How much space does raw DV take up?

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 7:27 pm

And should I get a firewire drive just for DV storage?

What other uses can I get out of the firewire drive besides data storage?

Is 400mbit per sec fast enough to run games or even an OS???

jz · Post by jz » Sat Jul 20, 2002 7:37 pm

I think raw DV takes about 200MB per minute at 640x480.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 8:54 pm

Originally posted by jz
I think raw DV takes about 200MB per minute at 640x480.

Except for the fact thatt 640x480 isn't within the DV spec.

DV takes up about ~3.6megs a second, but I tend to round my figures to 3.7, to save for a slight margin of error. It may not sound like a lot when compared with something like uncompressed NTSC video (, but it definately adds up after a few hours. If you want to store DV, a firewire drive is NOT needed, any decent system with a 7200rpm drive will do just fine.

If you're looking for an external storage drive though, I'm sure someone else can make a recommendation on either firewire drives, or a USB 2.0 one.

Besides, what else do you want out of a hard drive but storage?

jz · Post by jz » Sat Jul 20, 2002 9:12 pm

Except for the fact thatt 640x480 isn't within the DV spec.

Close enough, 7something x 480.

Besides, what else do you want out of a hard drive but storage?

Speed?

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 9:17 pm

Originally posted by jz
Close enough, 7something x 480.

Sure, close enough for extremely distorted video.

And its 720x480 (occasionally 486) for NTSC DV. Sure, it may be "close enough", but when it comes down to the facts, its still wrong for someone who's looking for information on the subject.

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 10:15 pm

Originally posted by BIGJIMSLATE

Except for the fact thatt 640x480 isn't within the DV spec.

DV takes up about ~3.6megs a second, but I tend to round my figures to 3.7, to save for a slight margin of error. It may not sound like a lot when compared with something like uncompressed NTSC video (, but it definately adds up after a few hours. If you want to store DV, a firewire drive is NOT needed, any decent system with a 7200rpm drive will do just fine.

If you're looking for an external storage drive though, I'm sure someone else can make a recommendation on either firewire drives, or a USB 2.0 one.

Besides, what else do you want out of a hard drive but storage?

Being that I now have a firewire card...and that I'll be transferring video from my new DV Camcorder...I would like to keep my video separate from my HDD for perfromance reasons...I'm just not sure if I can run programs and another OS off a firewire drive without taking a performance hit. The reason why I want a firewire drive is for portability...I can take my drive and hook it up to friends and relatives systems and DL the raw DV Video onto it and do something with it/for them.

Any other thoughts or suggestions???

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 10:30 pm

I would think compatibilty would be just as important as portability. Most people have USB ports, but very few have firewire ports.

So what's the problem in having your programs on your regular drive and just adding your video to your external one?