DV to iPod...? at DVinfo.net

Karl J Martin · November 21st, 2005, 04:56 PM

Any wisdom out there, on connecting a DVX100A to an iPod, and using the iPod as the record/storage unit for the camera...?

Andreas Winkler · December 28th, 2005, 08:55 PM

The DVX doesn't support DV output via USB2.0, right? So probably you are thinking about one of the older iPod models with FireWire connection. Somewhere I read these old iPod drives were not fast enough to capture DV, even though someone would write an iPod application to do so.

But how about the new generation video/photo iPods with USB2.0? Does anyone have a clue if DV capture via USB2.0 would be possible somehow, let's say with a Panasonic GS400, which supports DVout via USB2.0!?

David Suthers · December 28th, 2005, 10:10 PM

From what I've seen so far, this would not work very well for a couple reasons.

1. The iPod hard drives do not do a very good job of streaming video. They are designed for low power, cached reads and not long, streaming writes.

2. USB2.0 requires more computing horsepower than firewire. The iPod has VERY limited computing power so this may also be a problem.

There was an article written where someone tried this with an older iPod. Here is the link if you'd like to read it:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/art...video-capture/

If you have an iPod, you could test this by using part of your iPod as a USB drive and copy some big files to it. Time the operation to see if the transfer speed is above 3 megabytes per second. If it is, then, in theory at least, the iPod could work.

Andreas Winkler · December 28th, 2005, 11:15 PM

David, thanks for the information. The article obviously refers to one of the older generation iPods. Would be interesting to see similar tests for the new "video" pod with larger, faster and hopefully more reliable disk drive.

Have not got my iPod yet, but when I own one I'll try to use it as video capture drive via Windows somehow. I'm very curious about the results.

November 21st, 2005, 04:56 PM	#1
Karl J Martin Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 33	DV to iPod...? Any wisdom out there, on connecting a DVX100A to an iPod, and using the iPod as the record/storage unit for the camera...?

December 28th, 2005, 08:55 PM	#2
Andreas Winkler Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan Posts: 125	GS400 USB2.0 connection to iPod The DVX doesn't support DV output via USB2.0, right? So probably you are thinking about one of the older iPod models with FireWire connection. Somewhere I read these old iPod drives were not fast enough to capture DV, even though someone would write an iPod application to do so. But how about the new generation video/photo iPods with USB2.0? Does anyone have a clue if DV capture via USB2.0 would be possible somehow, let's say with a Panasonic GS400, which supports DVout via USB2.0!?

December 28th, 2005, 11:15 PM	#4
Andreas Winkler Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan Posts: 125	David, thanks for the information. The article obviously refers to one of the older generation iPods. Would be interesting to see similar tests for the new "video" pod with larger, faster and hopefully more reliable disk drive. Have not got my iPod yet, but when I own one I'll try to use it as video capture drive via Windows somehow. I'm very curious about the results. Last edited by Andreas Winkler; December 29th, 2005 at 12:54 AM.

December 28th, 2005, 10:10 PM	#3
David Suthers Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Wytheville, VA USA Posts: 64	From what I've seen so far, this would not work very well for a couple reasons. 1. The iPod hard drives do not do a very good job of streaming video. They are designed for low power, cached reads and not long, streaming writes. 2. USB2.0 requires more computing horsepower than firewire. The iPod has VERY limited computing power so this may also be a problem. There was an article written where someone tried this with an older iPod. Here is the link if you'd like to read it: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/art...video-capture/ If you have an iPod, you could test this by using part of your iPod as a USB drive and copy some big files to it. Time the operation to see if the transfer speed is above 3 megabytes per second. If it is, then, in theory at least, the iPod could work.