DirecTV HR20 to HR54 HD DVR HOURS Why the range of hours of capacity on DirecTV HD DVRs? DirecTV transmits HD channels in two different formats: MPEG2 and MPEG4. MPEG4 is far more compressed, and consequently, those recordings take less space on a hard drive. Far more content is now transmitted in MPEG4 than MPEG2. For purposes of comparison, use the chart below to help decide on your capacity needs:
Why the "up to" in the table above? DirecTV compresses different broadcasts differently, called VBR, or Variable Bit Rate encoding. In reality, you should expect to get fewer hours, because you likely won't record only the shows that get compressed the most. If you record sports or action movies, expect far fewer hours. Can I record a mixture of different formats including HD and SD? Yes to some degree. You can choose to record a standard definition channel where available, but if you are recording a high definition channel, you cannot choose between MPEG2 and MPEG4. |