[tommyb55]

I own a 30 hr showstopper and it holds up to 10 and 1/2 hours on the temporary recording buffer (for pause feature). Do the newer replaytv units hold similar amounts of time on their temporary recording buffers or are they like the tivos and only hold 30 minutes?

 

[heathriel]

They hold as much time for the buffer as you have free space left on the drive for High quality recording.


For example, on a 30GB drive, say you have 9 hours of standard recording done and sitting on the drive, guaranteed or not, you will have 7 hours available for the live buffer.

 

[tommyb55]

Thanks for the info.

 

[KenL]

Actually that's an interesting question.


Has anyone with a large 4xxx or 5xxx unit ever taken note of how large a buffer they see? My 2xxx and 3xxx would routinely buffer 23 hours if allowed to -- space permitting (back to the last dial-in connection.) When I first upgraded my 4xxx, I noticed right away it seemed to only go back 10 or 11 hours. I checked it several times (over about 2 months) and that appeared to be the upper limit even when left inactive on the channel much longer than that.


BTW the only way I know of to check that is to hold down 20X rewind and slide back... since I don't believe x - QuickSkip works while in the buffer. Or leave it on pause for that long perhaps?


Has anyone noticed a very large buffer... say 20 or 30 hours when left alone (and not recording) that long? I really don't have the free space to check it right now.

 

[JimWCB]

The easiest way to check how much live buffer you have is to start watichign something live and hit the pause button right away. The pause screen will come up and tell you how much time is remaining for the live buffer to use during the pause.

 

[KenL]

Quote:

Originally posted by JimWCB The easiest way to check how much live buffer you have is to start watichign something live and hit the pause button right away. The pause screen will come up and tell you how much time is remaining for the live buffer to use during the pause.

Has anyone else tested that out on a 4xxx, 5xxx? I had 40-45 hours of "Pause Time Remaining" (when paused) but the 4xxx would only rewind 10 - 12 hours. That was in contrast to the older units when attempting the same thing. Seemed to me like some kind of limit on it. Has anyone ever confirmed they can rewind (say 20 hours) in the buffer on a newer upgraded unit?

 

[KenL]

BTW it seems to me few ever test this limit since they are constantly changing channels and recording on a daily basis, and fill up the unit. So it would be something best observed on a spare unit shortly after upgrading... while it is still somewhat empty.


A prime example of the benefits of going back that far in the buffer was the day Martha Stewart had her regularly scheduled live segment on the CBS morning show, right after her scandal broke. Not like there was any chance I would've just happened to have recorded that.


Well after it happened... I read about the uproar. That night when I got home... it just so happened one of my machines was still sitting on CBS. I was able to rewind and watch that interview... so I saw the utter violence with which Martha was persistently chopping her salad (the only thing she wanted to talk about that entire segment)... I've never looked @ Martha Stewart the same since.

 

[craigb]

When I first purchased my 4080, I set aside 1GB for the photo partition (the minimum, but thats for another thread). I had 79 hours of pause time available. I never tried rewinding that far back, but I did go away on a business trip and left it paused and didnt have anything set to record. When I came back 2 days later, I did have 2 days of buffered shows available, imagine the same would have been true if I had left for 3 days.

 

[KenL]

Quote:

Originally posted by craigb When I first purchased my 4080, I set aside 1GB for the photo partition (the minimum, but thats for another thread). I had 79 hours of pause time available. I never tried rewinding that far back, but I did go away on a business trip and left it paused and didnt have anything set to record. When I came back 2 days later, I did have 2 days of buffered shows available, imagine the same would have been true if I had left for 3 days.

Interesting.


But wouldn't 79 hours of pause time mean it had roughly 240 GB free? Was the 4080 upgraded?

 

[majik]

craigb had 79 hours of pause time avaliable. A 4080 would have 80 hours, in "standard" quality. In order to have 79hours of pause time take up 240Gigs of HD space, you'd need to be using "High" quality.


Did I get this right? Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[heathriel]

The live buffer is ALWAYS High quality. If you're recording something it changes to the quality you set for that recording for the duration of that record, then goes back to High.

 

[KenL]

Quote:

Originally posted by majik ...Did I get this right? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Well you're correct except, as the Annoying Wench pointed out, an unhacked 4080 would only theoretically buffer @ most 26 hours on pause?


Has anyone scanned through a large (4xxx, 5xxx) buffer to see how long it actually is... after remaining paused for a day for two?


I'd wondered if perhaps the buffer is limited by the original size of the unit instead of current free space (if greater). I never noticed anything digging around in the OS but still I wonder if there are additional constraints on circular.mpg?