Comments on: Using A USB Drive As Live TV Buffer

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:44:51 +0000

@paul, same here using OZC Rally2 16GB usb drive, small pauses, speeds up to catch up, etc. fwiw, it seems to happen when it’s writing out a new buffer file when the previous is filled.

also, I formatted as exFat (and tried fat32 as well), I think NTFS has too much overhead, updating last access timestamps, etc.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:58:13 +0000

Finally gave this a trial run, but performance was better on the HD. Really bummed out. Had been wanting this change for awhile once 16GB price was right.
Did several things to ensure best performance; 1)enabled write caching, 2) formatted as NTFS, 3) disabled indexing for search on drive. Also, tried all different buffer file sizes.
Theoretically this should be a whole lot faster, but I experience very brief TV freezes (or slow downs) every so often using the Cosrair Voyager

By: TheBretware

TheBretware — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:03:45 +0000

Very nice trick I’ve been using it for along time, however I use a 8GB high speed compact flash card with a $15 CF to SATA Adaptor. Very smooth, for best performance get a card that can run in fixed disk mode, but not necessary on a high quality card. Also use at least 8G’s of memory, even in standard definition or you will need to reduce the buffer size and it can be a pain, if using 4G’s find the instructions on this site for increasing the buffer size and reverse them.
Most USB sticks will not have the performance needed, if the TV plays poorly the card is no good( or the USB port on the computer has issues)

Even with my SSD hard drive I still like caching the video to memory for many reasons.
Good Luck,
Bretware

By: barold

barold — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:26:08 +0000

Anyone know how to undo this? Since I’ve set this up my tv freezes constantly. Dunno if the stick is bad or what but it makes tv unwatchable.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:12:15 +0000

Can this be done with a SD CARD instead of a USB thumb drive? I have a reader built in on my computer that doesn’t get used. It would be nice to stick a card in and forget about it.

By: John

John — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:12:03 +0000

Just to let people know, if you change the recording default location within WMC, then with me, it also changes the ‘temprec’ file to the new destination (an external HDD in my case), but a new symbolic link placed in this folder will again send it back to your memory stick.

Using DVB in UK (not HD) uses just under 4GB, but still need 8GB to be big enough after format, unless you decrease the length of the TV buffer just a pinch so you can use 4GB.

Some people can’t delete temprec folder. This is because if you have accessed WMC or WMP then it will not grant you permission. Do a clean restart, then you will be able to delete without an issue.

Good luck!

By: John

John — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:31:45 +0000

Fantastic! Works perfect! Thanks to Michael for that one.

Love WMC, but hate the idea of burning a hole in my HDD!

Running 8GB Compact Flash card. Has used just over 4GB (so 8GB card needed). Decided to stick with FAT32, no problems so far.

Could increase / decrease the standard 40min buffer (see additional thred), but happy as it is.

By: John

John — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:39:12 +0000

Does it make any difference what format the USB memory stick is? Fat, FAT32, or NTSC? Would NTCS be a better bet for compatability, say for 8GB cards and larger?

By: Sopur

Sopur — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:08:55 +0000

Hello!
I linked the temprec to an SSD – unfortunately, the HD with the recorded TV does not go to standby, even if it’s not used. Is this, because the “folder” appears to be on the HD? How could this be avoided?
Regards
Sopur

By: Dave G

Dave G — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:58:32 +0000

Had the same issue with needing admin rights, set your pc to not run MCE at boot and reboot. With it not running you will be able to delete the hidden share.