Does SageTV 7 delete live TV files correctly? [Yes it does]

[Gustovier]

All,

Due to how sage tv is always recording when watching live tv(I like the benefits of this) and with our viewing habits of just letting liveTv play indefinitely my HD will inevitably become full after some time. Now what i think sage is supposed to do is delete all this "live tv" shows we haven't kept when hard drive space gets low but I'm not sure that's happening or maybe not happening quick enough so that the live tv I'm watching at the time when my hd gets full doesn't get impacted. Any fellow sage users have some advice here?

[Fuzzy]

Are you seeing a problem caused by the drive becoming full? or are you just concerned about it potentially causing a problem if you let t run long enough? Sage will indeed remove old recordings if a drive is getting to the threshold amount (based on the the space restrictions set when setting up the recording folders). However, it might be that LiveTV files will not be included in the auto-delete, if you are still in the same LiveTV session that created them. (though, unless you've got a REALLY small HDD, that would be days of watching liveTV).

[Gustovier]

Unfortunately, I only have like 30 gigs for recording right now, so yes it looks like live tv is not included in the delete logic, so if I or someone in the house leaves liveTv playing (they are used to this from the days of having a cable box by each tv) then eventually the hd will get full. So since I only have 30gb free this happens a lot sooner than if I had say 1tb.

[Fuzzy]

There was an auto-sleep timer in v6 that could put sage to sleep after a period of inactivity. Not sure if it's been updated to v7.

[Gustovier]

Hmm..When sage goes to sleep it will stop all recordings? Would something like that work when extenders are in use as well. I have a 2 tb drive coming but I don't think that will get rid of the issue. Just prolong it.

[Fuzzy]

The Sleep is a UI function. It won't implicitly stop recordings... but what it DOES do is stop any viewing going on (the equivalent of pressing STOP). This will stop recording if what was being watched was a non-scheduled livetv session.

Consequently, I just finished porting over Flachbar's old v6/SageMC AutoSleep plugin, and it's in the plugin repository (UI Mod section). It defaults to 2 hours, and gives a 60 second countdown to abort sleep. Just about any normal button press will reset the timer, so it is 120 minutes of true inactivity that will cause sleep.

New thread here: [PLUGIN] UIMOD - AutoSleep by Fuzzy (originally by flachbar)

[david1234]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

However, it might be that LiveTV files will not be included in the auto-delete, if you are still in the same LiveTV session that created them.

I'm sure your correct, but shouldn't it know to delete the oldest shows in the session- I would think that even with only 30GB, that there are multiple files and it's not like you can rewind past the current show boundary anyway (I'll admit I haven't actually tried it).

I'd submit a bug request (or whatever sage calls them).

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by david1234

I'm sure your correct, but shouldn't it know to delete the oldest shows in the session- I would think that even with only 30GB, that there are multiple files and it's not like you can rewind past the current show boundary anyway (I'll admit I haven't actually tried it).

I'd submit a bug request (or whatever sage calls them).

I just don't think they ever envisioned the software being used for super-extender livetv sessions. I mean, if you're watching like that.. why use sage?

[OneOfMany]

We often have the Live TV playing for hours at a time, and sometimes it is left running all day long. However, I never see shows when viewing the server's recording directory with the exception of the one currently live. If I recall, isn't there a setting in the Detailed Setup to delete these live files once done?

[graywolf]

yes. there is a setting in V6 (probably in V7 also) that will delete LiveTV shortly after it "switches" to a new LiveTV show (even if same channel) unless you actually end up changing it to a Recording while you are watching it prior to it ending.

That way the "liveTV" shouldn't end up filling you HDD, or at least not as fast.

[Narflex]

Since this is all just speculation that you think we don't handle this case properly (when in fact we actually do); I'm renaming this thread appropriately so as to not give people the wrong impression.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Narflex

Since this is all just speculation that you think we don't handle this case properly (when in fact we actually do); I'm renaming this thread appropriately so as to not give people the wrong impression.

Yeah, sorry jeff... I was under the impression (in fact, I tried to clarify with the OP) that he had actually experienced this as a problem, and not just speculation on his part.

[Gustovier]

Sorry guys didn't mean to cause a disturbance. Renaming the thread is better. I'm going to do some more testing around this to see exactly what's happening in my setup before I put in this 2 tb drive. I just know I have seen liveTv mess up when my hd gets full.

Let me ask this question though. What happens if you only have enough space for a half hour recording, but your watching an hour long liveTv show and there's no prior recordings available to delete. What will sage do at that half hour time point when the hd gets full?

[Fuzzy]

I'd stop worrying about it and put in a bigger HD. seriously, using sage with 30GB is pointless.

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I'd stop worrying about it and put in a bigger HD. seriously, using sage with 30GB is pointless.

For sure. SyFy is running all the original Green Hornets in a 13 hour marathon today. At ~5.8GB/hour 30 GB would only allow for 5 full episodes With 2TB Sata II drives as low as $70 and averaging around $90-$100, adding storage is a no brainer.

[Gustovier]

I just put in a 2tb WD AudioVideo drive to dedicate to Sage(I'm getting sucked into this platform..lol). It's still an interesting question though on how Sage would work in the scenario I mentioned above..

[Spectrum]

About what it would do if it filled up the drive it was recording to and couldn't delete anything? My guess is a crash of some sort. Would not be all that hard to test, but I'm not going to do it on my "production" box

[Gustovier]

Originally Posted by Spectrum

About what it would do if it filled up the drive it was recording to and couldn't delete anything? My guess is a crash of some sort. Would not be all that hard to test, but I'm not going to do it on my "production" box

..and that's what I "think" (don't have any proof) of what was happening...

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Spectrum

About what it would do if it filled up the drive it was recording to and couldn't delete anything? My guess is a crash of some sort.

My guess is a system message and/or a "could not access file system for capture" error dialog, just like any other capture failure.