SD cable recordings to VCR vs TiVo SD or transferred recordings

[mlk43611]

Hello,

Just set up my new (refurbished) TiVo HD DVR. Love it!!!

However, I was a little disappointed to learn post-purchase that the "up to 180 hours" of space was for nondigital broadcasts, only. The 180 GB hard drive can only hold "up to 20 hours" of HD.

In the interest of saving space, I thought about recording some programs off the SD channels instead of the HD channels. Any idea how many hours of SD recordings could be stored or approximately how many GBs that a one hour of SD takes?

Also, is there much picture quality difference between SD or HD TiVo recordings to the VCR vs VCR recordings produced off of another TV via an SD digital cable?

Thx.

-- mk --

[classicsat]

AFAIK, the space used by SD digital cable would equate the usage of a medium analog recording, or thereabouts.

For digital channels, there will be practically no difference between those played from a TiVo HD or Series 3, and a cable box. For analog, there might be some reduction in quality, but a VCR will lose more quality than a TiVo will.

[jrm01]

analog approximately:

BEST quality: 45 hours, 30 minutes
HIGH quality: 73 hours, 17 minutes
MEDIUM quality: 96 hours, 34 minutes
BASIC quality: 184 hours, 26 minutes

Digital SD: 90-100 hours
Digital HD: 18-20 hours

The last two will depend on the compression used by cable company

[mlk43611]

Hello to both,

This is very helpful, thanks.

It sounds like for those programs that might be viewed on another tv/vcr, I might as well just go ahead and tape them to a vcr to begin with, and skip the TiVo.

It's good to know about how much space the SD recordings will take. We've got a vacation coming up, so it might be a good idea to do those recordings in SD.

Thx. -- mk --