Is it possible to capture video (without frame dropping) to a network drive (100baseT ethernet)? If not, why not?

Thanks,

Robert Templeton

-- Robert Templeton (templer@vplayground.com), February 27, 2002

Answers

Video capture depends on what the capture program allows u 2 do. So far I've never come across a capture program that allows capture to networked drives. Integrity of capture is assured only when a certain minimum bit transfer rate is met; in the case of DV type 2 that would be 3.6Mb/s. In a typical LAN this can vary all over the garden depending on which workstations are hogging the network and by how much so to simplify control capture to network drives are simply not allowed. This is similar to CD-R situations, where source files ALWAYS are required to BE on local drives.

-- Mehmet Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), February 27, 2002.

I should have been more clear. In my case, it's a Win2000 machine and the network drive would be mapped so that it would appear as a local drive and any capture software should have access to it. In this situation, the network would be my machine and another, no other traffic allowed (I hope), so throughput should be maximized. The reason for this approach is that the big drive needed isn't in my box but in another person's box (but usable with permission) and not transferable.

The main reason for asking is that I tried this for VCD level capture some time ago and it failed miserably (as expected), but don't know the exact reason why. Maybe it is fixable, maybe not. 100baseT ethernet has optimal transfer rates of 100Mbps. That's like 28 times the required bandwidth for 3.6Mbps DV capture that you mention. Though, I do understand the packeted nature of ethernet which could lead to problems even at these speeds. But I'm not certain. That's why I asked :)

Robert Templeton

-- Robert Templeton (templer@vplayground.com), February 27, 2002.