On Tue, 29 Sep 1998 22:29:59 -0700, Warren Bandzmer wrote:

>Does anyone know what the data rate is for a Fire Wire connection? I am
>upgrading my hard drive and I am concerned that it's transfer rate will
>not keep up with this format. What is the minimum transfer rate required
>for this format to be scanned properly ? Or do DV capture cards have
>some buffering capability while capturing, as to not overload the system
>? I am used to scanning analog video and have not had the experience in
>DV yet. Thanks for your help.

DV capture is easier on HD specs than high-quality analogue-original
capture, since the data rate is constant and a moderate 3.6MB/sec
(which any good AV-rated EIDE drive can keep up with - the IBM
Deskstar 8, 14, and 16 drives work well for this, as do several
others). I have even been able to capture-to/play-from an
undefragged Deskstar 8 used also as the "C" drive, but I recommend
having two additional dedicated drives for video work: one to capture
to, and one to edit to and play from (though it is quite OK to
use the program drive for storing material [after capture] which is
to be used in editing, or occasionally to have the source material on
the same drive you are editing to...)