Recording options for a series

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 offers you many options for recording a TV series. You can record all episodes of the series, or only the first-run episodes; you can select how many episodes to keep, what channels to record, and the recording quality level.

To adjust the recording settings for a series you’ve already scheduled to record:

Press the Green Start Button on your remote to open the Media Center Start menu, and then select My TV.

Media Center Start menu with My TV selected

On the My TV page, select Recorded TV.

On the Recorded TV page, select Scheduled.

Recorded TV page with Scheduled selected

On the Scheduled page, select Series.

On the Series page, select the series you want, and adjust the Record settings.
Select Series Settings.

Series Info page with Series Settings selected

On the Series Settings page, make your choice for each option:

Setting	What it controls	Options	More info
Stop	Controls how long Media Center records after the scheduled ending of the show.	On time 5 minutes after 10 minutes after 15 minutes after 30 minutes after 1 hour after 90 minutes after 2 hours after 3 hours after	If a show starts–and therefore ends–late because it was pre-empted, or if a sporting event runs longer than scheduled, use this setting to ensure that Media Center continues to record the show after the scheduled ending.
Quality	Controls the quality level Media Center uses to record TV shows.	Best Better Good Fair	Higher quality levels provide a better picture, but use more storage space. To store as many shows as possible, choose the lowest quality setting you find acceptable.
Keep	Controls how long your Media Center PC stores new recordings.	Until space needed For 1 week Until I watch Until I delete 4 minutes after	Because computers have limited storage space, the longer you save shows and the more shows you record, the fewer shows Media Center can store. Until space needed helps ensure that your Media Center PC will not run out of space.
Keep up to	Controls how many episodes of a series your Media Center keeps before deleting the oldest episode.	As many as possible 10 recordings 7 recordings 6 recordings 5 recordings 4 recordings 3 recordings 2 recordings 1 recording	This setting is available only for recorded series.
Channels	Controls whether Media Center records an episode of a series when it is broadcast on any channel, or only when it is aired on the specified channel.	Any channel One channel only	This setting is available only for recorded series. Often, old episodes of a series are aired in syndication on other channels. Choose Any channel to record syndicated episodes on other channels, or choose One channel only to record only episodes airing on the channel you designate.
Airtime	This setting controls whether Media Center records episodes of a series that are aired only at the same time as the episode you selected, multiple times per day, or only once per day.	Anytime Anytime, once per day	This setting is available only for recorded series. If the same episode of a series you are recording is aired more than once a day, select Anytime, once per day to allow Media Center to record an episode at a time that does not conflict with other recordings.
Show Type	Controls the type of episodes of newly scheduled series Media Center records.	Live First run First run and rerun

Select Save.

Media Center will record future episodes of the series with the settings you specified.

Note: Some movies or TV shows are marked as protected when recorded and you may not be able to add them to a CD or DVD, or copy them to another computer. The terms of the content protection are determined by the content owner, broadcaster, or originator.