I'm going to buy a DVD burner for my laptop soon it has firewire and usb2). I've noticed that USB 2.0 drives are cheaper than their firewire counterparts. Which would be better for playing and burning DVDs? I know firewire is better for miniDV camcorders, but does it matter with DVD players and burners? Thank you for any responses.
I would think the firewire would transfer the data quicker lessening the chance of a break down in data resulting in a coaster. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/pcnotes.htm
i subscribed as i know virtually diddly squat about firewire; however i use a couple USB2.0 enclosures and burn up a storm without issue over USB2.0 at 8x, i even use Nero's 'multiple recorders' feature very often, one burn over normal internal burner, the other consecutive burn going over USB2.0, works very nicely indeed
Sadly enough I'll leave this one in your hands creaky as I have no practicle knowledge of either method....only what I've read here and on other forums. Namely stalking chewy as he holds classes regularly... http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=69314&page=2&highlight=usb2+firewire
I learned what I know about external enclosures (USB/FW) with the guys @ www.cdfreaks.com. Personally I burn @ 8-12X with my Benq 1640 in a USB 2.0 Enclosure.
I have both USB 2.0 and Firewire externals on my laptop. The firewire is a touch faster (to the tune of 6 - 10 MB/sec....
that's the kind of answer i was after... ...i was unsure whether to get more USB2.0 enclosures (i did in the end) for my laptop but should really have gone for firewire. ah well can buy one another time..
Don't be disappointed Creaky. Sometimes firewire can be a mess. I bought a combo enclosure like a year ago and couldn't get firewire working. Crappy bridge chipset. Yeah Firewire is better but USB is a safe choice. My current USB 2.0 Enclosure has a burst rate of 21 MB/sec which allows my to burn up to @12X speed. Not bad for an external. Besides I usually burn @8X. It's only the Verbs I've been recently experimenting with that I burn @12X.
Am I right in saying that the only difference between USB and firewire is speed of transfer and NOT quality of transfer?
don't understand what you mean by 'quality of transfer'. If you mean are they equally reliable forms of connection then i think the answer is they're both the same
I mean the quality of the end product - either WMV or AVI - after uploading from the miniDV to the PC. Is it a fact that due to the speed of the USB option, a lower quality digital PC file is created?
no not at all, the quality is the same, USB and Firewire are just different ways of transporting the exact same data for want of a better term; the data quality is all down to the programs used
Thanks, Creaky. Can you comment on this information that I just found on: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php "...However, the video signal over USB is transferred in VGA mode just like in webcams. [bold]The resolution of the image is limited and the video quality is much less than video transferred over Firewire.[/bold] The reason for that is that USB is simply not fast enough for a reliable transfer of full size DV. This may sound a bit strange, because the maximum transfer rate specification of USB 2.0 (480Mbps) is higher than Firewire IEEE1394a (400Mbps). The issue is that for USB, the data transfer process is controlled by the PC's own processor, which is not the case with Firewire. The consequence is that in USB, the transfer rate will vary and will drop below what is needed for DV transfer." On the question of software, here is my problem, perhaps you could advise? Using Windows Movie Maker to capture from miniDV, I notice that the quality is not as high as the original tape, and also that the quality suffers again when I convert the WMV file (created by Movie Maker) to a DVD using DVDSanta or Winavi. Is there better capture software than Windows Movie Maker? Is there better translation software from WMV to DVD? Is it better to capture to an AVI format than WMV? Thanks so much.
@essaniael - ah, i was thinking purely in terms of transferring data or dvd video over USB and firewire, not to actual moving video ie webcams etc. USB is indeed reliant on CPU horsepower; i have virtually no expericience with amera transfers so i'd suggest you start you own thread here - http://forums.afterdawn.com/forum_view.cfm/126
