WMC recorder disk space requirements?

2268 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by lovemyram4x4, Aug 3, 2011

Mike_Boulanger

Discussion Starter · Aug 3, 2011

Can anyone tell me how required disk space is calculated within Windows Media Center?

I recently upgraded from a HDHomeRun (2 tuners on my LAN) to a HDHomeRun Prime (6 tuners on my LAN).

My HTPC only has a 64GB SSD because most recordings are done on a different machine, however I did expect to be able to make short recordings from this box which then moves them to my media server using MCEFileMover.

This was working fine with my HDHomeRun, however now that I've upgraded to a Prime (and increase my tuner count to 6 using TunerSalad), Windows Media Center is reporting not enough disk space for recordings. If I go to the Recorder Storage settings screen, I get:

Your tuner configuration requires 36GB of disk space for TV pause buffer files, plus additional space for recorded TV files. The selected drive needs an additional 8GB. Select a different drive, or free at least 8GB from this drive before selecting it.

I checked my other HTPC with a 96GB SSD and it reports 2 hours of HD recording time available, which should be sufficient.

36GB seems excessive for TV pause buffer files. Why should the # of tuners increase the space requirement, since I can only watch one live tuner at a time anyway?

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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genro

· #2 · Aug 3, 2011

Mike,

Someone else ran into a similar issue here:
http://experts.windows.com/frms/wind...53/531872.aspx

I'm not sure if their solution of reducing the length of time for the LiveTV buffer works for you.

Another option is to try to set your recorded path to a different location (NAS or a Server). I'm not sure if you will run into any issues recording directly over the network though.

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Mike_Boulanger

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 3, 2011

Wow, that's crazy. Thanks for that link.

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lovemyram4x4

· #4 · Aug 3, 2011

There's 3 entries related to live TV buffer, the 1st one is for length of each file, the 2nd one is for the number of files per show, and a 3rd one is maxium number of files before cleanup. I believe the 3rd is for meant for if you're using extenders were you'd be able to have live TV going on more than 1 stream and by default it set this higher as you add more tuners. So if you simple just change this entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVer sion\\Media Center\\Service\\Video\\Tuners\\BackingStoreMaxNumBackingFil es you can keep the buffer as it is but bring the min record storage size down(I'd set it at the same size as BackingStoreMaxExistingBackingFiles). While you're at it you also change BackingStoreEachFileDurationSeconds and BackingStoreMaxExistingBackingFiles to give you what ever size buffer you'd like, I prefer making the file duration shorter but making the max number much higher(my buffer size 5min/2hr total) this way as files get dropped it takes less time out of how far I can rewind.

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jhoff80

· #5 · Aug 3, 2011

If it was me, I'd get a cheap HDD for recordings alone.

When I upgraded my MediaCenter to a SSD, this is exactly what I did.... kept the HDD installed just for recordings. This way, I don't constantly write and delete to my SSD (which extends its life) and also I have more space for storage in case my network is temporarily down.

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Mike_Boulanger

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 3, 2011

Thanks. Can anyone tell me, by default with these 2x 500MB files per tuner, what the max pause time is?

I'd prefer not to add a drive because these are tiny SFF PCs, with no room inside, but the idea of adding an external USB 3.0 drive seems pretty clean and reasonable.

If I find 96GB to be sufficient I may just swap out this 64GB SSD because I have a use for it somewhere else anyhow.

Thanks

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lovemyram4x4

· #7 · Aug 3, 2011

It's hard to say since there's many factors that affect space/time(A/V quality, provider compression, etc.), normally a good quality stream will be

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