[mythtv-users] HD3000 and High-Def

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Thu Sep 1 05:44:13 UTC 2005


Dewey Smolka wrote:

>>How large would an HD file be? An SD file for me for about an hour of
>>viewing is 3 gig give or take a bit. 
>>    
>>
>I don't have any first hand experience, but around 20-40 GB per hour
>is the figure I've seen batted around. I'm not sure if that's 720p or
>1080i, but for me, it means either a severe limitation on the
>recording capacity or spending more than I want to for storage.
>
>HD is something I'd like to explore, especially because I use Myth
>quite often to record sports, which are about the only things that
>seem to be regularly broadcast in HD. But if it means only being able
>to hold two games on a 200 GB HDD, I think I'll wait.
>  
>
Actually, it's not as bad as you fear.  High-def broadcasts will vary 
between about 4GiB/hr and 10GiB /hr averaging somewhere around 7GiB/hr.  
And, since the stream is encoded in MPEG-2 before transmission, you 
won't have to worry about setting the wrong recording parameters and 
using more bitrate than is required (because you get what you're given).

So, your 200GB will hold between 18 and 46 hours of programming--most 
likely about 26 hours.  If you're currently recording standard def at 
3GiB/hr, you'll probably be able to fit half as much high def in the 
same space.  (I'm recording at about 1.15GiB/hr, so I'll get about 1/6 
as much...)

Mike


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