Size of recorded shows are huge

[robpatt]

I just installed GB-PVR this evening, got it configured and set my recordings to TV quality. I recorded a show for 4min then stopped the recording to find that I had used 157mb of space which really suprised me. That means a 20min show will be about 650mb give or take. I can download TV shows that are 175mb in size which are coded with Divx and look outstanding.
Is that something I can do with GB-PVR? Is there a way to record a program and keep it under 200mb and retain teh quality?

I plan on recording a 6hr movie this weekend and with a 200gb drive, will that be enough room?

[HtV]

I plan on recording a 6hr movie this weekend and with a 200gb drive, will that be enough room?

Sounds normal to me. A 6 hr rec would give a ~ 12 gb file .
So no problem I think. You can always afterwards convert it to divx/xvid.

[agidius]

I had mine record everything I wanted to watch for a week while out of town.

took about 200GB for everything.

[Ommina]

Is that something I can do with GB-PVR? Is there a way to record a program and keep it under 200mb and retain teh quality?

I plan on recording a 6hr movie this weekend and with a 200gb drive, will that be enough room?

Loads of room. I budget about 2GB an hour. Ish.

You can reduce the space used somehwat by reducing the bitrate, but, as others have already pointed it, you would probably be better served by converting it to xvid/divx afterwards.

Said conversion can take a good chunk of time though. I imagine realtime conversion is out of the question. Certainly is on -my- CPU.

[nitrogen_widget]

I use a variable bit rate between 3500 & 4500 I think.
That way I can manage to squeeze a full length movie onto a DVD without wasting time recoding it to fit.

To me it's almost as good as the Tivo i've got & way better than a VCR.

[rowle1jt]

I recorded a show for 4min then stopped the recording to find that I had used 157mb of space which really suprised me.

Like the others are saying... that's about right. I have a 200 gig drive, and I'd like another. Or maybe a 500 gig drive.

[HtV]

Or maybe a 500 gig drive.

Or two?

[rowle1jt]

As long as I am dreaming... I'll take a couple of these Hard Drives!

[robpatt]

Great thanks for the reply's.

So looks like I will need another HD I picked up a 40gb and 200gb SataII drives to replace my old 133's.

[dreamscape]

good quality, and small file size don't go hand in hand, an hour long recording is usually ~3gb, i believe, you can transcode to xvid and keep them around ~400mb depending on your choice of options.