Any min read speed requirement for flash drive?

[larrym]

I want to load video onto a flash drive to watch from my laptop, as an alternative to playing an optical disk in some cases. Should I be concerned about the read/write speed for these devices to assure I can watch directly? This data is not often published at the shop websites, though it should be at the manufacturer's website.

Thanks for your help.

Larry

[jagabo]

For smooth playbck the required minimum read speed required is the maximum bitrate of your video file.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/data-transfer-run,1037-10.html

Note that drive speeds are usually measured in mega bytes per second, whereas bitrate in video files is usually measured in kilo bits per second. 8000 kbps = 1 MB/s. Most USB 2.0 thumb drives available now should be fast enough for most video.

[larrym]

Great, thank-you!