It is not possible to give an exact number of how many hours of recorded programs you will be able to store on any size storage drive. On an average, the CM-7600 Stream+ uses about 6GB to 8GB for a 1 hour recording of HD(high definition) content. That equates to about 20 hours of HD content on a 128GB storage device. You could expect to get approximately 130 hours of HD programming on a 1TB External Hard Drive. (EHD)
SD(standard definition) content uses much less storage space then HD content. You can average about 3 to 7 times as many SD programs compared to HD programs.
Every TV station can transmit its signals at whatever Bit Rate they choose. Highest bit rate for an over the air ATSC signal tops out at 17Mbps. The HD signals and the SD signals share the broadcast/transport stream. e.g. If they send the 'primary' HD signal out at 12Mbps, then they have 5Mbps available for the secondary SD channels. The transmit bitrate used for a certain channel can change at any time. This is why it is not possible to provide a set number of hours of recorded programs, that can be stored on any certain sized storage device.
The number of recordings that you can store varies greatly for a number of reasons.
- The size of the storage device being used. Storage is measured in Gigabytes.*
- The Resolution that is being recorded whether it be High Definition or Standard Definition programming can also be a factor.
- Another factor is the bit-rate of the TV signal transmission. Measured in Mbps.**
*1 Byte = 8 bits
** Mbps = Mega bits per second.
You could expect a transmission to split up 17Mbps bandwidth similar to this below:
- Channel 10.1, primary HD channel, bitrate 12Mbps. ***
- Channel 10.2, secondary SD channel, bitrate 2Mbps.
- Channel 10.2, secondary SD channel, bitrate 2Mbps.
- Channel 10.3, secondary SD channel, bitrate 1Mbps.
NOTE: Live Channels is a Google implementation, in collaboration with Channel Master. Channel Master is not responsible for Live Channels functions or issues. All Guide data, logos, and images are provided by Google. Any Guide data issues & questions, and bugs should be reported to Google Support.