Capturing to USB or FireWire HDD

[teaman2]

I am considering the purchase of an external USB or FireWire hard drive, about 200GB. I am leaning more to USB because it is slightly faster. The main purpose of this drive would be to back up my files and operating system. Should I consider using it as a capture device too? If I use V2i to create compressed backup files, I will only need about half of the capacity for those and still have about 100GB of space for other things.

[lynnsabcs]

I recently bought a Pioneer AO6 DVD burner that was in a USB 2.0 enclosure because the specs seemed to be a little faster than the firewire. I could not get the burner to work and finally took it out of the USB case and installed it internally. My AO4 with a firewire enclosure worked from the 1st day.

I posted to this forum and was told the USB was not as stable for video as the firewire and I would never buy anything else that wasn't firewire. I'm also thinking of buying an external HD for capturing.

How large a drive do you need to buy? Is there a per minute of video formula to determine how much drive space I will need?

LynnsABCs

[Firk99]

I use an Firewire drive only for capturing and videoediting. I think you should go for a firewire drive instead of an USB 2.0 drive. The reason for that is that the theoretical 480 Mb/s is split over all the USB-devices connected, so even if the firewire is "only" 400 Mb/s, in practice it will be faster than an USB drive.

Hope this helps,

[Manokat]

Initially i thought USB 2.0 was bad for video capturing and storing. But after trying a few of decent USB 2.0 devices, I now believe that USB 2.0 is rock solid.

It is true that you can find lots of "not so decent" USB 2.0 capture device and perhaps this is what people use and complain that usb 2.0 is not stable. As a matter of fact it's the usb device that is just not as good, or it is only for usb 1.1 but claims it's designed for usb 2.0. I too tested a few of those "not so decent" devices and disappointed. On the other hand there are not many fireware capturing devices and most of them are decent and relatively costly. Since they are decent most of them do not have problems. IMO, that is why there is an impression that firewire is more stable than usb 2.0.

As for USB storage, I have been using LG GSA-4081B 8x/4x DVD burner inside a usb 2.0 enclosure with no coaster at all. As well, been using an 120G IDE drive in a usb 2.0 enclosure for capturing with ConvertX.

Some people say that the on board USB 2 chipset on the computer may not be good. They say that it is sometimes recommended to use an add on USB 2.0 card that has a more reputable chipset on it.

[Capmaster]

I am leaning more to USB because it is slightly faster.

Only in claims. In actual practice firewire has the edge. However both are plenty fast. I have one PC with FW and one with USB2 and neither has given me problems.

[Stas]

My oppinion is that Firewire is more reliable. Don't forget that for USB 2.0 you must rely on Microsoft drivers for WinXP with SP1!

Yes, firewire is ok for capturing. If you have some camcorder you know that usually it connects to PC using IEEE1394.

About the size of HDD: 13GB/hour for uncompressed DV. For MPEG2 capturing depends of bitrate and other settings, but it is less by times.

[lenti_75]

don't get fooled that usb is faster...it is NOT. I experimented it, and firewire rules.
get firewire, you won't regret it, it's faster and more stable...

[ronras1]

I have a Sony Digital DCR-TRV350 with an S-Video, Composite , DV and a USB output. I have tried all but can only get hte Composite output (Video and Audio) to work with the programs I have. S-Video comes out B&W. DV stops after a few seconds and locks.
I have a P4, with All-in-Wonder 128, 1gig RAM, 160gig HD (50gig free). I installed a Firewire 1394A + USB Combo card to try to capture DV for better quality but no luck.
The programs I have tried are Pinnacle Studio 9, Vegas Video, Sonic MyDVD, Ulead Video Studio 5, VirtualDub and iuVCR.
I captured with Studio 9 in AVI Best quality (720x640) with was ok, only 12 dropped frames (30min). I then used TMPGEnc to convert to MPEG2. That took 10 hours. That was just too long. I did get a good recording but I need something a lot faster. I usually do about an hour times 2 (church service). I want the best output quality I can get.
I've been reading everything and do get some ideas.
I would like to capture in DV but I need to know how to set everything. I've tried all I know and it still stops and locks up with any program.

[Stas]

Ronras,

Are you using WinXP? Do you have some capturing software with TRV350?

I have JVC miniDV and when conect it trough DV output to IEEE1394 port of my PC the WinXP find it as a device. Pinnacle Studio 8 capture in perfect way and very easy my uncopressed video.

I export to MPEG2 with Pinnacle Studio and it's not slow at all.
Read more about Studio to try capture, edit and export!

[ronras1]

The only software was to transfer the still pictures via USB.
I am using WinXP with all the updates.
I can capture with Studio 9 in AVI using the Audio/Video outputs and Composite input on my All-In_Wonder 128. When I converted to MPG2 with TMPGEnc it took 10 hours for 30min. I'm going to try it again and change some of the settings for TMPGEnc. I usually use Video Vegas to add the transitions and scrolling text then render. Maybe this is wrong. I'm going to try Studio 9. I'm also going to buy a newer All-In-Wonder 9600/9700 card.
When I tried to capture with Studio 9 in DV, I can control the camera and start it but after a few seconds it stops and the locks.

[aurgathor]

I have an external DVD+-R/W with both USB 2.0 and Firewire connections. On FW, it rips nearly twice as fast!!!
Note: that drive was the only USB device I had connected, so there were no interference from other USB devices.