Recordings are using too much space

Herby11

Hello,
I have the problem that some records are getting too big (over 200GB on a 250 GB SSD).
Therefore the system does not have free diskspace and doesn't work anymore.
Is there a known issue for it?
What can I do?

Thanks in advance.
Best regards

chewitt

Herby11 What can I do?

Delete some recordings?

Herby11

The problem is not that more recordings are using much space, the problem is that 1 record is using about more than 200 GB space within a short time.
Maybe Matroska is generating in some cases a ".mka"-file and from my feeling, this is getting too big then.

DaveH

@Herby11, you'll need to provide some more detail if you want more help. What version of TVH on what system? Individual recordings exceed 200 GB? What of? How long are the recordings, from what source, what hardware is used etc etc?

Herby11

@DaveH sorry, you are completely right.
My PC has the following hardware:

ASRock Mini-ITX J3455B
SSD
DVB-S2 Twin Tuner PCI (S2-4200)
OS is libreelec 12.0.2
The recording was about 1-2 hours from ARD, ZDF and also RTL.
I have had no problems for about 8 years and now from one day to another the problem exists.
From time to time 1 record is getting my SSD full. (maybe there is an issue with matroska, it seems that there will be created a mka file which is so big, but this is just a guess from my side, maybe like this problem https://tvheadend.org/d/6715-solved-some-recordings-create-giant-200gb-mka-files-that-fill-disk-to-100)

DaveH

Herby11 it might help to say what version of TVH you are using, and also looking at the old bug what format are you recording in? Have you tried changing it?
How can one recording be from multiple sources? I don't understand.

PS That dave h isn't me 🙂

Herby11

oh, sorry 😃
version is HTS Tvheadend 4.2.8-36 ~ LibreELEC Tvh-addon v12.0.0.1
I used matroska for all the time and now I have the problems.
Today I changed it to ".ts" and I wait for the result.

DaveH

Herby11 Depending on your results, you could also try upgrading TVH to a current version. Good luck!

Herby11

Thanks a lot for your help.
The answers from Chris G and DeltaMikeCharlie seems to be too technical for me, how does it work?

DaveH How can I update it, when it is not shown in Kodis Add-Ons under "Update available"?

DeltaMikeCharlie

Perhaps the broadcaster has changed something. You could try using vlc or ffmpeg to look at your recordings and see which PIDs were recorded.

Chris G

The transponder that ARD is on has a lot of services on it.
Perhaps it's recording everything from that transponder instead of just the desired service?

chewitt

Herby11 How can I update it, when it is not shown in Kodis Add-Ons under "Update available"?

You installed Tvheadend 4.2 from the LE repo and this is the latest (and last) 4.2 release. To update you need to disable the Tvheadend 4.2 add-on then install and configure the Tvheadend 4.3 add-on to your needs. There is no supported upgrade path from Tvheadend 4.2 to 4.3 due to large differences in the codebase so there is no automated update or import/migrate of config/settings on the LE side.

Chris G

Herby11

I don't fully understand it myself.
From what I can gather, though, when we tune a DVB-S channel, we actually stream the entire transponder.

If you look in VLC, you can see lots of extra entries:

I'm wondering if you are recording all of those channels at the same time, which would explain your file sizes.
When I record the football on Sky Sport, sometimes I have the option to switch channels on the recordings (in Kodi).
This suggests it records the entire transponder.

There are some options that sound like they filter out the extra data here:

Better to ask others, though.

Herby11

So I have to configure everything from new?
mmmm, not so nice.

and Version 4.3 is the latest one?

Herby11

does anyone has some information where the tvheadend data (Version 4.2 and 4.3) is in libreelec?
In this link was no description about it:
https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/26139-how-do-you-upgrade-from-tvheadend-4-2-to-4-3-alpha-and-preserve-your-configurati/

chewitt

Herby11 does anyone has some information where the tvheadend data (Version 4.2 and 4.3) is in libreelec?

The data will be under /storage/.kodi/addons/pvr.hts but 4.2 and 4.3 use rather different config formats and there is no migration of old config format to new config format so only small amounts of config will be correct. Starting over with a clean install is easier than hunting around in the UI trying to spot what config is still present and what got lost in the update, or troubleshooting whatever issues were added.

DaveH

Chris G I don't fully understand it myself.

Chris G When I record the football on Sky Sport, sometimes I have the option to switch channels on the recordings (in Kodi).
This suggests it records the entire transponder.

What it suggest to me is that this is something you don't understand and perhaps need to spend some time learning about before posting confusing messages.

Do you know about multiplexes? Many channels are broadcast together so it's impossible to receive one without all the others. Consequently, it's easy to offer a facility to switch from one channel to another channel in the live broadcast. But recordings are made of individual channels, because that's what you want - a particular football match, for example. Or a specific episode of the Simpsons. So what you say is nonsense, unless there's an absolutely huge bug that nobody else has noticed!

Chris G

DaveH Do you know about multiplexes? Many channels are broadcast together so it's impossible to receive one without all the others.

Thats what I said

DaveH But recordings are made of individual channels, because that's what you want - a particular football match, for example. Or a specific episode of the Simpsons. So what you say is nonsense, unless there's an absolutely huge bug that nobody else has noticed!

Just like you can switch audio tracks or sub tracks, sometimes you can switch channel on the recordings too. It appears to be the other channels on the same transponder.

Chris G

I made a quick recording to show you what I mean:

The programmes seem to be the other services on that transponder:

DeltaMikeCharlie

Chris G I made a quick recording to show you what I mean:

Did you make this recording using the TVH user interface or the Kodi user interface?
Can you please show screen shots of how you made that recording?

@DaveH - The Kodi screen shot looks like a recording of a full mux, or at least the recording file includes the NIT.