Why does miniDV "act" like analog?

[satviewer2000]

Something I don't understand about the DV format. Although it is supposedly all digital, why is it that when capturing the data from the camcorder to the computer, it acts just like capturing from Analog???

What I mean is that it takes an hour to "download" (capture) an hour of DV video. Or 90 minutes to "download" 90 minutes of DV video. If it is simply data, then shouldn't it take far less time to transfer the data over???

I've been using DV for quite a while, and this seems like a dumb question, but perhaps someone can explain it to me.

[lordsmurf]

It's not capturing. It's a realtime datarate transfer. That's all. The amount of info and bandwidth is such that it seems like it's like analog, because it is realtime.

Special software is required because the data on the tape is not a Microsoft AVI or Mac Quicktime file. It will be once the transfer into a container is done. The tape is raw data, not inside a RIFF.

[satviewer2000]

Thanks for the reply, but how is it that one can "lose frames" for data that is supposed to be digital?

If it's digital and pure data, should it not simply be transferred as data, and there would be no "loss of frames", which is something one would expect from analog transfers?

[guns1inger]

The way it has been designed (for better or worse) is based around a single speed of tape playback. If your PC can't keep up with the transfer rate, something has to give. In this case, frames are sacrificed.