[abbyqueue]

Hi. I love my Tivo, but I can't seem to find an important feature that was available on my cable DVR -- how do I know how full my Tivo DVR is?

I don't see an option to check to see some sort of percentage free/full memory, something like that.

Does anyone know of anything like this, or am I just missing the obvious?

Thanks!

 

[nlsinger]

It doesn't exist, per se. A quick and dirty way to figure out how much of space is left is to enable suggestions and use the number of those that are recorded to figure it out. It would also be useful to search "free space indicator" on this forum for a lot of discussion on this.

 

[abbyqueue]

Thanks!

 

[mick66]

It doesn't exist, per se. A quick and dirty way to figure out how much of space is left is to enable suggestions and use the number of those that are recorded to figure it out. It would also be useful to search "free space indicator" on this forum for a lot of discussion on this.

Or use suggestions and the recendly deleted folder or just the recently deleted folder. This works fine if you leave the Tivo to manage itlelf, however, if you clean out the RDF folder by permanently deleting things it doesn't work so well.

Another better option if you have your tivos connected to a home network is to download a program called TivoPlaylist to your PC.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/c/dcahoe/tivo/index.htm

 

[Puppy76]

Not really adding anything new here, but...

just go by the recently deleted folder. If it starts getting low, you'll need to delete some more shows (of course this will be meaningless at first since at first it'll be empty).

 

[classicsat]

I use an app on my PC called TivoPlayList.

 

[restart88]

This is actually a good question.

I have a "40 hour unit" and on it I have 14 Unbox 45 minute shows, and 2 other two hour shows, all at best quality.

So yesterday I recorded the Bucs game with a 1 hour padding and it said my game would be deleted early, like the next day. This was without any shows scheduled for Sun or Mon.

So by my guess it sounds like about 18 - 20 hours or so by my estimate would be my max. But it would be nice to have a bar or menu or something to show how full the disk is.

I used to record in different quality levels and still do occasionally but for me it just wasn't good at low quality and the space savings of medium was only a few extra shows and since I now archieve some of my favorites to the PC (to keep from digging out the DVDs) it seemed just as well to use best quality setting.

 

[wolflord11]

It is one feature that the Tivo does really need. Yes you can download Software to do the job, but it would be great if Tivo would put the program on the actual units.

Even a Software update could be done for this feature on all Tivo's currently out there.

Now to answer the OP's question, and I am sorry but cannot help myself:

How full is your Tivo? Answer: As full as you want it to be

 

[Puppy76]

I can sort of understand why they don't though, since the idea is that it's always full, and the different qualities take different amounts of space. In practice though a lot of us don't use suggestions, etc.

 

[mick66]

since the idea is that it's always full,

???
I've never had a full Tivo in 6½ years of using them.

 

[jbernardis]

???
I've never had a full Tivo in 6½ years of using them.

+1

 

[Soapm]

I think he is saying it's kind of a moving target since the Tivo will delete shows in order to record shows. The only way to really "fill" it up is to have all shows set KUID.

 

[mick66]

I think he is saying it's kind of a moving target since the Tivo will delete shows in order to record shows. The only way to really "fill" it up is to have all shows set KUID.

A moving target wouldn't always be full. An 80 hour Tivo is full when it has 80 episodes of CSI on it regardless of the keep until settings.

or can you explain why an 80 hour Tivo with 80 episodes of CSI set to keep until space needed isn't full?

 

[Soapm]

A moving target wouldn't always be full. An 80 hour Tivo is full when it has 80 episodes of CSI on it regardless of the keep until settings.

or can you explain why an 80 hour Tivo with 80 episodes of CSI set to keep until space needed isn't full?

Sorta, an 80 hour Tivo may appear full with 80 CSI episodes but depending on the to do list and the shows keep setting it won't stay that way very long. So it's not really full, it's like virtually full. I called it a moving target because it auto makes room for the next show(s). So in this sense you are right, "A moving target wouldn't always be full."

In the above situation and the keep until setting is KUID then it is full and will not record any more shows because it has no where to store them. This is my understanding...

 

[Arcady]

An 80 hour TiVo is a box that seriously needs a hard drive upgrade...

 

[mick66]

Sorta, an 80 hour Tivo may appear full with 80 CSI episodes but depending on the to do list and the shows keep setting it won't stay that way very long. So it's not really full, it's like virtually full. I called it a moving target because it auto makes room for the next show(s). So in this sense you are right, "A moving target wouldn't always be full."

In the above situation and the keep until setting is KUID then it is full and will not record any more shows because it has no where to store them. This is my understanding...

I see you can create as elaborate a world as you need.

Who said anything about recording any more?
All I said was 80 Episodes fills the drive regardless of the KU setting. There is no difference between 80 eps KUID and 80 eps KUSN They take up equal space.
Was I wrong? No.

 

[mick66]

An 80 hour TiVo is a box that seriously needs a hard drive upgrade...

Not for people with a life.
and note that I do have over 900GB of tivo hard drive space.

 

[Puppy76]

An 80 hour TiVo is a box that seriously needs a hard drive upgrade...

I do okay most of the time. During the thick of a TV season it gets tight sometimes, which means I need to watch stuff faster

Helps that I can transfer stuff off and watch sometimes as much as half or more on my computer.

Regarding the full thing, if you're using suggestions, then the Tivo can theoretically always be full, and because of KUID settings, it's possible for the unit to be full, but still record new shows, so a regular space indicator wouldn't mean as much as on more primitive recording devices.

 

[abbyqueue]

I guess what I would like it do is tell me what percentage it is full all the time, including Suggestions, KUSN, KUID -- everything. Then, when I click on the percentage, it could break it down for me -- this much space is dedicated to KUID, this much to Suggestions, etc. It should be a snapshot of the TiVo at that very point in time. That's not very difficult to program.

 

[rich]

Like the OP said, the cable company DVR (SA8300HD) can easily tell you how full it is. I find that useful sometimes. I don't know why TiVo can't/won't show it.