How to delete multiple recordings or set it to auto delete?

[batigol9]

Hi,

I have a problem here. Is there a way for me to delete multiple recordings simultaneously or it there a way to set the recordings to auto delete the oldest recording once the HDD is filled using the Nielm's webserver? When i use the Nielm's webserver, I saw a auto delete search criteria in the 'Search Recordings' but i cant find the place to set my recordings to auto delete. Thanks.

[stanger89]

Unless you've disabled auto deletion, Sage will delete recordings on it's own when it needs space.

[batigol9]

Btw where can you disable the auto delete function? I would like to go and take a look if i had disable it by accident. Thank You

[nielm]

Originally Posted by batigol9

Btw where can you disable the auto delete function? I would like to go and take a look if i had disable it by accident. Thank You

look at the options for each favorite. (it is a per-favorite option)

Manual recordings and archived recordings IIRC will never be deleted.

To delete mutliple recordings simultaneously, select a recording, and select Advanced. Now when you select a group of recordings there are 'delete all' options.

[batigol9]

Thanks alot. I will go n try it and see if it works :P

[Opus4]

If you want to know more about how SageTV deletes files, see Appendix C in the SageTV manual, found in your SageTV dir or accessible via Setup -> Help on a Windows instance of the UI. The last section points to an option to disable auto-cleanup of live TV too.

- Andy

[batigol9]

Originally Posted by nielm

look at the options for each favorite. (it is a per-favorite option)

Manual recordings and archived recordings IIRC will never be deleted.

To delete mutliple recordings simultaneously, select a recording, and select Advanced. Now when you select a group of recordings there are 'delete all' options.

Firstly, I have tried setting the favourites to auto delete the recordings. But it just dun delete. Do I have to restart the Sage service for the files to be deleted?

Secondly, i cannot delete multiple recordings simulataneously. I cannot find the 'Advanced' option after selecting a recording.

Need some help asap. Thanks alot.

[batigol9]

I think i know why the recordings din auto delete after i set the favourites to auto delete. I understand that SageTV will nvr auto delete recordings that are grouped under 'Manual Recordings' or 'Favourites with auto delete off'.

So the next problem is, since all my recordings are scheduled recordings, which means it is all grouped under 'Manual Recordings' automatically and SageTV will nvr auto delete this files even there is no space. Is there a way to make SageTV not to grouped these recordings under 'Manual Recordings'?

[stanger89]

Schedule Favorites instead.

[Opus4]

If you've set up Favorites, you don't need to also use the Record command to record those shows as Manual Recordings, unless you really want a specific airing to be recorded. Let your Favs do the job instead.

- Andy

[jsonnabend]

The notion of "manual recording" being equal to "don't delete until I tell you to delete" has always struck me as odd. If I go through and pick a dozen movies to record, and a month later I haven't watched any but I pick a dozen new ones, shouldn't Sage delete the oldest recordings to make room for the new ones? New recordings bump old recordings, no? That's the way my DVR from Time Warner worked, and it made more sense to me.

Really, the UI in this regard is completely non-intuitive. Shouldn't a feature to "not delete a recording until I delete it" be called something like, I don't know, "don't delete this recording until I delete it" or "don't automatically delete this recording"? I've explained the Sage UI to five different people, and not one was able to tell me how to mark a recording for "delete it when I say so".

One shouldn't have to be a programmer, a forum participant, or even a reader of user manuals to use basic features such as this. Good UI would make it obvious.

Ok, that's my $.02.

- Jeff

[blade]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

The notion of "manual recording" being equal to "don't delete until I tell you to delete" has always struck me as odd. If I go through and pick a dozen movies to record, and a month later I haven't watched any but I pick a dozen new ones, shouldn't Sage delete the oldest recordings to make room for the new ones? New recordings bump old recordings, no? That's the way my DVR from Time Warner worked, and it made more sense to me.

