General Configuration Options

Here are some general configuration options you need to consider when you run the MythTV backend configuration:

     Local Backend
       IP Address: your-ip-addr-here       (This is required)
       Security PIN (Required): 0000       (This is required)
     Master Backend
       IP Address: your-ip-addr-here       (This is required)
     VBI format: NTSC Closed Caption
     Channel frequency table: us-cable
     HD Ringbuffer size (KB): 65800
     Save original files after transcoding (check)
     Maximum Simultaneous Jobs: 2

Note that you can run MythTV on a machine that obtains its IP address dynamically but good luck making it work as a backend. Essentially, all of the frontends need to know what the backend's IP address is and this ain't happenin' if its assigned with DHCP. So, using a static IP is A Good Thing (tm).

Furthermore, if you are running a master backend and one or more a secondary backends, every backend has to know the IP address of the master and the master must know the IP address of the secondary. This means that you must fill in a real IP address for the Local Backend and Master Backend on every machine. If you don't all sorts of stuff will stop working. And, don't even think of using an IP address like 127.0.0.1 for the Local Backend. This address is stored in the database and when any of the other machines reference it, it will confuse the heck out of them.

Also note that, if you do things like define capture cards (below) you may have to have a valid Master Backend address filled in or your capture card will not appear.