How to get the most out of storage?

Channels DVR Server
#1

Hi. I am wondering if there is a way (other than deleting recordings) to get the most out of my drive and keeping it at a low level (say maybe below 50% for example). Is there a way I can make recording sizes smaller without losing quality? Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

#2

You could use a different drive just for DVR recordings. And then the drive you want below 50% won't be touched and you can manage the files there yourself.

#3

Buy another HDD. Storage space is cheap. I use 14tb HDD exos. $350 ea. Thats only $23 per TB. (First HDD I ever purchased was 8GB and I paid like $175ish)

If your looking to run a home server (channels, plex, torrent box, etc) you got to be prepared to drop $ into your server or NAS (I realy like the asustor nas)

But if u want to limit storage space.

  1. Reduce maximum saved recordings. I have all mine set to "keep all" but you may want to set yours to only keep 10 or so.

2)Delete stuff. Its self explanatory

  1. if there is a HD and a SD version of the same channel DVR the SD version for smaller file size
#4

The short answer is no. Recordings are made at the highest possible quality, and there is no way to adjust that.

#5

There are two paths you can follow:

  1. You can post-process your recordings to:
    • Transcode your recording
    • Move the new compressed file into a directory that has been marked for Local Content within Channels
    • Remove the original recording
    • Force Channels to scan your Imports for new items, and scan its recordings for deleted content
  2. Setup a secondary storage location:
    • Add an additional disk to your server as a secondary path
    • Move files from your primary drive to the additional disk, maintaining the directory structure (TV/Series Name/Filename.mpg)
2 Likes
#6

You can definitely do something to compress the video without losing quality!!

MCEBuddy is a program that you can install and depending on the profile you select will allow you to convert the show to a different format and possibly only taking up 1/2 of the original file.

I have MCEBuddy monitoring my Channels directory and when a new file pops in MCE will convert it and move it to it's final location. I've recently moved from Plex and still working out some of the kinks . . .but I'm sure others have the answers that we are looking for as what we are looking to do is probably fairly common.