Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

so i think the bane of my existence is DVR. let me rephrase that, DVR is the best thing since sliced bread...

however, i don't have the time i once did to watch shows i used to enjoy. thus, i DVR them. Homeland, The Walking Dead, Almost Human, AHS: Coven, among a couple others. the comedies i usually watch bc that is what i enjoy before bed, during the week. i need the levity.

so i tape the dramas and just don't get around to watching them. i don't watch much during the day on weekends and like a movie at night. so it sits and sits in DVR and festers. i don't even record movies anymore bc i know i won't watch those either, but it was nice to have them all...

but as they lay in wait, it festers within me that my DVR is getting full. i have Optimum with a capable size (i think) and record only HD shows and movies, never SD.

anyway, long story short my OCD kicks in and i need that sucker empty. i figured with an entire season of some shows there was just no way i was going to get to them. so i deleted some of my favorite shows thinking "oh, i can just stream later on down the line or On Demand for some.

so delete went Homeland, Coven, Almost Human, Person of Interest and kept were Justified, Walking Dead and True Detective.

it just feels like somewhat of a relief to only have 30% full for some reason. but would love it to be almost nil.

so anyone else get like this?

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Guess the answer would have to be yes for me. Have everything on there sorted by genre, which makes it easy when it comes to participating in some of the challenges here. Most everything I have are films recorded during preview weekends of premium channels. The few television shows I record are usually watched within a day or two.

I'm currently driven to clear off the DVR with the thought of "cutting the cord" by the beginning of summer. For a good while, it was 90% full. Now it sits at about 50%.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I don't record enough stuff for mine to get anywhere near full, but as crazy as it sounds when I am at my buddies' place, theirs is always like 97% full and it drives me crazy for some reason.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I'm not sure what your point is with this OCD thing? Are you afraid if you have too much, your DVR will break down and everything will be lost?

You really forgot to take into consideration that a lot of shows aren't available on demand for full seasons or available online for free streaming. Some only post the last 4-5 episodes.

Person of Interest is the prime example. Warner Brothers only posts the last 4 episodes for on demand or free streaming. Same goes with Almost Human.

Unless you plan to purchase every single TV season BD for seasons you deleted. But then again, if you didn't have the time to watch them now, what makes you think you'll have the time to watch them this summer? or 6 months from now?

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Most definitely. I'm always checking my To Do list to make sure everything is right. And I really try to keep up with my recordings. I've got a ton of movies and other junk in it that I never want to delete, so I'm constantly sitting on 20% left so I have to keep up with it.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

no, not break down. just can't stand to have so much there filling it up. i like things clean and tidy and a full DVR is the antithesis.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Mine was about 90% full when it crashed yesterday. Good excuse to cut the cord.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I try to clean it out when it's close to 65% full. Some things I will delete if it's a show that gets cancelled or not renewed or the season appears online through Prime or Netflix. I have a shit ton of cooking shows saved just because they have recipes I want to try.

I just went thru last season and this season of Justified and cleared it out. Same with Wilfred. Other shows I'm better at keeping up with and deleting once I've viewed it (usually within a few days).

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I'll clear out a show if the wife and I decide we are done with it, but I have tons of stuff sitting on there at all times. I stopped caring a long time ago, because I never have enough time to watch everything I have recorded soon after I record it, but when shows go on hiatus over the winter and summer, I've got plenty to watch.

It's always fun seeing ads for movies that are coming out in theaters that I already own on Blu-ray.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Maybe since I am always on the brink of recording capacity and around 3% or less but hopefully I will clear out some NFL games and all those dam awards shows in the next couple of weeks to get more room.

Why do they have to schedule the Super Bowl, Olympics, Grammys, and Oscars all in the same month?

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I'll save you the trouble on the SB....you can delete it after the 1st half. ;)

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

With a Motorola Xfinity box you have to stay on top of things. Once it gets past half full it starts getting wonky and shows that you can see being recorded often won't show up on the list. It really is more trouble than it should be.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Nope my TiVo perpetually 99% full.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

My DVR vicious circle:

Stage 1: For a time I try to keep up and with what the DVR has to offer by way of recorded shows. If I recorded it, there must have been a good reason!

Stage 2: I suddenly find myself with some extra time to watch some TV and there is not enough recorded content to carry me through. Panic ensues.

Stage 3: Faced with the horrifying prospect of watching live TV, I hurriedly lower the bar for deciding what is worth recording. This becomes a problem as I now cycle back to Stage 1.

I have the opposite problem. TV shows I watch and erase fairly quickly, I find them quick and easy to get through. Movies tend to languish there because they take up more time, but they go eventually. In all honesty, I kind of think I need to buy a Blu-Ray burner or something to have a place to put some of the stuff I keep perpetually on my DVR because it hasn't had any home video release yet.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Most of the shows I DVR get watched and deleted within a couple of days.

There are a few exceptions. My wife wanted to see the Michael J. Fox show and the Coven show, so they started filling up the DVR since she would rather watch old sitcoms, Lifetime movies, and the Weather Channel. After about 10 episodes of each, she realized she was NEVER going to watch them, so I got the okay to delete them. I also recently deleted the last 5 episodes of True Detective, since I couldn't get into it.

My DVR is mostly filled with movies, some of which will sit for months before I get around to them. I'm around 35% now, I start to get antsy if it goes about 50%.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I'm not OCD with mine because I don't have a chance to be.

I only have room for about 25 hours of HD content, so I'm in a constant battle to keep enough space free for the next set of recordings. And then I get nights like tonight where shows don't properly record, or Time Warner decides to send out box updates while I'm trying to record, that many times I even wonder why I'm bothering with their nearly useless crap box. 2 Tuners, 160GB HD. It's a joke that I still can't upgrade the fucking thing. It's an 8 year old box! UGH!

