[Lanthom]

Do OTA HD recordings take up more space than other HD shows. I know that the OTA is not compressed but was wondering if what I record from my OTA is going to take up more space. Thanks

 

[Michael D'Angelo]

Yes and some OTA programs could take up as much as 2x the amount of the MPEG4 HD channels.

 

[Lanthom]

I was debating about getting me an eSATA drive but that option is looking better now that I know that. It makes the 50 hrs become around 25-30 hrs which if most recordings are from OTA which they will be when fall starts, that's not much.

 

[houskamp]

They are both compressed.. The new sat HD channels are in mpeg4, while OTA is still in mpeg2 (same as the channels in the 70's)
Mpeg4 takes less room than mpg2..

 

[Rob Dawn]

According to D* info, you'll get 30 hours of MPEG2 (OTA) and 50 hours of MPEG4 (D* HD channels).

I'm hoping I get my HD locals well before the end of the year so I'll have more room soon. I was close to filling my HR20 up (with OTA stuff) during the Olympics because we were not able to keep up with each day's broadcast(s)!

(Getting a 1TB eSATA drive is an interesting thought, but spending over $200 for it and an enclosure and seeing the problems that some people are having don't excite me.)

 

[TomCat]

They are both compressed.. The new sat HD channels are in mpeg4, while OTA is still in mpeg2 (same as the channels in the 70's)
Mpeg4 takes less room than mpg2..

All very true. Might I add that there is more uniformity between sat channels than there is between OTA channels. Some OTA broadcasters allot up to 18 Mb/s for their HD channel. Others use far less, especially if they are multicasting. FOX uses stat-mux so their level normally swings between 9-13, hovering at about an average of 11, with a quality that is probably equivalent to non-statmuxed signals at 13 or 13.5 Mb/s.

Ironically, that means that a prime time HD show on FOX (averaging 11 Mb/s) can take up far less room than a syndicated show in SD on the very same station, since the station itself may allot more space to their local broadcasts than FOX does to the network feed.

But as houskamp says, the DTV versions of local OTA HD are converted to MPEG-4 which is about 30% more efficient, so that version will take less space on the HDD than the actual OTA signal. Since in my market there seems to be no discernable difference, I opt for the MPEG-4 feeds unless I am expecting rain fade (which OTA sails through much better).

 

[Jason Whiddon]

OTA took 3-4% off my stock HR20. Takes 1.5% with a 640gb drive. 750gb drive gives you 100 hours of OTA.