forward to the release of MythTV 0.22. Hopefully it's not delayed. Looking at the bug tracker I only see a handful of show stoppers that should get resolved soon. The vast majority of the tickets are mostly annoyance type bugs.

The release of 0.22 can't come soon enough! From what you've said on your blog and on the show, you are very happy with the performance of the Zotac ION as a frontend. My original plan for my Myth setup was to only have a FE like the Zotac ION you are using in my entertainment center and have the master backend in my office which would handle the database, storage, comm flagging, and transcoding. Since I plan to connect the PVR-1212 with a digital cable box in my setup in the family room, does the Myth box in that room have to be a combined FE/BE? I was hoping I could just connect it to a FE but now I am not sure that is possible.

[Patrick]

Since I plan to connect the PVR-1212 with a digital cable box in my setup in the family room, does the Myth box in that room have to be a combined FE/BE? I was hoping I could just connect it to a FE but now I am not sure that is possible.

Any box that has a recording device connected to it has to be at least a back end. It can also be a combined backend/frontend system but it is not necessary. You can also have multiple backend systems in your configuration. At least one BE system as to be the master backend system and the others are the "slave backends". Is my explanation clear?

[golbez_88rule]

Any box that has a recording device connected to it has to be at least a back end. It can also be a combined backend/frontend system but it is not necessary. You can also have multiple backend systems in your configuration. At least one BE system as to be the master backend system and the others are the "slave backends". Is my explanation clear?

That makes sense to me. So it sounds like I could make the PC in my office as the master BE (database, storage, conversion, commercial flagging), and I could have the Zotac ION as a combined FE/slave BE where its only responsibility was to record off the PVR-1212. Would a configuration like this work well?

[Patrick]

So it sounds like I could make the PC in my office as the master BE (database, storage, conversion, commercial flagging), and I could have the Zotac ION as a combined FE/slave BE where its only responsibility was to record off the PVR-1212. Would a configuration like this work well?

I believe any front ends will have to point to whatever machine is your master backend. Maybe you should ask this question on the mythtv-users mailing list. Some people have some pretty complex setups on there and your question will get answered by several people.