DataspeedT22 / bandwidth/DV/USB 2.0 pcmcia card and 2.5"

[cyberfilmmaker]

Hi all,

I am using a FIREWIRE USB 2.0 combo PCMCIA card
with my THINKPAD T22.

I have connected a 2.5" IBM 40Gb Travelstar via an USB2.0
interface externally.

It all works quiet alright however when I try to playback miniDV (DV)
video footage this set up seems not to be able to handle the data bandwidth.

Minidv (DV) needs just a bandwidth of 3.5 MB per sec and USB2.0 should offer this easily.

Does anybody know why it isn't working.

The 2.5" HD is also set as master (as the manual requested it)/ WIN XP PRO SP2 / playback via WINDOWSMEDIA PALYER10

Many thanks,

CYBERFILMMAKER

[cyberfilmmaker]

Hi ,

the 2.5" Hard disk used is a Hitachi IBM Travelstar 40GNX
which offers only 4200rpm. Is this slow speed the
problem?

Many thanks,
CYBERFILMMAKER

[Nolonemo]

I find this very curious.

The 4200 rpm drive should give you a sustained transfer rate of 25 to 30 MBps, so that shouldn't be a factor. What happens if you copy a chunk (if you can) of the file to the T22 drive?

A wild-assed guess is that your video card is gagging on the amount of data it has to process. Remember that while a DVD will have bitrates of up to 10 Mbps (bits per second, not bytes), and commercial disks are usually encoded around 5 to 6 Mbps, the file you're trying to stream is around 31 Mbps (i.e., the 3.5 MBps you mentioned), or 5 times the amount of data. (I'm assuming by miniDV you're referring to video in an .avi wrapper captured from a miniDV camera.)

The software you're using to play the file back might also affect this....

Just for kicks I'll transfer a little miniDV footage to my T22 this weekend and see what happensm.

[cyberfilmmaker]

Hi Nolonemo,


many thanks for your reply.

When I play back this DV AVI file (140MB) from my internal T22 hard disk it plays back quiet fine although sometimes you have only audio and no video. this works after a trying again.

Copying a file of this size of 140 MB from my internal to the external drive takes about 3 to 4 minute. This doesn't comply with the USB 2.0 bandwidth spec.

I wonder if it is my Harddisk or maybe USB 2.0 2.5" external hard disk interface (many are on sale on eBAY)

Or is there some sort of interrupt setting the problem.

MEDIA PLAYER works normaly fine for playback of this kind of footage.

Let us know if you succeed.
many thanks and all the best
CYBERFILMMAKER

T22 / 512 MB / WIN XP PRO SP2

[mysbca]

Are you sure your USB enclosure is USB 2.0 high speed?
There is also USB 2.0 full speed which is just USB 1.1.
Your sample file transfer test seems to indicate you are only getting USB 1.1 speed.

Also, make sure the PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller driver is installed properly for hi-speed operation (Device Manager -> USB controllers).

[Nolonemo]

I fooled around on my T22 (900 mHz, 512MB, XP Pro SP2), and this is what I found.

(486,639 Kb .avi file, a capture from Sony TRV-18 DVcam; 2:11 length, so bitrate is 29.7 mbps or 3.7MBps)

Playback from Ultrabay 2000 DVD/CDRW drive II and WMP 9: totally video and audio completely broken up

Playback from same in PowerDVD 5, audio and video stutter

Playback from hard drive using WMP 9: audio OK, video looks wierd, but doesn't seem to be stuttering.

Playback from hard drive using PowerDVD5: playback fine

I was doing this running off the battery, the power setting is "adaptive" so I imagine the CPU was running at max for this.

I'm guessing it's your enclosure.

[cyberfilmmaker]

Hi MYSBCA & NOLONEMO,

I agree MYSBCS there is a real chance that I don't have a real USB2.0 2.5" hard disk Interface/Box.

Is there anyway where you could see how fast files are transferred (you can do it simply when you surf the web)?

I will have a look at the controller.

I also plugs a USB 2.0 card reader and tried to playback the same video file from a flash card.Didn't work well.

NOLONEMO , many thanks for all your testing.It looks quiet goodand an interestingly bizarre. I mean why shouldn't WMP work perfectly when you use your internal harddisk???? It worked even on my old PII desktop. Very good stuff though.
I will try POWERDVD and will have a look.


I shall come back should I ever solve this .

All the best,
CYBERFILMMAKER

[cyberfilmmaker]

Hi Nolonemo,

I found out that WindowsMediaplayer 6 will also play your footage from your internal hard disk without a glitsh.

All the best,
CF