How long till my R-10 starts dumping stuff

Hi there. I recently migrated from Dishnetwork to DirecTV because the
Dishnetwork DVR was "buggy as all get out." (to use a southern expression
from my childhood). As soon as Dishnetwork would get something working,
they'd drop it and replace it with something else. I felt like I was paying
them to Beta test their software. TIVO works MUCH BETTER.

My question is that with TIVO recording things so efficiently, assuming that
I watch a show or two a day, and delete them, and I've set up season passes
to not keep more than 5 shows, in the real world, how long will it take
before my 80 GB hard drive fills up and starts deleting things? It probably
records several other shows everyday, and then all the recommended stuff.

On my DishPlayer, I could always see how much time was remaining on the Hard
Drive. As far as I can tell, my DirecTivo doesn't give me this information.
I'm very technically inclined, and reasonably proficient in Linux, and have
considered replacing the hard drive with a 300 GB. But, I'm not going to
spend a couple hundred bucks on the new hard drive if the 80GB is plenty
enough size to keep everything running smoothly.

So, in recap, I'd like some info on:

1.) typically, how many days pass before TIVo starts dumping stuff
automatically;

2.) Is there any way to tell how much time in remaining on the Hard Drive;

and, while we're at it,

3.) Are there any bugs in the TIVO software I should look out for?

Thanks.

mj

So, in recap, I'd like some info on:

1.) typically, how many days pass before TIVo starts dumping stuff
automatically;

That *highly* depends on what you've got scheduled to record. Tivo's
default behavior is to essentially keep the hard drive full, i.e. any
free space is filled up with suggestions. Then it dumps things as
needed to make space, from lowest to highest priority, until there's
nothing left that isn't marked as "keep". So in that respect, it's
nearly *always* dumping something. That's probably why Tivo doesn't
have a "space available" option.

It is certainly possible to change the default behavior (i.e. turning
off suggestions, etc.), but there really isn't much benefit.


2.) Is there any way to tell how much time in remaining on the Hard Drive;

The general trick is to look at how many "suggestions" there are
(assuming suggestions has not been turned off). Since suggestions are
set to the lowest priority, any of them will be deleted to make room for
anything you schedule to record. It's a rough swag, but that's usually
all you need.

and, while we're at it,

3.) Are there any bugs in the TIVO software I should look out for?

There are some minor ones in the latest version 7 software, but they are
mostly interface quirks and responsiveness issues, tiny annoyances at
worst, and they don't affect the DTivos since they don't get version 7.
Recording and/or scheduling bugs are basically unheard of. There are
some issues (*not* bugs) with recording shows that overlap by a few
minutes (for instance "Lost" ends at 1 minute after the hour, which
interferes with, say, "West Wing"), but with your dual tuner DTivo that
will hardly ever give you problems.

Enjoy!

Randy S.

"Someguy" wrote in message ...
Hi there. I recently migrated from Dishnetwork to DirecTV because the
Dishnetwork DVR was "buggy as all get out." (to use a southern expression
from my childhood). As soon as Dishnetwork would get something working,
they'd drop it and replace it with something else. I felt like I was paying
them to Beta test their software. TIVO works MUCH BETTER.

My question is that with TIVO recording things so efficiently, assuming that
I watch a show or two a day, and delete them, and I've set up season passes
to not keep more than 5 shows, in the real world, how long will it take
before my 80 GB hard drive fills up and starts deleting things? It probably
records several other shows everyday, and then all the recommended stuff.

On my DishPlayer, I could always see how much time was remaining on the Hard
Drive. As far as I can tell, my DirecTivo doesn't give me this information.
I'm very technically inclined, and reasonably proficient in Linux, and have
considered replacing the hard drive with a 300 GB. But, I'm not going to
spend a couple hundred bucks on the new hard drive if the 80GB is plenty
enough size to keep everything running smoothly.

So, in recap, I'd like some info on:

1.) typically, how many days pass before TIVo starts dumping stuff
automatically;

2.) Is there any way to tell how much time in remaining on the Hard Drive;

and, while we're at it,

3.) Are there any bugs in the TIVO software I should look out for?

Thanks.

mj

People have opined that leaving Suggestion recordings enabled will give
a rough indication of available space since Suggestions are always deleted
first to get space for new recordings.

The Yellow Exclamation items may remain in Now Playing for a number
of weeks depending on how much scheduled recording you do each week.
I have a Yellow Exclamation item dated 10/21/04 (3 hours) in my
Now Playing list. I delete most weekly programs after a few days
and usually before the next episode airs.

There are about six hours worth of Green Icons in the Now Playing list
on my 35 hour DirecTV DVR. My DVR holds about 32-35 hours of
programs. There are about 14-15 hours of new programming recorded
each week not including Suggestions on my DVR.

You should know in a month or two if additional disk space is worth
the expense and bother of adding it.

In article , "Someguy" jnkmail
says...
Hi there. I recently migrated from Dishnetwork to DirecTV because the
Dishnetwork DVR was "buggy as all get out." (to use a southern expression
from my childhood). As soon as Dishnetwork would get something working,
they'd drop it and replace it with something else. I felt like I was paying
them to Beta test their software. TIVO works MUCH BETTER.

My question is that with TIVO recording things so efficiently, assuming that
I watch a show or two a day, and delete them, and I've set up season passes
to not keep more than 5 shows, in the real world, how long will it take
before my 80 GB hard drive fills up and starts deleting things? It probably
records several other shows everyday, and then all the recommended stuff.

