[Andy258]

I've just ordered a BT Vision box, but having used my parents box I've noticed that it doesn't tell you how much recording space there is.

Is there any way I can found out how much recording capacity I would have?

[wwwebber]

I think it has a 160gig HD. If you check out the system menu or whatever it is called and it will tell how much is free or has been used.

[Andy258]

Thanks for that!

I'll check it at my parents next time i'm there.

[louisa kitten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy258

I've just ordered a BT Vision box, but having used my parents box I've noticed that it doesn't tell you how much recording space there is.

Is there any way I can found out how much recording capacity I would have?

You get 80 hours recording space. You can delete stuff you've watched but if not, and you happen to fill up all the available space, it will start to drop off from the beginning to make way for new recordings.
If you need to find out how much space is left go to:
BT Vision
Settings/General settings
System Info/system resources
and then it will show Disc Usage % remaining
I wrote this down to keep by my Vbox. I probably got this helpful tip from this forum in the first place

[sirpipe]

It doesn't matter how you obtained the information ... you have provided helpful advice.

[Andy258]

Thanks for that tip. I'm surprised it doesn't tell you how much spare capacity you have on the recorded programmes screen.

[johnson293]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy258

Thanks for that tip. I'm surprised it doesn't tell you how much spare capacity you have on the recorded programmes screen.

Agree, that would be a handy thing, and that is what Sky+ does - as you flick through the recordings in the list, it says how much space each recording has taken up (as a percentage), but also how much in total is left on the HDD, again as a percentage.

I think percentages are the only way any PVR can quantify what has been recorded/is remaining, as the varying channels with varying bandwiths for quality use different rates of compression, and so take up different amounts of space, even for programmes of the same duration.

[tellyaddicted]

If your technically minded you can add an even larger Harddrive to give more hours of recording time.

[Suee999]

Can someone tell me approx how much space a 1hr programme would use?

[stuntmaster]

since the whole vision interface is XML based they can add the recording percent used/avaliable, and the same in hours very easily. they can also add the visual bar too like sky does.

if BT is reading this, please add it! I too find it annoying wondering what space I have left.

Upgrading the hard disc is relatively easy.

step1:

check your box.

1st gen silver (2 usb and phone port on back) has IDE hard discs.

2nd gen silver (1 usb no phone on back) has either IDE or SATA

3rd gen black has SATA.

step2:

aquire hard disc

bear in mind you are using windows CE, it may / or may not be able to take 1tb disks.

stick with a 500GB, most are quite reliable, if you can get one desaigned for PVR use, they are quieter AND dont show an unfinished file as corrupted. this allows a 79% recording to still be played unlike on a pc which would say it's corrupted.

step3:

Install

take the box apart and look for the disc, swap it over.

step4:

boot box

upon boot windows CE will automatically format it ready for use and grab the latest software from BT and install it.

step5:

check space

goto into system menu and check to see if you have 100% remaining. do a few recordings and see if it jumps up if it doesnt ans stays low like 1% then it's formatted right.