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DVR records partial program

Is there a way to prevent this? If my DVR doesn't have enough room it start recording and the stop when room runs out -- even records as little as 10 seconds. With Tivo, I would get a message when I tried to record that said "you don't have enough room" or if there wasn't enough room it wouldn't record, and there would be a message in the queue as to why.

And, if I have a program that didn't record because there wasn't enough room, and the show is still on, if I start deleting programs as soon as there is enough to record whatever is left of the program it will record it, so I get the last whatever part of the program recorded.

Obviously I try to make sure I have enough room for the shows I schedule to record but it's not always possible.

Comments

CRobGauth

The only way this should happen is if you have every recorded program on your DVR set to save until I delete.

So you either need a bigger DVR or need to not record so much (any of it on demand instead?).

lacticacidtrip1

Over the years I’ve seen my DVR do a number of strange things when it runs out of room. Sometimes it refuses to record at all. Sometimes it starts recording from the beginning, then stops when it gets full. Sometimes it starts recording from the beginning, then “eats its own tail”, leaving you with a recording of just the end of the program. Sometimes it just starts late, leaving you with only an ending. Most of the time it will document the incident in the folder titled “History” (may also be labeled “All Activity”).

If you are watching TV when it happens, there will usually be a warning. In this case, make sure to tune to the channel you want to record so that your show will be in the buffer. Then unprotect or delete less important recordings to make room. Now if your DVR doesn’t automatically start your recording, you can manually hit record and your program should be recorded back to the beginning (because it is still in the buffer).

Most of these prevention solutions were just covered by CRobGauth:

Choose to record more things in SD rather than HD. HD takes about 4 times as much space.

Unprotect the programs that you won’t mind losing in order to get the ones you really want. Then they can be overwritten when space is needed.

Check to see which programs are OnDemand or online (Hulu, individual network sites). Then you can make these lower on your Priority list or leave them unprotected. Just make sure to remember to watch them before they get dropped from their host.

Schedule fewer recordings.

Bite the bullet and pay the upgrade fee for a larger/expandable capacity DVR.

Hope this helps.

Caroliso

Thanks, guys.

You are right that I should change some of my HD records to non. And I should probably also un-protect some of the programs that I mark "save until I delete" to avoid getting a partial record.

lacticacidtrip1

You are welcome, Caroliso. Been fighting this battle for many years myself. Glad I could help.

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