On my DishPlayer, I could always see how much time was remaining on the Hard
Drive. As far as I can tell, my DirecTivo doesn't give me this information.
I'm very technically inclined, and reasonably proficient in Linux, and have
considered replacing the hard drive with a 300 GB. But, I'm not going to
spend a couple hundred bucks on the new hard drive if the 80GB is plenty
enough size to keep everything running smoothly.

So, in recap, I'd like some info on:

1.) typically, how many days pass before TIVo starts dumping stuff
automatically;

When the disk is full it deletes the oldest deletable program to free up
space (the yellow exclamation button).


2.) Is there any way to tell how much time in remaining on the Hard Drive;

That machine is 70 hours. Add up your programs and see how many it takes
to fill the drive.


and, while we're at it,

3.) Are there any bugs in the TIVO software I should look out for?

Thanks.

If you are going to add space I'd suggest www.weaknees.com for either a
replacement drive (keep your stocker for backup) or a second drive (with
a nice bracket, fan, etc).

In article ,
says...

"Someguy" wrote in message ...
Hi there. I recently migrated from Dishnetwork to DirecTV because the
Dishnetwork DVR was "buggy as all get out." (to use a southern expression
from my childhood). As soon as Dishnetwork would get something working,
they'd drop it and replace it with something else. I felt like I was paying
them to Beta test their software. TIVO works MUCH BETTER.

My question is that with TIVO recording things so efficiently, assuming that
I watch a show or two a day, and delete them, and I've set up season passes
to not keep more than 5 shows, in the real world, how long will it take
before my 80 GB hard drive fills up and starts deleting things? It probably
records several other shows everyday, and then all the recommended stuff.

On my DishPlayer, I could always see how much time was remaining on the Hard
Drive. As far as I can tell, my DirecTivo doesn't give me this information.
I'm very technically inclined, and reasonably proficient in Linux, and have
considered replacing the hard drive with a 300 GB. But, I'm not going to
spend a couple hundred bucks on the new hard drive if the 80GB is plenty
enough size to keep everything running smoothly.

So, in recap, I'd like some info on:

1.) typically, how many days pass before TIVo starts dumping stuff
automatically;

2.) Is there any way to tell how much time in remaining on the Hard Drive;

and, while we're at it,

3.) Are there any bugs in the TIVO software I should look out for?

Thanks.

mj

People have opined that leaving Suggestion recordings enabled will give
a rough indication of available space since Suggestions are always deleted
first to get space for new recordings.

The Yellow Exclamation items may remain in Now Playing for a number
of weeks depending on how much scheduled recording you do each week.
I have a Yellow Exclamation item dated 10/21/04 (3 hours) in my
Now Playing list. I delete most weekly programs after a few days
and usually before the next episode airs.

There are about six hours worth of Green Icons in the Now Playing list
on my 35 hour DirecTV DVR. My DVR holds about 32-35 hours of
programs. There are about 14-15 hours of new programming recorded
each week not including Suggestions on my DVR.

You should know in a month or two if additional disk space is worth
the expense and bother of adding it.




You only record 15 hours of programming a week? I have that much new
stuff every day at least.

2.) Is there any way to tell how much time in remaining on the Hard
Drive;

http://hme.pvrblog.com/node/78

Someguy wrote:
: 1.) typically, how many days pass before TIVo starts dumping stuff
: automatically;

This varies.

: 2.) Is there any way to tell how much time in remaining on the Hard Drive;

Not directly -- As others have indicated, suggestions makes for a guide.

But for me, the question is *not* how much disk space do I have left-- after
all if I knew that information, I would then do some math in my head thinking
I want to record X hours in the next couple days which means I might lose some
programs... Right? Why should *I* have to do this math.

Turns out I don't have to which is why I think TiVo doesn't give me the
data anyway. They don't want to have to explain why something deleted when
it said I had xxGB free.

What I do is sort my 'Now Playing' by expiration date. Then I go to the
programs that are going to expire first. If I care if it gets deleted, then
I change its expiration date to some time in the future when I think I'll
get around to watching it. Otherwise, I leave it with an ! in it.

During the process of extending a date, *TiVO* does the math for me
that I would have done and alerts me that it may have to delete something
*else* earlier than planned. Or it may tell me that somthing is not
going to record for lack of disk space. *THIS* is the information that
is useful to me. Now I know I'm going to be running short on disk space
and I need to decide if I want to keep the current recordings, or cancel
upcoming recordings. This is exactly the information I *might* have derived
had I known the free disk space (or suggestion disk space, or however
you might implement it). But I might have derived it wrong unless I
carefully looked through my whole To-Do list.

Just don't let anything you care about get an ! in it and TiVo will let
you know if you start asking to record more than it has room for. That's
a much more useful piece of data than free space (imho-- to each his own).
--
Craig

"theyak" wrote in message . ..
In article ,
says...
....

There are about six hours worth of Green Icons in the Now Playing list
on my 35 hour DirecTV DVR. My DVR holds about 32-35 hours of
programs. There are about 14-15 hours of new programming recorded
each week not including Suggestions on my DVR.

You should know in a month or two if additional disk space is worth
the expense and bother of adding it.



You only record 15 hours of programming a week? I have that much new
stuff every day at least.

You can watch live buffer content for 24 hours each day without storing
any programs.

("Someguy" ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
My question is that with TIVO recording things so efficiently, assuming that
I watch a show or two a day, and delete them, and I've set up season passes
to not keep more than 5 shows, in the real world, how long will it take
before my 80 GB hard drive fills up and starts deleting things?

A long, long, time.

I had a 120GB drive and over 100 entries in the "Season Pass Manager" and
*never* filled up the drive, even though I watch only about 3-4 hours of
TV a day. I also have almost every show set to keep "all episodes", so
I could get a *lot* of one show stacked up, which your setting won't allow.

--
Jeff Rife |
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