# How Much Data Does Your DVR Hold? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070 "2021-07-22T19:55:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070/1 "2021-07-22T19:55:23Z")
Because I have gone kinda wild with mine recently. I don’t want to date myself. But just recently, I realized my VCR is obsolete. (What am I going to do with all those tapes, now?) I just tonight DVR’d all the Simpson episodes I like. And I have a couple of my favorite movies on it too. (I just couldn’t live without at least one _A Christmas Carol_.) When will I ever run out of space? As I said, I have a lot already. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070/2 "2021-07-22T20:06:13Z")
If you need more space, can’t you hook up more space? Networked mass storage, for example. All of _Simpsons_ and a few movies does not sound like you will be needing petabytes of storage, in any case. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070/3 "2021-07-22T20:21:25Z")
Googling, the X1 DVR I have from Comcast can hold about 150 hours of HD programs. Of course I never let it get that full. I get uncomfortable once more than half the space is used and start deleting the stuff I know I’ll never watch. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070/4 "2021-07-22T22:15:22Z")
Depending on your DVR (or media player or whatever) you certainly may be able to add external storage via USB, or possibly a NAS. I use a Raid-1 NAS and keep a total of 8TB on-line, but this is pretty unusual. Writing to an external drive or NAS is usually the challenge. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070/5 "2021-07-22T22:39:05Z")
although the OP is asking somewhat factual questions, at its heart it seems a request for opinions and experience. So I moved it to IMHO, which is where this sort of thread is most at home. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2021, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070/6 "2021-07-23T07:39:04Z")
I have a 2 TB DVR and that’s about double the storage I use. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-data-does-your-dvr-hold/947070/7 "2021-07-23T17:09:14Z")
Mine is just about half full and still has capacity for 158 hrs of SD programmes. I have managed to copy over a lot on to an external hard drive for when I’m travelling - off hand I’d say about thirty movies, complete runs of a dozen or so comedy and TV series, so I shouldn’t get bored. The TV itself has a USB slot for adding an external hard drive, but I’m not sure if that’s only for playback on the same TV (would be useful if not, the PVR tuner seems to be susceptible to interference from somewhere at times).