Reducing Disk Space Best Practice

[backdoc]

Quality matters to me in most circumstances. But, if I'm watching Shark Tank, I doubt I'd notice any sound quality loss and probably not much video quality. Once I'm done watching it, I'll delete it. For some content, I just don't care that much.

I've got plenty of storage. I just built a new NAS that has 24TB in RAIDZ2. I'm in the process of bringing data in from my old NAS and so I'm tidying things up.

I don't hoard much. I'm sure I have some things that I'll probably never watch, but they are probably already a respectable balance between quality and size.

[backdoc]

@Jay1987

The OP goal is to reduce disk space. That can be achieved 1 of 2 ways. Compression or deletion.

The alternative is to increase storage capacity which cost money. I think everyone can agree more storage is better solution. But may not be in everyones budget.

You're right. Reducing the space is my goal. I didn't need to post to figure out how to use ffmpeg. I was thinking more big picture, like what tools do you use, do you remove commercials permanently (if you previously had them marked for skip), how do you name them, do you leave them in their current location or put them in imports and stuff like that. My first video that I compressed and renamed wouldn't show up in the Library anymore. So, felt like I was missing something. I could always use Plex or something else to play it. But, I was trying to see how everyone else did it and I felt there was probably a typical pattern people followed.

As I mentioned in other posts, I have plenty of storage space. I think I'm just more OCD about keeping uncompressed video hanging around if I can compress it and not miss the loss of quality.

[Jay1987]

@backdoc

I was thinking more big picture, like what tools do you use, do you remove commercials permanently (if you previously had them marked for skip), how do you name them, do you leave them in their current location or put them in imports and stuff like that

For things from Channels DVR i want to keep permanently I use MCEBUDDY to strip commercials. I mainly do this for movies i get on HD antenna. I used to allow it to compress videos. Now i just use it to strip commercials.

In Channels DVR Web UI there is a tool for modification of comskip file to fix incorrect markings. There are probably better tools. I just use the one built into Channels.

I used this guide from forum for my settings when i first setup. These are not the settings i currently use, but was a good starting point.

My MCEBuddy Settings for Channels DVR

I looked around for a “Dummies” guide to setting up MCEBuddy for my Channels DVR. I found some posts with general advice, but nothing as detailed as I wanted. After experimenting, I got MCEBuddy converting my DVR recordings acceptably. My goal was to reduce the disk space consumed by my Library. I am fine with MCEBuddy overwriting the originals. If you have other goals you may need significantly different settings. I may have some unnecessary settings applied (for example, I have both Chann…

@BJ_Safdie

By default, MCEBuddy will name the files the same as the originals, but the extension may be different. That will break Channels DVR’s ability to find the file.

In my case, the HVEC MP4 profile would generate files with the *.mp4 extension. To correct this, you need to edit the “profiles.conf file located in the config directory where MCEBuddy is installed.”

Within profiles.conf, find the profile you selected and add RenameExt=.mpg to the profile.

That instructs MCEBuddy to use the .mpg extension rather than the default. This will keep Channels DVR happy.

@backdoc

My first video that I compressed and renamed wouldn't show up in the Library anymore.

This renames file with incorect file name so channels still sees it. With the incorect file extension I have not had any issues with Channels, plex or vlc not playing.

Alternative is move them to imports.

[backdoc]

I didn't realize there was a way to edit commercials in Channels. I just tried it and I can't quite get it to extend a commercial it detected an extra 15s.

@tmm1 also mentioned MCEBuddy. But, it's windows only software. I dual boot Windows and Linux. But, I usually have so much going on in Linux that it's never a good time to reboot.

[Jay1987]

Dual booting is so old school.

Try a virtualizer like proxmox. Its bare metal virtualization software. Not much performance penalty. As long as your running a modern-ish cpu it can handle multiple OS running at same time.

I then combine proxmox with parsec
Its a remote desktop software that can do 1080p very well.

Could MCEBuddy run on Wine? If not im sure there has to beva linux equivalent of software.

[backdoc]

@Jay1987

Dual booting is so old school.

I am old school.

@Jay1987

Try a virtualizer like proxmox. Its bare metal virtualization software. Not much performance penalty. As long as your running a modern-ish cpu it can handle multiple OS running at same time.

I use Proxmox for my NAS. But, I prefer to run my desktop on bare metal, which is a Ryzen 9 3900X. I use QEMU/KVM to virtualize on it.

@Jay1987

I then combine proxmox with parsec

I do need to give that a try.

@Jay1987

Could MCEBuddy run on Wine? If not im sure there has to beva linux equivalent of software.

That's a thought.

[rbdubz3]

Be nice if the Channels software allowed some kind of buffer so that it doesn't use up the whole hard drive. Just start to purge older files once the Disk Size - Buffer amount is reached..

[backdoc]

Maybe I misunderstood your point. But, uou can limit the number of episodes it keeps.

[Edwin_Perez]

I think the OP meant is to reserve an amount of DISK Space to be used by Channels DVR and not the whole drive.

[rbdubz3]

Yes @Edwin_Perez that was my point.. If the DVR software could ensure it doesn't use up the entire drive and allow a buffer of XX GB. I realize an external drive is super cheap, however I kinda like my current setup that is using an internal SSD drive as my setup run nice and quiet - and my DVR machine is in the same room as my main TV. Hooking up an external spinning drive would be too loud