slow ABIT IP35 1394 Firewire performance

[Pailface]

I use firewire to transfer video from my Canon GL1 to my PC. Is the slow 1394 performance on the Abit IP35 Pro bad enough to cause a problem for me doing this? Does this problem also affect the non-pro IP35?

 

[Beatnik]

Supposedly they are going to try to fix it in the next BIOS release. I sure hope they do, since I won't be buying this board unless they resolve the problem.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

The Pro's 1394 throughput speed is limited to about 14.4MB/s. If you are transferring data from an optical drive to the PC, then the performance hit will be minimal due to the slower speed of DVD ROM. However, if you are moving data from an external hard drive to the PC, then there will be a significant slow down since most HDDs should be able to deliver at least 35MB/s. Use USB 2.0 if supported by the Canon. Speed is just north of 31MB/s.

 

[Pailface]

Does DV tape transfer to AVI at any standard speed? Less than 14.4MB/s? It seems to process in 'real time' and I'd have to guess that's not very fast ...

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Use a stopwatch to check actual throughput by moving a 500 to 700MB file. That's the easy way to confirm the speed with your rig. If the speed is around 14MB/s, then you should retest using USB 2.0. 1394 is only about 10% faster than USB 2.0 in actual use.

 

[Pailface]

Thanks, though this camera doesn't do USB. According to Wikipedia miniDV has a constant rate of 3.6 MB/s so (if that's true) then it seems this board still has plenty of headroom.