Really, the UI in this regard is completely non-intuitive. Shouldn't a feature to "not delete a recording until I delete it" be called something like, I don't know, "don't delete this recording until I delete it" or "don't automatically delete this recording"? I've explained the Sage UI to five different people, and not one was able to tell me how to mark a recording for "delete it when I say so".

One shouldn't have to be a programmer, a forum participant, or even a reader of user manuals to use basic features such as this. Good UI would make it obvious.

Ok, that's my $.02.

- Jeff

Well if I specifically setup a manual recording I don't want Sage deleting it because I scheduled it for a reason.

Favorites on the other hand do just what you said you expected a PVR to do. You set some to delete when space is needed or x amount of episodes are exceeded or you set it so that it never auto deletes. This is setup when you create the favorite so it can be a one time deal.

[jsonnabend]

Well if I specifically setup a manual recording I don't want Sage deleting it because I scheduled it for a reason.

That's right, the reason you scheduled something to record is so that it would be recorded. What would you expect to happen in the scenario I described above, namely, you pick ten things to record, don't watch them, run out of space, and then pick ten new things to record? I think intuition says record the newer things and bump the old ones, no?

Anything that Sage does with "manual recordings" other than record them is non-intuitive, in my opinion. And for that matter, "clear manual record status" being the same as "delete file when space is needed" makes less sense.

Try giving people a multiple choice test on these points. What makes sense to developers and DIY geeks doesn't always make sense to every day users. The WAF and BabySitter Test maybe funny, but they're legit.

- Jeff

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

That's right, the reason you scheduled something to record is so that it would be recorded. What would you expect to happen in the scenario I described above, namely, you pick ten things to record, don't watch them, run out of space, and then pick ten new things to record? I think intuition says record the newer things and bump the old ones, no?

I disagree if I record something with a manual recording I don't want it to ever be deleted - watched or not. When it runs out of space no more recordings happen. However if I setup a favorite for something I expect it to be deleted when space is needed if I have watched it. Think of a VCR tape when you record on it to the end you can't get anything else on it without a rewind.

Anything that Sage does with "manual recordings" other than record them is non-intuitive, in my opinion. And for that matter, "clear manual record status" being the same as "delete file when space is needed" makes less sense.

I think it makes perfect sense to me. Think back to VCR tapes if you break out the tab on the tape nothing else can be recorded without getting out some scotch tape and covering the hole - what I equate manual recordings in SageTV to me.

BobP.

[blade]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I disagree if I record something with a manual recording I don't want it to ever be deleted - watched or not. When it runs out of space no more recordings happen. However if I setup a favorite for something I expect it to be deleted when space is needed if I have watched it. Think of a VCR tape when you record on it to the end you can't get anything else on it without a rewind.

Also Sage is only going to attempt manual recordings once. So I don't want it deleted because Sage won't record it again. Favorites on the other hand will be rescheduled the next time they air.

So I'd much rather Sage not touch my manual recordings and delete excess favorites when space is needed. Having the default behavior delete manual recordings wouldn't be a good thing. It is much better to have them marked as do not delete then manually change them over to delete when space is needed (which can already be done from a menu that says almost exactly that).

[jsonnabend]

The VCR analogy is imperfect because the VCR required use of a tape, not a permanent pool of memory. That said, the VCR analogy is still contrary to your approach.

Start recording on a VCR tape by pressing record. That's a "manual recording." When that's done, press record again to record a different show. When the tape is at its end, rewind to the beginning and start again. You're now erasing the oldest to record the newest.

To mark the tape "don't erase", you have to take action separate and apart from the "press record" action. Specifically, by knocking out the tab (we're both old, by the way), you've said "don't erase this until I say so." That's an action distinct from the "manually record" action.

As for Blade's comments, I'm not suggesting that users shouldn't be allowed to mark any recording as "don't erase until I say so", just that "manual recording" shouldn't be how it's done. I would agree with an option to make by default all manual recordings "don't erase...", but that's a different thing.

