Zune Recorded TV Sync Speed

The new Zune software syncs Recorded TV without the need for any 3rd party software, one of the question I have been asked is how long it takes to sync TV files with the Zune

So I thought I would try a real world test. I picked on a movie I had recorded  (The After Tomorrow), this was recorded with Windows Media Center via a Nova-T card (DVB-T 704 x 480) . The file is 2.4GB, running at 2:30 hours long. Starting the transfer off is easy, just navigate to Videos right click and select Sync.

• 14:26 – Transfer started,  ZuneEnc.exe taking around 90% CPU, this must be the transcoder
• 14:58 50% complete
• 15:21 91% complete, the CPU usage drops right down, I guess it is now copying the file
• 15:31 Transfer complete, the file is 990.6MB on the Zune

Test PC Spec: P4 3.0 with 1GB of RAM, Vista index of 3.8

So that is just over an hour for a 2:30 hour movie, which I guess is not that bad.

My next test was a show recorded from a radio channel which transmits over the digital TV signal (BBC7). This is a 1:07 hour recording, 550.4mb in Media Center. It is audio only but Media Center thinks is a video file with a blank screen, I record quite a few shows of the radio and it will be nice to get them on my Zune for listening to in the car. I kicked it off and 4 minutes later it was done, 167.2mb on the Zune

When I tried to play it on the Zune it didn’t play at all, I guess the Zune or it’s encoder does not know about DVB-T audio files, which is a real shame. The player didn’t crash but there was no audio at all.