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Comcast Boxes can store about 20 hours HD Programming on each box, so I have to do a marathon every once in a while of fear its gets too full to DVR future shows. Weekends are my time to make up on all DVR shows I missed during the week.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

My box is also not large enough to store very much stuff. That was a problem for me back in October/November, when I was participating in challenges. All of a sudden, things would get deleted to make room for new recordings.

My box has been acting really wonky lately, so Verizon is sending out a new one. I guess the old boxes don't mesh up well with their new system updates. Hopefully that solves the problems I've been having.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

My DVR(s) are my two Windows 7 machines, each that have a dual HD tuner card. Both are programmed to record specific shows, and the recorded show folders are tied together on both machines, so all shows are accessible on on bothe computers, on my Apple TV through my ipad, and through my Roku 3. I have tons of room, so I don't worry about storage. On, and anything I can't record is always accessible somewhere.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

i purge in september before the new season, if something has sat for a year, means i really didnt want to watch it anway

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Have you had the box for a couple of years? Go to Comcast and swap for a newer box, the hard drives are much bigger now. I have about 21 hours of HD and 14 hours of SD on mine and I'm at 34% full.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Yeah, because my comcast DVR can only hold so much stuff, I don't ever have too many shows left unwatched on my DVR. But it's hardly ever empty. There is always a few episodes left on there that I need to watch.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Not so much. I built it myself and record only OTA so if it gets close to full I just add another external drive.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

The last box I got was January 2013, as it is the same model as my other 2 boxes (I believe its a Motorola?).

I will call my local Comcast and see if they stock newer Comcast HD/DVR Boxes and see if they can save more programming.

Thanks!

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Ha! are you guys single?

I'm not that OCD, but having a wife and two daughters, that record a lot of shows and don't care about DVR space... yes, "their" DVR is always at 99%. I try to not use that DVR.

My DVR is always up to date. Most of the time is under 50%. But now my 7 years old daughter is using it too. But it seems she's more OCD than me. She keeps asking me if I already watched a show, and if she can delete it.

Oh yeah, I have some sentimental recordings. I have the last Fringe episode recorded there for example. Hopefully she hasn't deleted yet because it's too old. :(

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Oh heck yes! Mine kicks in at around 50% capacity. I start to delete the older kids shows that they never watch. Then constantly hound my wife about when is she going to get around to watching her shows... even though I have plenty of "my" shows I haven't even looked at ;). Plus, my oldest daughter (7) has figured out how to record shows and entire seasons now so I have to constantly check the To Do list and Season Mgr to see what's going on.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Also, how does your priority list looks like?

In my oldest DVR Lost is #1. :D

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Oh yeah. I freak out if we get near 80%. Then I have to secretly purge her 700 million Home & Garden shows and episodes of Chopped.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

i swear HGTV is the bane of my existence.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Model # on front is Motorola RNG200N

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Not at all. Before I switched cable companies a year or so ago, my box was perpetually 97% full. And I just let it automatically delete the oldest thing when it needed to record something new. If I really wanted to make sure something was not removed, I would mark it "Do not Delete", but it was rare to even do that.

Since I switched to the new box, I've stopped recording a bunch of crap that I don't watch, and my box is really only has some kid shows that my kids like to watch over and over, and a couple of shows that I actually watch. And for the stuff I watch, usually I watch it later the same night that it aired, and delete it immediately afterward. I don't think I'm anywhere near full, but it's because I've stopped trying to record more than I can watch.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

My DVR is the devil. It's gotten to the point I can't sit and watch one show all the way through. I'll have to watch pieces of different shows because my attention span is nil. I knew this was a problem a few years ago when I kept raising my remote hand to forward a movie I was watching... in a theater.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Relevant topic and yes, count me in. I'll admit, I get a little stressed when my DVR capacity encroaches 10% remaining. I typically sit around 20% capacity, but know that when I travel for work, it'll just pile up. I record everything in HD and have a pile of movies I say I'll get to eventually (some were recorded a few years ago).

Doesn't help when networks air 6-hr mini-series on b2b nights. Klondike nearly brought my DVR to its knees the other month.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I will say I'm fortunate that my wife doesn't record things. My kids, on the other hand, like to record stuff. I stay after them to watch things. When they finish something, they'll usually beg me not to delete it. I confess that I wait until they leave the room or until the next day and then delete it. They have never asked me later what happened to a missing show/movie, which keeps me from feeling guilty. :)

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

When my DVRs do get to about 5-6% left, I tend to look at which programs are on Hulu, HBOGo or Showtime Anytime and then delete those, and try to watch them later. The CW programs absolutely kill me. They eat anywhere from 3-4% per episode and usually I'm forced to watch all of them via Hulu.

Hulu Plus at least buys me more time without worrying about the DVR filling up on really busy nights like Sunday and Monday.

It doesn't help that I have 2 HR21's, which are the oldest DVR models from Directv. I'd like to invest in a couple of portable terabyte hard drives to expand my DVR room. I heard it's as easy as plugging it in the USB port, but once I do that, I would no longer be able to use the internal drive. So I have to make sure my DVRs are empty 1st.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I have a DTV hr44 I think. Most recent genie dvr it supposedly has 1tb of space.
I'm at 99 percent almost always.

DJariya, if you plug in an external and remove all it, this will delete whatever already was on the dvr?

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

I'm not sure. All I know is if you plug in an external drive, that becomes your new default drive.

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

i have a flash drive USB/port on my DVR...what can i do with that exactly?

Re: Are you OCD about your DVR?
 

Probably nothing. Most cable providers disable the USB ports.