USB2 or FireWire?

SoFlaLude · 03-10-2004, 10:35 PM

I've searched and haven't come up with much regarding this, so I'll ask the experts: between USB2 and FireWire, which is the one to go with regarding running an external DVD recorder (and its sundry standards)? Limiting just to 1394 shows a few drives in searches, but expanding to USB2 finds quite a few more; I'm just wondering if there's any technical reason to shun a USB2 drive in favor of a FireWire one in regards to DVD playback and recording.

Any experiences, data, or drive recommendations would be appreciated!

Alric · 03-10-2004, 10:45 PM

The short: Firewire is faster than USB2 for HDs. But for external writers either would do fine. Firewire would also be more convenient if more than one device will be present on the same bus.

Cheers,

mbkowns · 03-10-2004, 11:01 PM

firewire sucks usb 2 owns it ...

anaxagoras · 03-10-2004, 11:22 PM

actually firewire is superior to usb2. Firewire has an onboard processor that greatly reduces cpu load, while USB doesn't have such a thing resulting in increased cpu overhead. It's essentially the difference between SCSI and IDE, sure scsi is a lot better but it's generally a lot more expensive. USB2 should be fine providing you have a bit of cpu power to spare, which on most modern systems isn't a problem

mbkowns · 03-10-2004, 11:31 PM

thats odd seems that my cpu is never loaded down by usb2 etheir what you said was BS or my computer is unique

eCar™ · 03-10-2004, 11:38 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by mbkowns

thats odd seems that my cpu is never loaded down by usb2 etheir what you said was BS or my computer is unique

Since what he said is not BS, your rig must be unique. Unless there's a third option.

He didn't say your CPU would be "loaded down by USB". He said that USB requires more CPU resources than Firewire.

Randomtask · 03-10-2004, 11:52 PM

DVD playback and video encoding will most likely be the most processor intensive tasks done on the average car pc. This, coupled with the fact that not everyone has hardware MPEG-2 support, makes Firewire an even more desirable choice over USB2 for those of us with less powerful machines.

By the numbers, USB2 can be faster than Firewire, but for this particular application, I'd recommend Firewire.

-Randomtask

Nokia6600 · 03-10-2004, 11:53 PM

In theory Firewire should be slower then USB2 since firewire is “only” 400 mbits and USB2 is 480 mbits, but that’s as I said just in theory. Firewire will and have always has been faster and superior to USB2

Alric · 03-10-2004, 11:54 PM

Here is some real life testing:

http://barefeats.com/image03/f35-rw.gif

unsavory · 03-11-2004, 01:48 AM

I just posted this yesterday. Here it is again:

Just an FYI... If you have a choice use your firewire port on your EPIA-M10K instead of the USB port. Firewire is a streaming interface and will do DVD playback without skipping frames. USB2.0, although the listed speed is faster than firewire is listing its burst transfer rates. Firewire streams faster than USB2.0, and because USB is an interruptible interface, it cannot stream and is not good for true DVD playback.

Will USB 2.0 work? Kind of. But it requires more CPU and you will lose frames during playback.

http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/...nal_hd-09.html

Found a really thorough article on USB2.0 vs Firewire here:

http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0...a=36161,00.asp

mbkowns · 03-11-2004, 12:01 PM

firewire sucks USB 2.0 OWNS....

USB2 is faster I have a usb2 hard drive and it also has a firewire port and on usb2 it moves files quicker for some reason...

Alric · 03-11-2004, 12:10 PM

Do you have an idea of MB/sec? If your firewire is less than 30 MB/sec it is not performing like it should. The highest I have seen USB2 reported is in the link I provided previously, 18 MB/sec.

mbkowns · 03-11-2004, 12:21 PM

I know what mb/s is I have 2 u320 SCSI seagate 15,000 rpm in raid 0 ... I know about mb/s trust me... Your usb2.0 only at 18 is really low... some thing must be wrong there

eCar™ · 03-11-2004, 01:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by mbkowns

I know what mb/s is I have 2 u320 SCSI seagate 15,000 rpm in raid 0 ... I know about mb/s trust me... Your usb2.0 only at 18 is really low... some thing must be wrong there

Well, we know what MB/s are also, so why didn't you give him the answer? What speeds did each attain when you tested them?

Or did your benchmark just say, "'Sup? USB transferred your files quicker. USB owns."

I tried some simple tests to see for myself. (These were done with a P4 2.4GHz, WinXP Pro, 845 chipset, 533 FSB, 512 MB DDR333, Hitachi 120 GB 7200 rpm HD)

First, I benchmarked my Panasonic CW-8123 CD-RW/DVD-ROM on IDE, with SiSoft's Sandra. I found that depending on the DVD I tried, I get speeds from 2000 kB/s (2 MB/s) with a League of X Gentlemen DVD, to 2600 kB/s (2.6 MB/s) with a Shrek DVD. In three consectutive tests, I got 2604, 2613, and 2598 kB/s with the Shrek DVD.

Then I watched some of the Shrek DVD with Task Manager running in the background. I stopped the DVD and quickly took a screenshot of the performance graph in Task Manager.

Then I switch to USB 2.0 with this adapter that I got at Newegg.com for US$33.

I ran the Sandra benchmark again. This time I got 2620, 2602, 2614 kB/s. I'd call that identical to the IDE speeds.

FYI, 1000 kB/s is recommended for smooth DVD playback, with no dropped frames.

Then I watched Shrek again, and took another screenshot of the performance graph. Here are the graphs:

For me, I'm good with USB2 running my optical drive. YMMV.

tom2112 · 03-11-2004, 01:51 PM

eCar is da man! That was a real review. Maybe he should work for Tom's Hardware.

Anyway, I only have one thing to add:
USB2 works great for external DVD drive use, BUT if you are using lots of USB devices, it is SHARED bandwidth. Keep that in mind. If you're using lots of other USB2 devices at the same time, you will get dropped frames. In that instance, Firewire is a better option.

I've watched Pirates of the Carribean on my M10k with a USB2 external DVD drive (8x). I saw no problems with dropped frames or sound glitches. It just played the movie, just like my DVD player on my TV.

YMMV.