Video Capture and Tuner cards on Core/MD?

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From what I have read it appears that one installs a video capture card or tuner on a MD.

Is there a reason why to do this?

I would think that as the Core is on permantly that this would be the place to but them. The core would not need to boot a MD to do an operation and when VLC is working only the MD's being used would need to be on.

I would think that the most processing power would be needed by the core and the MD's simply become simple clients/end-points, I don't see a reason why MD's should need huge processor/memory resources (A PIII500 with 64MB is more than enough power to play movies and lesser machines can handle these task if not overloaded with software)

From my perspective in Australia where we have a limited number of free to air channels it would be possible to have a core with a limited number of turners that would enable complete coverage of all free-to-air networks.

Please correct me if any of this is wrong.
Could you also indicate if this is a future implementation issue.

Darren

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Darren,

The TV cards can reside in the core or the MD's if I understand correctly.
I have mine in the CORE as I agree with your thinking in that this is a more logical spot for them (and it will always be on etc).

I had problems getting a MD with a Celeron 766 and 512MB RAM to work effectively as a client for watching TV and videos. I have rectified this by putting a cheap(ish) Geforce card in rather than the onboard intel video.
I got a card for $55 (AUD) so that was not too bad and it took CPU utilisation down from 95-100% to 40-50% when watching live TV using Mythtv.

Whereabouts in Australia are you? I am in Sydney.

Regards
Darren

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Oh that is good that we can put them in the core (I must have missed that).

Is there anything special that you have to do?
Was it straight forward?

Also what do you use for a tvguide for your mythtv setup?

Thanks

Ps. in Perth

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Nothing real special to do...(although it did take a bit of effort)

The main thing is getting the cards drivers and firmware installed and working before doing any Myth stuff.

An XMLTV grabber for Australia can be found through Google easily enough - don't have the site handy. Get this setup and working first.

Once you are confident that the card(s) is(are) working then run through the MythTV setup.

I did this by starting the setup program from the command line and diverting the display to a separate XServer. This was due to having to interact with the console when it tries to access the TV listings grabber.

Good luck.

Darren