Posted by PTravel on 09/25/05 05:20

"Michaelv" <mvoloNOSPAM@acpub.duke.edu> wrote in message
news:11jc8rpf561o074@corp.supernews.com...
> Thanks, I think I'll try to get a PCMCIA firewire adapter.
>
> If one is using a combo firewire/USB2 external hd for capture from a
laptop,
> is the firewire link less likely to result in dropped frames than the USB2
> link?

I can't say. I buy external cases and put drives in them. The cases handle
both USB2 and 1394. I have to keep the 1394 ports separate for the drives
and the camera.


> >>
> >> 1. Is the external hd fast enough for video capture? It has more space.
> >
> > I routinely use external Firewire drives for capturing and editing.
Your
> > mileage may vary, but I've never had any problems.
> >
> >>
> >> 2. If I want to use the external firewire drive for capture, I have to
> > plug
> >> the external drive into the laptop and then piggy back the camcorder
onto
> >> the external drive's second 1394 socket. I tried capturing this way,
but
> > the
> >> audio seemed more hashy when the firewire bus was extended this way (I
> > think
> >> each firewire cord was about 6 feet).
> >
> > Whereas I have run into the occassional problem doing what you're
> > describing. I use a dedicated 1394 port for capturing from the camera,
> > and
> > a separate port for external drives. Perhaps you could a 1394
> > pcmcia/cardbus adapter?
> >
> >>Does extending the firewire bus make
> >> things more noise vulnerable? Should I invest in a PCMCIA firewire card
> >> in
> >> order to get more onboard firewire inputs?
> >
> > That's the only way I was able to reliably capture to my system (a 3.2
GHz
> > P4 desktop).
> >
> >>
> >> 3. Would it be better for real-time activities such as capture to be
> >> confined to the internal hd, and then move the capture file to the more
> >> spacious external hd for non-realtime activities such as editing?:
> >
> > If you're capturing DV-25, external drives shouldn't be a problem. I
have
> > 5
> > internal drives (4 for data), an external USB drive and an external 1394
> > drive, for a total of 1.25 terabytes. I see no difference between the
> > internal or external drives PROVIDED that I don't also try to use the
same
> > 1394 port for capturing from the camera.
> >
>
>

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