I saw a thread here about TV antennas and someone mentioned the Analog to Digital converter boxes that can record TV shows. I recently cut the cable and bought one of those boxes and it does record (pretty well) onto my USB memory stick. I say pretty well because the picture breaks up from time to time on the recording although the actual broadcast was clear. If anyone knows how to fix that I would like to hear the solution.But my main question on this thread is about the recording size. I read online that an average one hour TV show would use about 1GB of space to record. Mine are recording at about 6GB per hour. Does anyone know if I can change the settings to reduce that size? I think I have picked the lowest quality recording settings, but I'm not sure. I wrote the manufacturer and they said the box sounds defective and I should take it back for a replacement. I bought it at Walmart 1 month ago so I still have some time to take it back if that is really a likely solution. Someone else answered a question on another forum and said that I should use the converter box to reformat the USB memory. Will that make a difference? I didn't want to do it because it will wipe my recordings, but if that's a likely solution I will do it. I can probably save the few recordings I have to my computer.Thanks.

Transfer the unwatched to your computable reformat as suggested. If it persists return it. U can watch on you’re computer until you get a new one.

I use one of these things to record OTA TV and I've found that it's picky about the USB stick. I'm now using a portable hard drive but when I was using a USB stick, it wouldn't work well unless I used a fast one. The cheaper sticks just don't have a high enough data rate to keep up.

pauldub wrote:I use one of these things to record OTA TV and I've found that it's picky about the USB stick. I'm now using a portable hard drive but when I was using a USB stick, it wouldn't work well unless I used a fast one. The cheaper sticks just don't have a high enough data rate to keep up.Oh. Good point. I guess if it can't keep up that could cause the image to break up sometimes. Does a portable hard drive do better? It seems like the memory stick would be faster because it has no moving parts, but I don't know that for sure. I have a portable hard drive. Maybe I'll give it a try.

OTA recordings can be huge, 6gb/hour sounds about right for minimal compression.Space is cheap if you look for the right solution. Here's a Western Digital Passport, 4TB or 4000GB. Best Buy 4tbThat's more than 600 hours worth of recordings for $100.

Personally I use a tivo unit. Very high quality picture.

Converter Box Recording Size | Good Sam Community

22 Replies

DallasSteve
Nomad II
Apr 25, 2018
MrWizard

Thanks for the reply. I did not know there was a spinning disk inside. The box is deceptively thin. I thought it would need more space. I guess that explains why there's a difference compared to the USB stick. Do you know if it spins all the time it has power or only when it needs to read/write?

Steve
MrWizard
Moderator
Apr 25, 2018
No that is Not a solid state memory

That is a physical spinning hard drive

And it happens to have a faster response time than your USB stick

I have the older version
DallasSteve
Nomad II
Apr 25, 2018
I didn't do any new testing of recording TV programs with my eMatic digital converter box until yesterday. I tried using my Seagate USB expansion hard drive to see if the quality improves. It did - a lot. I am very pleased with the results, but I don't understand why it is so much better. What is inside the box? It's one of these:

Walmart: Seagate 1TB Expansion Drive

To me it seems like both this box and the little USB memory stick have solid-state memory inside, not a spinning disk. So why are recordings on the stick choppy and the ones on the box smooth? I think they are both USB 3.0. Can some tech wizard here explain?

I think I'm going to buy another converter box and another expansion drive to use with a second TV. My cable cord is cut.
DallasSteve
Nomad II
Mar 29, 2018
As an update, last night I re-formatted the USB memory device using the converter box format function, and after it recorded a new program I checked the file size. It is still recording at 6 GB (or 7 GB) per one hour show. So re-formatting the memory made no difference as I suspected. I will try using my USB hard drive to see if the quality improves.
MrWizard
Moderator
Mar 28, 2018
is it because the USB can't keep up with the box?

YES..most likely
GordonThree
Explorer
Mar 28, 2018
DallasSteve wrote:
Thanks for all of the interesting replies. So it sounds like I can't get smaller file size with the box I have - I would need to buy a different box that has some special processing to reduce the size output. It also sounds like the loss in quality is because the box can't feed the USB fast enough, or is it because the USB can't keep up with the box? I was watching another recorded program yesterday and not only is the image sometimes "garbled", but I could detect that sometimes a second or two of broadcast was lost (skipped) because the conversation would sometimes jump over words. I also noticed that sometimes the words weren't in time with the mouths. Any more thoughts from this tech-savvy group?

The USB interface is fast enough, but the USB stick you are using is likely not. USB sticks are very slow sometimes. It's worth looking into a USB hard drive instead.
DallasSteve
Nomad II
Mar 28, 2018
Thanks for all of the interesting replies. So it sounds like I can't get smaller file size with the box I have - I would need to buy a different box that has some special processing to reduce the size output. It also sounds like the loss in quality is because the box can't feed the USB fast enough, or is it because the USB can't keep up with the box? I was watching another recorded program yesterday and not only is the image sometimes "garbled", but I could detect that sometimes a second or two of broadcast was lost (skipped) because the conversation would sometimes jump over words. I also noticed that sometimes the words weren't in time with the mouths. Any more thoughts from this tech-savvy group?
Tom_M1
Explorer
Mar 28, 2018
GordonThree wrote:
I was wondering if broadcasters were still using mpeg2 or have moved to h.264 / mpeg4, so that answers that question. Is the lack of broadcast using mpeg4 mainly due to low demand, or is it extremely expensive to upgrade to the new codec?

Any news on adoption of h.265 / HEVC for 2160p broadcast in the States, part of the ATSC 3.0 standard?
Present day TVs can only decode Mpeg2. Stations could just add another encoder to their multiplexer, but this would mean that they would have to dial down the bit-rate on the other program streams. They would most likely set up another transmitter to broadcast the Mpeg4 stream. The only incentive to switch to Mpeg4 is that stations would be able to pack more program streams onto the same channel or broadcast at a higher resolution such as 4K. In Minneapolis there are three stations using two transmitters each. This gives them the capability to broadcast two high def streams and multiple standard def streams.

I don't keep up on the broadcast standards, but I would assume something is bound to change. SCVJeff would be more current on the situation, but it seems he has abandoned us.
MrWizard
Moderator
Mar 28, 2018
MY RECORDINGS for tv series GRIMM
are AVCHD CODEC mts files

i will have to make some new recordings and see what the codec and container data are

perhaps i should have used the word 're-wrap' instead of conversion

i know it is the broadcast quality and resolution
NO down conversion

MPEG2 has more than (1) standard

DVD video is Mpeg2, but it is NOT HD broadcast standard

and all of this is just anecdote info to the OPs question
GordonThree
Explorer
Mar 28, 2018
Tom_M wrote:
Some facts about digital TV.

I was a technician at a TV station most of my working career and was involved with the installation of much of the equipment for the digital transition, so I know a bit about the subject.

All stations are broadcasting Mpeg2. The highest resolution broadcast is 1080i. The bit-rate that is broadcast is 19.39 Mb/s (Megabits per second). Stations can choose to broadcast a single program stream or multiple streams. The bit-rate of each stream must be set so that the sum of all the streams do not exceed 19.39 Mb/s.

Thanks for the insight into how it works.

I was wondering if broadcasters were still using mpeg2 or have moved to h.264 / mpeg4, so that answers that question. Is the lack of broadcast using mpeg4 mainly due to low demand, or is it extremely expensive to upgrade to the new codec?

Any news on adoption of h.265 / HEVC for 2160p broadcast in the States, part of the ATSC 3.0 standard?

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Converter Box Recording Size

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