TiVo Community Forums Archives - Clean out "now showing" quickly

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Clean out "now showing" quickly
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Posted by: dd9

This probably isn't something you'd need to do on a regular basis or maybe even at all. This is more of a tip than a trick.

I had/have a TiVo that I will be giving to someone (contest winner), but I played with it for a month and all sorts of stuff to try and break it first! I had set up countless 5 minute recordings at one point just to see if I could exceed some threshold, but couldn't. Why? Because.

Anyway, I had well over 100 recordings in now showing and wanted to clean them up without deleting them 1 at a time.

Simplest way I could think of was to figure out what my max recording time was (I used best) and set up a manual timer to start immediately for that amount of time. It will ask you if it is ok to delete a bunch of stuff early and you say yes. Then the recording starts.

You can stop it right away, because it has already deleted everything else.

Actually, it still left 2 five minute basic recordings, but that's still better than over 100 !

Oh, on a 14 hour machine, the longest "best" recording you can do is 3:50. Even though the unit says 4:25.

Posted by: Jim West

Very interesting. I hope I can remember this if I ever need to clear out my Now Showing list. My 117 hour unit has a jillion items in Now Showing.

Jim West

Posted by: dd9

quote:
Originally posted by Jim West:
Very interesting. I hope I can remember this if I ever need to clear out my Now Showing list. My 117 hour unit has a jillion items in Now Showing.

Ahhh. Now you would have a different problem. Your "best" max time is probably over 24 hours, right? If so, you might be in trouble. I don't think you can create a recording that runs longer than 24 hours (23:55 to be precise).

So, although it would knock down some of the recordings, it would still leave a bunch. Unless you actually allowed the 24 hour recording to finish and then do another one, you'd be out of luck.

Posted by: Ilovetorecord2

quote:
Originally posted by Jim West:
Very interesting. I hope I can remember this if I ever need to clear out my Now Showing list. My 117 hour unit has a jillion items in Now Showing. Jim West

Alright Jim, quit bragging!!!

I am so jealous. My 14 and 30 hr tivos are like virgins that have so little on them (keep them clear by downloading so that I can record more) except a few things on my 30 hr.

I hope to upgrade by year end of early next year (with a trust upgrader my my area) when I go back to work.

Posted by: BonnyKay

How would you find a trusted upgrader in your area? I was reading the FAQ's yesterday (I just got my TiVo for Christmas a couple days ago ... and I lOVE it!) ... anyway, it said that nobody will do it for you since it's technically "hacking" into a machine. Now as far as computers go, I've upgraded a dozen different PCs ... put in hard drives, modems, etc. ... but I'm telling you, the thought of opening up that TiVo is way too intimidating for me to consider right now. I think mine is a 20 hour model ... but I'd love to have a big fatty drive on there to record much much more. http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/smile.gif Any thoughts or suggestions?

-Bon

Posted by: Jim West

BonnyKay, with your knowledge of computers you probably would find adding a drive to be a breeze. Read the FAQs in the Underground again and decide if you can do it, considering the risks. If you need help, usually folks who post regularly in the Underground will help.

I am a very low tech person but was able to add a drive with a combination of reading the FAQs, threads in the Underground, and telephone help from a forum participant.

Jim West

[This message has been edited by Jim West (edited 12-27-2000).]

Posted by: Randy Given

Thanks for the tip!

Posted by: BonnyKay

>>I am a very low tech person but was able
>>to add a drive with a combination of
>>reading the FAQs, threads in the
>>Underground, and telephone help from
>>a forum participant.

Well, it's not the opening or placement that has me squeamish ... I did a little "light reading" on the subject (i.e. just enough to be dangerous! haha) about how TiVo uses Linux as it's OS and you needed to "bless" a drive before putting it in ... I guess if you skim something and you see bits and pieces about backing up the system and such, it's a lot more intimidating than actually reading the entire FAQ front to back and deciding either "Yes, I can" or "No, I'd better not."

