Slow 1394a transfers with HardDrive and DV

[bakura82]

I have noticed that when I transfer files to my average speed (5400 RPM) harddrive in Vista, I can't transfer faster than 8MB/s. Considering that 1394a can transfer at 400Mb/s, that's terrible!

In terms of doing video editing, I only have a laptop and I am forced to capture video to my external hardrive. This is painstaking though. What am I missing? How can I make this faster?

Thank your you input folks.

[Chewy]

capturing what from what?

it's 400Mb/s and that's just the speed of the interface, your internal hard drive will be doing good to do 30 MB/s, an external would be good from 12-23MB/s

B is not equal to b

Bytes and bits

[snagel]

Chewy, When I first got my computer I purchased a IEEE 1394 card and installed it in my computer. I bought the card because I had previously bought a JVC recorder that used Mini DV tapes. The instruction manual for the recorder said that you needed a IEEE 1394 to transfer to the PC. When I installed the card in the computer it showed installation procedure. As I remember it had a small plugin port on the side of the card that appeared that it was for power. It mentioned that it was optional. But I cannot find the informational installation instructions to confirm it now. Does the card have to have a power plug from the computer plugged into this port or does it draw its own power from the connections that plugged into the mother board..... I am asking this now because I have never transferred anything from the MINI DV recorder to the pc using the IEEE 1394 port.

[Chewy]

usually any onboard connector is just a internal firewire port

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=15-153-005-09.jpg&Image=15-153-005-10.jpg%2c15-153-005-07.jpg%2c15-153-005-08.jpg%2c15-153-005-09.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&Depa=1&Description=ENCORE+1394+Host+Adapter+Model+ENL1394-PCI

the jvc's like TI chipsets

[snagel]

RE: Chewy

That looks like the one I put in. What is the IEEE 1394 port for that would be inside the case. Would that have to be plugged into anything inside of the case or what?

[Chewy]

http://www.microbarn.com/details.aspx?rid=100977&aspx&source=froogle

old cases might have had a male cable?

heck if I know? since it's just an output doesn't need to have anything hooked to it

[snagel]

re:Chewy

usually any onboard connector is just a internal firewire port

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=15-153-005-09.jpg&Image=15-153-005-10.jpg%2c15-153-005-07.jpg%2c15-153-005-08.jpg%2c15-153-005-09.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&Depa=1&Description=ENCORE+1394+Host+Adapter+Model+ENL1394-PCI

the jvc's like TI chipsets

The Jvc's like TI chipsets. What is a TI chipset?

[snagel]

Texas Instruments right?

[Chewy]

A friend/client with an older MiniDV jvc cam used it for a couple of years with his computer and a via firewire card I had put in it, he hosed everything with easy cd creator and we reinstalled(clean) with xp sp2, he had been using xp sp1. We spent weeks doing this patch and that, searching forums etc trying to get it working again.

The common thread we kept running into was JVC did not do a very good job conforming to the standard specs with their cams, along came MS and made it worse. Other parties like via, nec, and others didn't implement the standard well either. The original firewire chipset by Texas Instruments evidently wrote the standard. He tried his cam on his wife's laptop and it worked great, it had a TI chipset, I told him to buy a TI card, bingo
he's authoring and burning his home movies again. Retired Gold Wing tour nut.

[bakura82]

Bytes and bits

Mistyped. Thank you for poiting that out. It's now corrected.

capturing what from what?

DV camcorder using 1394 interface.[/quote]

it's 400Mb/s and that's just the speed of the interface, your internal hard drive will be doing good to do 30 MB/s, an external would be good from 12-23MB/s

Really? Where I can read up on such figure because that sounds super slow to me. I need to read up on my laptop's HDD, but I am pretty sure all SATA HDD communicate at at least 150MB/s. So, the 30MB/s figure internally on the laptop, that would be killer slow. I haven't tested it though. That's just what I have read up on in th past.

Now, for the external, considering that 1394a transfers at about 50MB/s, I can't believe I can't get faster than 8MB/s. I am pretty sure I remember seeing an article about Vista bottlenecking such transfers, so I need to do more research.

Actually, I need a way to test this. Here are the parameters:

Test: What are the following transfer rates?

• DV Camcorder TO HDD via 1394a
• DV Camcorder TO ExtHDD via 1394a to laptop and USB2.0 to ExtHDD
• Captured DV data (HDD to ExtHDD via 1394a
• Captured DV data (HDD to ExtHDD via USB 2.0
• HDD to HDD via internal SATA cables

Any ideas on realistic tests I can do?

[Chewy]

You are having trouble understanding the difference between interfaces and devices

a cam playing a dv tape in real time is what determines the transfer rate, not the interface

1394a(400) is only capable of 40MB/s burst, the error bits take up the extra 10MB/s

the source and destination hardware and chipsets involved in the transfer limit actual speeds to 20-23MB/s tops

I have already done this kind of test

USB2 transfers are basically 12-20MB/s sustained depending upon chipsets

firewire is better than usb for video capture as the cpu does less work and is unlikely to drop frames

an esata external hard drive would be the way to go for making sure there are no bottlenecks

[NightbladeXX]

Chewy i think he is getting confused between Mb/s and MB/s

40MB/s = 320/Mb/s

since 400Mb/s is absolute theorectical maximum they list 400Mb/s no one will ever see this number cuz marketing lives in on a different planet than those of us that reside in the real world

and due to overhead of the transportation of the signal the speed of your PC and errors is why you get about 20MB/s or 160Mb/s

1 B = 8 b

[bakura82]

a cam playing a dv tape in real time is what determines the transfer rate, not the interface

I understand this. I am talking data transfer though. Transferring at only 8MB/s sustained via 1394a from laptop to ExtHDD seems ridiculously slow. Even the numbers you say you have tested are 12-20MB/s (for USB, but assuming the same or better for Firewire). I am definately below par and I wish I could figure out how to speed it up.

[Chewy]

Chewy i think he is getting confused between Mb/s and MB/s

you need to read the posts more carefully, that what I originally corrected in this thread

now when you consider that there's 8 bits to the byte and factor in the loss from error correction it approximates to a 10-1 ratio

@baku

just a straight computer to external disk transfer via firewire was always about 23MB/s

almost any internal and external hard drive can sustain this speed, if properly maintained and defragged

[pfloyd]

Hook up power to the white plug and the end of the card. It looks like a power connection for the floppy drive.
The 1394 plug inside the case is for hooking a 1394 cable from a box. I have a box in one of my 5 1/4 slots for 1394, USB, and sound.