- Jeff

[mayamaniac]

What satisfy one person might not for the next. The important thing I always stress is GIVE THE USER THE OPTIONS rather than tell them how it should be.

For manual recordings, the default setting for that should be NEVER AUTO DELETE.... BUT... also should have a setting in Advance Options to auto delete if this is what a user might want to do. Again, give the user the option to do so, rather than no options.

Personally, I hate it when ever I resolve a conflict of a Favorite and the favorite became a manual recording, so it no longer auto deletes and I have to delete it manually. Again, some people thinks this is how it should be and its fine by them, but I don't like it and I have no option to change its behavior.

[blade]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

As for Blade's comments, I'm not suggesting that users shouldn't be allowed to mark any recording as "don't erase until I say so", just that "manual recording" shouldn't be how it's done. I would agree with an option to make by default all manual recordings "don't erase...", but that's a different thing.

The functionality you're talking about already exists for the most part. Sounds more like you're unhappy with how everything is labled. I agree with that.

Manual recordings are already do not delete by default and you can remove the manual recording status so that it will auto delete when space is needed. It would be handy if they were labled more appropriately and you had the option to set it to auto delete when the recording was originally scheduled.

I disagree with changing the default behavior to auto delete because as I said before Sage won't automatically record the episode again so to be on the safe side I would think the user should be required to set auto delete for the recording instead of the other way around.

[blade]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

For manual recordings, the default setting for that should be NEVER AUTO DELETE.... BUT... also should have a setting in Advance Options to auto delete if this is what a user might want to do.

You can already do that. It's just not labled very intuitively.

Personally, I hate it when ever I resolve a conflict of a Favorite and the favorite became a manual recording, so it no longer auto deletes and I have to delete it manually. Again, some people thinks this is how it should be and its fine by them, but I don't like it and I have no option to change its behavior.

Sounds like you'd like the option to set auto delete when scheduling the manual recording instead of having to change it after it is recorded.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

The VCR analogy is imperfect because the VCR required use of a tape, not a permanent pool of memory. That said, the VCR analogy is still contrary to your approach.

Actually they are fine. A VCR records to tape. A PVR records to HDD. They both record so similar.

Start recording on a VCR tape by pressing record. That's a "manual recording.

correct

" When that's done, press record again to record a different show.

correct again

When the tape is at its end, rewind to the beginning and start again. You're now erasing the oldest to record the newest.

correct but the rewind on my VCR requires me to actually do that myself hence a manual intervention by me. SageTV requires you to go back to your recordings and either remove the manual recording status or delete it to free up space also a manual intervention by me don't see a difference. Maybe my VCR is abnormal in that yours and most other will auto rewind at the end of the tape but I got really annoyed when this happended as I missed recordings just like you would with SageTV if all your records were manual and the disk was full. Edit: After remembering more about my favorite VCR I going to have to agree with you it was a bad analogy because I turned off the automatic rewind so that it wouldn't rewind on me and record over something automatically. The annoying part was that it also affected the playback as well as the record. So I had to mannually rewind all my tapes. But that was better then having it rewind and automatically record over something I did want so I just lived with it. With SageTV I don't have to worry about that because it's current default does exactly that. I only hope they make this way an option if they impliment your suggestion.

To mark the tape "don't erase", you have to take action separate and apart from the "press record" action. Specifically, by knocking out the tab (we're both old, by the way), you've said "don't erase this until I say so." That's an action distinct from the "manually record" action.

On this point I agree it is an additional step that is different from my VCR days but my VCR would just sit at the end of the tape until I did something like a rewind or remove it and knock out the tab. However I should have used a much better analogy: DVD recorder since a DVD-/+R disk is always like recording with the tab knocked out. But I do agree that having an option in Sage to allow recording over manual recordings would work out for everyone. I could leave it like the current default and you and probably many others can set it to auto delete when space is needed.

BobP.