There are a few ways to control how much space any given show takes up, and when it gets deleted. There is really no way to prioritize the shows for deletion like there is for recording... but consider the options you set when you set up your season pass.
How many episodes you save... Save until you delete vs. until space required..... First runs vs repeats vs all programs..... Recording quality (best, high, medium, basic, HD) The most dangerous combination to your hard drive is "save all programs including repeats until I delete". Sure way to wipe out everything else when that Simpons marathon comes on and fills up your drive in a day, and for what, reruns ? Also, there's an option to "record all episodes". Be very cautious with this one as it does two things, it records EVERY showing of the show, repeats, reruns, first runs, AND it moves that season pass to the top of your list, making sure it records every episode. You'd be shocked how often Simpons is on every day. Of course your space is dynamic with the quality setting. Basic sucks, it's no better than a decent VCR, and that's not why I spent the money on a Tivo. Medium is good for general broadcast, but still a bit weak compared to most cable signals. I find High works pretty well for most shows. Best might be used for some things, and it does get used for anything you're watching off broadcast, and then decide to record it (it can't switch recording quality in the middle of the show, since you watch "live TV" at Best quality, that's what it records at). If space is limited, you might change the record quality of shows so they take up space appropriate to your desires. Long events might get bumped down in quality to conserve space. I have a couple of setting combos I use... First, almost everything is at High quality, I have the space. For my upgraded HD box, I can get 100 hrs at Best, 160 hours at High, 213 hours at Medium, and 409 hours at Basic. I was using an upgraded S1 box prior which had 80 hours at High (188 hours at basic), and we managed ok with that, so 160 hours at the same quality is a huge amount of idiot box time to have available. Be very selective about what you save in HD quality, it will eat up your drive space very quickly. Save until I delete, first runs, keep all episodes..... this is for the shows I have to watch. Stuff like 24, ER, CSI and Law and Order. Generally, these are the only "save until I delete" on the disk. Next down the season pass list are shows like Stargate, and a variety of other stuff on the cable networks, ones that tend to repeat the showings a few times during the week. Tivo should be able to resolve conflicts between two shows if another showing is available, but it wasn't programmed that way last I knew. If you set up Stargate (which shows 2-3 times during the week) at a higher position than some other network program that shows only once, it will record Stargate at the first available showing, even if it means not recording the network show. By placing the order carefully, you can avoid this. I'll set these up the same as the previous set, save until I delete, first run, and keep all episodes. Next set are shows I like, but won't commit to watching unless I feel like it, stuff like Modern Marvels, Pinks, Good Eats, stuff that gets repeated often on the various cable channels, where previous episodes aren't important to the next, and it's simply lower priority than the shows I really like. These get recorded with the options of first run, until space needed, and keep 5-10 episodes. This keeps a limited number of the shows on the drive, and typically they get replaced by another episode of the same, so it's a rolling selection of these shows. If I spot one in the now playing list I just have to watch, I'll change it to "save until I delete" for that episode. The lowest of all are some repeats of shows I just like to have.... similar to comfort food for me, shows I've seen, background noise for doing some other task with the tube on. These I tend to keep only 5 episodes, save until space needed, and repeats. It keeps those 5 episodes available for me. Also, turn on tivo suggestions for a while, let it full up the remainder of the drive with stuff. Go through periodically and give the thumbs rating to stuff like, dislike, and check out some of the suggestions. There was a cute article a while ago called "My TiVo thinks I'm gay"... what does your TiVo think of your viewing habits. For me, this is more about the afore mentioned "drive space meter", since TiVo doesn't have one, it's your only real way to know how much space you have left at any given time (or the recently deleted folder). Tivo will NEVER delete one of your requested shows to record a suggestion, and will Never record a suggestion rather than one of your season passes or requested recordings. And of course it's nice to go through the "pick a program" menu, select "movies", and start with 0 (zero), and scroll through all the movies that are playing over the next two weeks. Pick a bunch to have on the disk if you have the space, and in addition to your normal series, you'll have some movies to sit down to. Doing this will also kick up movies on the suggestion list. Glen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steven Hawkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 2:26 PM Subject: RE: [TiVo Central] HD TiVo > These are all shows I deem 'unimportant', if I 'save until I delete' all > of my programs then it wouldn't record new programs. It's not that I mind > so much that they got deleted, I just wish I knew which programs were > deleted so I could make a note of which ones to re-record at a later date. > My 'important' shows I keep until I delete, it's just annoying not knowing > which of the 'unimportant' shows have been deleted.. >
