Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

I ordered the Sky HD channels about 3 days ago and twice my box has been on 'critical' with less than one page of recordings. I recorded about 6 films from Sky Movies HD alongside those two episodes of Doctor Who that aired on BBC HD at the weekend and that was enough to fill the entire Hard Drive.

Is anyone else finding this a somewhat severe problem?

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

HD takes 4 times the hours (or around that value - can be even more if the films are long) more space so that is likely to where your space has gone.

I've noticed it on my HDD after recording 4 HD items and about 1 or 2 pages of SD.

---------- Post added at 02:48 ---------- Previous post was at 02:48 ----------

Also just to add, the hours remaining at the top of the screen represents SD programs ONLY :)

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

Must say that this is the one downfall of V+ boxes, the storage is completely inadequate for HD. With the big push to HD it's a problem that really needs to be addressed.

I've always found 80 hours adequate for my needs and only ever got to the critical notice once when recording SD. With HD recording I'll have to be a lot more selective in what I record as space will be a real issue.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

I've taken to reducing the padding at the end of HD recordings (you don't need any if recording Sky Movies as they always end earlier than the published time, and ten mins padding if HD soon adds up) but it's still a big problem.
A film like Inglourious Basterds (or however it's mis-spelled) is two and a half hours long with no padding so in HD that's taking up over ten hours on the hard disk. Eight of those and your disk is full.
No chance of recording a series in HD for later viewing so I'm not recording anything off BBC HD at the moment - I record it in SD and if it is available in HD on demand when I get around to watching it fine, if not the regular BBC channels is good enough.
The only HD recordings I'm making are of movies, and I'm keeping five or six on a sort of rotation basis. At least with Sky and Film4 films are kept in such frequent rotation it's not a matter of miss it and you have to wait an age for it to return...

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

yes this is a problem for me too , now i just record one hd film and watch it before i record another.
i also had to go through my series links and delete a few :(
i love my sports be it football,boxing.golf.tennis.darts.formula 1 etc and
im a bit worried about when the football season starts up and i am wanting to record maybe 3 or 4 matches on a weekend,its only a matter of time before i miss a bit of crucial sport.
now my samsung v+ is not so appealling as i once thought it to be.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

I've found it a problem so I record less BBC shows, hoping to watch them in HD on iplayer within a week, or SD after a week.

They time remaining also seems to be a guesstimate at best, as I've seen it go up after deleting a programme!

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

I knew from the off I'd have less space, and if you don't pay attention it can disappear very quickly.

What hasn't helped is that I'd upgraded the HD in my skyHD box, and could record piles of stuff before getting even half full.

On the flip side, it's good because it makes me watch stuff, rather than just horde it.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

Space is definitely becoming an issue now. I tend to record quite a few films off Sky Movies and then save them for a rainy day. When the movies are taking around 10 hours worth of space you're very limited to what you can keep. It's becoming a bit of a race to watch things before it fills up now. VM really need to come up with a solution here, whether it by HDD upgrades or external drives. I know the TIVO box is on the way, but it still remains to be seen when and for how much.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

A couple of years back I stated the hard drive was too small, It was obvious as soon as a few HD channels arrived recording would be a problem, It wouldn't take much to swap over a bigger drive.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

At the end of the day it's not designed as long term storage anyway

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

indeed, it's for short term recording/personal scheduling. Expect more space to come with TIVO.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

Granted. However, when Sky One HD and BBC One HD are here I don't think I'll be recording anything in SD (or very little if so). 20 hours of HD recording is very, very little in my eyes. I'm a little concerned I'll have to splash out £250 on a TIVO box, when all I need is a £40 hard drive that I could easily fit myself if T&C's allowed.

I also think it would be nice of there was a preference to change your default hours remaining from "SD hours" to "HD hours". 80 hours really is quite meaningless if you don't record SD! Alternatively they could just change it to be % free.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

no pricing has been released for TIVO... I'd be suprised if VM charged £250 though!

Yeah 0% would be better now, especially with all the new HD channels, again something I'd expect from the TIVO software.

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

Fingers crossed you are right DF :)

Re: Is anyone else finding HDD space a problem after Sky HD?
 

Surely its down to the individual as to how long he keeps the recording, I've not read anywhere that says its designed for short term recording, I thought the idea of a hard drive is for storage. A 160 Gb hard drive is pittiful for the job it needs to do, Why should we expect more to come from tivo, if its built to Virgin spec there could be a lot of disappointed customers, instead of speculation on Tivo we should wait till the final product is released then we can boast about the spec or complain how poor an upgrade it was.