Why doesn't my recording space come back?

[MikeMoss]

Hi

I have a Dish 622 DVR box.

I got down to the point that I had only about 5 hours and 15 minutes of HD recording time left.

So I watched 4 hours of HD programing that I had recorded, then I deleted another 8 hours of stuff I was probably never going to get around to watching.

A total of about 12 hours.

When I was done my available recording time had only increased to 9 hours and 15 minutes.

Where did the rest of the time go.

Since then I have watched a few more things and I'm still showing less then 10 hours of available recording time.

What's going on.

Mike

 

[JSheridan]

Check it again tomorrow. During the overnight download and system maintenance it usually runs an FSCK and recovers some hard disk space.

 

[dangue]

Also, the time left to record is not accurate. Since the MPEG4 conversion for HD, one hour of recorded programming does not take up an hour of space on the DVR. That could explain some of the discrepancy you're seeing.

 

[Jim S.]

I doubt it's got anything to do with the fsck.

The recording time estimates have been severely screwed up ever since they switched most of the HD to MPEG4. Severely, as in, apparently the calculations still assume MPEG2.

 

[KKlare]

The only way to check is with an EHD so you can read the number MB used for each recording. One hour will vary from 700MB of SD MPEG-2 to 1900 MB of HD MPEG-4 to 6400 MB of HD OTA. All excluding commercials and other filler. Dish uses a fixed ratio of MB for SD and HD, perhaps about 800, 3200, and 6000--just a guess.
-Ken

 

[MikeMoss]

Hi

Thanks for the info, I think I'm going to have to get an external hard drive I just don't have enough space. Maybe if I would really sit down and watch the stuff I record I wouldn't have a problem.

Mike

 

[DishSubLA]

As dangue and KKlare said: correct.

This happens to me all the time, but I am aware of the fact that there are a number of factors involving the calculation the DVR makes in attempting to display accurate remaining time.

I have observed that it will err on the side of showing a little less time than actually available so as not to make you think you have room when you don't, so that is good.

I can tell you that anytime I erase an OTA recording, it ALWAYS shows a clear gain. OTA takes up a lot of room. I do believe--IMHO-- that Dish does take into consideration the fact that some will record OTA, so they have to consider MPEG2 ATSC in attempting to show accurate disk space remaining. That is also, probably why it appears that you get almost no gain after deleting and MPEG4 recording from the sat.

 

[KKlare]

Yes, not only does OTA and thus MPEG-2 take a lot of disk space it can take more than the amount that Dish guesses. For no other sub-channels and thus the maximum bandwidth you may need to allow for say 1:05 or more for each hour. With active sub-channels especially multiple ones, the size may be smaller that the Dish guess. MPEG-2 will be consistent in size from show to show on the same channel.
-Ken

 

[navychop]

Hi

Thanks for the info, I think I'm going to have to get an external hard drive I just don't have enough space. Maybe if I would really sit down and watch the stuff I record I wouldn't have a problem.

Mike

I think he's singing our song!