You know the weird thing is that if this was my PC, I'd have it open and apart in a split second ... there isn't much that I wouldn't do where it's concerned. I guess since I don't know anything about Linux, I'm just in a state of pre-panic.

Add to this situation that at first my husband *hated* the idea of TiVo. I'm such a geek that I just LOVE to play with new toys like this ... but he thought it was a completely useless gadget. Well, guess what? In the three days we've had it up, he's warmed up to it ... and I give it a week before he's as addicted to it as I am. So, now *he's* starting to talk about how I should upgrade it. http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/smile.gif No pressure, eh? haha

Thanks for the help ... I'll read the FAQ again and see how it goes. http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/smile.gif

-Bon

Posted by: Worf

Bonny: If you're still a bit squeamish, you can ask if anyone will assist you with the upgrade by posting in the Underground forum - just don't read too many of the posts there or you might really worry about screwing up the TiVo http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/smile.gif.

But from reading the FAQ millions of times, it isn't *THAT* complicated. If you know how to connect a drive up to the secondary [master|slave] IDE bus, that's about it. The rest is really following directions. As for opening the TiVo, that's what a #10 (IIRC) Torx screwdriver is for. Just think of the insides as a slightly different computer and you'll do alright.

Posted by: don99

The only real questions for people comfortable with tinkering with computers is are you willing to give up the big 90 day warranty, and will you take a chance of a hack causing problems with future upgrades.

Most potential problems can be made recoverable by doing a back-up first. The step-by-step instructions are in the FAQ and while it helps to know Linux so you know what the command does, its not a prerequisite.

Based on the number of reported problems I wanted to be sure I could restore the system to it's virgin state before adding a hard drive. I also checked the modem before backing up, but cut it off as soon as it dialed and connected. Now my system still does a few odd things that aren't right, but nothing I can't live with. Messages posted here have not shed any answers btw. SO you might want to wait 90 days before cracking the case. If you use a hard drive to back up then go ahead and run setup and use it. If you want to backup on CDROM like I did then a virgin unit is best.
As Harry Callahan said.. "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
(no disrespect intended!)

Posted by: BonnyKay

None taken ... I think I'll wait for the big 2.0 software upgrade before I open 'er up. There's no big rush and I might as well see what happens with the new version. Yes yes ... it's true ... the coward in me has made this decision. But, maybe by then I'll feel comfortable (or foolish) enough to give it a go. Thanks for everyone's input. I do feel better about it. http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/smile.gif

-Bon

Posted by: Video-Idiot

Here's my nickle's worht on the subject of hacking.
I added a drive to my overgrown toaster (read: HP Pavillion) with no problem. After reading the TiVo Underground threads I was convinced I could not hack my TiVo (read: computer w/o keyboard nor mouse), however this FAQ got me thinking I can do it. Click Me! It's highly step by step and the creator of "Bless" (I think his name is Michael Hill) tells us we do not need to know Linux to do it.

Posted by: JC

I believe people are more likely to post there failure more than their success. Here is my experience. I just recently purchased a 30 hr Tivo as a Xmas present for myself. I didn't have the unit more than 2 day before I decided to upgrade it. I read the entire Tivo hack at http://tivo.samba.org/. I purchased a drive backet from 9th Tee, Quantum drive to back up my A drive and a 80GB Maxtor. My A drive was locked (reported the wrong heads sectors, etc). Used the DlgChk.exe program to unlock it.(See the hack FAQ). Used Dylan's Book Disk to make the backup. It took about 7 hours to copy my A drive. I installed the backup drive into my Tivo and stored the orginial drive for safe keeping. I used the Maxtor 80 GB drive for the B drive. I ran AMSET and WVSET on the drive (helps the drive preformance). Blessed the drive with Dylan's Boot Disk. Very easy! Took only about 5 seconds. Installed the new drive with the backet. No problems with the IDE cable. Now I have a 134 hour unit and I am loving it! If you have every upgraded a drive in a PC, this is not much harder. Good luck to all.

[This message has been edited by JC (edited 01-06-2001).]