Video Output Format

[Tara]

HI all,

I am new here so please forgive me if I have posted incorrectly or in the wrong spot, I shall try to get the hang of it here asap.

I have noticed when transferring recordings to my Desktop 2.8 ( and then onto a USB) that the files are really large.
A one hour show seems to take approx 3700 MB+.
So I am lucky if I can get a one hour show from a commercial network onto a 4 gig flash drive.
I believe I am recording in 576p Fixed.

My question is am I recording in the lowest possible resolution or smallest file size ??

Surely a one hour program (with extended recording and ads) should not take 4GB. I really don't need this stuff in super HD.
Do I need to go out and buy very large USB's or must I compress the files somehow?

Thanks in Advance,
Tara

[petestrash]

Hi, welcome to our forums. You have posted in the correct place.

Tivo files are in mpeg2 format which produces really huge files. There is no option on our Tivo HD's to change the resolution that they are recorded in, as you could do with Series 1 Tivo's.

The only way to reduce the file size is to convert the files into a different format or use a higher compression rate.

You can do this with Tivo Desktop and choose which format you would like the .tivo files converted to.

I'm not a fan of TiVo Desktop, you can use a commercial product http://www.videoredo.com which a lot of people use (30 day free trial), or one of the free alternatives.

I use http://code.google.com/p/kmttg/.

Peter.

[Tara]

Thanks Peter,

I am currently attempting to use the TiVo Desktop to compress into H.264 (gosh I hope this works .. any suggestions ??)
Also, thanks for the links, I like the look of Videoredo but will hold off hoping to get the desktop to do what I want it too. (LOL Wish me luck!.)

Thanks,
Tara

[petestrash]

It does work most of the time, just desktop is a resource hog. You should be fine.

Pete.

[Tara]

Woo Hoo it worked !!! Yaaaaayyyyy !!! We shall call me Techie Tara from now on ha ha ha !!

So it took forever to compress but it did work so for now I am a happy camper.

Thanks for your help Peter.

Techie Tara

[petestrash]

Good luck with your new found skills Techie Tara.